Tag: Proverbs 3:5-12

When We Do Withhold Nothing From God, What Does God Give Back To Us? Genesis 22:12-18

Psalm 84
GOD’S WORD Translation

84 Your dwelling place is lovely, O Lord of Armies!
2 My soul longs and yearns
for the Lord’s courtyards.
My whole body shouts for joy to the living God.
3 Even sparrows find a home,
and swallows find a nest for themselves.
There they hatch their young
near your altars, O Lord of Armies, my king and my God.
4 Blessed are those who live in your house.
They are always praising you. Selah

5 Blessed are those who find strength in you.
Their hearts are on the road ⌞that leads to you⌟.
6 As they pass through a valley where balsam trees grow,[a]
they make it a place of springs.
The early rains cover it with blessings.[b]
7 Their strength grows as they go along
until each one of them appears
in front of God in Zion.

8 O Lord God, commander of armies, hear my prayer.
Open your ears, O God of Jacob. Selah
9 Look at our shield, O God.
Look with favor on the face of your anointed one.
10 One day in your courtyards is better than a thousand ⌞anywhere else⌟.
I would rather stand in the entrance to my God’s house
than live inside wicked people’s homes.
11 The Lord God is a sun and shield.
The Lord grants favor and honor.
He does not hold back any blessing
from those who live innocently.

12 O Lord of Armies, blessed is the person who trusts you.

Genesis 22:12-18 GOD’S WORD Translation

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you did not refuse to give me your son, your only son.”

13 When Abraham looked around, he saw a ram behind him caught by its horns in a bush. So Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide. It is still said today, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

The Lord’s Seventh Promise to Abraham

15 Then the Messenger of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I am taking an oath on my own name, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not refused to give me your son, your only son, 17 I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of their enemies’ cities. 18 Through your descendant all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

God Sends an Obedient Abraham and Isaac Home

When I was reading and then re-reading these verses, I was thunder struck, not just by the promises of God’s blessings to Abraham here which only seem huge.

They’re abundant, and we’ve seen those in different places. 

Genesis 12, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, but here in Genesis 22, remember the story.

This is when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son.

The long promised miraculous son, Isaac, on the altar, and Abraham showed God that he was willing to humble himself out of reverence of his God to do it.

He calls his son Isaac to his side.

Obediently, Isaac goes to his fathers side.

Abraham tells his son they are going to build an altar and worship God.

He takes his son.

He gathers all of the wood.

Abraham, with Isaac, goes to where God is sending him

He builds his altar.

He lays his son on the altar and ties him down, he’s got his knife raised above him because this is what God has commanded him to do-no question or debate.

But, observing Abraham and his readiness to obey Him and stops the sacrifice, provides a ram to sacrifice, so Isaac is able to live. God shows that he provides.

Abraham returned home with his son after sacrificing the goat.

Abraham had been faithful and obedient, he was ready to sacrifice everything which was most precious to God for the blessings he, his family had received.

Following this act of faith, and obedience God had promised Abraham and his growing family that He would bless them and their coming generations more than the stars in the skies and grains of sands in the desert and on the seashore.

Abraham’s family was overjoyed.

Giving Our All in All We Illuminate God’s Blessings

But when I read these verses, Genesis 22:13–18, and God, through the angel of the Lord, says to Abraham,

“Because you’ve done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you. I’ll bless you all these ways because you have obeyed by voice.”

Genesis 22:18 says, and I just think in my own life, I want that to be said of me,

“I did not withhold anything from God, that I didn’t hold on to anything in my life, even my life itself, that my life and everything I have was before God as an offering to be used by him, for him, his purposes, his glory, however he wants.”

God gave me everything therefore I do not want to withhold anything from God.

I want to likewise encourage you the reader not to withhold anything from God.

The whole point here, in Genesis 22:15–18, is that God is faithful to provide for those who in faith are obedient to the utmost and in the utmost, trust in Him.

I just want to encourage you, as I have, to trust in him with everything we have.

Let’s obey his voice, surrender to His will, do whatever He tells us to do because our lives and everything we have come to treasure, even up to all which is most precious to us, ultimately came from His and ergo, belongs ultimately to Him.

The story of Abraham and Isaac teaches us to have maximum trust, faith in God.

As mentioned in the story, Isaac the son of Abraham was saved by God himself.

Another important lesson we can learn from the story is that oftentimes when we are faced with hardcore choices, adverse circumstances, we must try and believe in doing good as God will show kindness to those who believe in Him.

God was, is and forever shall be above our circumstances and in His time, He will prevail over them and He will let us know He was the One who prevailed.

When We Give Our ALL, What God Gives Back to Us

Genesis 22:15-18 The Message

15-18 The angel of God spoke from Heaven a second time to Abraham: “I swear—God’s sure word!—because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, I’ll bless you—oh, how I’ll bless you! And I’ll make sure that your children flourish—like stars in the sky! like sand on the beaches! And your descendants will defeat their enemies. All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me.”

In Obedience, when Abraham gave his son back to God, then God said that by His own oath, His very promise of fruitfulness would be immediately fulfilled.

The rivers of living waters would now begin to flow out from him to bless all the nations of the earth as God had promised.

It was when Isaac came back from the dead, so to speak, in resurrection power that God said, “Now the fruitfulness of your life will be maximized and manifest.”

Even God’s least and greatest gifts to us are of no value until we are willing, if necessary, to lose them so that God might reign without a rival in our hearts.

When we have to come to that place to which the Spirit of God wants to bring us, that perfect relationship with the Father when God means more to us than anything, and we are even willing to give up the very gift that God has given,

then in resurrection power that gift will be a blessing to everyone it touches.

We all have been given gifts from God.

Maybe God has given you a special gift, a specialized and a singularly unique talent, and you are asked to take a job where perhaps you can’t use that talent.

You wonder about it and perhaps rebel over it.

But please remember Abraham, and when summoned, give it back to God.

Face the possibility of not using that talent, and the God of resurrection will take that talent and return it to you and make it a blessing to many hearts.

Perhaps you have a loved one, and a situation arises in which you have to part from that one or break that relationship.

This is an enormous struggle, but Abraham’s faith and trust in God says that if God asks you to do it, surrender it and then there is blessing beyond if you obey.

Maybe you are living in a situation of retired comfort and happiness, but you are needed in another place not nearly as pleasant, nor desirable, and you say,

“Lord, why do I have to give up my home, my retirement and my relationships that I enjoy and go there?” 

Remember, however, if God calls us into His Work, His Labor, we must obey.

Beyond the apparent heartbreak and death lies resurrection.

In obedience to that Summons from God, In the resurrection of that experience, by God’s very own oath, God will give you back that gift and make it a blessing.

Is not this the record of every man and woman we read of in the Scriptures whose life has ever counted for God, who have been willing to give up the very areas they thought were God’s choice blessing for them when God called?

When Noah was called by God to build an Ark in the face of harshest criticisms.

When a young shepherd boy named David was called away from protecting his father’s flocks to protecting the integrity, reputation of Israel against Goliath.

David was also secretly anointed by Samuel to become Israel’s greatest King.

For such a time was Esther called to become Queen of a foreign nation that she might boldly step in, risk her life, so to save her people from total destruction.

Examine the summons of God’s prophets – Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah, Amos and the rest – called into a time of reluctant obedience unto God.

Study, and examine the summons of the first twelve Apostles by Jesus Himself.

In so doing, by their full throated obedience to God, God made them a blessing.

Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message

5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
    Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
    your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
    give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
    your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
    don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
    a father’s delight is behind all this.

God’s summons on our lives can be in minor or major areas.

Requiring degrees and measures of personal sacrifice – up to our own lives.

This is the principle of walking the road to the Cross throughout all our lives.

We maximize our efforts, we willingly surrender our whole lives unto God, we willingly sacrifice those things which gives us maximum comforts, pleasure.

We surrender ourselves, we give to God our maximum “all in all” knowing that in the end, in God’s anointed and appointed end – there will be our resurrection.

That knowledge, faith and trust – this is what makes resurrection life possible.

When it looks as though we are throwing away every chance of blessing, God transforms in a moment the very exact thing we give up into the most richly rewarding and abundantly blessed, meaningful experience we have ever had.

I dare you to act upon this opportunity to discover what God has for you in the place and places which you previously deemed unreachable and unsearchable!

I don’t know what this sacrifice might mean for be for you, or your family, but I can say with a high degree of confidence, to know this is true, God has written your life’s account so we may know that this is His way in the affairs of people.

These Verses Lets Us Know that by God’s own Oath, God is Always With Us!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 23 The Message

23 1-3 God, my shepherd!
    I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
    you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
    you let me catch my breath
    and send me in the right direction.

4 Even when the way goes through
    Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
    when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
    makes me feel secure.

5 You serve me a six-course dinner
    right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
    my cup brims with blessing.

6 Your beauty and love chase after me
    every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
    for the rest of my life.

So God, I just want to most humbly pray this on behalf of others reading this.

God, we surrender our lives to you. God, everything belong to you. Everything we are, everything we have, God, we want to trust you with it all so we lay it before you as an offering, and we pray, use us, use all that we have to accomplish your purposes, and we trust that you will be faithful to provide all along the way. There’s no better place, no better hands, to put our lives in, our families in, our future in, our plans, our surest certainties, our wildest hopes, dreams, our rusting possessions in, than your hands.

ABBA, Father, God Almighty, You are so faithful, so good and so very gracious. You are working for our good. You’re working for your glory, and you will use everything we put in your hands towards that end, so God, we trust in you. We surrender to you. Please help all who are listening right now, not to hold on tightly to anything in our lives, to hold loosely to it, to place it before you that you might use it however you want, that you might use us, our whole lives, and everything we put in your hands for your purposes as we trust you as our provider. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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“God, How May I Know What Your Will For My Life Is?” John 7:16-19

1. Take my life, and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move
at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee.

2. Take my voice, and let me sing
always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
filled with messages from thee.
Take my silver and my gold;
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use
every power as thou shalt choose.

3. Take my will, and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee.

John 7:16-19 The Message

16-19 Jesus said, “I didn’t make this up. What I teach comes from the One who sent me. Anyone who wants to do his will can test this teaching and know whether it’s from God or whether I’m making it up. A person making things up tries to make himself look good. But someone trying to honor the one who sent him sticks to the facts and doesn’t tamper with reality. It was Moses, wasn’t it, who gave you God’s Law? But none of you are living it. So why are you trying to kill me?”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Is Jesus For Real?

Do you ever wonder if Jesus actually was what he claimed to be?

Do we have trouble at times struggling with understanding what he is saying in these tremendous passages, especially in the Gospel narrative of John?

Well, if that is the case, Jesus tells you what to do: Practice what he says.

Obey his words.

Repent of your sins.

Come to Him.

Cast yourself upon his mercy.

Believe in his forgiveness, and go out in obedience and treat people the way he says to.

Then we will know from an inside knowledge that no one can take away that what He says is true, because His authority, teaching, is in line with the reality we are seeing of God at work through us.

This is a sacred principle that runs all through our life: We all learn by doing.

A doctor may learn all that the medical books can teach them, but until they get their hands into their clinical specialty, area of expertise, surgery or dispenses medicines to people who are in critical need of their service, never really learns.

The same is true in any field: We all learn by Our Doing.

When we do what Jesus says, we practice obedience and discipline ourselves, we begin to understand with a deep conviction that He knows what life is all about.

This explains the phenomenon of certain people who become Christians—some of them early, some late in life—and who immediately practice what they have learned through study of God’s Word, and then grow with astonishing rapidity.

They subtly become “more” grown up, capable, well-adjusted whole persons, seemingly almost overnight, while others who sit under the teaching of the Scripture for years hardly seem ever to grow at all; they are still childlike in their behavior, emotionally upset, anxious, timid, stagnant and fear-ridden.

This is because they are not doing what they hear.

They are only maintaining themselves in a “milk and cookies” Christianity.

Those who put into practice the truth they hear begin to grow immediately.

Now, it is graduating into whole hearted “meat and potatoes” evangelism.

They have entered the place called the tried, true, “Will of God For Their Lives.”

Ways to Know God’s Will for Your Life

When I was a young (in the faith) Christian, I seemed to continually wrestle with knowing to know what God’s will was for my life.

I wanted more than anything to follow His plan.

Interestingly, now that I’m “older” (currently 62 years old), I still wrestle with knowing and doing God’s will in my life.

Over the years of “near continual discernment” I have come to learn that this is not just something that many young persons does early in life; it is that lifelong pursuit, through study, prayer, in order to stay in the exact center of His plan.

So, then, how can we authentically, faithfully know God’s plan for our lives?

Over the past twenty-some years that I have been in both lay and lay pastoral ministry, I have discovered several vital keys to genuinely knowing God’s will.

Here they are:

1. Walk with God.

Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message

5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
    Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
    your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
    give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
    your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
    don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
    a father’s delight is behind all this.

For starters, if you are authentically interested in knowing God’s plan for your life, then you must genuinely learn to walk faithfully, faith-filled, with God.

You need to engage, work literally all of the soils of your life cultivate, develop and sow, plant the seeds of a harvest, then bear fruit – a relationship with Him.

Matthew 13:10-17 The Message

Why Tell Stories?

10 The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?”

11-15 He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward a welcome awakening. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again:

Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing.
    Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.
The people are stupid!
They stick their fingers in their ears
    so they won’t have to listen;
They screw their eyes shut
    so they won’t have to look,
    so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face
    and let me heal them.

16-17 “But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.

Christianity is all about working the soils, relationship rather than just religion.

And so you must cultivate your relationship with God.

We must seek to know Him through our labor, not just seek to know about Him.

We will cultivate that relationship best by spending time in His Word, taking time for prayer, and taking every opportunity you can to be involved in church and fellowship gatherings small group Bible study and prayer, opportunities.

When we seek “work these soils” cultivate these disciplines in, within our life, God will begin the first steps, plant the first seeds, to revealing His plan to you.

2. Surrender your will to God’s.

Romans 12:1-2 The Message

Place Your Life Before God

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Far too many times when we say we are seeking God’s will, what we are really wanting to say to God is this: “OK, God, here’s what I’m planning to do.” “Now I need you authentically, faithfully [automatically] to rubber stamp this, all right?”

I must break into your Theology to tell you that this is not really going to be an effective thought or planning, process in discovering and finding His true will.

Before God will begin to allow the seed to germinate, reveal His will to you, you must be committed, faithful, to doing whatever it is He desires for you to do.

God will likely be slow, not as we understand slow, but God understands slow, to show you His true plan if He knows you will likely not do that plan anyway.

Jesus was willing come to die for us, so shouldn’t we be willing to live for Him?

When we surrender to Him, that is when He really begins to direct our steps.

3. Obey what you already know to be God’s will.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-18 The Message

The Way He Wants You to Live

12-13 And now, friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!

13-15 Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.

16-18 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

Many people seem to want to know what God’s plan is for their lives, but they overlook the fact that 98% of His will is already delineated carefully through His Word – God is very authentic, clear about many, many aspects of His will.

Honor, respect those leaders and authority figures who work so hard for you, who have been given by God, the true responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your faith journey, in your wisdom and understanding and practice of obedience.

Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part to get along with others.

Warn the “freeloaders” to “get with the plan for the community” and start earning their keep, “get along with God’s plan for His Kingdom” and to laboring for God.

Gently encourage and inspire and empower the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet, showing them places where they may rest.

Be patient with each person, attentive to their individual needs.

Be careful that when we get on each others nerves, we do not snap at each other.

Look for the best in each other and always do your best to bring out their best.

Be Cheerful – no matter what!

Pray all of the time.

Thank God – no matter what happens!

If we do not practice His Presence, obey the things God has shown us clearly to be His will, why then would we think He would reveal any further information regarding His plan for our lives?

Practice Obedience and Practice His Wisdom are critically important first steps.

4. Seek godly input.

Proverbs 11:14 The Message

14 Without good direction, people lose their way;
    the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.

One key component to finding God’s will is to seek the input of godly advisors in your life.

If you don’t currently have 3-4 godly mentors, then I would highly recommend that you seek them out right away.

Think of it this way: you should understand that you are basically a composite of the five people you spend the most time with.

So, then, it is vital that you choose those five people well.

If you choose to surround yourself with godly advisors, they’ll be instrumental in helping you discern God’s plan for your life.

But if you surround yourself with people who are far from God, your hope of finding His best for your life will be greatly diminished.

The church is designed to help you greatly with this.

I would encourage you to be in church every single time the doors are opened.

The more you involve yourself with a community of believers, the greater your chances will be of finally finding authentic godly men and women who can help you discern God’s will.

5. Pay attention to how God has wired you.

1 Peter 4:7-11The Message

7-11 Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!

God has created you and me to fulfill a specific role in this world.

There is no one else who can achieve completely what God has purposely created us to do.

God has gifted every one of us to perform a special mission for which we alone were created.

How amazing is that?

Wow!

So, when you seek to discover God’s will for your life, pay attention to how He has gifted you.

His plan for you will always be directly related to the gifts that He has bestowed upon you.

The great news is that you will automatically be good at whatever it is that He has called you to do!

6. Listen to God’s spirit.

John 16:12-15The Message

12-15 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I’ve said, ‘He takes from me and delivers to you.’

I experienced a major turning point in my own prayer life when I learned simply to shut up while I was praying.

That may sound odd to you, and it seemed odd to me at first.

You see, I used to do all the talking when I prayed to God.

But then, several years ago, I read Bill Hybel’s book, Too Busy Not to Pray.

That book completely changed the way I approached God through prayer.

Since reading that book, I have added a significant component to my prayer life: listening.

I take time to “very carefully” listen to what God might have to say to me.

Practically, the way I go about this is to bring a notepad with me when I sit down to pray.

Then I contemplate at the top of several thoughts things like the following:

  • “What is the next step in my career?”
  • “What is the next step in my ministry?”
  • “What is the next step for my family?”
  • “What is the next step for my marriage?”
  • “What is the next step in my education?”
  • “What is the next step in my finances?”

During my prayer time, I meditate on questions such as the above.

Often, God will start flooding my heart with ideas and information regarding one or more of those questions.

Sometimes, not all of the time I write as fast as I can as He speaks to my heart.

What a glorious experience to sense His Spirit on me, guiding my thoughts and words, guiding my personal studies of the bible, writing of these devotionals.

Through experiences like this, He has shown me many times with great clarity what His will is for my life.

I long for those experiences when He speaks to me like that.

Those times are truly, authentically, life changing.

7. Listen to your heart.

Psalm 37:3-6 The Message

3-4 Get insurance with God and do a good deed,
    settle down and stick to your last.
Keep company with God,
    get in on the best.

5-6 Open up before God, keep nothing back;
    he’ll do whatever needs to be done:
He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day
    and stamp you with approval at high noon.

In addition to listening to the Spirit, I also recommend listening to your heart.

I love this passage, because it shows me that, when I am walking with the Lord, He will actually let me do many really cool things that I actually love to do!

When you are close to Him, He actually begins to shape your desires so that you desire the things that He has already called you to do.

So then, His plan actually becomes a super-exciting adventure.

I always have the most fun in life when I am doing God’s will.

And that is because He shapes and transforms every single one of my “wants” to always wanting to do all those things for which He has actually created me.

8. Take a look at your circumstances.

Acts 16:6-10 The Message

6-8 They went to Phrygia, and then on through the region of Galatia. Their plan was to turn west into Asia province, but the Holy Spirit blocked that route. So they went to Mysia and tried to go north to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them go there either. Proceeding on through Mysia, they went down to the seaport Troas.

9-10 That night Paul had a dream: A Macedonian stood on the far shore and called across the sea, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” The dream gave Paul his map. We went to work at once getting things ready to cross over to Macedonia. All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had called us to preach the good news to the Europeans.

God often clearly demonstrates His desired plan for our lives by His lining up circumstances in obvious ways.

And He also shows us what His will is NOT for us to do in that same way.

It is not His will for you to take the job that is not offered to you.

If you are of short stature it is not likely that God has created you to play 60 plus minutes of professional American NFL football.

But then again, there is the opportunity to play sports like professional soccer and be successful at a host of other amateur, professional sports opportunities

Over the years, I’ve discovered God is pretty good at opening and closing doors.

He even did that for the Apostle Paul and his entourage in the Book of Acts. 

So, even Paul had to face closed doors in his ministry.

God often uses closed doors to show us clearly what He does NOT want us to do.

And He also uses open doors at times to show us what He DOES want us to do.

Of course, this does not mean that every single open door is definitely God’s plan, but it surely and certainly does help to give you some basic direction.

A Closing Thought:

Psalm 27:7-10 The Message

7-9 Listen, God, I’m calling at the top of my lungs:
    “Be good to me! Answer me!”
When my heart whispered, “Seek God,”
    my whole being replied,
“I’m seeking him!”
    Don’t hide from me now!

9-10 You’ve always been right there for me;
    don’t turn your back on me now.
Don’t throw me out, don’t abandon me;
    you’ve always kept the door open.
My father and mother walked out and left me,
    but God took me in.

The next time you begin to ponder God’s plan for your life, I would encourage you to study and pray over the Word of God and mull over the above eight keys.

In fellowship with your brother and sisters in Christ, use these principles to help you to hone in on His plan.

And when you earnestly and fervently seek His will alone, you will 100% find it!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 84 The Message

84 1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
    I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
    where I could sing for joy to God-alive!

3-4 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
    sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
    singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God!
    How blessed they are to live and sing there!

5-7 And how blessed all those in whom you live,
    whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
    discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
    at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!

8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen:
    O God of Jacob, open your ears—I’m praying!
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,
    our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.

10-12 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
    beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.
I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God
    than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
All sunshine and sovereign is God,
    generous in gifts and glory.
He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions.
    It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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For God’s sake, and their own, why is it such a great idea for everyone to keep on thinking deeply about their faith? 2 Timothy 2:1-7

2 Timothy 2:1-7 New King James Version

Be Strong in Grace

2 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 You therefore must endure [a] hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. 7 Consider what I say, and [b]may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Pondering Upon the Deeper Matters of Our Faith

It is not unusual—in fact, it’s quite common—through the eyes of unbelievers and believers for the Christian faith to be regarded as a kind of illogical, unusual belief in improbable and even impossible events.

For some, faith in God is seen as a crutch to prop up less rational people as they navigate through the more weighty morals, great diversity of life’s challenges.

Such critics may be surprised to learn that in reality, pondering our Christianity calls its followers not to neglect their minds but to critically, deeply, engage them.

When we read the Word of God, we discover that it never invites us simply to feel things; it never attempts merely to “sweep us up” in an emotional surge.

God never once asks for or endorses the total disengagement of our thinking processes.

Instead, God’s Word repeatedly reveals that our Christianity, our faith in God is actually a call to think rightly and deeply about God, His world, our place in it.

When the apostle Paul addressed the Ephesian followers, we read that he was “reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus,” which was very likely an early school building which could be rented for debating philosophy or rhetoric (Acts 19:9).

In this place, Paul was not just singing songs or attempting to stir up some emotional experience.

No, by renting the hall from its owner he essentially said, “Citizens of Ephesus, I want you to spend some significant time thinking and also reasoning with me today. Not just today alone, but to come back frequently more curious than the day before.” 

In Thessalonica, too, Acts tells us Paul “reasoned” with the people, “explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead” (17:2-3).

The book of God’s Prophet Isaiah begins with a similar call to think earnestly: “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD” (Isaiah 1:18).

This exhortation from Isaiah to think and reason deeply over our lives isn’t just for proclaiming the gospel but for repentance, growth in Christian maturity too.

Desiring people to know God more, writing to the followers in Corinth, Apostle Paul said, “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking” (1 Corinthians 14:20).

He wanted the young church their to think intently and intensely about both the current, longer term issues they were all facing in this emerging Christian faith.

Paul was even more direct when writing to the young Pastor Timothy: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” (2 v. 7)

Whatever time we are living and ministering in, we do need God’s Holy Spirit to be at work in order to think rightly (Luke 24:45; 1 Corinthians 12:3), for our own intellects are as affected by sin as every other part of ourselves (Ephesians 4:17).

But it is as we expend significant mental energy to consider the deeper wisdom, truths of the Scriptures that God will give us greater and greater understanding.

To follow Christ, then, is not to take a step of blind faith into the darkness but to have your eyes opened, our souls better informed to the light of rigorous truth.

It will take a lifetime—and more!—to unearth the deeper and deepest riches of the truth we encounter in God’s Word about Jesus, but one thing is sure: today, as every day, God wants you, me to love Him and honor Him with all your mind.

My Own Faith and Pondering Upon God’s Deeper Call

Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message

5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
    Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
    your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
    give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
    your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
    don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
    a father’s delight is behind all this.

“And when I think that God, His Son not sparing
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin”

How is God calling me to think deeply?

How is God calling me to think differently?

How is God calling me to think critically?

How is God calling me to think Scripturally?

How is God calling me into a deeper contemplation of God?

How is God calling me into a deeper contemplation of my faith in God?

How is God calling me into a deeper expression of faith?

How is God calling me into a deeper expression of my faith in God?

How is God calling me into a deeper understanding of God?

How is God calling me into a deeper understanding of my faith in God?

How is God calling me into a deeper appreciation of God?

How is God calling me into a deeper appreciation of my faith in God?

How is God reordering, reshaping, my heart’s affections — what I love?

What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?

“My God! How Great IS our God?”

2 Timothy 2:7 The Message

Doing Your Best for God

2 1-7 So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ. Pass on what you heard from me—the whole congregation saying Amen!—to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others. When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce. Think it over. God will make it all plain.

“It is the diligent farmer who gets the produce …”

“Think it over.”

“God will make it plain …”

“Plainer than the nose on your face!”

When we finally “do see” the diligent farmer who gets the produce …

Wiping all of the sweat off of their noses with the sleeves of their shirts …

“Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
How great Thou art, how great Thou art”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You for the Word of God and the truths that it contains within its sacred pages. Help me to read, mark, learn, and act upon all the things that Christ has done for me so that I may live my life in a manner that pleases You and honors and glorifies Your holy name. I pray I may endure life’s hardships like a good soldier of Christ and run, with patience, and faith, the race of life that is set before me. Keep me pressing on to the goal of my calling and equip me with knowledge and understanding of all that Christ has done for me. This I ask in Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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