“I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them.”
Zechariah 13:9 (NLT) Some prayers are answered immediately, but others take weeks, months, or even years. You probably know this all too well! But there’s good news: While you’re praying for God’s answer, you’re going to learn some things that you can’t learn any other way. In the waiting, there is blessing. One of the blessings is that you learn more about yourself when you don’t instantly get everything you want. When you’re going through fire, do you ever wonder why you have to go through it? It’s for testing and purification. As you pray about something over and over again, you face tests that reveal more about you. God says in Zechariah 13:9, “I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold” (NLT). You test gold by putting it in a big vat and heating it until it gets so hot that all the impurities are burned off. How do metalsmiths know when gold and silver are pure? When they can see their reflection in them. God can see his reflection in you when the impurities have burned out of your life—after you’ve been through the fire. He says that, after he’s done the testing and purification, “They will call on my name, and I will answer them” (Zechariah 13:9 NLT). Answered prayer comes after the test. Before every blessing, there is a testing. God tests you with stress before he trusts you with success. These are the principles of persistent prayer. God is going to test you before he blesses you. And in that test, you’re going to learn a lot about yourself. If you give up praying, you’re never going to learn the lessons that help you become more like Jesus. Keep praying with persistence each day. And remember that after the testing, the blessing will come.
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“Let the Spirit change your way of thinking.”
Ephesians 4:23 (CEV) Over and over again, the Bible illustrates this important truth: The Holy Spirit releases his power the moment you take a step of faith. When Joshua faced a seemingly impassible barrier, the floodwaters of the Jordan River receded—but only after the leaders stepped into the rushing current in obedience and faith. Obedience unlocks God’s power. In these situations, God’s power follows your action. But you don’t have to wait until you feel powerful or confident. Just move ahead in your weakness; do the right thing, despite your fears and feelings. This is how you cooperate with the Holy Spirit; it’s how your character develops and how you grow spiritually. The Bible compares spiritual growth to a seed, a building, and a child growing up. Each metaphor requires active participation: Seeds must be planted and cultivated, buildings must be built—they don’t just appear—and children must eat and exercise to grow. At least seven times the New Testament tells you to “make every effort” in your growth toward becoming like Jesus (Luke 13:24, Romans 14:19, Ephesians 4:3, 2 Timothy 2:15, Hebrews 4:11, Hebrews 12:14, 2 Peter 3:14). You can’t just sit around and wait for it to happen. You need to act. Paul explains in Ephesians 4 your three responsibilities in becoming like Christ. First, choose to let go of old ways of acting. “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires” (Ephesians 4:22 ESV). Your new life is based on God’s truth and living according to his Word. That means there may be some behaviors you need to change in your life. Second, change the way you think. “Let the Spirit change your way of thinking” (Ephesians 4:23 CEV). The Bible says you are “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2 NIV). The Greek word for “transformed” is metamorphosis. It’s used today to describe the amazing change a caterpillar goes through in becoming a butterfly. It is a beautiful picture of what happens spiritually when you allow God to direct your thoughts. You’re changed from the inside out. You become more beautiful, and you’re set free to soar to new heights. Third, put on the character of Christ by developing new, godly habits. Your character is essentially the sum of your habits; it’s how you habitually act. The Bible says, “Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24 NIV). Don’t just sit around and wait for spiritual growth to happen—it never will on its own. Instead, be obedient so that you can unlock God’s power in your life! “When the master comes and finds the servant doing his work, the servant will be blessed.”
Luke 12:43 (NCV) All of us have unused abilities. Maybe you are still figuring out what your God-given abilities are. Or maybe you have abilities you’ve abandoned or ignored because of life circumstances. But God gave you those abilities for a reason: He wants you to use them to serve him and others! There are three ways you can start engaging your abilities so that they are being used for good and for God’s glory. 1. Estimate your abilities. Do an assessment of your abilities. What are you good at? Make a list. If there’s one thing to say to young people today to prepare for their future, this is it: Know your strengths and weaknesses. Consider the capabilities God has given you. If you have trouble identifying your abilities, ask someone close to you for help! 2. Dedicate your abilities. “Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him” (Romans 12:1 GNT). Tell God, “You gave me these abilities. Now I’m going to give them back to you. I want to use them for the purpose for which you gave them to me.” 3. Cultivate your abilities. That means practice, improve, sharpen, and develop. Any ability God has given you can be improved with use. Ecclesiastes 10:10 says, “If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success” (NIV). How do you get skill? You practice. You sharpen your ax and work smarter, not harder. Sharpening your abilities—your aptitudes, your skills—is a spiritual responsibility. God has invested enormously in you. First, he created you. Second, he shaped you with spiritual gifts and a unique personality. Then, he sent Jesus to die for you. God has made an incredible investment in your life! And he expects a return on the investment. He’s going to ask you one day, “What did you do with what you were given? How did you use your abilities to honor me, to serve others, to make a living, and to be an example?” Jesus says, “When the master comes and finds the servant doing his work, the servant will be blessed” (Luke 12:43 NCV). God wants to bless your life! When God looks at you, he wants to see you using your abilities in the ways he intended so that you will experience his blessing. “We know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love . . . because God’s perfect love drives out fear.”
1 John 4:16, 18 (NCV) Generally, there's one of three reasons that many people do not fully trust God: People are afraid that if they give their lives fully to God, they’ll lose their freedom, they’ll lose their fun, or God will turn them into some kind of religious fanatic. None of that sounds inviting. Yet God has an answer for our fear of trusting him. The Bible says, “We know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love . . . because God’s perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:16, 18 NCV). God loves you. You were created as an act of God’s love. Over and over in the Bible, God makes this clear. God thought you up and created you to love you and to let you love him. The greatest expression of God’s love is Jesus. God came to Earth in the form of a human being to show us what he is really like. He then showed us how much he loved us by dying on the cross. The cross tells us once and for all that we can fully trust God. We can trust him with our lives because he gave his Son’s life for us. If God is telling the truth in his Word that he loves you, you know he won’t take away your freedom or your fun or turn you into a fanatic. God isn’t a cosmic killjoy. He’s your heavenly Father. The more you know God, the more you trust him—and the less you’ll be afraid of him. “I am determined to obey you until I die.”
Psalm 119:112 (TLB) Life is a marathon, not a 50-yard dash. And God wants you to commit to obeying him like a long-distance runner commits to a marathon. He wants you to be in it for the whole race. Psalm 119:112 says, “I am determined to obey you until I die” (TLB). Have you made that choice? Are you determined to obey God until you die? Psalm 119:33-34 says it well: “Just tell me what to do and I will do it, Lord. As long as I live I’ll wholeheartedly obey” (TLB). “Just tell me what to do…” Do you ever feel like God doesn’t tell you what to do? That might be because you’re not doing what he’s already told you to do. Philippians 3:16 says, “We should continue following the truth we already have” (NCV). Until you obey what God has told you already, he’s not likely to teach you more things. God does not play games. You might say, “God, tell me what to do and then I’ll decide whether to do it or not.” But that’s not how God works. God wants you to say, “I will do whatever you tell me to do, no matter what.” That’s faith. Simply accumulating knowledge isn’t faith. Faith has to include action. In fact, the Bible says, “Faith without actions is dead” (James 2:26 GNT). What is your faith like? Are you refusing to follow some of God’s instructions and finding that your faith is dead? Or are you obeying what God has told you and growing in your faith? If you’ve realized there are some areas in your life where you’re not obeying what God has told you, maybe pray something like this: “Father, there are many areas in my life where I know what you want me to do, but I just haven’t done it. And I’m sorry. Please forgive me for my disobedience. I realize that it was a lack of faith. I wasn’t trusting that you knew best. I ask you to give me the strength to follow your directions immediately, completely, joyfully, and continually for the rest of my life. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” It doesn’t matter where you’ve been in the past. From today forward, you can commit to obeying God for the rest of your life. You won’t regret it. “Obey [God] gladly.”
Psalm 100:2 (TLB) When you think about obedience, is “joy” a word that immediately comes to mind? Probably not. But the Bible tells us to obey God joyfully. And as it turns out, there are lots of great reasons for being joyful as we obey God. First, look at what the Bible says about joyful obedience. Psalm 100:2 says, “Obey [God] gladly” (TLB). Another psalm says, “I enjoy obeying your demands” (Psalm 119:16 NCV). And later in that same psalm, you can read: “I find pleasure in obeying your commands” (Psalm 119:47 GNT). Over and over again you find the writers of these psalms instructing us to obey God gladly, and then saying that he actually enjoys obeying God’s commands. How is obeying God enjoyable? Here are three reasons: 1. When you obey God, you’ll have fewer problems. God made you and gave you the Bible—his instruction manual for life. If you follow his instruction manual, you’ll have fewer problems. It’s like putting together a bicycle—if you follow the instructions, the whole process will go more easily. If you follow life’s instruction manual, you’ll have fewer problems and find life more enjoyable. 2. You’ll eventually be rewarded in heaven and see God’s promises fulfilled. “God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12 NLT). 3. When you love God, you naturally want to obey him. The Bible says, “Loving God means doing what he tells us to do”(1 John 5:3 TLB). Think of a marriage relationship. The longer two people are married, the more they know what offends the other. And they start choosing not to do those things so they won’t annoy the one they love. When you walk with the Lord through many years, you realize all he has done for you and how good he has been to you. So you want to offend him less. You enjoy keeping his commands. You do it because you love him. Do you know how God measures your love? It’s not by what you say. God measures your love by your obedience. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15 NIV). That’s how we prove our love. So start obeying God today. As you grow in your love for God, you’ll enjoy obeying his commands more and more. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do nit lean on your own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:5 (ESV) Some people have a hard time giving attention to small parts of something for any significant period of time. What about you? Are you detail-oriented? Do you know who is? God. God cares about every little detail of life. Have you ever stopped to look closely at nature? Take a flower, for example. Each flower is filled with so many intricate details. And think of the human body. God says that he even numbers every hair on your head. He cares about the details. Because he is a God of detail, he not only wants you to obey him, he’s also interested in the details of how you obey. God wants you to obey him in the right way and for the right reasons. There’s an example of this in the Bible. A man named Naaman was ill with leprosy. He went to the prophet Elisha and asked what he should do. This is the message Elisha sent: “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed” (2 Kings 5:10 NIV). Naaman was insulted. He had expected a dramatic healing from the prophet—not bizarre, humiliating instructions. But his servants talked him into following God’s detailed instructions, even though he didn’t understand them. The result? “So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy” (2 Kings 5:14 NIV). Do you think there was special power in the water? Absolutely not. Naaman was healed because of his obedience. He had faith. He obeyed God completely. When you obey God completely, you’re showing that you love him and trust him. When you love someone, you often do something the way they want it done just because you love that person. And when you trust someone, you do something how they want it done because you trust they know best. So when you love and trust God, you do things the way he wants them done. You obey him completely. Faith is trusting God in the details of life. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own” (The Message). “LORD, you gave your orders to be obeyed completely.”
Psalm 119:4 (NCV) God wants you to obey him. That’s a pretty basic truth that you probably wouldn’t disagree with. But did you know that God has specific ways he wants you to obey him? One of those is that he wants you to obey him completely. God doesn’t want you to pick and choose which instructions you’ll follow. He wants you to be totally obedient. Psalm 119:4 says, “Lord, you gave your orders to be obeyed completely” (NCV). To obey God completely, you need to understand two truths. First, God’s standard of right and wrong has never changed, and it never will. Culture changes. Popular opinion changes. But truth does not change. If something was wrong 10,000 years ago, it’s still wrong today; if it was right then, it’s right now. Truth is eternal. Second, God has a bigger perspective than you do. He sees things that you can’t see. When you try to see from God’s perspective, that’s like an ant trying to see from your perspective. It’s just not going to happen. You’re not capable of seeing like God sees. So you need to trust him. James 4:11 says, “Your job is not to decide whether [God’s] law is right or wrong, but to obey it” (TLB). Humanity’s oldest temptation is to doubt God’s Word. When Satan came to Eve in the Garden of Eden, he said, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 NIV). When you’re tempted, Satan is trying to mess you up in the same way. You find yourself thinking, “I know the Bible says not to do this, but is this really for me?” Or you might ask yourself, “Did God really say that?” Just like he did for Eve, Satan will tempt you to doubt God’s Word. And when you’re tempted to doubt, remember these two truths: God’s truth never changes, and God’s perspective is bigger than yours. You just need to trust and obey. “I will quickly obey your commands.”
Psalm 119:32 (NCV) The Bible says a lot about obedience. God wants you to obey him so he can bless you. His instructions are for your good. But he also tells you how he wants you to obey. One of the most important things you learn about obedience in the Bible is that you must obey God immediately. Psalm 119:32 says, “I will quickly obey your commands” (NCV). Later on, that psalm gives the same message in a different way: “Without delay I hurry to obey your commands” (Psalm 119:60 GNT). When God tells you to do something, don’t procrastinate. Don’t make excuses. Don’t drag your feet. Just do it. Do it now. “But what if I don’t understand why God is asking me to do a particular thing?” you might ask. You don’t have to understand something to benefit from it. I don’t understand how heavy planes fly in the air, but I travel in them. I don’t understand how computers work, but I sure like email. You don’t have to understand God’s commands to obey them and benefit from them. Children often ask why they have to obey. And parents often say, “Because I said so.” What parents mean is this: “Today you’re not old enough to understand, but trust me—I know better. And I need you to do this for your own good.” Like a child, sometimes you’re tempted to ask God, “Why do I need to do that?” And like a loving parent, he might want to say, “Because I said so. I know more than you. One day you’ll understand, but today you don’t. And I need you to do it anyway, for your own good.” What if you can’t obey God with a good attitude? Should you still obey? Absolutely. That’s far better than disobedience. Mature people do the right thing in spite of their feelings. Here’s a principle: In the Bible, anytime God gives a stated command without a specific date, he wants you to do it now. When we delay obedience, we’re questioning God. We’re asking, “God, do you really know what’s best?” Delayed obedience is disobedience. If you want the blessings of God, quickly follow his instructions. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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