Understanding What God Has Given

I can honestly say I would not have chosen the path the Lord picked for me of my own free will given the life I was leading 15 years ago. I wanted what Mark wanted, not what God wanted or anyone else for that matter. For the most part, my personal motto was, my way or the highway.

This morning, a friend posted this on her Facebook page, “Are you able to trust God to take care of you or do you live in fear that if you don’t take care of yourself, no one will take care of you? Believing you have to take care of yourself leads to selfishness, which leads to an unhappy life. Real joy is not found in getting your way all the time. The Holy Spirit is a great teacher. He will help you learn the lessons you need to know in order to truly value, care for, and love others.” Lisa Bodrey. This is exactly where I lived for so many years.

How do you approach life choices? Is your relationship with the Father deep enough that you can hear from Him through the Holy Spirit? I know I beat the relationship drum often, but I can say with certainty that without it my life would be very different. I trust the Lord, I have faith in His abilities and plans for my life. That is only possible through a daily relationship with the King.

Are you looking for answers for what you should do in life? Where do you turn when things get hard? For me it’s a simple answer, I choose my Lord. Joshua 24:15 “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Blessings

Understanding What God Has Given
by Os Hillman

“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” 1 Corinthians 2:12

God desires for us to know what He has freely given to us. One of the responsibilities of the Holy Spirit is to reveal His plans and purposes to us. They may be hidden for a time, but if we seek Him with our whole heart, we can know what He has given to us.

John the Baptist understood this principle. When asked if he was the Messiah, he replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven” (Jn. 3:27). John understood his role in the Kingdom of God. He came to pave the way for the Messiah; he was not the Messiah himself. His ministry on earth was very brief, yet Jesus described his life in this way: ” ‘I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he’ ” (Mt. 11:11).

Once we understand what God has given to us, we can walk freely in our calling. However, if we strive to walk in a role that He never gave us, it will result in frustration and failure. God wants to reveal His plan to us by His Spirit. This requires a willingness to seek and accept what He gives us. It may be different from what we thought. It may require adjustments to follow His path for our lives. As we learn from the life of John the Baptist, obedience requires death to our own wills.

Ask God to reveal what He has freely given to you. Pray that you receive and embrace only those things He has reserved for you to receive and to accomplish in your life. Then you can be assured of a life full of meaning and purpose, and you can look forward to hearing those all-important words someday, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”