Read:
Deuteronomy 4: 29-31
“I can of
Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I
do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. - John 5:30
When I
first gave my life to Christ, I kept forgetting that God has a perfect will for
our lives. I went off on one detour after another, accomplishing good, but
failing to walk in His will. Then I learned from Jesus’ example, and
I started asking God to guide my steps moment by moment throughout the day. As
I followed the leading of His Spirit, I found myself bearing much more
spiritual fruit and feeling a deeper sense of fulfillment than ever before in
my life.
As the
years progressed, though, even after I did what I thought God gave me
instructions to do, it did not turn out very well. I started to doubt that I
ever even heard God’s voice. Therefore, I hesitated the next few times I felt
the Spirit nudge me in a certain direction.
I withdrew
from ministering to those He brought my way: I walked right past a person that
He directed me to speak to, I ignored some sinful behavior in a friend that I
knew would harm her, I smiled at an off-colored joke so I would not offend the
teller. Eventually, I even rolled over in bed one more time instead of getting
up early to read my Bible.
Thankfully,
God got my attention. I learned that my murky vision was similar to the deep
darkness just before the dawn. God had wanted me to obey Him regardless of the
circumstances, the consequences and the outcome. He showed me that He gave me
these barren times of ministry in order to strip me of self-reliance and
self-sufficiency and to teach me to stop using my human reasoning.
He just
wanted me to draw closer to Him, to wait on Him and to obey His Spirit’s
leading each and every time. I tentatively resumed my ministry to others. As I
kept my eyes on Him and not on the state of affairs or the outcome of my
actions, light appeared on the horizon. This new dawning helped me to clearly
see God’s purpose behind His directions, even if the outcome was not what I
expected. What I eventually learned was that my only responsibility is to obey
Him, regardless of how or even “if” the other person ever responded.
Prayer:
Lord, teach
me to walk worthy of Your calling and to patiently wait on You. Do not let me
fall into the trap of limiting my obedience to You, because I am depending upon
results that I can see and measure. Help me to be willing to offend a friend or
to look silly to someone I would rather impress, in the process of obeying Your
Spirit one moment at a time throughout the day.
Thought for
the Day:
God
opens doors for us that we could never even imagine.
