Jesus Christ is the answer. No matter the problem, issue, situation or condition. All answers to life’s dilemmas can be found in the only begotten Son of the Living God. Jesus Christ said in John 10:10(NKJV), “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Heavenly Father wants us to know that He is a God who deals in the exceedingly abundant. He can do more than we can ever ask or think. He is a Great Big Wonderful God, and He has created everything that we see today for our benefit. He did it all because this is who He is, and it gives Him tremendous pleasure to bless us.

Many people today are not living the abundant life that Jesus Christ came to make available. They are struggling and filled with fear and anxiety about their lives and the lives of others. In John 10:10, Jesus Christ tells us why there is so much chaos and confusion in the world. He tells us that the thief is in the earth to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus is telling us about the devil and the devil’s mission to devastate and destroy the lives of God’s people. We can look around our everyday environments as well as what is happening in the world and see the devil’s handiwork, but we must not allow what the enemy is doing to distract us from what we should be doing.

Psalm 91:1(NLT) tells us, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” We know definitively that there’s no greater, safer, more loving place to be in all of eternity than in the shelter of the Most High. There, we can rest in His shadow. Resting in God’s shadow conveys the intimacy we should have in our relationships with Heavenly Father. He desires this; He wants us to depend on Him for everything. He tells us in His Word to cling to Him ever so tightly, so that we will know His purpose for our lives and begin to move through this earth as conduits of His incredible, unconditional love.

The rest that Heavenly Father is talking about doesn’t mean that we sit back with our arms folded and do nothing. It means that we do all things under His guidance and direction, because living life this way means that He does all the heavy lifting. There is no stress or anxiety when we do things God’s way, because there’s a confidence and peace that travels with our obedience to listen to Him and move accordingly. How, when, and where we move in God’s love is incredibly important to abiding in His rest. It’s an anchor for us, because sometimes, we assume the position of telling God what our purpose is instead of Him telling us. This is where stress makes its grand entrance.

Jesus Christ said in John 5:19(NLT), “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” This is an enormous truth, and many of us are only now coming into an understanding of how it should impact our moment by moment walk in Christ. It forces us to look closely at his practice of praying and meditating on God’s Word in the early hours of the morning, before his day began. He received revelation and instructions. He was guided by the Holy Spirit continually, and he never did anything outside the Will of God.

He said in John 8:29(NLT), “And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.” Jesus Christ always pleased the Father, and again, he never did anything that didn’t please God. This is our example. We may not hit the mark all the time, but we should aim for it. Walking in the Will of God is the form of partnership that God desires with us. It isn’t one where we dictate, because we don’t know what is best. We don’t see the big picture, and we tend to allow our emotions to guide of us instead of being guided by God’s Spirit. God is calling us to Himself and to His purpose, and He may be telling many of us that we must think about our purpose in His Will in a new way.

Acts 2:17(NLT) repeats God’s prophecy given in the Old Testament, Joel 2:28. It tells us, “‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.” We are living in unprecedented times, and they, more than ever, require our attentiveness to the Spirit. There is much work to do, but we must never get ahead of the Holy Spirit. Wherever he leads, we must be diligent and obedient to follow. This requires our patience to rest in the assurance that God’s agenda is the best, and our commitment to it will cause our lives to beautifully unfold. ■

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 

“A New Way of Thinking About Purpose”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.