Understanding God’s will (3)

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Understanding God’s will (3)

“The Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.” Acts 20:23 NIV

September 28, 2017 • Bob Gass

About 75 percent of believers now live in Third World countries, often in anti-Christian environments. Xu Yonghai is one of them. He worked to see the legalization of house churches in China. The government responded by locking him up for two years in an eight-by-eight-foot cell in a Beijing prison.

There was no bathroom, only a pipe in a corner from which water flowed onto the concrete. “My cell was the last stop for prisoners sentenced to die,” he said. “At times there were as many as three other prisoners in the tiny damp room, awaiting their date with the executioner.” Yonghai survived through prayer, meditation, and writing.

Using a bar of soap to write on the walls of his cell, he outlined the major points of a book about God. When he was finished, he committed the thoughts to memory, and upon his release, he turned his prison notes into a 50,000-word book entitled God the Creator. More often than not, your difficulties and hardships confirm you’re in the will of God rather than out of it! Paul wrote, “I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace” (vv. 23-24 NIV).

Note the word grace. No matter how difficult the will of God may be, you can accomplish it by drawing each day on His limitless supply of grace.

More from September's Daily Encouragement

At Home In God’s Love

September 30, 2017 • Bob Gass

When someone says, “Make yourself at home,” it means you’re welcome and accepted. And that’s what Jesus means when He says, “Make yourselves at home in my love.” You never have been and never will be loved by anyone as much as God loves you. The reason you have such a hard time grasping that concept is that you have nothing to compare His love to. Nothing could make God love you more than He does right now, and nothing could make Him love you less. The great irony is that we spend our lives trying to earn His love, when it can only be received by faith. John said, “What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to” (1 John 3:1-2 TM). You may have grown up with parents who withheld their love or weren’t capable of expressing it. God doesn’t do that. Throughout Scripture He keeps saying, “I love you. I love you. I love you!” C.S. Lewis wrote, “God created us to be the objects of His love! Sometimes our actions make us unlovely, but we’re never unloved. And because God loves us—we have value. And nobody can take that value away. God’s love revealed at Calvary fastens itself onto flawed creatures like us and, for reasons none of us can ever quite figure out, makes us precious and valued beyond calculation. This is love beyond reason. And this is the love with which God loves us.”

Stick With It

September 29, 2017 • Bob Gass

Observe these six things about persistence: (1) You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. (2) The first two letters in the word goal are “go.” (3) Some people dream of doing great things; others wake up and actually do them. (4) Anyone who brags about what they’re going to do tomorrow probably did the same thing yesterday. (5) You’ll never be what you ought to be until you’re doing what you ought to be doing. (6) If you’re having trouble thinking outside the box, it’s time to get out of the box. When Lester Wunderman was fired from his advertising job, he felt he still had a lot to learn from the head of the agency, Max Sackheim. So the next morning, he went back to his office and continued working as he always had, talking to coworkers and clients, and sitting in on meetings—all without pay. Sackheim ignored him for a month. Finally he walked up to Wunderman and said, “Okay, you win. I never saw a man who wanted a job more than he wanted money.” Well, guess what? Wunderman went on to be one of the most successful advertising men of the century. He’s credited with having invented preprinted newspaper inserts, plus subscription cards like those used by Time-Life Books and the Columbia Record Club—ideas that produced millions of dollars in profit. Now, advertising may not be your thing, but action must be. What are you willing to do to achieve your dream? Work without pay? Refuse to quit? Success belongs to those who trust God—and stick with it.

Understanding God’s Will (2)

September 27, 2017

As you look back on your life, the thing that will bring you the greatest joy is knowing you’ve done the will of God. But in order for that to happen, you must really want to do God’s will. Jesus said, “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself” (John 7:17 NAS). Note the words “willing to do His will.” More than completing your education or getting married or getting your house paid off or anything else in life, you must want to do God’s will. Chuck Swindoll wrote, “There have been times when I said I wanted to do His will but I really didn’t. That’s a tough thing to confess, but looking back with 20/20 hindsight, I realize that at times I resisted His will. And I’ve learned that serious consequences follow selfish resistance.” Paul wrote, “Doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does” (Ephesians 6:6-8 NIV). Note the phrase “doing the will of God from your heart.” That’s about as deep as it gets. More than pleasing people, more than acquiring creature comforts and status, more than staying safe, your greatest desire should be to please God. The Psalmist prayed, “I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8 NIV). Your prayer should be, “In all I do this day, Lord, my desire is to please You and do Your will.”