John Howell

Jesus told a story in Luke 18 to illustrate how salvation works. There were two men praying in church. One was a religious teacher, who spent his entire life making sure that he followed every rule of his religion. He even did more than was required, to make sure that he was better than other people. He said to God in a loud voice: “I’m really glad I’m not like other people,” as he glanced around and spotting a tax collector praying in a dark corner of the church. “I fast twice a week and I give more generously than necessary to the church.”

The Gospels can be easily seen as the story of how, at every turn, Jesus confronted, rebuked, and demolished prejudice both with his inclusive and redemptive teachings, and with his example.

I started to do it. Then came God’s voice. The Spirit of God living inside me. Telling me NO. Telling me what would be the negative consequences of the action I was about to take. Then my flesh responded. I would do it anyway. I wanted to. I had the right to make up my own mind. I could handle the consequences. But no sooner than I started in the direction the Lord told me not to go than I felt His hand from heaven restrain me. Hold me back. Keep me from going where I was headed. In the wrong direction.

Sometimes, friend, when our circumstances are a certain way, or we face certain challenges, or God clearly wants us to take certain opportunities, or He wants us to change course in a big way or even a small one, or He compels us to make certain decisions, or calls us to go in a certain direction and not another one, or He tells us it’s time to let something or someone go, we expect an explanation from God.

God doesn’t promise us this life will be without its challenges, hardships, hurdles, hurts, dangers, etc. We are living in a lost, hard, broken, and fallen world because of the sins of humankind. But in the Lord Jesus Christ no matter what we face on this earth, we can find everlasting life.

Who are we to think He can’t understand what it feels like when people hurt us? NOBODY has ever been treated as badly as Jesus was. And NOBODY in the universe deserves perfect love and perfect treatment like He does. And look how the Lord is still being rejected all across the world!

God is sovereign. Perfectly holy. Perfectly righteous. Perfectly wonderful. Perfectly glorious. Perfect in wisdom. Perfect in knowledge. Perfect in purpose. Perfect in everything right down to the detail. Right down to the location where He wants us. Whether here, or whether there, wherever He wants to send us, wherever He wants us to stay, wherever He wants us to go, wherever He wants us to pass through, to visit, etc. He knows best about everything – right down to our very location in this very moment.

Why do I pray this? Why am I sharing this with you? To love is not always so very easy. Sometimes it is so very hard. Sometimes it seems impossible. At times I have been so very mad at God because of my life’s challenges at the time, or because I didn’t get something I prayed for, that I had everything but love in my heart. I had everything but praise in my mind and my mouth. I missed love in my actions. Oh, how wrong I was to be mad at God! I needed to purify myself and love the Lord instead. With all my heart. As He commands us.

How about you, friend? May I ask you this? Have you turned from your sins and received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Is your life truly devoted to Him? Do you bear the fruit of a life lived for Christ? And, if so, are you taking the love, time, and care daily to tell the world about Him? Are you sold out to Jesus? And to telling people the only way to everlasting life is through Christ?

What if you surrendered your life 100% to the Lord Jesus Christ? Not holding anything back? Willing to yield to Him your plans, dreams, agenda, calendar, time, heart, your work life, your social life, your entertainment life, your romantic life, your family life, your travel life, your sports and hobby life, your housing, your plans, your absolutely everything? Would your life look the same as it does right now? Or would it be entirely different? Or perhaps somewhere in between?

I knew even before I was born, the Lord had already planned my life not to mention my life’s purpose. I knew He knew every detail of all to which He would call me, exactly how He would enable me and provide for me, how He would lead me, the help He would send me, everything, absolutely everything, necessary for me to fulfill the life and life’s purpose to which the Lord has called me.

Discouragement can come from within. Discouragement can come from without. Sometimes discouragement comes from strangers. Sometimes friends. Sometimes even those closest to us. It never feels good, does it? And if we allow ourselves to fall victim to discouraging voices, we can find ourselves feeling down, depressed, confused, disappointed, scared, worried, bitter, resentful, etc. Anything but encouraged and excited as the Spirit of God beckons us to go forward.

Needing answers? Trying to make a decision? Having trouble figuring out what to do? Feeling confused? Wondering if you’re headed in the wrong direction? Or the right direction? Or not headed in any direction at all? Stuck? Unclear? Wondering which way to turn? Is it possible you’re facing the wrong direction?

It shouldn’t take any distance at all to go and serve at a Center of Hope. Every single believer in the Lord Jesus Christ should BE a Center of Hope. We should all shine with the love and light of Christ. We should all share the Gospel message. We should all love, pray for, help, and encourage people. We should all counsel people to follow the Lord Jesus Christ by living according to the Bible. We should all display to the world the message of the hope of Christ. We should all distribute to others the resources God gives us to share with others. When people look at us in our everyday lives, they should see Christ’s love, mercy, grace, compassion, comfort, forgiveness, joy, and HOPE!

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.