GOD'S MOTIVES

"He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me." - 2 Samuel 22:20

Questioning someone's motives for their activities can become an overriding response to those to whom we relate. Wrong motives can result in broken relationships, poor business decisions, and falling out of God's will. Sometimes we do not know the motive of another person. It is wrong for us to assume what their motive is until we have confidence that we know their intentions. When we respond or react prematurely, we become judge and jury over them.

God has a motive for every one of His children. His desire is to bring us into a spacious place. He wants us to go beyond our borders of safety and security so that we might experience life at a level that goes beyond ourselves. What do you think of when you think of a "spacious place"? No limitations? A large, grassy field? Open air? These are positive images. Sometimes these spacious places encourage us to step out in faith into areas where we've never ventured. Sometimes we need to be rescued by the Lord. When Peter walked on the water, God was inviting him to a spacious place. He went beyond the borders of his boat and ventured into a whole new world. He didn't have complete success in his venturing out, but it was a process that would lead him to the next victory in his faith walk with Jesus. Sometimes failure is what is needed in order to move us to the next level of faith with God. However, we must be willing to fail and let God rescue us.

The Lord delights in this process. His motive for His children is always love. It is always to bring us to a new level of trust and dependence on Him.

YOU NEED POWER

 

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). D.L. Moody was a shoe salesman until God moved him into a full-time preaching ministry, often in the streets of Chicago. There came a point in his journey with God that he realized he needed more in his life than what he was experiencing. "At the close of the Sabbath evening services I remember two holy women they would say to me, 'We have been praying for you.' I said, 'Why don't you pray for the people?' They answered, 'You need power.' 'I need power?' I said to myself. Why, I thought I had power. I had a large Sabbath school and the largest congregation in Chicago. I was in a sense satisfied. But then came these two godly women who prayed for me, and their earnest talk about "the anointing for special service" set me thinking. I asked them to come and talk with me, and we got down on our knees. They poured out their hearts, that I might receive the anointing of the Holy Ghost. And there came a great hunger into my soul. I knew not what it was. I began to cry as I never did before. The hunger increased. I really felt that I did not want to live any longer if I could not have this power for service. I kept on crying all the time that God would fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day, in the city of New York - Oh, what a day! I cannot describe it; I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to me. Paul had an experience that he never spoke for fourteen years. I can only say, God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I had to ask Him to stay His hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons were no different; I did not present any new truths, and yet hundreds were converted. I would not be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you would gave me all Glasgow.* *Elmer Towns, Understanding the Deeper Life, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1984, pp. 224, 225

SPIRITUAL TACT

“Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us." -Titus 2:6-8

Have you ever been around someone who believed slightly different than you? Every day we encounter those with different beliefs that us.

In an age where the idea of relativity and absolutes co-exist, it is essential that we speak other people's language. If we act in an inflexible or graceless manner, we can easily turn people off to the gospel. Likewise, we cannot speak "Christianese" and expect other people to understand what we mean.

Rather, if we use discernment and ask the Holy Spirit what the person needs, there is a far greater likelihood we will speak their language and meet their need, even if the door is not fully open to share the message of Jesus.

I met with a lady one day who expressed that her gifts were a bit out of the norm. She had learned to temper her gifts (the spiritual fruit of self-control), so that people could effectively receive what she was communicating. We must remember it isn't about our gifts and talents - it is about what God wants to say to His beloved creation, in a manner in which they can receive it.

There is a time for speaking boldly; there is a time to stand up for the truth. But, in order to model the love of Jesus, we always need to ask ourselves, "Will my actions draw people toward Him, or will they repel them from Him?"

If we can answer that our actions will draw people closer to their heavenly Father, then we are truly putting His kingdom first.

NOT MY WILL, BUT YOURS BE DONE

"He walked away, about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 'Father, if You are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not mine.' Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened Him." -Luke 22:41-43

Have you ever prayed the prayer above? Have you ever said to God, "Not my will Father, but Yours be done." What an amazing statement by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

It may seem like quite a dangerous statement. Do we really trust God enough to completely give our lives over to Him? Are we really willing to do anything? However, I would argue that it is even more dangerous to get to the end of our lives, stand before God, and fail to hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant..."

When we first accept Jesus as our Saviour, we entrust our spiritual well-being and the destination of our soul to Him. Then, we progressively begin to understand what it means to live out the words, "not my will, but Yours be done."

Even though Jesus was Lord over the universe, He still deferred His authority to His Father, God - God of all creation. And through Jesus' willingness, God was able to accomplish something miraculous through Him. His death... His resurrection. He completely changed the world.

Have you ever prayed that prayer, "Not my will, but Yours be done?" I wonder how the world could be changed by our willingness to do anything, to be whatever God needed us to be. Will you have the faith and courage to pray it today?

ALL THINGS WORK FOR GOOD

 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28

If there is any scripture that I could claim as my own, I think it would be Romans 8:28. There have been so many things in my life that should have gone better, but then went sour, many by my own doing. But God is such a faithful God. He took the bad things in my life and turned them into good. Isn't that awesome? A God who turns bad things into good - He's a God who has the ability to perform miracles, like turning water into wine.

In the New Testament, Jesus was at a wedding at Capernaum. They must have had some great parties back then, because this wedding was to last for three days! The "wedding planner", as we'll call him, realized he was going to run out of wine. Jesus was called in to help. But up to this point, Jesus had not worked any miracles. Nevertheless, his mother exhorted Him to help. She believed in Him, that He was the Messiah, and she knew that He would perform miracles.

Jesus' mother said, "Do whatever He tells you to do." Jesus instructed the servants to fill barrels with water. It must have been a scene back then, filling these big barrels with water all the way from the well. But finally, all of them were filled. And do you know what happened? The water was turned into the most delicious wine the people had ever tasted.

Today it is the same with us. We are the barrels of water that get turned into wine. In the Old Testament water was a symbol of life, and wine was a symbol of joy. When we have faith in God, God is able to transform our lives - transform our lives from ordinary to extraordinary - even joy!

Have you given your life to God? Perhaps you believe, but you've never given Him your life. He does more with our lives than we can ever fathom. And we receive joy to boot. Ask Him to take control of your life and do incredible things with it. You will not regret it if you do!

ALL WORK IS HOLY

 “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.” -Romans 12:1, The Message

Have you ever thought of your work as holy? Have you ever considered that Jesus spent the first 30 years of his life as a carpenter, and only his last three in what we’d call “full-time ministry”? We tend to think of a pastor’s or missionary’s work as more holy than an entertainer’s, a sales person’s, and certainly a lawyer’s. But is this really true? When Jesus came to the earth, didn’t He come to reclaim all that was lost in the garden? (Luke 10:19) I believe that He did!

We have a problem in our faith when we don’t think what we’re doing right now is ministry to God, and to others. When we view our work as not as important as a pastor’s or ministry leader’s, this sets us up for failure in being a part of God’s kingdom. We are the church, we are Jesus’ body, we are all representatives of the gospel – why should a title, career path or job description limit us from this Holy calling? It’s all in our perception. We are more likely to settle for mediocre when we don’t see everything we do as a calling from God, as a holy offering to Him.

Imagine for a moment you have a friend named Jane, and Jane is frustrated about her life because she is a secretary, and not a missionary like one of her friends. “I’m not really serving God!” she might say, even though she does enjoy her job. Her workmates see her as a nice girl but wouldn’t call her joyful. Her joy in God doesn’t show because she thinks of her work as “less holy” than her friend’s. She can’t speak life into the lives of others because she is clouded by her frustration. People won’t ask her about her beliefs because she doesn’t know how to let her light shine. When our work becomes nothing more than a means to money, it becomes devoid of purpose. In reality, every encounter we have with others is an opportunity to let God’s light shine through us, and to love them like He does – even if it’s difficult at times.

There is something to be said for doing work that aligns with your gift mix and moving toward God’s ultimate call on your life, whether that is to be a pastor, businessperson, movie director, hairstylist, or whatever. But, even when it doesn’t, and even when we are dealing with difficult co-workers, bosses, and clients, aren’t we still working for God, and not for man? (Colossians 3:23-24)

Do you see your work as holy? Ask God how you should view your work. Everyone’s work – no matter who you are or what you do – has immense value in God’s kingdom!

DILIGENT WORK

"The diligent find freedom in their work; the lazy are oppressed by work." -Proverbs 12:24

Do you enjoy your job? According to Forbes magazine, 70% of all employees hate their jobs. That's a HUGE number! It seems many of us are in jobs where we either don't enjoy the work, don't enjoy the atmosphere, or both. I know I have been in jobs before that I didn't particularly enjoy. I worked as a server for several years and initially I DREADED the idea. But you know what's cool about God? Even if the job is not our natural bent (I was very shy) or doesn't use our gifts and talents, he can still use that job to shape us and teach us things that we wouldn't learn if we had not been in that situation. Maybe He is developing our prayer life, to pray and intercede for a less-than-ideal workplace. Perhaps He is testing our hearts with how we respond to tasks we don't particularly enjoy. But, even if we are working in a subpar environment, if we work as unto God, we will find eternal reward. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23&24 So even if we aren't in work we particularly enjoy yet, we can know that the work we do has spiritual value in God's kingdom. If we carry a mindset of "I am working as unto the Lord today," we will find that even the most mundane or uncomfortable of tasks can have eternal value. When we are faithful in the little things, God can promote us to bigger things. Are you a diligent worker?