In previous episodes, I have been concentrating on the different ways God is able to communicate with us. Another way that the Holy Spirit can communicate God’s plan is by ordering the circumstances in our lives. These circumstances are often opportunities to fulfill God’s plan for your life! Show More
Thomas A. Edison said, “The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work”. The challenges that God puts before us will often seem greater than we can accomplish. It is important to remember God doesn’t call the capable He calls the available. If He has “called” you then He will enable and empower you to do His will.
Realize that some of our important opportunities have a time
I want to remind you of the wisdom found in Proverbs 3:5-12. This is a paraphrase from the Message Bible:
“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all.
Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this”.
The bottom line is that God loves you and wants the best for you. His best will lead to meaning and purpose in your life and honor Him.
Some might be surprised that God has a plan or call for your life!
Yes, He has a plan for you! In Psalms 139:16 the psalmist says, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them”. You see God knew you even before you were born and even then, had a plan established for you.
Then of course there is Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope”.
What is so important to realize is that God is for you and not against you. He wants you to prosper in all that you do, because when you follow Jesus Christ it glorifies Father God.
Hearing God and Faith
So, the key to a blessed life is that you must know His plan for you. Because God is spiritual or unseen 2 Cor 5:7 tells us that we must learn to walk by faith and not by sight. Now, what do I mean by walking by Faith? First of all, to walk by faith means that you know God’s plan and purpose for your life, for as someone once said, “Faith is impossible unless the will of God is known”! That’s why hearing from God is so important to success in life.
The second point is, what are you to have faith in? Your faith should not be in “faith”, meaning that you can’t will your faith into being. You can’t just grit your teeth, clench your fist and make faith a reality. Your faith must be in Jesus Christ and Him alone. Jesus is the one who died for you, cleansed you of your sin, accepted you into the family of God and has given you a purpose for life. Your faith will grow as you continue in your relationship with Him. Your relationship involves prayer, learning to hear Him, spending time in the Word, and fellowshipping with other believers.
Faith and the scriptures
You may be encouraged by the scriptures, but your faith cannot be in the words on a page… your faith must be in Jesus and Him alone. There is an interesting episode in John 5:39, Jesus is speaking to the legalistic Jews, who are opposed to Him and He says to them, ”9 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life”. In other words, the religious Jews were so in love with the scriptures that they forgot who the author of the scriptures was, Jesus- God in the flesh.
The Bible is a book filled with the promises of God some theologians say that there are over 1000 promises, others say that there are over 5000 promises in the Bible, but again our faith is not in the promise, but in the one who makes the promise- God!
Remember if God is for you who could possibly be against you! Listen to what Romans 8 says beginning in verse 31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things”? In other words, if God would give us Jesus, why would He hold any good thing back from us?
Listen to what the apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”. In other words, you can’t imagine what God, with all His power and authority, wants to do in you and through you!
Open and closed doors.
Christians often use the phrase, of God that he “opens or closes doors”. When God opens a door it usually means an opportunity to fulfill His plan for you, whereas when He closes a door it means that the path you are thinking of is not part of His plan, or He is not in that plan. In either case, opening and closing doors, is for the fulfillment of His plans for you. Just as a side note, let me remind you that God will never force you to make a decision, right or wrong! Your choices are yours to make.
Coincidence and God-incidence
It is important to distinguish between a co-incidence and a God-incidence. A coincidence is random and can be beneficial or harmful. It is strictly by chance. A God-incidence is, as the name, implies a circumstance God has orchestrated. It is a God “set-up”! Remember, as Romans 8:28 states, “all things work out for good to those who love Him and are called to his purpose. Love in this context means that you obey Him. Called to His purpose means that you sense God’s calling to some purpose he has for you.
Paul, Silas and Timothy
A good scriptural illustration of this is found in Acts 16. The Apostle Paul along with Silas and Timothy were sharing the Gospel in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). They also visited the churches that had been established, during Paul’s first missionary journey. The Bible then says that at some point they were forbidden (the was door closed) by the Holy Spirit to continue preaching the word in Asia or modern Turkey. Then they “tried to go into Bithynia (another area in Turkey), but the Spirit did not permit them”, the door was closed to continue their original plan.
It was in Troas (bordering Greece) that a vision appeared to Paul in the night. The vision was of a man from Macedonia (modern day Greece) who stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Now after he had seen the vision, they immediately made their way to Macedonia. You see Paul’s conclusion was that the Lord was calling them to preach the gospel in Macedonia or Greece.
What is so significant about this journey or event is that Paul established 7 important churches in Macedonia or Greece. These are the very same 7 churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation chapter 2 and 3. They are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
God’s plan was that the Apostle Paul was to establish these churches in Macedonia! Paul could have resisted the closed door but then he would not have accomplished God’s best! In God, nothing happens by accident.
Personal Testimony
In my life as a Christian, God has invited me to walk through doors of opportunity. I can remember clearly sensing God’s presence and urging to go through the door. To be honest, I wasn’t always filled with faith and boldness. In my case, I always tried to make sure that I wasn’t trying to do something I wanted to do. What I mean is that it wasn’t something that would appeal to my ego. Deception is at the core of ego.
There was always a sense of, “really God”! Is this you, because this isn’t part of my plan. As I stepped through the open door, I would often encounter obstacles. The scriptures state that God is for you, but remember the Devil is against you! Don’t be surprised if it isn’t “smooth sailing”. Don’t quit!
As an encouragement read 2 Kings 6:15-17. In that account, the prophet Elisha and his servant are being pursued by the King of Syria. They go to sleep in a hut for the night and the next morning the scriptures say, “15 And when the servant of Elisha the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
16 So Elisha answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha”.
When you are in God’s plan you need to look to the spiritual and see the chariots of fire surrounding you and protecting you. Fear not because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world!
As a final note once you start the journey into God’s provision for you, don’t turn back. In a sense, you are half-way there! It is the same distance if you go back as it is to go forward, so go forward and fulfill your destiny!
In closing, it is important to note that while God may open or close a door, He will not force you to go through the open door or prevent you from opening a closed door. A very important truth about God is that He has given you Free Will! Faith requires free will, love requires free will, obedience requires free will.
We always have a choice! Recall Joshua’s words in Joshua 24:15b,
Learn to hear God’s voice through the scriptures, the Holy Spirit, through the circumstances of life and allow the peace of God rule (or be the umpire) in your hearts, Colossians 3:15a. This means you need to work through the fear, confusion or doubt. Remember fear, confusion, and doubt are the opposites of Faith.
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