I believe that RIGHT THIS MINUTE God is giving many of us a chance to change our lives forever and for better. He’s giving us a chance to receive the riches that He has planned for us and has wanted to provide for us from the beginning. Many of us, however, don’t seem to recognize this opportunity. We are continuing, unsuccessfully, to depend on ourselves to meet our own needs while we head down a path that won’t bring us the joy and fullness of a life lived for Christ. Now is the time that we need to permanently and consistently turn to God and live out His purpose for our lives. For some of us, this means we need to change the life coordinates we previously entered into the GPS and wait expectantly to see where His divine coordinates take us.
In order to live out the purpose He has ordained for each of our lives, we must first seek His counsel on what He expects of us. Next, we must actually do what He tells us to do. Finally, we have to realize that we can’t do anything on our own. In other words, once He makes His instructions known to each of us, we must respond with acts of obedience. From there, we must depend on Him in faith every step of the way. He will give us everything we need in order to accomplish His purpose.
1. We must seek His guidance regarding everything in our lives. This means to us that we don’t just offer up the pieces of our lives that are messed up and in the midst of stress and strife. It means that we go to Him for everything, all the time. In other words, we don’t make a plan without first consulting His direction and waiting to hear His comment on it. How do we know what He wants for us if we don’t first seek His counsel? We have to go to Him for wisdom and knowledge on the subject – whatever the subject happens to be. God is concerned with every detail of our lives. Nothing is too small to talk to Him about! He has numbered even the very hairs on our heads. Now that’s attention to detail!
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
“…I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me.” Isaiah 48:17-19
2. Admit to ourselves and confess to Him that we can do nothing without Him. Without His blessing on the paths that we take, and without His help, we will feel like we’re going against the current. Sound familiar? Nothing works easily when we’re in opposition to His will for us. When we operate within the center of His will for our lives and we actively seek to live out the purpose He’s designed for us, we will be blessed. The resources we need to accomplish our tasks will seem to almost effortlessly fall into place. He will move things and people around in order to accomplish His purpose.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” Psalm 37:4-5
“…Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11:28
3. God requires us to act by faith in Him when we live out His purpose for our lives. He won’t always give us the full picture of where we’re headed before He asks us to take the first step of obedience. For many of us, that’s a challenge. We like to be the one in control. We want to know what the “50,000 foot view” looks like before we agree to embark on a project. God expects us to trust Him. He will reveal information to us as we need it and as He wants us to have it. Sometimes it may be revealed all at once, while other times he’ll disperse it on a “need to know” basis. Stepping out in faith can be a scary thing for some people because it represents the unknown. But for Christians, it’s not the unknown. We have the promises of God that His plans are to prosper us and not to harm us. His plans are to give us hope and a future. (Ref. Jeremiah 29:11)
“For we walk by faith, and not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7
“For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” 1Thessalonians 5:13
“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes, its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8
I believe that obedience to God never goes unrewarded. Though the first step may be the most difficult to take, remember that God never forgets His promises, nor does He break His covenants. He will never lead you the wrong way. Keep your eyes fixed on Him and your feet moving forward in obedience on the path that He sets before you.
“Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.” Proverbs 4:25-27