Holy Spirit gave me a Word this morning that I’m still chewing on… Someone needs this Word as much as I am finding I need it myself. So here we go…
GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE AT WHATEVER STAGE IN LIFE YOU ARE CURRENTLY AT!
I remember when I was a baby Christian, a new follower of Jesus – I got radically saved. For those of you who do not know my testimony you can read it in the pink link below:
I fell head over heels in love with Jesus. He became “my reason”, my passion, my focus. I couldn’t get enough of the Bible or of Him. The Lover of my soul! I was only 21 years old and to be honest, most older people feel like “what does a 21-year-old know? They are just a kid.” I wanted to do BIG things for the LORD; I was on fire for Him. I ate, drank and slept ANYTHING that had to do with knowing Jesus better. I wanted to live for Him and tell others about Him, but I didn’t know how to go about it and because I was a baby Christian and young in Christ, I felt as though older Christians would just give me a pat on the head and treat me as though I was a child. Holy Spirit gave me the following scripture from 1 Timothy 4:12:
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
I felt frustrated because I was treated with the “when you grow up” mentality and I wanted to serve God now!
Listen, if you are a young follower of Christ, Born-Again Believer – don’t let ANYONE hold you back from what God is calling you to do! YES, you are a work in progress – but we ALL are! As long as we have breath in our bodies we will change and grow and mature in Him Who has called us!
IT NEVER STOPS!
I was so very young in the ways of the LORD, but my heart belonged to Jesus! And if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, made Him LORD OVER your life – Holy Spirit resides IN you, growing you, changing you, teaching you, maturing you. Life IS a never-ending journey of growing in Christ! Don’t let being young dissuade you from ALL God wants you to do! Jesus is simply saying to you:
“FOLLOW ME!”
It has been 36 years since I first gave my life to Jesus, the time goes by fast! I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way – but I’ve learned and matured by them.
LIFE GOES BY FAST!
It’s hard to believe that I am in my 50’s now. A time when it seems like looking back is something I do more often… I don’t know if it is because I am a widow of a year or if it is because most of my friends are older than me and I am seeing that there are more loved ones I have had in my life pass. But here I am older and I’m finding out that it is EASY to stay stuck looking behind me instead of looking ahead. It occurred to me this morning that maybe that is one of the reasons why God gave us the example of Lot’s wife… You can read about her in Genesis 19:15-26.
“With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.” He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.) By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”
Lot’s wife looked back at what she was leaving… And she became calcified and stuck in that spot because she did not listen to the instruction of the angels…
I think she is a good example for us to think about… Are YOU spending MORE time looking back on your life instead of looking to God for instruction from Holy Spirit for your future? Please know that I am not saying this in a “judgmental” attitude, believe me when I say that in being a widow, I have found myself more often than not hurting over how I thought my life would be. Johnny and I had only been married for 6 years before he became ill. We did not have quantity but the love we shared in the eight years we were together was rich in quality. It is easy for me to “stay stuck” in my sorrow. And I am not saying that memories are not a good thing – they are! They are God’s camera for us to capture and hold close to our hearts memories and moments, but if you still have breath in your lungs – God’s purpose for you continues on! And we have to reach a place where we turn away from the past and trudge on into the future – trusting in the One Who is leading our way!
I don’t know dear Remnant what you are experiencing in this life right now, but God has ALWAYS had a plan for your life! A purpose! A calling! And we have an enemy who at the most vulnerable moments of our lives tries to get us off track. The very last thing satan wants you to do is to fulfill your purpose in Christ! To stay stuck in sorrow, in anger, in depression – whatever it is that is making you turn your head away from what God has called you to do! To be calcified into the situation of your life.
THAT IS NOT GOD’S PURPOSE FOR YOU!
We live in a fallen world – but the victory has ALREADY been won! This world that we live in is NOT the one that God had in mind for us when He created Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. But here is the thing I want you to remember (as I have had to remind myself!) – no matter WHAT we go through in life, if we have given our lives to Jesus – accepted His gift of salvation, made Him LORD OVER your lives – our lives are not our own! They are His! God never told us that life would be easy! On the contrary Jesus said the opposite! I think sometimes when we decide to accept Jesus as our Savior, make Him LORD OVER our lives that we think everything will be hunky dory! That we will have no problems anymore… But that is not correct! The battle HAS already been won, and the victory IS ours and we can find peace in that, but Jesus did say in John 16:33:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Colossians 3:2 tells us:
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
That is something that requires CONSTANT training! We have to continue in our walks to re-focus on God and NOT on the things of this world and it can be extremely hard! But in order to go forward in what the Father has called us to do, how He has called us to live – we have to press on! Fighting the GOOD fight of faith! TRUSTING in Him! Allowing Him to renew our minds, to do otherwise is to become stuck in the path and unable to go forward. If you are someone who is feeling stuck in your life right now, will you pray with me?
“Father God, I thank You that Your Word tells me that You knew me while I was created in my mother’s womb. That You have had a plan for my life, one that I am meant to fulfill. Father, forgive me for the times when I have let situations draw my attention away from you and on them. Forgive me for the times when I have spent more time looking back on my life instead of forward. Help me Father, to not be as Lot’s wife was – stuck in my situation. Jesus, You promised me that you would never leave NOR forsake me. Help me to continuously feel Your hand in mine and I ask that during the moments that I start to drift my attention off of you that you pull my arm forward to continue my walk in You. Help me to refocus… Guide me… I CANNOT go through this life and all it entails WITHOUT You, nor do I want to! I need You! Please continue to direct my path, I don’t want to get stuck and not continue on in all You have for me to do. I re-commit my life, my mind, my heart, my feelings to You! When I am weak, please make me strong! In ALL things I ask that You will be glorified in my life! Thank You Father for hearing my prayer! I love You Father, I love You Lord, I love You Holy Spirit! Be glorified. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!”
I often have to remind myself that I only see in part, but that God sees in full. We can find comfort in that, we have a merciful Father and Savior
WHO KNOWS ALL THINGS! WHO SEES ALL THINGS! WHO IS THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH
There is nothing we experience that Jesus cannot relate to. During hard times, no matter what the cause we need to turn to Him. When we turn to Him and ask for strength and help and guidance, He will not turn from us. We are dependent upon Him. That’s the way we were made to be! We were not made to live a life separate from God! (Although if we choose to do so it will be because we have free-will, which in truth is not freeing when we choose to live an earthly life and hence an eternal life without God).
One more thing I’d like to add in closing is this – sometimes the awful things in life that we experience can be used to help someone else later on down the line to get through those VERY same things. We are MANY members but one in the body of Christ and someone may need to hear how God help you go through a life-threatening disease, a death of a spouse or child or whatever hardships you have encountered in this life.
WE ARE CALLED TO PRESS FORWARD AND NOT STAY STUCK LOOKING BACK
I pray this post motivates you to go forward in ALL God has for you, for this life is temporal but eternal life is forever, and the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:9:
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him.”
Time goes by so fast in this life, I think it is something you don’t fully realize until you are older, and you begin to wonder how the time has gone so quickly by… So we need to trust God in the hard moments in order to move forward and complete ALL He has called us to do. The choice is yours – may you not spend precious time looking back (unless it is to share your experience with another) but to full fill ALL God has for you to do in Christ Jesus, for there is NO greater satisfaction in life than living for the One Who died for you to live – for all eternity. \0/ \0/ \0/
9
0
20