Is it possible to say yes to God before you even know what He is asking of you? Is it possible to live in that kind of trust...that kind of desire to please Him...that kind of selflessness...and that kind of willingness to be in His will?
I had gone back and read some of Matthew again today, and I was reading the part where Jesus simply called to Peter and Andrew and said come follow me. And that stirred in my heart these questions today. I mean, I like to think that I try to keep myself open to saying yes to God whenever I feel Him pressing me to do something. I like to think that my desire to be in His will far outweighs my selfish desires. I know there was a time in my life that I was not that open, but I also don't want to become "relaxed" just because I have gotten better. Better can always be even better! There is always room for God to help me be even more selfless. And there is definitely always room for me to be more open to listening for, and following, His will for my life. One reason I know this is because I am human, and my human nature is to be selfish. If you don' think so, just go to any daycare and watch little children play. The moment a child wants the toy that is in another child's hand what do they do...they take it. And what does the child that just lost the toy do...they throw a fit. So it is in our sinful nature to want what we want. So how do we break that? Or actually the better question to ask is how do we allow the Lord to break that in us?
Again as I was reading Matthew today I came across the Lord's prayer. Where in Matthew 6 Jesus is teaching the disciples how to pray to the Father. And He says " Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." And as I was thinking about this prayer again, and why it was so important for Jesus to lay out how to pray to God, I was thinking about my question of "can we stay at a place of 'yes' with God?". This prayer is a HUGE enabler of that. When we read the words that Jesus was saying it is impossible to truly pray this prayer and not have your heart stay in the right attitude. First praising God "Hallowed be Your name", then the very next line is what really stands out to me..."Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven." To be quite honest, unless we truly mean that, we don't really have any business praying this "perfect" prayer. I don't say that to be mean, but to say "Your will be done" and then not have any intentions of carrying out God's will today is a little scary to me. I don't want to say things to God that I have no intension of sticking to. So if we say these words out of our heart, and we allow God to work on our heart, then what we are truly saying is "God, bring the perfectness of heaven into my life here on earth, as I allow Your will to be done in my life". That is surrender! And That is a very powerful thing to say to God. But it is also something that He can only do when we really mean and allow Him to. He will bring His perfect peace into your life. He will bring His perfect joy into your life. He will show you the path He has laid out for you that will be narrow compared to the worlds ways. And He will use you to advance His kingdom. These are the things that God desires to do for us when we open ourselves up to Him. But be prepared, because when we begin to say things like "Your will God", He begins to say things like "drop what your doing and follow me"..."come do my work"...."step out in faith"...."trust me!".
When Jesus walked up to each disciple and said come follow me, He was really saying come live out God's will for your life. It was their choice to step out and do it. So today can be the day that you start to become a "yes man" or 'yes woman" for God. It can start with a prayer and be followed up by obedience. He will bless you for it. Not just yours, but the lives of others will be changed when we can become this obedient and willing to say YES to God before He even asks us the question.
God, Thank You for having a plan, a purpose and a will for our lives. Please help us not take that for granted. That You care so much about us that You have a detailed plan for each of our lives. Help us Holy Spirit to keep our hearts and our minds in alignment with You so that we can be prepared to say yes to ANYTHING You ask of us. And may lives be changed when we act out of obedience to You. I love You and I honor You today God. In Jesus name, Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment