“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
Reminder:
God is good
God loves you and wants what is best for you
God sees you. You are never alone
God knew today’s world needed you
God has great things planned for you
God has forgiven your past so that your past cannot imprison you
God loves you more than you can ever imagine or understand
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
Oops! I accidentally did God’s will!
Nope. That rarely happens.
When God’s will happens, it’s almost always because a person deliberately chose to act, obey, and follow God’s will. God’s will is always intentional.
What that means is that you have to choose God’s will. I know. You already know that.
But, what I mean is, it begins when you wake up in the morning. You have to choose and decide God’s will from the start. You have to intentionally choose to decide on God’s will throughout the day. You see, doing God’s will is a predetermined decision.
If you wait moment by moment to decide on God’s will, the likelihood is that it’s probably not going to happen. Long before you have to decide, the decision to do God’s will needs to be pre-determined.
When we live in God’s will it’s because we predetermined to please God more than pleasing ourselves or others. When we do that decisions to do God’s will becomes easier because you predetermine to obey. You don’t even have to think about it. It’s already been decided.
Why wouldn’t we choose God’s will? It would be crazy not to choose God’s will for our lives when God wants what is best for us and God knows better than we do what is best for us.
So, do it. Right now. Predetermine that you will choose to obey God and follow his will. Living in God’s will is always intentional. This is why we were created in Christ Jesus.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:15, 18-19).
Wow. Can anyone else relate to the verses of the day?
Sheesh! This describes me to a tee!
It’s so frustrating. It’s not that I don’t want to do what is right and good. It’s not that I don’t want to stop doing stupid things, dumb things, things that hurt the people I love, hurt the God I love.
Sheesh!
And the thing is when I start down this road of self condemnation it’s never ending. I can keep going.
It’s not like this is my first rodeo. If you’re anything like me, we’ve been down this road before. We’ve repented of the very sins we struggle with. We have already been forgiven for the things we are struggling with. And here we are again repenting and confessing the same sins over again. And we can’t help but wonder if God’s as tired of this as we are.
The devil loves to chime in to remind us of that.
But, here’s the thing. Here’s what you and I must remember.
OUR PAST DOES NOT DISQUALIFY US. OUR PAST PREPARES US.
God is the ultimate redeemer. There is no sin, no past, nothing that God cannot redeem. God will use even our past mistakes and failures for his glory. God will use even our past mistakes and failures to redeem us and to encourage others.
That’s why this section ends with the promise “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
Because of Jesus, because of our Redeemer, our past no longer disqualifies us. Our past prepares us for God’s kingdom ministry!
