God Wants to Reveal His Plan to You

Loretta Young has always been one of my favorite actresses. During the holidays Danny and I watched Come to the Stable, a movie about two French nuns who come to a small American town and involve the townsfolk in helping them to build a children's hospital.

They had a mandate given to them from God. As they began working God’s plan, they weren’t exactly welcomed everywhere they went. They were told by people, including their leaders, that it couldn’t be done. Some of the people they met along the way worked hard to stop them. But they kept going forward because they felt that was where God wanted the hospital to be. They even made people mad!  They were accused of working against people, yet all the while they were just getting orders from the Lord and expecting Him to work it out. They continued working towards the goal, never letting resentment or animosity work into their system. They never let anyone’s doomsday predictions become their focus. They just kept smiling and kept expecting God to honor His plan.  

As the deadline approached it looked like their plans weren’t going to be finished, they were told they would be relieved of their duties and sent home.  They did not retaliate, fuss, fume, insist or manipulate.  They just prayed and kept trusting God.   Guess what? God honored their fidelity and commitment and the Children’s Hospital became a reality. God used two women who were not considered to be important at all but because of their prayer life and their expectations that God would answer they fulfilled their calling. 

Oh beloved, perhaps you’re thinking, “That’s just a movie”. But God wants to reveal His plan to you!  He has a marvelous plan for your life and even if it seems small to you, His plan is out of this world! He has promised to work through your faithfulness in the face of mocking, despair, antagonism and more. He promises to work around your hurts, your brick walls and your foes.  Maybe you’re in the middle of His plan and like the nuns, you’ve run into obstacles.  Don’t walk away now! Don’t quit! Don’t throw up your hands! For God Himself is with you!  You may consider yourself to be insignificant, restricted, unable or more, but God’s plan transcends your mortal weaknesses. 

Run to the Lord this morning and seek His face, for surely He is calling you and surely He is able to perform that call all the way to its completion! He loves you and He’s on your side to work and to will His plans on your behalf for the Gospel and for your blessing.  Just pray and hang on, for what God says He will perform and that’s all that really matters!

Proverbs 16:9 We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.

Psalm 37:23 If the LORD delights in a man's way, He makes his steps firm (NIV)

Psalm 90:17 And may the Lord our God show us His approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!

Let's Give Thanks to the Lord Above!

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to take one of my grandchildren to school. It’s always fun to have a morning with children for they find delight in just being with you. We looked at the heavy frost and he exclaimed that it looked like snow. He also knew where all the best Christmas lights were from home to school.  He wanted to sing Christmas songs too, so we found a radio station that was playing them and listened.  We even joined in as “Here Comes Santa Claus” was belted out by Gene Autry from 1947.  As I listened I heard lyrics I was not familiar with. The phrase, “Santa Claus knows we’re all God’s children – that makes everything right”. Wow. Then still listening I heard another phrase, “Peace on earth will come to all if we just follow the Light. So let’s give thanks to the Lord above, cause Santa Claus is coming tonight”.  I don’t ever remember singing those lyrics that included God in our celebrations. My daughter said she had asked me about the lyrics recently, but I guess until I listened myself without a lot of distractions I didn’t truly hear them.

We live in a world that is trying desperately to drown all sounds and sights of the Lord of Heaven and Earth from our midst. From manger scenes to songs of the season, God is ignored, despised, rejected and removed.  Not only at the holidays, but in everyday living as well God is relegated to the coffee table or the bookcase or the occasional Sunday morning. Perhaps like I forgot the lyrics to this song, you have forgotten the lyrics God spoke into your life. You may be trying to go it alone. You may have not realized when you walked away, but you certainly feel the pain of the loneliness of leaving Him out. It’s never too late to call out to God, for our country and for ourselves.  His hearts’ desire is that we return to our Creator with our whole hearts. You may hear a lot about God, but unless you listen personally, there are many distractions that are eager to lead you away from His presence.

Oh beloved, why not take a moment this morning to renew your fellowship with the One Who gave you life! You were no accident, you are no mistake, you are not a problem, neither are you unlovable. In His sight, you are precious, beautiful, worthy and a exquisite gift to this world. Hear Him calling you? Love songs in the air, sung by the Heavenly Host, are calling out to you today. Stop and rejoice in the Truth of your life – you are cherished, you are blessed, you are forgiven, you are ransomed, you have been made honorable and you are right in His sight. Now that’s worth giving thanks to the Lord above!

Joel 2:13 Rend your heart and not your garments.  Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity.

I Peter 1:18-20 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.  God chose Him as your ransom long before the world began, but He has now revealed Him to you in these last days.

Romans 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

I Thessalonians 1:4 We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be His own people.

Psalm 36:7 How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter
in the shadow of your wings.

I Corinthians 1:30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; He made us pure and holy, and He freed us from sin.

The Lord's Greatest Delight is our Relationship not Our Performance

She was trying so hard to get her daddy’s attention. Tugging on his hand as he towered above her, she saw that he was busy talking with someone. Occasionally he’d shake her off and motion with his hand, but he never looked away from the conversation he was having. She jumped and said his name a little louder. She must have been desperate to talk to him. Frantic, knowing no other way to get daddy to respond, she began to pirouette and tip toe. Other folks noticed the little princess and began to applaud as she performed. The performance grew greater as the crowd ooh’ed and ah’ed. This was great! She was loving the performance and forgot all about her daddy. As her daddy looked the way of the commotion, he smiled and walked over to her with obvious pride. She stopped as their eyes met and she realized she hadn’t even noticed his attention.

Aren’t we like that little child? Often we pray, we seek God, we live in His light. After a while we get

desperate and because we may not have heard from Him, we resort to performance. We don’t know what else to do. After all doesn’t our Abba Father love us more when we’re doing things? Acting right? Behaving? Ministering? Before long performance has taken the place of relationship and we’re so busy that we don’t realize He’s been with us all along. Finally we stop and see that our Abba Father's greatest delight is always the relationship, the intimate fellowship, the love songs we sing.

Oh beloved, Maybe you’ve been seeking God and you haven’t heard His response. It could be that in your desperation you’ve traded relationship for performance and it feels great! Run back to your Daddy God this morning and keep seeking His face, for it’s only in that intimate time with Him that we find our way in this world and our place of service. He promises that He always has time and He will never shake you off! He loves you, He always listens, He always answers and He’s on your side!

John 6:29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one He has sent.”

Genesis 6:9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.

I Chronicles 16:11 (Amplified) Seek the Lord and His strength; yearn for and seek His face and to be in His presence continually!