OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. How God has a job for all of us. A few months ago I saw a bumper sticker that read “get in, sit down, shut up and hold on.” In fact, I’ve taken that bumper sticker on as my personal motto where God is concerned. You can’t tell God no, because if it is His plan, He’ll make it happen and quickly!

One year ago this month, I went to a women’s retreat and at the retreat, I told a good friend of mine, that I just didn’t have time to get involved with the church, that I was “just too busy.” Too much outside stuff going on and I just didn’t have the time to invest, and because of this, I told her that where our church was concerned, I felt like an outsider, looking in. Oh, it wasn’t the pastor’s fault or anyone in the church, it was me, it was my attitude and as a Christian the Bible tells me that “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:” Phil 2:5 (NIV) and His attitude is “Father, let Your will be done, not mine!”

God has a way of changing attitudes. Somehow, God has rearranged my priorities, my thoughts are no longer about me, myself and I, but my thoughts are “God, I can’t wait for You to take my life and make it Your own....just use me for Your glory and Your honor.” I knew that God had a plan for me, but as hard as I tried to hold Him off (so I could finish what I had started) He kept making things happen so that I had no choice but to do what He was asking me to do. I can’t wait to finish my obligations so that I can get into His work full time and I’m at peace, because I now know that He will allow me the time to do what He wants me to do and to complete my obligations. I’ve realized that if you open yourself up and ask God to use you, He will and in ways that you never dreamed of.

Are you on the outside looking in? Do you find yourself getting “just to busy” and you don’t have a lot of time for God and His church? If you are a Christian, you already have the peace that comes with a relationship with the Holy Spirit, but, I have learned that if your spirit is restless, then you are not in Gods' will, so ask God what it is that He wants you to do. If you open yourself up to Him and listen closely, He will tell you. If you are in God’s will, He will make sure that whatever you are asking will happen, because His will then becomes your will.

Since Jesus went through everything you're going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. 2 Then you'll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want. 1 Peter 4:1-2 (MSG)

What about this years retreat you ask? I’m teaching, and no, the irony has not been lost on me. Like I said, He will use you in ways that just one year ago, you never dreamed of.

God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon's scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Heb 4:12 (MSG)