Devotionals
John 8:12, 10:4, 18:37, 14:6, 8:47, 1 John 3:19, *4:1-6
Everyone has heard the saying, "What do you plan to be when you're grown up?" I use to think about that all the time. What would I be? There is a problem with that question though. The problem is that God is not included in the question. As Christians, what we are to do, our main focus in life is not based on what we think we would like to do but what God "calls" us to do.
This is a very hard saying for me because in my heart I know how true it is. I'm not talking about jobs or careers but the desire of the Spirit that floods our hearts with the will of God when we open ourselves up to listen and we can hear the voice of God speak directly to the heart. I will be honest and say it's not always pleasent because what God asks of us is usually not an easy task. Each time God asks us to do something it is in ways a test of faith. And each time we do what God has said to do, it may actually get harder the next time because the relationship between the children of God (us) and Himself is based on faith as recorded in Hebrews 11.
We are a people set apart from the world, a people who's hearts should be open and discerning of the things spiritual and of God. John 8:12 "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He wh follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." Chapter 10, verse 4-5, "And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."
This is how it should be for us. When we're in a right relationship with God, we will know His voice, we will discern that He has spoken to us for deep in our hearts the truth is written there in spirit. But if we are not walking close beside God, how are we to know if He has spoken or not? Sin is always a barrier between us and if we cannot fully hear God, we are lost sheep.
In the last part of John 18:37, Jesus is explaining to Pilate the relationship He has to His people. "...Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Jesus is truth about God and the very life of God. He reveals the will of God to us and gives us our very life. As such, Jesus speaks to us in visions given to the heart. It's up to us whether we acknowledge we hear God's still voice or not.
1 John 3:18-20 "My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things."
How often do we look at circumstances and say to ourselves, we are not fit for what God calls us to do? When He touches our hearts and says "I want you to do this for me" and that thing is something in and of ourselves is impossible, what do we say? What do we feel? Satan will latch onto that single thing we struggle with and will wrestle with our hearts. A vision forms in our hearts from God, one that has been prepared for through life's dark past to reach those same people. You can bet Satan will drag everything up from the past, will bring up overwhelming fear because He knows what can happen if God can use someone who's been through hell. The understanding is there, the compassion and extreme love towards the hurt. And when the eyes are on God, a fire burns inside.
It is in these times when we know the will of God that we're going to be tested the most. We can either stand still or go forward. Even if we stand still, God will keep at us. He has appointed us as individuals for a purpose in life, His purpose. No one is excluded that knows Christ. We must search and discern the heart for the voice of God.
Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
Matthew 16:19 "And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
The two verses go together in that God gives us the directions but He has also given us the "keys" or the authority through Christ to do His will. We are not mere mortals but of spirit with power inherited from the love of God. Our path is His path, His will our will. And whatever may come, it's through Christ that strengthens us, through Christ that takes hold and makes new. We're the instruments of God recieving from Him heart visions of the next few steps we are to take in life. May I be humbled to recieve the strength for the next few steps.
~Andrew Nusz~
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Edifying truths...anointed title...such good food for the soul. I thank God for working through you to bless me with this word.
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