A Battle of Wills

by Jon Walker
Purpose of Driven Life Daily Devotional

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13 NAS)
Do you respond to God’s direction, even when you don’t understand what’s going on?

Part of the strength God gives you to “do all things through him” is the ability to choose to do his will, even before you know the full implications of what that means. He will begin to change your “wanter,” developing within you more and more of a ‘want’ to do his will.

But this is where we often stall in our steps toward being more like Jesus. We get into a battle of wills with God, wanting him to reveal his plan first, and only then – when we have a full understanding of his plan - will we decide to respond, or not.

But that has us walking by sight, and not by faith, the exact opposite of how God teaches us to walk: “We live by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Am I willing to decide – in advance – that I will do what God asks me to do, no matter what it is? Am I abandoned to him and his will, believing he will strengthen me to do all the things he asks? Or do I behave as if I believe I am the final judge of what is best for my life: “God, show me the whole plan, wait for me to understand, and then I’ll decide whether or not to do what you ask.”

The Good News is that, even if you’re not ready for immediate obedience, God will give you strength to be honest with him. He already knows about your hesitancy, so he won’t be surprised by prayerful confession, such as: “Father, I'm not sure I'm ready to do your will. I don't know if I want to do it or not.”

Yet God is gracious and patient. Tell him, “I don't know that I’m willing to step out in faith without first knowing everything that’s going to happen, but I'm willing to be made willing.”

So what?

· Build your confidence in God – Each time you take a step of faith, your confidence in God will increase, as you see that he is waiting for you on the other side of your decision.
· Polaroid vision – Each time you take a step of faith, God will reveal more of his plan to you. It’s what Rick Warren calls “Polaroid vision:” You can see God’s picture developing, but not all of it is visible right away.
· Grow into God’s vision – You may be frustrated that God hasn’t shown you the whole picture of his vision for you, but he may be holding it back because he knows you will be overwhelmed by what you see. He’s calling you to a God-sized mission, one that will appear impossible for you to complete. But that’s the point – there’s no way you can fulfill your mission without God and his strength working within you.
· Relax in God’s will – If you think discovering and following God’s will depends entirely on you, then you’ll probably start getting nervous, wondering, “Am I taking the right step here? Have I missed something?” God doesn’t need you to figure it all out; he’ll provide the answers as you need them.

© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.

In Our Humble Opinion

by Jon Walker
The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional

“And being found in appearance as a man, [Jesus] humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8 NIV)

Humility is such a slippery slope. The more conscious you are of being humble, the less likely you are to remain humble. It’s like the old joke about the humble man who received an award for his ever-present humility. The problem was, once he stepped forward to receive the award, they had to take it away from him. Ha!

The thing is, most of us approach humility in one of two ways:

• The first approach is consciously acting as if we are humble. We create a false humility by trying to imitate what we think humility looks like.
• The second approach is to assume we’re not worthy, that we’re second class and permanently assigned to the back of the bus.

Neither of these approaches reflect authentic, biblical humility. The biblical approach to humility means you understand exactly who you are – but more importantly – you understand exactly whose you are, and that God has placed you where he wants you, for such a time as this. In this way, your humility is not attached to your self-esteem.

In other words, you don’t have to think less of yourself. Rather, you begin to think more of God, and you begin to agree that you are totally dependent upon God, and from this emerges a Christ-like humility. You’re no longer burdened by having to know all the answers or to be in control of everything.

It is God’s job to solve the problems of the world. Your job is to walk in humble obedience to what God tells you to do.

So what?

• Dependence requires humility – You will succeed in your purpose because of who God is, not because of who you are. God loves you and wants you to succeed. He will support you in your mission for him, not because you pretend toward perfection, but because he knows you can’t succeed without him.
• Humility leads to purpose – As you move toward dependence (a biblical humility) on God, he gives you his strength for any task before you and his strength to take the steps of faith required to complete your purpose. For such a time as this, God created you, prepared you, and called you to share the Good News.
• Christ-like humility – Look at the picture of humility Jesus presents in Philippians 2. Ask God to show you what needs to change in your life in order for you to fit into this picture of humility. Where is there false humility? Or where do you believe you are, in a sense, worthless, that you are not fearfully and wonderfully made by God? “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”
  

© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.

Love Forever

No one falls in love by choice, it is by CHANCE.
No one stays in love by chance, it is by WORK.
And no one falls out of love by chance, it is by CHOICE

He did something for you, now do something for him.

Spread his word, and you'll be rewarded.

How will you be rewarded?

Matthew 10:32

"Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. But whoever disowns Me before men, I will disown him before My Father in heaven"

~~~

Do prayers reflect belief?

by Jon Walker
The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional

“Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: ‘Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people.’” (Matthew 11:25 MSG)

What do your prayers reveal about your perceptions of God?

I was thinking about this question the other day while reading a book by the great prayer warrior T. W. Hunt. In The Disciple’s Prayer Life, Hunt and co-author Catherine Walker say we learn about the attributes of God by analyzing the prayers of people in the Bible.

For instance, when Daniel knelt to pray, he knowingly violated a civil code that required he only pray to a king-proclaimed god. From Daniel’s prayer, we learn that God is the most high God, and there are no other gods above him.

When Cornelius, a Gentile, prayed, seeking salvation from the God of Abraham, we learn from his prayer that there is only one true God.

These, and many other prayers in the Bible, show us the character of God and help us know him more intimately. But then I started thinking, “What would someone learn about God if they listened to my prayers? Would they see that he is trustworthy? Would they see that he’s pure and holy?”

I have to admit that sometimes my prayers reflect more of a wishful faith that hopes God is listening and willing to answer, than a confident expectation that God will do what he has promised to do.

Prayers like that suggest a god who is not trustworthy, a god who isn’t concerned about the circumstances of my life, a god who reflects my own weak faith, as opposed to a God who is trustworthy, caring, and faithful.

So what?

• Know God – Do your prayers reveal the truth about God, his character as described in Scripture? Align your prayers with God’s great and unsurpassed character. He is El Shaddai, the all-sufficient One, able to meet any and all of your needs.
• Pray Scripture – Align your prayers with God’s Word. One way to ensure this is to pray sections of Scripture. In other words, take a passage and use it as the basis for a prayer to God, personalizing it to your circumstances and needs.
• Provision list – Thank God that he does answer your prayers. In fact, keep a prayer list that records your prayers and the answers God provides. It will supply ample, consistent evidence that God is involved in your life and constantly cares for you.
  

© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.

Love God with all your weakness

By Jon Walker
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind …." (Luke 10:27 NIV)

No doubt it sounds strange, but in order to love God with all your strength, you have to admit that you are weak and that your strength is limited.

By doing this, you acknowledge God as the true source of your strength, and that in your weakness, he is strong. You become strong as you become totally dependent upon him, allowing his strength to work through you.

As you allow God to show his strength, you will find yourself doing things you never thought possible. God promises you can do all things through the Father as he gives you his strength (Phil. 4:13). You’ll take steps of faith you never thought possible, and you’ll love others in a way you never imagined as God supplies you with supernatural strength and energy.

God is strong and he wants you strong. He will change you in places where you cannot change yourself, and he will transform the broken places of your life in order to use them for his own glory.

God doesn’t ask you to take steps of faith alone; he is with you in every step, filling you with a grace-charged strength. God only asks you to take one step of faith at a time.

So what?

· Tell God you need his strength – and really mean it this time. Ha! When you try to love and serve others with just your own strength, you’ll inevitably fail. After all, there are a lot of frustrating, unlovable people out there. (Just ask some of my friends!) And that’s OK because God wants you to fail in your own strength so you’ll start to rely upon his strength.

· You can’t love God wholeheartedly – Jesus knows you won’t be able to love God with your whole heart until you become dependent upon his strength to do so. You simply can’t do it through your own energy or strength, but Jesus also knows you’ll come to realize this yourself the more you attempt to love God – and others – on your own. At that point, you’re faced with a very clear but difficult choice: Keep on keeping on in your own strength, wondering why this abundant life thing doesn’t work, or take the “Nestea plunge” into the deep end of dependence on God’s strength.

· One step of faith at a time – Relying on God’s strength doesn’t mean he will require you to take giant leaps of faith. He’s taking you on a lifelong journey, and my experience is that God only asks for one step at a time. The so-called “leaps of faith” you see some people take actually are the culmination of a lot of little steps of faith that you may not be aware of. The first step is to ask God to be your strength as you take your first steps of faith. Willingness to rely on him is a step of faith.

· Question for meditation: How dependent on God am I each day as I walk out my faith? Where am I moving independently of him?

© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.

Christ In You

by Jon Walker
The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional

“God wanted to make known to those among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27 HCS)

While moving through the line at a college cafeteria, one of my friends spotted a note stuck in a bowl of apples. It read, “Please take only one apple per student. Remember, God is watching!”

When my friend, one apple in hand, got to the end of the line, he spotted another note – this one hand-written – next to a bowl of cookies. It read, “Take all the cookies you want! God is watching the apples.”

Has it ever struck you how comically absurd it is for us to behave as if God is compartmentalized, convincing ourselves that somehow we can live separated from – or hidden from – God’s omnipresent spirit?

But this belief – and the resulting behavior – is contrary to the Gospel. The brutal and bloody death of Jesus was not just about paying the penalty of our sins; it also released the Holy Spirit to scrub us white as snow so this Jesus-Spirit could live within us.

When you become a believer, God breathes the Holy Spirit into you (John 3), creating a constant connection between you and the Heavenly Father, a flowing fountain of living water springing up into life eternal. (John 4:14)

To echo Ian Thomas, who is an obedient teacher of Christ, the work of Jesus allows God to come out of heaven and dwell inside you. You now have the energy and power of Jesus working actively within you, transforming you from the inside out. (Ephesians 2:10)

You are united with Christ, but not in some New Age mystical sense – He is God, and you are not– I repeat not – any sort of God. As a Christian, you partake in the Divine nature, but you are not divine. (2 Peter 1:3-4) You’re merely – yet quite uniquely – a trophy of God’s grace, wholly and totally dependent upon him for your salvation, your sanctification, and the next breath you take.

The Good News is simply this – Christ in you – and that is your only hope for glory (that is, an eternity with God). “The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message.” (Colossians 1:27b MSG)

So what?

· God is our strength – Here’s a radical “so what?” With the Spirit of God inside, you can stop praying prayers like, “God, please give me strength.” The fact is, he is your strength. Your prayers can move toward allowing his strength to transform you. (Strength is just an example here – this also applies to wisdom, peace, joy, etc.)

· Up close and personal – God is not a distant God. His spirit is working within you. Paul suggests this is a down payment on the eternity to come, but it also shows that God values intimate relationship over rules or religion.

· Expect God to work in you – You are “God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works ….” (Ephesians 2:10a NIV) Don’t hope that he’s at work in you; expect him to work in you, transforming you into a reflection of Christ. Ask God where he’s working in you, and then expect him to show you.

© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.

The Secret

One day, one friend asked another:

"How is it that you are always so happy?
You have so much energy, and you never seem to get down.

With her eyes smiling, she said:

"I know the Secret!"

"What secret is that?"

To which she replied, "I'll tell you all about it,

but you have to promise to share the Secret with others."

"The Secret is this:

I have learned there is little I can do in my life that will make me truly happy.

I must depend on God to make me happy and to meet my needs.

When a need arises in my life, I have to trust God to supply according to HIS riches.

I have learned most of the time I don't need half of what I think I do.

He has never let me down.

Since I learned that 'Secret', I am happy."

The questioner's first thought was,

"That's too simple!"

But upon reflecting over her own life

she recalled how she thought a bigger house would make her happy, but it didn't!

She thought a better paying job would make her happy, but it hadn't.

When did she realize her greatest happiness?

Sitting on the floor with her grandchildren, playing games, eating pizza
or reading a story, a simple gift from God.

Now you know it too!

We can't depend on people to make us happy.

Only GOD in His infinite wisdom can do that.

Trust HIM!

And now I pass the Secret on to you!

So once you get it, what will you do?

YOU have to tell someone the Secret, too!

That GOD in His wisdom will take care of YOU!

But it's not really a secret...

We just have to believe it and do it...

Really trust God!