When we look at the world through our own eyes, we set out to do things that we are confident that we can do. When we look at the world through God’s eyes, we are given things to do that are beyond our current capabilities. We are likely to experience frustration and failure as we attempt these things of God because we start our relying on ourselves. Only after we call on and rely on God’s hand in our work for Him and learn to wait on Him, do we bear the fruit that God is looking for.
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Our Rock
When we receive Jesus into our hearts and are fully submitted to Him, there comes an influx of joy and peace unlike anything that we have known in our lives before. We can lose a portion of our joy and peace if we allow our focus to shift toward worldly things and away from our Lord and Savior. This can happen even in periods of Christian service if our focus is not on the King. Abundant joy is in us and in heaven when we exalt our Lord and look to Him to be our Rock in all that we do.
Our New Life of Service
God calls us unto Himself first. When we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then the outward expression of who we truly are begins.
The new relationship that we have with Jesus will lead us into our areas of service to the kingdom of God. Our endeavors in service will bring us unspeakable joy and deepen our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Hearing the Call of God
Until we receive Jesus into our lives and until we submit to God’s authority over our lives, the only call we are going to hear is the call of our flesh. Once we receive Jesus and submit to God’s authority, then we put ourselves in a position to hear God’s calling upon our lives. We must, however, block out all the noise around us if we are going to hear God’s urgings. Of course, this includes all the physical noise. More to the point, we must remove the distraction that we cause by putting our worldly things in a more important place than the Lord Himself.
The Place of Struggle
The real struggle for many Christians is the balancing act of trying to live two lives – one according to this world and one according to God’s kingdom. There is no balance point between these two worlds. This is certainly no place of peace. The Holy Spirit will gnaw at you relentlessly until you come to that place in your life where you can walk away from worldly choices and make the choices that Jesus would make. Only then will the struggle end.
Send Me Lord
When God places a calling upon our lives, He is the ultimate gentleman. He always allows us the right to choose. He never compels us to be obedient to His request.
“Send me, Lord,” is the only appropriate response. Any questioning or negotiating of the importance, the location or the timing of the mission (perhaps for a more pleasant assignment) indicates that we are not in full submission to God’s call.
Again, God will allow us to choose to be obedient or not. But on the other hand, God will march us around the desert like the Jews until He receives our complete submission to His will. Then, He will send us.
Our New Life in Jesus
Once we have asked Jesus into our lives, He will not leave us nor will He leave us alone. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, He will pursue us to the ends of our sanctification. He will not allow us to remain in our old ways. He will continually prune away every bit of the old life that is not consistent with the new life that He has given us. When we turn loose of this world and go to Him alone, the process will be complete.
Revealing Work of the Holy Spirit
The constant work of the Holy Spirit is revealing to us our own nature. We cannot see our own nature clearly because it has been masked from us by the scars of life. We only see what we have become and judge that creature by what the world tolerates. The Holy Spirit strips away the facade and shows us the ugly truth of who we are without Jesus, but also shows us the beautiful truth of who we are with Him.
Trusting in Jesus
The power of the Holy Spirit strengthens us to stand firm through the waves of circumstances that life sends our way. Through this process, we learn to trust in Jesus as the seas roil around us.
His peace will also hold us steady when the riptide returns toward us. Then His grace will allow us to teach others how to find comfort in the storm. His awesome power will take us and those around us into new waters of unspeakable beauty.
Eternally His
When you receive Jesus into your heart as your Savior, you are no longer the person that lived without Him. You become totally regenerated. The old you is dead. The new you is risen in Jesus Christ. Although your flesh will try to pull you back into sin, your new spirit will have no part of it. The new you has died to sin. In God’s eyes, you are free from sin for all eternity. You are eternally bound to your Savior who took away your sin so you could be with Him.
Through Jesus' Love 