From the beginning, God's plan through Jesus has been to rescue fallen people and take them to Himself in Heaven. In large measure, He's delaying judgement on this fallen world, allowing more time for more people to turn to Him. And not for them to just kind of turn; to really turn, an all the way deep down in the heart kind of turn that impacts every part of a person's life.
That kind of heart change won't always be easy. But whether it's easy or not, the goal for us, more than anything, should be to sell out completely to whatever makes our Creator's heart sing and rejoice.
Jesus said in Mark 12:30 that we are to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. He wasn't making a suggestion; He's telling us our calling. Loving Him that way must be the path we choose for our lives.
Sometimes I imagine the Lord saying to me,
"Mark, tell you what. Love me with all your heart, soul, mind and strength -- with all you've got.
I'll love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength -- with all I've got. Then we'll just walk down this road together."
He's given you free will. He knows what path He wants you to choose, but He won't dictate your choices.
For now, chaos and evil operate in this fallen world. For now, Satan and his demons try to jump on every opening they can find. In this fallen world, God always tries to draw people to choose Jesus. He wants everyone, but He won't force anyone.
He wants you to embrace Him even though you don't know the details. It's your choice to take it or leave it.
In our human experience, we want to know the details before we give something the thumbs up. You'd be foolish to sign a Contract before reading it.
Our God experience is not like that. He wants us to give Him and His plans the thumbs up before we know the details.
Scripture gives us a clear example. It tells us that Abraham, the Father of faith, obeyed God and left the land of his birth for what he didn't know. That took trust, deep surrender and a willingness to be changed.
Hebrews 11:8 (NIV)
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
Many people approach the question of faith like this: Let God prove Himself to me, then I'll decide whether to give Him a thumbs up or thumbs down.
But God says pretty much the opposite: Decide that you want to be close to me, then I'll reveal myself to you.
Psalm 25:14 is a wonderful verse. I'm reading from the Amplified Bible Classic Edition.
The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning.
I've also recently read that same verse, Psalm 25:14, in The Passion Translation. It says
There’s a private place reserved for the devoted lovers of YAHWEH, where they sit near him and receive the revelation-secrets of his promises.
In short, He wants your heart's devotion before He deeply reveals Himself.
Jesus wants you to trust His love and what's in His heart for you. In that trust, He wants you to surrender completely to Him. Even in moments that are difficult or beyond your comprehension, He is saying, "Trust Me."
Believe me, whatever you're trading for His customized plan is a really good deal, the best one ever. And what does our incredible Creator have in mind?
Ephesians 2:7, NIV, tells us that He's saving us from condemnation...
...in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Notice also that the passage says "coming ages", not "coming age". In God's plan, there's a lot more than a single wonderful age ahead. I can certainly embrace that whatever it means. That's just more reason to sell out to Jesus.
After many years, I've also learned that there's really only one thing I must have from Him.
And here it is.
I must have Him fulfill His dreams, hopes and plans for Himself.
That's because I'm certain that His incredible plans include me. My part in His story may not always be comfortable for me in the here and now, but that's okay. I don't even have to understand all of it. I trust Him. The outcome will be so very worth it.
The bottom line? I choose to embrace His plans. That's what I was made for. It's only right for the creation to embrace the Creator. But even more, I embrace His plans because they embrace me.
When I embrace His plans, I'm embracing Him. The deeper I'm changed, the deeper He can plug me into His story.
A word of caution, though. Not everything is from God. For now, evil is still present and active in this world. Satan and his minions bring as much deception and harm as they can get away with.
John 10:10, NIV, tells us that Jesus said
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Simply put, Jesus good, Satan bad. Embrace the One, resist the other.
Unfortunately, it's not always easy to recognize evil. After all, even Satan tries to disguise himself as an angel of light.
...Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness...
The difference between good and evil is usually quite clear. There are times, though, that it's not quite so clear. Those times require extra discernment.
The first key is to have the right heart attitude. Scripture tells us that people who don't love truth are easily deceived.
...wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
I once read that U.S. Treasury Agents learn to recognize counterfeit money more by closely studying real money than they do by studying the bad stuff.
It's the same with Believers. Get into your Bible. Ask the Holy Spirit to open it up to you. (John 16:13)
Ask for the Holy Spirit's help. Learn to exercise your sense of truth and righteousness so you can see things as God sees things.
Hebrews 5:14, NIV
...Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Here are some New Testament prayers that fit what I've been talking about.
In Colossians 1:9 (NIV), Paul wrote
...We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives...
In Ephesians 1:17 (NKJV), Paul prayed
,,,that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him...
I'll end with one of my frequent prayers:
Lord, whatever else you do, don't leave me the way you find me now.
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