Jeremiah 29:11(NLT)
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for
good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
The foundation of all life is dependent on certainties. It is dependent on truth. This is good news indeed! If you have never been in a place where you have felt utterly lost and devastated by life, then the dependability of certain things may not mean as much. Perhaps you’ve never felt disconnected or that nothing has any real meaning, but many people do feel this way. They are struggling to find their place, and it seems that things are slipping out of their grip. To them nothing seems dependable, and they don’t think they can count on any person or situation, because life continually lets them down. It may seem this way to them, but it’s not the truth. God has a plan for their lives, He has a plan for all of us, and it is a very good plan. Simply put, it works!
Jesus Christ said in John 10:10 that the thief is in the earth to steal, kill, and destroy; these three sums up the devil’s total mission and it is dastardly dark and evil. Jesus then tells us why he came. Jesus Christ came to the earth to give us life more abundantly. Now, most of us would be satisfied and tickled pink with just an abundant life, but God’s Will is that we have a life that is more than abundant—a life that exceeds our greatest expectations! The distance between the motive of Christ and the motive of the devil is eternity; they are an infinite distance apart, one incredibly sinister and the other unimaginably glorious.
Heavenly Father desires that we have abundance in every area of our existence. When some people hear about the kind of life that God wants to give us, their minds immediately go to millions of dollars in the bank, a fancy car and a big house. Those are really nice things, but the abundance that Jesus Christ is speaking about cannot be put in our small little boxes. He’s talking about God’s abundance, and that’s abundance on a whole other level.
The only thing limiting us from this kind of life is our own beliefs and vision about what is possible for us to achieve. The reality that our doubts and limited beliefs may be holding us back might sound unrealistic to you. One of the reasons that it does is because we are programmed from day one to deny our highest spiritual self in Jesus Christ. We are molded to walk only by what we can see and perceive through our five-senses. God tells us in 2Corinthians 4:4(NLT), “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” So often, we look to the systems of the world to make us whole and complete. We rely on them to sustain our lives, but many of the people that run these systems are blinded by the devil. Because of this, these systems and the people that run them are not innately friendly towards those who have made Jesus Christ the Lord of their lives.
Many people in the world look upon those who have faith in God through the Lord Jesus Christ as foolish. They are filled with arrogance and believe themselves able to solve the world’s problems. Our current condition proves that is far from reality. 1Corinthians 1:27-28(NLT) tells us, “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.”
John 17 gives us the record of Jesus Christ praying to God specifically for the disciples that he had walked and talked with daily, and he taught them the Word of God. He did not pray that God would isolate them on an island somewhere, away from the world and its wickedness. No, this wasn’t his prayer. Jesus Christ knew God’s power! Because of what he accomplished on the cross by sacrificing his life and shedding his blood for our sins, we are free! We do not walk in fear, we walk by faith. As God’s children, we are filled with His Holy Spirit. We do not cower in a corner somewhere, afraid of what the devil will do next. Romans 8:37 tells us that we are more than conquerors in Christ. He won the victory over satan! This is the victory you and I should walk in every day!
Jesus prayed that God would sanctify his disciples through His Word. Yes, the world is blinded by the devil and he works through them to achieve wicked deeds, but we are here to do the work that Jesus Christ began. Our mission comes directly from him. He prayed in John 17:18(NLT), “Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.” We are children of the light, and we are called by God to share the Good News about Jesus Christ! This is the call that is upon your life.
There is tremendous chaos and confusion in the world, and sadly, there is also chaos and confusion in the lives of believers; more now than ever. This isn’t what God wants for us. He gave the life of His only begotten Son so that we could live a victorious life, one filled with the manifestation of His promises. Our problem is that we desire all the blessings, but do not want the responsibility. Jesus Christ said in Luke 12:48 that to whom much is given much is required. God has designed life in such a way that rewards are set to automatic when spiritual growth and maturity is our goal. The way to grow in Christ is to pursue his agenda. We must be sanctified by God’s truth and walk it out daily.
Many of us look at our individual lives, and we feel clueless about how to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ. The world is so against the things of Christ that witnessing to others about him in our jobs, schools, or neighborhoods might cause us to be ostracized or singled out for ridicule. We may not suffer the persecution that the earlier believers suffered, but there’s a different kind of persecution that is happening. However, we can’t allow this to stop us. God has strategically positioned every believer. He knows our circumstances and conditions intimately, and He will provide the guidance about all details pertaining to who, what, when, where, and how. Our responsibility is to learn to hear His voice and to humble ourselves under the leadership and guidance of His Spirit.
It can’t be lost on us, that God may desire that we begin our work in the mission of Christ within the relationships we currently have, namely our own families and friendships. We may not know exactly how this should be achieved, but the very first place to begin is understanding that there may be a spiritual responsibility we’ve not realized here. Secondly, we must begin to pray about this. Many of us have overlooked the work God has called us to because we’re looking in all the wrong places. When we redirect ourselves to pay attention to His guidance and consider the reality that our work for the Kingdom is closer than we think, God can open up a whole new dimension of spiritual growth and blessings for our lives. If we are willing to heed the call, He will do the rest. ■
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.
“The Call That Is on Your Life”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.