Tag Archives: accomplishing gods will

January 28, 2025 · 5:34 AM

Refocusing Your Eyes

I talk to people all the time trying to help them to convert their dreams to goals. I try to help them create a plan that is specific and has milestones along the way so they can see their progress. Everyone starts out with good intentions and they’re excited, but then life sets in. Things start competing for their time, and what was supposed to be used on achieving their goal gets spent on something else. The same thing happens with their energy and other resources. Distractions come in as they’re making progress and takes their attention off the goal. This is the unfortunate end to so many people’s journey to making their dream a reality. They take their eye off the prize and before they know it too much time has passed.

In Matthew 14, the disciples were in a boat headed across the Sea of Galilee following Jesus’ orders. As they were rowing along, headed for their destination, a storm came up and fought against them. While they were struggling to move forward, Jesus came walking towards them on the water. They all saw Him out there and He spoke to them to encourage them in their struggle. Peter then said, “Lord, if it is [really] You, command me to come to You on the water” (AMP). He wanted to get permission to get out of the boat and even asked Jesus to command him to move. Verses 29-30 say, “He said, ‘Come!’ So Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw [the effects of] the wind, he was frightened, and he began to sink, and he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” Peter was making progress when he got distracted by the storm and took his eyes off Jesus. He quickly called out for help and Jesus lifted him up and walked him back to the boat.

Hebrews 12:2 says, “[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].” What have you stopped doing for the Lord because you got distracted? Today, Jesus is asking you to fix your eyes back on Him to complete the work. We’re all susceptible to life’s storms and distractions. We’re all guilty of taking our eyes off Jesus at times and stopping our progress. However, like Peter, we can look back to Jesus, call out for help and He will lift us back up to complete the work. It all starts with you fixing your eyes back on Him.

Photo by nikko macaspac on Unsplash

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February 20, 2019 · 5:58 AM

The Grasshopper Complex

Have you ever felt like you weren’t smart enough, spiritual enough, good enough or just enough? Self doubt is something each of us deal with at some point whether we want to admit it or not. It comes up at the most inopportune times too. Whether you’re going to an interview, a date, a meeting with a group of people or just looking in the mirror. How we feel about ourselves often makes us feel inadequate, and that holds us back from so many things. It shows up in our actions, our body language and even facial expressions. It’s usually rooted in comparing the worst part of ourselves to the best part of someone else.

When Moses sent spies into the Promised Land, 12 men saw the same things, but 10 of them let how they felt hold back a nation for 40 years. In Numbers 13:33, they said, “We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!” (NLT) Did you catch that? They compared themselves and felt small. They lost sight of who they were and forgot that they were created in God’s image. Even though the Lord had promised them this land, they chose how they felt over the Word of God.

When we compare ourselves to others, and allow self doubt to creep in, it holds us back from our own promised land. When those thoughts of inadequacy arise, remember Philippians 2:13. It says, “For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure” (AMP). You will always be enough through the power of God in you. You are the temple of His Holy Spirit and He is at work in you to be enough for whatever you face. Push out the lies of comparison and self doubt and replace those thoughts with the truth of who God says you are.

Photo by Boris Smokrovic on Unsplash

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November 16, 2018 · 6:15 AM

Giving God’s Gifts

It’s hard to believe Christmas is just around the corner. Since we were children, we have been taught to anticipate getting gifts. If you were like my brothers and me, you would try to take a peak at them early. It was hard to see them there every day, and to live with that anticipation. Then on Christmas morning, the fun would begin when we could go outside and use those gifts so the neighbors could see. Whether it was a bike, a walkie-talkie or a new football, the greatest part of the gift was putting it to use.

Every one of us has been given gifts by God. Some of the gifts we receive when we ask for them and others are given to us to help us accomplish His will for our life. When you know what your gifts are, it’s important to use them for the benefit of others. They weren’t given to you to keep for yourself. When you use them for others, you revive the blessings that come from giving. Don’t be stingy with your gifts. Give and it shall be given to you. The more you give them for the benefit of others, the more God can trust you with His gifts.

Here are some verses on the gifts God gives.

1. God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.

1 Peter 4:10 NLT

2. May all the gifts and benefits that come from God our Father, and the Master, Jesus Christ, be yours.

1 Corinthians 1:3 MSG

3. For example: The Spirit gives to one the gift of the word of wisdom. To another, the same Spirit gives the gift of the word of revelation knowledge. And to another, the same Spirit gives the gift of faith. And to another, the same Spirit gives gifts of healing. And to another the power to work miracles. And to another the gift of prophecy. And to another the gift to discern what the Spirit is speaking. And to another the gift of speaking different kinds of tongues. And to another the gift of interpretation of tongues. Remember, it is the same Holy Spirit who distributes, activates, and operates these different gifts as he chooses for each believer.

1 Corinthians 12:8-11 TPT

4. Wisdom is a gift from a generous God, and every word he speaks is full of revelation and becomes a fountain of understanding within you.

Proverbs 2:6 TPT

5. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

ROMANS 6:23 AMP

Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash

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February 2, 2016 · 5:30 AM

A Humble Heart

  
James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor” (NLT). When James wrote these words, he had read all the stories in the Old Testament and knew how God operates. God has always had a special place for those who have a humble heart. Take Moses for example. He was raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, yet somehow he was a humble person. He didn’t think of himself as being above the Israelite slaves.

When God asked him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses’ response was very telling. In Exodus 3:11, Moses protested, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” He was so humble, he didn’t jump on the opportunity to lead his people to freedom. He didn’t ask what was in it for him. He didn’t ask God for a signing bonus. Instead, he didn’t think he was worthy of the task and asked God why would He choose him.

God looks for people who are humble to use for some of His greatest work. He knows that the more humble the heart, the less chance for pride to interfere. Humility seeks God’s will while pride seeks its own. One way to humble yourself is to have a realistic look at your talents and to compare them to the task God has for you. Very quickly, a humble person will realize they don’t have what it takes and will ask what Moses did: “Who am I?”

When we are humble enough to to know we are incapable of doing great things on our own, then we are in just the right mindset to be lifted up by God. James 4:6 tells us that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. That grace He gives is what gives us the sufficiency to accomplish His will. That grace keeps our pride in check and our heart in line with His. If we will learn to be humble like Moses, God will lift us up and honor us by helping us accomplish things we could never do on our own.

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March 26, 2015 · 7:38 AM

Giving Up Your Will

I Samuel10 gives us the account of Saul being anointed King of Israel. After Samuel anointed him, he spoke prophetically over him. He told him very specific things that would happen on his way home. The scripture says that everything Samuel told him would happen, happened. When he finally got home, his uncle asked him where he had been. He told them he went to see Samuel. The uncle knew who Samuel was and asked what he was told by him. Saul only told him the parts that Samuel prophesied about. He didn’t mention he had been anointed King.  

I’ve always wondered about that. Part of me thinks that since he had just been anointed, he would want to tell everyone. He knew that Samuel would be coming in seven days to tell him what was next, yet he kept quiet. It could be that he was still in disbelief because the vision was so great. He failed to realize we serve a great God who gives great vision. The vision God gives each one of us is greater than our ability. We can’t accomplish His vision for our lives on our own. We have to trust God as much as He trusts us in order to accomplish it. 

When Samuel arrived as he promised, he gathered the people of Israel together to tell them what God had said. He reminded them of all the great things God had done. How He had delivered them, how He had rescued them and how He had cared for them throughout there history. Then in verse 19 he said, “But today you have rejected me and have asked me to give you a king. (GNT)” The people knew God had cared for them, but they wanted a person to deliver them, not God. They wanted a person to rescue them, not God. They wanted a person to care for them, not God. I believe it’s because they knew they could manipulate a person and not God. They wanted to do their will, not His.

We try to manipulate God into doing what we want. We offer Him things if only He will answer our prayers. We pray, “God, if you do this one thing for me, then I will…” Those type of prayers don’t seek God’s will, they seek our own. When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, He didn’t try to manipulate the Father. He prayed, “Not my will be done, but yours.” If we are ever going to get to the place where we fulfill the vision God has for our lives, we are going to have to move from a “My will be done” attitude to a “Thy will be done” one. We have to let God have His way with our lives instead of us trying to convince Him to let us live them our way.

Saul struggled with that mentality from the first day of being king to his last. He could never let go of his will and fully embrace God’s. Ultimately, he lost the kingdom to someone else. His legacy wasn’t what it could have been because he couldn’t submit fully to God’s will. The same attitude dwells in each one of us, but that doesn’t mean we have to obey it. The same mentality tries to guide our lives, but we can beat it. We must pray as Jesus prayed, “Father, not my will, but yours be done.” When we pray that and lIve it, God will accomplish the greater things He promised.

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