Have you ever wondered what God’s will for your life is or what it is that He wants you to be doing right now? I mean, He has given you gifts and talents that He wants you to use, different people that He wants to speak to through you and has a bunch of other great things planned for you. Yet sometimes it seems that we are making no progress at all. Why is that? I think that sometimes it is because we are not willing to go one step at a time. Could it be that we think that we can take the next step in doing what God wants us to do when we have not yet done that which He has already asked us to do? That is just like trying to take two steps with your left foot before you take one with your right. Impossible. In order to move forward you have to put one foot in front of the other; taking one step at a time. I often find myself getting stuck in this pattern of thinking. God tells me to do something and I reply with an, “Ok, God, I’ll get right on that.” The next thing I know two days and then two weeks have gone by and I still have not done that which God had told me to do and I am asking God what the next thing that He wants me to do is. How foolish of me to think that I could move on to the next thing before doing that which He has already told me to do. What I am talking about here is in regards to God’s plan for our lives. We all know that He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us; to give us a hope and a future right? Then why do I feel, so often, that I am not living according to that plan? Could it be because we have forgotten that He gives us light enough for one step at a time and somewhere along the way we didn’t take that step because we were afraid of what might happen. Then as a result have ended up going along on our own path for a while. Or maybe we just, in the battle to overcome that sin of being stubborn, didn’t want to take it and have now ended up right back where we started. I find myself doing that every once in a while. Going back and doing the same thing over and over again. Hoping that somewhere along the way God will see that He was wrong and that I was right. That He should now do things my way and tell me to do something other than what it is He really does want me to do.
Take for example the lesson that I learned about a year and half ago about staying up all night and sleeping during the day. In order for my body to operate efficiently and to take care of itself properly it needs to sleep during the night and not during the day. Well, I learned this while I was working the night shift somewhere and that was fine, and I was done working there I thought that I had come to understand this. Apparently not though because every time that I find myself not having anything to do before noon I tend to stay up until all hours of the night, even though I know that I am not being a good steward of my body. This has been something that God has convicted me on over and over again. Yet I still find myself doing the same thing over and over again. Why? I guess what it comes down to is that I am hoping that God is going to speak to me in some special and unique way during the dark hours of the night even though I know that it is against His will for my life. Don’t get me wrong here though. Sometimes, on occasion, God does speak to us during the night and when He does we need to be listening to Him, for He can speak at anytime. I guess another part of this is that I am scared. Scared that He is not going to speak to me and direct me into the next thing that He wants me to do. So I go back time and time again to a place in which He has spoken to me already hoping that it is in that spot that He will speak to me again. That is not how it works though. We must continue to plow forward trusting that He is in control. For if we continue to go back and do the same old things again and again, how is it that we are going to ever move forward?
Sometimes it is hard to remember all of the lessons that God has taught to us. We may find ourselves faltering from time to time, but thankfully God has given to us the Holy Spirit to help us on the way. He will sufficiently bring to mind the things that God has taught us. The Holy Spirit truly is a gift from God that we ought to be thankful for. It is He that not only guides us into truth, but brings peace to our hearts and speaks to us mysteries of the deep that we do not know. It is in our conversations with Him that we find the confidence to continue on the path that God has laid down for us. That was a slight tangent but the Holy Spirit has become such an integral part of my life that I could not help but write of Him for a short period of time.
I pray that as you are seeking God’s will for your life that you do not do as I have so often done and as the Israelites so often did, and that is to continue to go back and do the same things over and over again. Whether it be fear or something else entirely that keeps you from taking the next step that God has for you in your life know that you will not be able to move forward until you have done what it is that God is telling you to do. One step at a time, one foot in front of the other is how we plod along the path both in this physical life that we live, as well as in our spiritual lives. It is the Lord that directs our steps, even though we sometimes think that our plans our going to guide us better than He ever could. Oh, what foolish and prideful thinking. May we continue, by His grace, to walk one step at a time.
by Justin Kantonen
originally posted April 2008
Showing posts with label God's will. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's will. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Bible Study - LQA Bible Study
Lesson, Question and Application
This study can be done as an individual or in a group. Read through the passage either out loud or silently. Then brain storm all the possible lessons "L" from the passage. Next brainstorm all possible questions "Q" from the text. Finally, look for all the applications "A" in the text.
If done in a group, break into small groups from the beginning and go through LQA in each group, then at the end gather everyone together for a time to breakdown what the passage is about.
Philippians 2:5-11
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient to death even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
What Lessons did you find:
What Questions do you have:
1.
2.
3.
What Applications can make for your life:
originally posted May 2009
This study can be done as an individual or in a group. Read through the passage either out loud or silently. Then brain storm all the possible lessons "L" from the passage. Next brainstorm all possible questions "Q" from the text. Finally, look for all the applications "A" in the text.
If done in a group, break into small groups from the beginning and go through LQA in each group, then at the end gather everyone together for a time to breakdown what the passage is about.
Philippians 2:5-11
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient to death even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
What Lessons did you find:
What Questions do you have:
1.
2.
3.
What Applications can make for your life:
originally posted May 2009
Monday, January 18, 2010
Speak Out - Madagascar
This past summer I spent two months in which the only constant from day to day for me was the pair of 8-inch work boots that I had on my feet. I spent my summer with the Teen Missions International Madagascar team. I felt the Lord tugging on my heart to go on a mission trip for a while and in November of 2007, I started to seriously consider and look into it.
The country and people of Madagascar have a special place in my heart. My grandparents, Rev. Amos and Ovidie Dyrud, were missionaries there for about twenty years. I have heard countless stories of my dad, two aunts, and uncle growing up at the boarding school for the missionary kids, and of my grandparents out in the field. My dad worked in a hospital in Madagascar for two years right after my parents were married, so my oldest sister was born there. He took my family back for three months as he worked in a hospital again right after I was born. We have pictures, trinkets, games, decorative papers and tapestries from Madagascar all throughout our house, so even since childhood, Madagascar has always subconsciously been on my mind. Then in August of 2003, my family went back to Madagascar for three weeks. We took a road trip from the capital city, Antananarivo, south to Fort Dauphin, where my dad grew up at the boarding school, and then flew back to the capital. It was then, seeing all the places where my grandparents lived and worked, visiting the hospitals in which my dad worked and my sister was born, meeting the people who my dad grew up with and worked with years later, and just seeing the countryside and its people, that I fell in love with Madagascar.
Naturally, then, when I first thought about going on a mission trip, I wanted to go to Madagascar. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to arrange a trip there by myself with only one remaining American contact there, so I looked into Teen Missions International, an organization that my oldest sister went on a trip to Egypt with nine years ago. When I saw that they had a team going to Madagascar, I knew that it was the one I was supposed to be on! I sent out support letters at the end of January, and the Lord provided the over $5,000 I
needed to raise well before my deadline.
I left on June 20th and spent the first two weeks away from home at “The Lord’s Boot Camp” in Merritt Island, Florida. We lived in tents, got up at 5:30 to run the obstacle course each day, and took both classroom and hands-on classes to prepare us for the field. We learned things like block laying, steal tying, cement mixing, carpentry, and puppets, among many other things. All the teams took the same classes, whether you were a work or evangelism team. The goal of the classes was to make sure we would be useful on the field, and the goal of the uncomfortable living conditions of boot camp, the work boots we had to wear, the bucket bathing and laundry, the tents, the bucket flushing toilets and no running water, was to prepare us for the worst of mission fields. To be completely honest, I hated boot camp at first, but I knew I had to get through it in order to make it to Madagascar! It was through this time at boot camp that God helped me realize that I could not do it in my own strength; that I needed to surrender everything to Him.
When we first arrived in Madagascar, we had a few very long bus and truck rides. As uncomfortable as they were, they allowed for a lot of time to think and reflect. Missions has become heavy on my heart and Madagascar has always been very close to my heart, so I was hoping that this summer God would use this trip to reveal to me whether I am supposed to be a missionary to Madagascar or not. I found myself picturing myself living in Madagascar with a family some day and falling in love with the countryside, but I never did get a clear answer.
My team’s main work project was adding ceilings in the unfinished dorm rooms of the Bible Missions and Work Training Center that we stayed at in Mahajanga. We had four rooms to finish and we worked in pairs. The rest of the team worked on other various projects including building a railing (and chiseling rocks into blocks to be used as the foundation of it), building a staircase, and painting “English curriculum” animals, shapes, letters, and numbers on the outside walls of the school. We also taught the classes that we had taken to teams of Malagasy teens as we ran a boot camp.
I was not assigned a teaching job, so I actually had very little interaction with the Malagasy kids. As I struggled with having a good attitude about this, it made me wonder if maybe it was God telling me that I’d be back someday and that I needed to let my teammates have their turn. But then maybe it was God’s way of telling me that the Malagasy kids don’t need me and that it’s not His will for me to go back to Madagascar as a missionary. God has not revealed His specific plan for my future to me yet, and I am learning to be content with where He has me now.
by Hannah Dyrud
The country and people of Madagascar have a special place in my heart. My grandparents, Rev. Amos and Ovidie Dyrud, were missionaries there for about twenty years. I have heard countless stories of my dad, two aunts, and uncle growing up at the boarding school for the missionary kids, and of my grandparents out in the field. My dad worked in a hospital in Madagascar for two years right after my parents were married, so my oldest sister was born there. He took my family back for three months as he worked in a hospital again right after I was born. We have pictures, trinkets, games, decorative papers and tapestries from Madagascar all throughout our house, so even since childhood, Madagascar has always subconsciously been on my mind. Then in August of 2003, my family went back to Madagascar for three weeks. We took a road trip from the capital city, Antananarivo, south to Fort Dauphin, where my dad grew up at the boarding school, and then flew back to the capital. It was then, seeing all the places where my grandparents lived and worked, visiting the hospitals in which my dad worked and my sister was born, meeting the people who my dad grew up with and worked with years later, and just seeing the countryside and its people, that I fell in love with Madagascar.
Naturally, then, when I first thought about going on a mission trip, I wanted to go to Madagascar. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to arrange a trip there by myself with only one remaining American contact there, so I looked into Teen Missions International, an organization that my oldest sister went on a trip to Egypt with nine years ago. When I saw that they had a team going to Madagascar, I knew that it was the one I was supposed to be on! I sent out support letters at the end of January, and the Lord provided the over $5,000 I
needed to raise well before my deadline.
I left on June 20th and spent the first two weeks away from home at “The Lord’s Boot Camp” in Merritt Island, Florida. We lived in tents, got up at 5:30 to run the obstacle course each day, and took both classroom and hands-on classes to prepare us for the field. We learned things like block laying, steal tying, cement mixing, carpentry, and puppets, among many other things. All the teams took the same classes, whether you were a work or evangelism team. The goal of the classes was to make sure we would be useful on the field, and the goal of the uncomfortable living conditions of boot camp, the work boots we had to wear, the bucket bathing and laundry, the tents, the bucket flushing toilets and no running water, was to prepare us for the worst of mission fields. To be completely honest, I hated boot camp at first, but I knew I had to get through it in order to make it to Madagascar! It was through this time at boot camp that God helped me realize that I could not do it in my own strength; that I needed to surrender everything to Him.
When we first arrived in Madagascar, we had a few very long bus and truck rides. As uncomfortable as they were, they allowed for a lot of time to think and reflect. Missions has become heavy on my heart and Madagascar has always been very close to my heart, so I was hoping that this summer God would use this trip to reveal to me whether I am supposed to be a missionary to Madagascar or not. I found myself picturing myself living in Madagascar with a family some day and falling in love with the countryside, but I never did get a clear answer.
My team’s main work project was adding ceilings in the unfinished dorm rooms of the Bible Missions and Work Training Center that we stayed at in Mahajanga. We had four rooms to finish and we worked in pairs. The rest of the team worked on other various projects including building a railing (and chiseling rocks into blocks to be used as the foundation of it), building a staircase, and painting “English curriculum” animals, shapes, letters, and numbers on the outside walls of the school. We also taught the classes that we had taken to teams of Malagasy teens as we ran a boot camp.
I was not assigned a teaching job, so I actually had very little interaction with the Malagasy kids. As I struggled with having a good attitude about this, it made me wonder if maybe it was God telling me that I’d be back someday and that I needed to let my teammates have their turn. But then maybe it was God’s way of telling me that the Malagasy kids don’t need me and that it’s not His will for me to go back to Madagascar as a missionary. God has not revealed His specific plan for my future to me yet, and I am learning to be content with where He has me now.
by Hannah Dyrud
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