I am anchored in the belief that anything, everything The Lord
commands me to do, all I can do is to:
·
Acknowledge it as His will for me.
·
Remind Him (and me) that in my flesh, I cannot
do it to His satisfaction.
·
Remind Him I am HIS workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus.
·
Ask Him, by His Spirit and my faith, to allow the seed
of His Word to ‘just do it’ through
me, to His glory and my satisfaction.
Whenever I strike out and try to ‘just
do it’ in my own strength and ability, I mess up, creating a greater mess than there was
before! Man, I hate that with a passion. So He is teaching me some deeper lessons
about waiting patiently for Him to align the circumstances in such a way
that He can ‘just do it’ through me,
and get His glory, to boot! That's remarkable~~~
In hearing from God, we often hear the right message, but then get out ahead of Him, and try to bring it to
pass, frequently in the wrong
timing and manner- our timing and manner. I’ve been there. Have you??
My new approach is to acknowledge the message, then start looking for,
and being alert to how the Hand of God may be aligning circumstances, so He,
Himself, can ‘just do it!’ If I
meddle, I will, likely in pride, be tempted to steal His glory - a big NO-NO! When the devil suggests I
have disobeyed big time, I am learning to ignore him. God knows my heart, there
where the seed of His Word is growing a desire and ability for real obedience. Life now is less about my doing,
and more about my being steadfastly patient to recognize I am His
workmanship, not my own.
This is not an easy lesson to learn nor convey, as we all have crammed
into us the ‘Just do it!’ mentality of secular humanism. It really takes
retraining my entire mental framework to start looking for what The Lord is doing through me,
as His Spirit quickens or brings to life the seed of His Word hidden within me,
rather than pridefully looking upon what 'I have done!'. Often, when He is ready to
perform His will through me, I hardly recognize when or how He has moved, until
after the fact. Frequently, others recognize it well before I do. wOw~ I love it! All I have to do is to
learn to relax, to not be anxious about obeying (which my spiritual enemy would
love for me to do), and to just recognize Father God is reading the love
language of my ready heart - my increasing recognition that I am His
workmanship, not my own. My job is to feed, meditate His Word, and allow His Spirit to produce His fruit of willing and acceptable obedience within me. Hey, there is no amount of stressing and
straining fruit trees can do ...to produce fruit!
Remember how Abraham and Sarah tried to finagle God’s promise of a son?
Twenty-five years after giving the Promise, God was ready to ‘just do it’, Himself, through them, by
the Power of His Spirit. That way, only He could get the Glory! What a
God and Savior, and what a lesson.
So whatever to-do’s you may come across in your study and meditation
of/on the Word, hey, r-e-l-a-x, cultivate a heart of patiently waiting
for God, Himself, to do that through you, in His manner and timing; and be on
the look-out for His ‘Hand@work’ in
circumstances, because you, too, are His handiwork. In this manner, you also
become His ‘Hand@work’ in the lives of others.
This reinforces the lesson expressed in From Lists to Loving.
