What Has God Said About You? (2)

Don’t waste your life trying to do things that God has neither called nor equipped you to do. Your parents may think you’d make a wonderful doctor or lawyer, but what does God think? What has He said about you? God told Jeremiah, ‘…I am watching to see that My word is fulfilled.’ If God said it—He will back it up. If He didn’t—you’re on your own! Too many people waste their lives trying to do things that God never called and equipped them to do. Identify the source of your vision! Look deep within yourself; who are you trying to impress? Are you trying to prove to your ex-husband or wife that you can make it successfully without them? Or show your parents that you’re as talented as your brother or sister? Or demonstrate to the world how you overcame your roots and pulled yourself up by your bootstraps? Your vision cannot be born out of unresolved issues; that just breeds a need for control and recognition and dooms you to failure. What’s more, if your vision is from God, you can’t afford to be impatient like Abraham and try to accomplish it in your own strength and ingenuity. God’s promises can never be fulfilled through fleshly effort. If only Abraham had waited, he could have avoided a lot of heartache with Hagar and Ishmael. The Bible says, ‘The blessing of the Lord…maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow’ (Proverbs 10:22 KJV). No matter how long it takes, seek God’s will, wait on His timing, prepare yourself thoroughly and move only when He says go!

What Has God Said About You? (1)

If your vision is to be a great parent, that doesn’t mean you don’t have great faith. It just means you understand your calling. All Moses’ mother did was give birth—but what a baby! God protected her son when she couldn’t do a thing to help him. Then He arranged to have him raised in Pharaoh’s royal courts. And when you discover God’s purpose for your life, He will provide for you, too! Some days your vision won’t look like it’s coming together. As a child, Joseph dreamed of being a great leader, but before he could get to the palace, he had to go through the prison. Pastor James Petro says, ‘You can’t build a foundation in a storm, so God will prepare you in advance.’ Sometimes your vision will seem to die before it springs to life. That happened to Abraham. ‘Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations…he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised’ (vv. 18-21 NIV). Paul wrote, ‘We are fools for Christ…’ (1Corinthians 4:10 NIV). God uses radical people who don’t care how they look: people who’ve survived difficult pasts, defied the odds, held onto their vision, and declared, ‘My God is able!’ And you can be one of those people!

Be Resilient

During their famous expedition, American explorers, Lewis and Clark, faced incredible hardships. On reaching the Missouri River, they thought the worst was over—then they saw the Rockies! Instead of the easy ride downstream that they’d expected, they faced their biggest challenge: retreat or start climbing! Looking back, they realised it was in conquering the Rockies that they gained the confidence they needed for what they’d face later. Scott Peck, author of ‘The Road Less Travelled’, writes, ‘It’s in meeting and solving problems that we grow mentally and spiritually. Wise people learn not to dread, but to welcome the pain of problems.’ Sociologists who study resiliency—the ability to bounce back—tell us that people handle trauma in two ways. They either give up because they’re afraid, or they grow up by developing the capacity to handle it. What makes the difference? Instead of acting like victims, resilient people: 1) take charge of their lives; 2) refuse to relinquish their values; 3) refocus on their goal. Noela Evans says, ‘Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth. Tame the dragon and the gift is yours.’ Quitting is always simpler than enduring. But it produces a pattern that’s hard to break; one you live to regret. So if you’re thinking, ‘This relationship is too hard, I want out,’ or, ‘This job isn’t what I expected, I’m quitting,’ remember, you develop resiliency by remaining faithful in situations you don’t like and can’t change. That’s why the Bible says, ‘We give great honour to those who endure.’

The Finger of God (4)

The finger of God in cleansing. One day the Pharisees brought a woman to Christ. She’d been ‘caught in the act’ of adultery and they expected Him to condemn her. But instead, ‘Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.’ This is Jesus at His best! He stooped down to identify with the victim in her shame, refusing to listen to the words of her accusers. Then He scattered them with a single statement: ‘…He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first’ (v. 7 NKJV). Ouch! Then the One Who came not to tear us down but to build us up, said to her, ‘…Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more’ (v. 11 NKJV). The question is, where would she find strength to live such a life? Through Christ! His commandments are His enablings. He said, ‘…I am the light of the world, He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life’ (v. 12 NKJV). Jesus sees every weed as a potential rose, every doubter as a potential believer and every sinner as a potential saint. Stop listening to the voices that condemn you. Stop beating yourself up over your failures. Come to Jesus today; He will cleanse you, make you whole and give you the life you’ve always longed for. You don’t have to live under satan’s control anymore. Jesus said, ‘…If I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come’ (Luke 11:20 KJV).

The Finger of God (3)

The finger of God in stone. Why do you think God wrote the Ten Commandments in stone? Because His principles are permanent and unchanging. You say, ‘But what about all those people who have never heard God’s Word? How will He judge them?’ Paul answers: ‘Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law…show that they know His law when they instinctively obey it…They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right’ (Romans 2:14-15 NLT). Your conscience acts like a compass. If you let it, it’ll guide you right. But when you reject its warnings, its voice gets quieter and quieter until you can no longer hear it. That’s a dangerous condition to be in. Paul writes, ‘Having faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected, concerning the faith, have suffered shipwreck’ (1 Timothy 1:19 NKJV). Picture yourself standing on a bridge, dropping pebbles into a pond and watching the ripples go out to the edge. It’s just a little pebble, but look at the effect it has! Yet in winter, when that same pond freezes over, you can drive a  truck across it. Your conscience is like that. When you keep disobeying God, your heart becomes calloused and hardened and you no longer hear Him speaking to you. Paul writes, ‘…I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man’ (Acts 24:16 NIV). That’s a good rule of thumb for you to live by!