Do you command the promises of God be fulfilled? Is your assurance in God's word more than humble faith in His Word? Is your expectation that He honor His contract with you by the terms as you understand them? Well, perhaps you should take a step back.
When we offer intercessory prayer for those around us, is our own sympathy for them getting in the way of effective prayer? Are we putting our own desires for them between them and God? So often we pray our will, and not God’s, and this can happen when we pray for others as well. Do we pray with empathy, or sympathy for others?
When we follow God are we close enough to actually see Him? When we look ahead can we see Him walking with Jesus as He leads us on? Paul spoke of seeing "Him who is invisible"… do we?
This morning I am contemplating a rather convicting subject. I am asking myself a couple of questions regarding my ability to serve the Lord in obscurity. Can I do the work of my calling without a grand moment of inspiration from God? And, is my work dependent on His making a show of my service?
Love is many things, but more than just these things we feel and experience, it is spontaneous. We don't set out to love someone, it just happens, and if that spontaneity isn't present then it isn't love. How do we approach God? Is it in love, or out of need?
What will we become when Jesus returns? What awaits us in faith when we rise from slumber tomorrow, or for that matter, what does the next hour have in store for us? Our faith is not something that can be predicted or calculated, and God awaits around every bend with a new treasure.
We live in a culture that honors self-assuredness and strength in pursuit of fame and fortune over all else, but God, on the other hand, places love and humility above pride and strength. When it comes to strength, He is looking for us to have strength as it relates to our faith and character alone. So, what do we value most as we live out our lives?
Do we want to be great men and women of faith? Is our goal to be like Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, or Martin Luther King? Is working quietly in the trenches unappealing to us? Did the first sentence of our morning prayers today contain the words "give me", "make me", or "let me?" God has no desire to make you great unless it just so happens that by doing so it will fulfil His will. As a matter of fact, some of the great disappointments in the Bible have been great people (like Nebuchadnezzar and Delilah) but men like David became great despite themselves because God needed them for that purpose or example. Often (also like David) they were great in spite of themselves. So, do we really want to seek greatness for ourselves?
Are there sins in our lives that the Lord must remove by fire? Do we hold on so tightly to them, or have they become so deeply rooted, that the only way to remove them is to burn them out? I think of a couple examples today of purification by fire. The first is Isaiah who spoke unclean Things among a people who commonly did the same. When he came into the presence of God he realized he was sinful and the smell of smoke caused him great fear... because he felt as though God might destroy him for his transgression... Do we have sins that cause us to feel this way too?
We are all moved to work diligently for the kingdom when we are in the middle of an active calling, but how do we spend our time after God has called us out, after a calling is complete, and we are praying for God to reinsert us into his service? Is this simply a time of rest, do we give up and put our faith on the shelf, or maybe we find ourselves unsettled, despondent, or impatient as we cry and ask for a new assignment?
In what way do we find ourselves rejoicing? Are we taking personal satisfaction in the number of souls WE bring to God? Are we celebrating God's victories as if they were our own? Or, do we find ourselves claiming victory for the power He has given us? Would it surprise you to learn that Jesus said don't do these things?
What is our role in performing those things that God calls us to? Are we working for God, ourselves, or in concert with God? The answer might surprise you.
The result of our faith is a realignment of our lives and how we interact with those within it. Are you seeing this occur, and are you willing to let it happen? Are you being transformed into a new person?
Do we ask the right questions of Jesus, and if by chance we do, are we listening as we should to the answer... with the right heart? The apostles studied under Jesus day and night, and yet, even they struggled to ask the right questions of Him. We see this when Philip asked if Jesus could show them the Father. Was it the right question to ask? Some say no, but let's listen to scripture as Jesus replies...
As I thought about the point of my morning devotional reading by E.M. Bounds, I looked back on my own life as a Christian and could easily see the point he was making regarding action. His point was that working, and moving about, doesn’t insure that a person is advancing and becoming more devoted to their faith in God and Jesus.