July 2022

That’s when it dawned on me. That I don’t believe in me. And that I don’t believe I can succeed. In anything. You know how our world teaches us that we should believe in ourselves? And believe that we can do anything and everything? That we should chase after our dreams? That we should trust in ourselves? That we should believe we can do whatever we set our minds to? And so on? How could I keep moving ahead in my ministry work without believing in me? And in what I could accomplish in my strength?

Because the life of obedience to Jesus, despite how indescribably challenging it can be to say no to self and yes to God and His ways, comes with the everlasting reward of being in Christ’s forever fellowship, drawing ever closer to Him, become ever more like Him, and looking forward to the rewards stored up for His faithful followers in heaven.

I knew the Lord’s will. But I missed the Lord’s timing. And herein lies the message. The Lord has a perfect time for His perfect will. He is perfect, and so are His plans for us. So is His timing for His plans. He is the great orchestra-tor – the great conductor – of everything good and everything beautiful. Right down to the very detail of all of His creation. Right down to the very time frame of it all.

See, when Satan dangled his bait before my hungry eyes, and desperate heart, I opened wide my mouth and prepared to take a big greedy delicious bite. Imagine, after all the time I’d been following Jesus, after all the time I’d spent studying the Bible, after all the time I’d received godly counsel, after all the experience I’d had through the years doing wrong and learning how to do right, there I had found myself about to fall hook, line, and sinker for the devil’s tantalizing, scrumptious-seeming bait.

We are to say no to selfishness and self-centeredness. We are to say yes to Jesus. If we love Jesus, we obey Jesus. When we disobey Jesus, if we love Jesus, we seek God’s forgiveness and turn back to Him and strive to do what’s right. We live to honor God. Not to honor self. We live to glorify God. Not us. We live to please God. Not self.

Does God talk to you? Do you listen? What does He say? What do you do? God speaks to His children through the Bible, by His Spirit to our hearts in line with the Bible, and through His followers in line with the Bible. He only and always speaks in line with the Bible, so we need to make sure whatever we believe we hear from Him is in line with the Bible to make sure it’s from Him.