Do You Want God’s Best?

 

Photo by Horia Varlan 2008

Do you want God’s best that He has planned for you, or do you settle for what you think is best?

As we grow from babes in Christ to mature Christians through daily Bible study and prayer (Acts 17:10-11), joining a church (Hebrews 10:25), and getting involved in regular service, we may fall into the trap of thinking we’ve mastered our role in Christ, or at least that we have a good handle on it. We may fall into the routine of a “spiritual checklist,” mentally giving ourselves a gold star for sticking to our Scripture reading schedule, church attendance, and ministry opportunities.

In our flesh, we may have shaped our behavior to the point that we can at a moment’s notice put on our Sunday face, give appropriate words of encouragement and perhaps Scripture verses, and even prepare a lesson or write a blog post. But have we forgotten that without Him, we can do nothing? (John 15:5) Do we decide on a plan of action for our Christian service and ask Him to bless it after the fact, or do we pray first about seeking His will?

The apostle Paul clearly had a sincere desire to follow God’s plan for His life (Acts 9:6,18,20), which he understood was to preach the Gospel of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only way to Heaven (John 14:6). Jesus Himself had revealed to Paul the mystery that he was now to spread this message to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews (Romans 16:25-26). Paul was prepared to endure great hardships and suffering to fulfill that mission (2 Corinthians 11:25-27).

God was clear in His directive; and Paul was obedient, faithful and sincere in following it. So I imagine that Paul may have felt frustrated when God seemed to be blocking Paul’s plan to carry out his mission. He and his fellow missionaries had started churches in Phrygia and Galatia, and these were starting to grow. He then intended to preach in Asia, but he was “forbidden” by the Holy Spirit. So they tried to take God’s message to Bithynia, but once again the Holy Spirit did not allow it (Acts 16: 5-7).

Why? God knows everything, past, present, and future, including things we can’t possibly know (Psalm 139:1-18). He sees the whole picture unfolding in the context of time, while we only see a single puzzle piece, and often from the wrong side, at that. God always knows best, and going to Asia at that time was not part of God’s plan for the early Christian missionaries.

Paul was practically God’s right-hand man on earth, at least at that point in church history, and yet God still revealed information to him only on a “need-to-know” basis. It reminds me of Abraham, taking the first step of faith, and then the next, without even knowing where God was leading him (Genesis 12:1-4). But Abraham was a pagan with no track record (Genesis 11), and Paul had a long pedigree of the best ancestry, religious education, and fervent zeal to serve God, albeit misdirected until he saw Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 22:3-10).

Nonetheless, God did not spell out all the details of His plan for Paul’s ministry. We may grow impatient when we don’t understand the overall picture of where and how God is leading us. But if He showed us the whole plan at once, one of two things would happen.

Either we would back away terrified at the enormity of the plan, realizing correctly that in our flesh we could not accomplish it, but forgetting that with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26; 2 Corinthians 12:9). Or we would be filled with pride that God chose us for such an awesome plan, again forgetting that it is all about His glory, not ours (Acts 12:23).

He strengthens our faith by ensuring our reliance on Him each step of the way. He gets the glory by choosing those who have no hope, by earthly standards, of accomplishing the plan. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit within every child of God guides us to want what God wants for our life, and to actually do His will, for our good and His glory (Philippians 2:13).

With His perfect timing, God sent Paul a vision of a Macedonian man asking for Paul’s help (Acts 16:9). God often used visions and dreams in Bible history to direct His children, and He still may, if we take the time to seek stillness in His presence. When testing these visions, we can rest assured that God would never contradict His Word, so that a “vision” commanding us to sin cannot be of God.

From this vision Paul understood correctly that God wanted him to set sail immediately for Macedonia, which he did (Acts 16:10). How often do we clearly understand what God is asking us to do, yet we delay in following Him? Sadly, delayed obedience is the same as disobedience (Psalm 119:60). If a parent asks their teen to take out the trash, and they obey – three days later – can we say they honored their parent’s command?

Because of Paul’s willingness to follow God’s plan and his immediate obedience, God promptly found him passage and gave him a straight course to the appointed country across the sea (Acts 16:11). If we trust in God completely rather than in ourselves, and acknowledge God in all our doings, and not just in what we consider to be most important, He will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).

By worldly standards, Paul’s arrival in Philippi (Acts 16:12), the chief city of Macedonia, looked like a mistake. But God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9).

Paul’s usual practice was to find a synagogue and ask the faithful Jews if he could tell them about the Messiah (Acts 17:1-3,10). But Philippi had no synagogue, meaning that there were not even ten Jewish men living there, which was the minimum number needed to start a synagogue. God led Paul to the river, where people sometimes gathered to worship so that they could use the water in their cleansing rituals.

There Paul found a group of faithful women praying (Acts 16:13), which emphasizes the role that women have had since the early Church Age of gathering together as prayer warriors (James 5:16), to study the Scriptures to faithfully teach their children (2 Timothy 1:5), to encourage one another by sharing their joys and burdens, and to serve and support fellow believers (Galatians 6:2).

Among these women at the river was Lydia, a well-to-do business woman who was a seller of purple cloth, available only to wealthy buyers because of the large numbers of a special, small shellfish needed to concentrate the purple fluid used as a dye. She already believed in God (Acts 16:14), as so many people claim to even in our present world.

But sadly, believing in God is not enough to be saved, for even the demons believe in God and tremble (James 2:19). Salvation requires faith that Jesus Christ is God and God’s Son, Who came to earth in human form as the perfect, sinless sacrifice to pay for all our sins, to reconcile sinful man to Holy God (John 1:29; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Hebrews 2:17). Only when we are born again (John 3:3-7; 1 Peter 1:23) by believing this, turning from our sins, and asking Jesus to be our personal Lord and Savior can we receive God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life.

Faith comes only by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17), which Paul preached to Lydia and the others. When she was saved by believing the Gospel, she evidently led her household to Christ, for they were all baptized (Acts 16:14-15), not for salvation but as an act of obedience. Often one person being born again leads to salvation of the whole family, even though each family member must make a personal decision for Christ.

Lydia offered her time, talent and treasure to Christ, opening her home to shelter the missionaries for as long as they needed and to hold worship meetings (Acts 16:15, 40). Through her efforts and those of Paul’s other converts, the church at Philippi became a prominent center of Christian ministry and evangelism.

God used Paul at Philippi to show His awesome power in casting out demons (Acts 16:16-18); showing that joy in the Lord allows His children to sing His praises even after being whipped and then imprisoned (v. 23-25); and in freeing His children from jail by sending a great earthquake. Even better, this gave Paul and Silas the opportunity to preach to the jailer, who accepted Christ, as did his family (v. 27-34)

The book of Philippians, Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, is crucial to the Christian’s understanding of joy in the Lord, and of how we can rejoice always (Philippians 4:4) knowing that we have abundant, eternal life in Him (John 3:16; 10:10), no matter what our earthly circumstances. Paul himself wrote this joyful epistle from the gloom of a prison cell!

Had Paul not trusted God’s direction, paid attention to the vision God sent him, and obeyed God immediately in changing his destination from Asia to Macedonia, none of these blessings may have come to pass.  What we perceive in our limited understanding to be good may not be God’s best. We must believe that God knows what we need before we ask Him and that He wants to give us His best (Matthew 6:8; 7:11).

If we delight in Him, He will give us our heart’s desires (Psalm 37:4). This doesn’t mean that we’ll win the lottery just because we’re saved! But it does mean that as we become more like Christ, we want to submit to His will (Luke 22:42) and to fulfill God’s perfect plan for our life, which is the best blessing we could possibly have (Jeremiah 29:11; 33:3). He answers our prayers “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

Charles Stanley tells the story of desperately needing a car in his early days as a pastor. He prayed about it, searched diligently for a used car, and finally found one he could afford. He thought it was a good deal and would serve him well, but he did not have a real sense of peace about it. As he sat in the car dealer’s office and was about to sign the papers, he had a clear perception of God saying, “Do you want this, or do you want my best?”

So he got up from the table, apologized to the dealer, and told him he could try to explain why he had such a sudden change of heart, but that the car dealer might have a hard time believing him! Charles Stanley decided to put off his car search for a while. Three days later a wealthy member of the congregation gave him a free gift of a brand new, high-end car! 

Instead of deciding on our own what we’re going to do, and then asking God to bless our plans, may we pray to Him first, listen for His still, small voice, and immediately follow His guidance!

© 2015 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

A 9/11 Warning

To my readers: As we approach the anniversary of September 11, 2001, with its horrific attacks on the Twin Towers in Manhattan and on the Pentagon, our thoughts and prayers are with all whose lives were forever changed by this unimaginable event. I am reposting this from the archives in hopes that it may be a reminder to follow God's Word and seek His guidance at all times.

As I was walking toward our front door about two weeks ago, I noticed three long, thin, dried up oleander leaves lying on the walkway in a distinct formation. As regular readers of this blog know, I am intrigued by patterns of three, in Scripture and in nature, as reflections of the Trinity (Matthew 28:19). So these leaves caught my eye, especially since they were aligned to form the Roman numeral for “9” – one leaf vertically by itself, to the left of two leaves crossed in an “X” pattern, the three leaves clearly displaying “IX.”

Odd, I thought, and wondered if God might be sending me a message, although I had no idea what it could be, until I stepped inside the house and turned around to shut the door. At that point, I was viewing the leaves upside down from my original vantage point, so I now saw them as “XI,” or the Roman numeral for “11.”

9-11: the telephone number to call in case of emergency. Since September 11, 2001, these numbers have always evoked even more dire warnings of terrorism, death, and destruction. I also felt that the oleander leaves spelling out 9-11 may have had additional significance. The oleander is a beautiful evergreen tree with colorful, attractive blossoms, but all parts of the plant are highly poisonous. What seems attractive at first glance is often not what is best for us (Proverbs 23:31-32; 31:30; 1 John 2:16).

So I thought God was sending me a warning, but about what? I had a sense of restlessness in my spirit, and although I prayed about it, I had no clear answer. But God, Who is not the author of confusion but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33; Isaiah 26:3) kept getting my attention with various other references to warnings.

At a Bible study one night at our church, the Pastor’s message was about those who disobeyed God’s law and pursued their own will instead, at their own peril. Because they did not “observe to do” His commandments, He removed His blessings and allowed curses instead (Deuteronomy 5:32; 6:25; 27:8-26; 28).  

God’s Word serves to “admonish,” or warn us (1 Corinthians 10:1-14) by giving us examples of those who disobeyed God and succumbed to idolatry, meaning not just worshiping statues, but having anything stand between us and our relationship with God. The devil can trap us and destroy our testimony and ministry (1 Peter 5:8) even when we are saved and want to fulfill God’s perfect plan for our life (Jeremiah 29:11; 33:3). However, Satan’s power is limited by what God allows (Job 1:10), and once saved, we can never lose our salvation (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:39).

Later that week I heard a Charles Stanley sermon about listening for God’s voice so that we can hear Him and obey. Most often He speaks to us through our reading or hearing of His Word (Psalm 119:105), which can correct, instruct, and encourage us (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 4:2-4),

If we take time to be still (Psalm 46:10), He may speak to us in our quiet time (Jeremiah 29:12-14), or even through dreams (Daniel 2:19; 7:13; Matthew 2:12,22; etc.) or nature (Psalm 19:1). Sometimes God speaks to us through fellow Christians who warn us of behavior that displeases God (1 Corinthians 4:14; Colossians 1:28; 1 Thessalonians 5:14).

When Dr. Stanley said that sometimes God wants to give us a warning, that surely caught my attention! He related an incident in his own life when he was a seminary student and had planned to spend the summer working in his church’s missions’ office. One day he tripped, hitting his head, and he felt God was sending him a warning. He became restless in his desire to know what God had planned for his life, when one day in prayer He clearly felt God telling him not to work in the missions’ office that summer, but to vacation in a small town in the mountains instead.

At first he dismissed this idea, thinking it was just his own selfish desire to relax over the summer rather than providing needed service to his church. But he also clearly felt God asking him to trust and obey Him (1 Samuel 15:22; Isaiah 50:10). So he did, and the first week he was there, the church where he had visited asked him if he could fill in the following week by preaching for the pastor who was unexpectedly called out of town. After he had preached there several times, the church invited him to be their new pastor and was even willing to wait for him to complete his final year at seminary!

He ultimately accepted the position; the church grew; and his ministry expanded astronomically to the point that his sermons and messages are now broadcast on television, radio, and online around the world. None of this would have happened, and he would have fallen short of this amazing plan God had for his life (Ephesians 3:20; 1 Timothy 1:14), had he not listened to and followed God’s call to do something that made no earthly sense at the time (Isaiah 55:9).

God often works that way, with miraculous results when we obey! Servants poured water into pots at Christ’s command and watched it drawn forth as the best wine (John 2:7-10), and armies marched silently around Jericho and then saw the walls come tumbling down at the sound of the trumpet! (Joshua 6:1-11)

In my own quiet time, I had been asking for God’s guidance about financial issues, and how to balance these with time and resources to be spent in ministry and in fulfilling His perfect plan. Soon I sensed that the warning God had for me was in that vein, that our earthly life is but a vapor (James 4:14), and that it will soon be the time when we can no longer use it to serve Him (John 9:4).

He does not want us to waste our mental energy on worry (Philippians 4:6), for perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), and we can cast our cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7). Rather, He wants us to find joy in Him and in our salvation (Nehemiah 8:10; Psalm 21:1; 35:9; 51:12). Every day is a gift from Him, and He wants us to rejoice in it (Psalm 118:24), for we are not promised tomorrow (James 4:14).

As we left our house one morning a few days later, we heard sirens, then spotted an ambulance at a neighbor’s house, followed by two police cars, and soon thereafter by a medical examiner’s car and hearse. This neighbor had worked very hard for many years to take an early retirement. He had purchased the vacant lot next to his property, built his dream house there to live in, and gave the house where he had been living to his son, so that he could watch his grandchildren grow up.

But he had lived there only a few short months when he unexpectedly died in his sleep, and he could no longer enjoy all that he had worked so hard to achieve.

So now I feel I understand the warning – our time here is short; we can’t take our earthly possessions with us; and only those rewards we have stored up in Heaven will have eternal value (Luke 12:15-34). Work is necessary to provide for our families (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but overemphasis on wealth, albeit admired by the world, is a distraction that can keep us from God’s best (Proverbs 23:4-5). 

Sadly, I don’t know whether or not our neighbor was saved, and now the opportunity is forever gone to witness to him. I’m ashamed that I never took the time to knock on his door and tell him that we are saved only by our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6). But it’s not too late to give his widow a copy of God’s Word, a plan of salvation, and an invitation to visit our church.

May we always heed God’s warnings before it is too late, for the night is fast approaching when no man can work. The numbers 9-11 in my special warning may have had yet another meaning: if we commit our lives to God, He will give us more time to serve Him in joy, peace and love. 

Proverbs 9:11: For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.

© 2016 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

Warning!

Photo by Kenny Louie 2012

As I was walking toward our front door about two weeks ago, I noticed three long, thin, dried up oleander leaves lying on the walkway in a distinct formation. As regular readers of this blog know, I am intrigued by patterns of three, in Scripture and in nature, as reflections of the Trinity (Matthew 28:19). So these leaves caught my eye, especially since they were aligned to form the Roman numeral for “9” – one leaf vertically by itself, to the left of two leaves crossed in an “X” pattern, the three leaves clearly displaying “IX.”

Odd, I thought, and wondered if God might be sending me a message, although I had no idea what it could be, until I stepped inside the house and turned around to shut the door. At that point, I was viewing the leaves upside down from my original vantage point, so I now saw them as “XI,” or the Roman numeral for “11.”

9-11: the telephone number to call in case of emergency. Since September 11, 2001, these numbers have always evoked even more dire warnings of terrorism, death, and destruction. I also felt that the oleander leaves spelling out 9-11 may have had additional significance. The oleander is a beautiful evergreen tree with colorful, attractive blossoms, but all parts of the plant are highly poisonous. What seems attractive at first glance is often not what is best for us (Proverbs 23:31-32; 31:30; 1 John 2:16).

So I thought God was sending me a warning, but about what? I had a sense of restlessness in my spirit, and although I prayed about it, I had no clear answer. But God, Who is not the author of confusion but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33; Isaiah 26:3) kept getting my attention with various other references to warnings.

At a Bible study one night at our church, the Pastor’s message was about those who disobeyed God’s law and pursued their own will instead, at their own peril. Because they did not “observe to do” His commandments, He removed His blessings and allowed curses instead (Deuteronomy 5:32; 6:25; 27:8-26; 28).  

God’s Word serves to “admonish,” or warn us (1 Corinthians 10:1-14) by giving us examples of those who disobeyed God and succumbed to idolatry, meaning not just worshiping statues, but having anything stand between us and our relationship with God. The devil can trap us and destroy our testimony and ministry (1 Peter 5:8) even when we are saved and want to fulfill God’s perfect plan for our life (Jeremiah 29:11; 33:3). However, Satan’s power is limited by what God allows (Job 1:10), and once saved, we can never lose our salvation (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:39).

Later that week I heard a Charles Stanley sermon about listening for God’s voice so that we can hear Him and obey. Most often He speaks to us through our reading or hearing of His Word (Psalm 119:105), which can correct, instruct, and encourage us (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 4:2-4),

If we take time to be still (Psalm 46:10), He may speak to us in our quiet time (Jeremiah 29:12-14), or even through dreams (Daniel 2:19; 7:13; Matthew 2:12,22; etc.) or nature (Psalm 19:1). Sometimes God speaks to us through fellow Christians who warn us of behavior that displeases God (1 Corinthians 4:14; Colossians 1:28; 1 Thessalonians 5:14).

When Dr. Stanley said that sometimes God wants to give us a warning, that surely caught my attention! He related an incident in his own life when he was a seminary student and had planned to spend the summer working in his church’s missions’ office. One day he tripped, hitting his head, and he felt God was sending him a warning. He became restless in his desire to know what God had planned for his life, when one day in prayer He clearly felt God telling him not to work in the missions’ office that summer, but to vacation in a small town in the mountains instead.

At first he dismissed this idea, thinking it was just his own selfish desire to relax over the summer rather than providing needed service to his church. But he also clearly felt God asking him to trust and obey Him (1 Samuel 15:22; Isaiah 50:10). So he did, and the first week he was there, the church where he had visited asked him if he could fill in the following week by preaching for the pastor who was unexpectedly called out of town. After he had preached there several times, the church invited him to be their new pastor and was even willing to wait for him to complete his final year at seminary!

He ultimately accepted the position; the church grew; and his ministry expanded astronomically to the point that his sermons and messages are now broadcast on television, radio, and online around the world. None of this would have happened, and he would have fallen short of this amazing plan God had for his life (Ephesians 3:20; 1 Timothy 1:14), had he not listened to and followed God’s call to do something that made no earthly sense at the time (Isaiah 55:9).

God often works that way, with miraculous results when we obey! Servants poured water into pots at Christ’s command and watched it drawn forth as the best wine (John 2:7-10), and armies marched silently around Jericho and then saw the walls come tumbling down at the sound of the trumpet! (Joshua 6:1-11)

In my own quiet time, I had been asking for God’s guidance about financial issues, and how to balance these with time and resources to be spent in ministry and in fulfilling His perfect plan. Soon I sensed that the warning God had for me was in that vein, that our earthly life is but a vapor (James 4:14), and that it will soon be the time when we can no longer use it to serve Him (John 9:4).

He does not want us to waste our mental energy on worry (Philippians 4:6), for perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), and we can cast our cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7). Rather, He wants us to find joy in Him and in our salvation (Nehemiah 8:10; Psalm 21:1; 35:9; 51:12). Every day is a gift from Him, and He wants us to rejoice in it (Psalm 118:24), for we are not promised tomorrow (James 4:14).

As we left our house one morning a few days later, we heard sirens, then spotted an ambulance at a neighbor’s house, followed by two police cars, and soon thereafter by a medical examiner’s car and hearse. This neighbor had worked very hard for many years to take an early retirement. He had purchased the vacant lot next to his property, built his dream house there to live in, and gave the house where he had been living to his son, so that he could watch his grandchildren grow up.

But he had lived there only a few short months when he unexpectedly died in his sleep, and he could no longer enjoy all that he had worked so hard to achieve.

So now I feel I understand the warning – our time here is short; we can’t take our earthly possessions with us; and only those rewards we have stored up in Heaven will have eternal value (Luke 12:15-34). Work is necessary to provide for our families (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but overemphasis on wealth, albeit admired by the world, is a distraction that can keep us from God’s best (Proverbs 23:4-5). 

Sadly, I don’t know whether or not our neighbor was saved, and now the opportunity is forever gone to witness to him. I’m ashamed that I never took the time to knock on his door and tell him that we are saved only by our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6). But it’s not too late to give his widow a copy of God’s Word, a plan of salvation, and an invitation to visit our church.

May we always heed God’s warnings before it is too late, for the night is fast approaching when no man can work. The numbers 9-11 in my special warning may have had yet another meaning: if we commit our lives to God, He will give us more time to serve Him in joy, peace and love. 

Proverbs 9:11: For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.

© 2016 Laurie Collett