Thursday, July 14, 2011

Are You Working?

Are you working for the Lord or are you working for what you think the Lord wants you to? There is a difference between the two. When you are working for the Lord it is because the Lord has called you to do it. When you are doing what you think the Lord wants you to do you are doing something you want to do for the Lord.


God doesn't ask any of us to think up something to do for Him because then we would have to ask Him to help us carry out what we have thought up. A God centered plan is God's plan for what He wants us to do.

What if Abraham would have decided on his own that the Lord wanted him to sacrifice Isaac? Abraham would have had to start praying that God would not let him sacrifice his son, Isaac. It was God that told Abraham to offer Isaac. Genesis 22:2; "And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of".

It was not until Abraham stretched out his hand with the knife in it to slay Isaac that the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven. Genesis 22:10-12; "And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. v. 11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. v. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me".

God had provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in place of Isaac, verse 13.

It was because God told Abraham what to do that the plan God had in mind worked the way He wanted it. God didn't really want the physical death of Isaac, God later condemned human sacrifice in Leviticus 20:2; "...Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones".

It is good to think of things to do for the Lord but at the end it must be something God wants us to do for Him. It is the plan that He has for us not the plan we have for God. When it is the plan God has for us He already has a way for us to do it, if we follow His instructions everything will work out. So when you do work for the Lord make sure it is from the Lord and not you.

Mark 16:15; "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature". God has already given each of us something to do for Him. Each one of us should tell everyone and even the ones we don't know about the gospel. If you are like me I can't speak well when I don't know someone but we don't need to worry about it as the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say. From this Scripture each of us has something we can and should do for the Lord.

May you always know the love, joy, and peace of the Lord!

3 comments:

Debi said...

I think all too often we get 'busy' doing what we think is God's will that we forget to ask Him what He wants us to do. Doing anything for God is good, but who wants to do busy work when we can do work that really matters? More than anything else in my life, I want to do what GOD wants me to do. I don't want to just be busy...I want to fulfill His plan for me.

Great post! Love you!

Kandi said...

Deane,

Your words this week have really been speaking to my heart, thank you for being obedient to the Lord in your writing. He has been speaking to me through your words. As I am tempted to run ahead to find His plan for my life, I have to remember He has it figured out and He just hasn't given me the next step yet.

Blessings to you Deane

Jenifer Metzger said...

This kind of goes with what God has been doing in me lately. Working for Him by getting out and doing good deeds for others. It is a stretch for me to go up to someone or make conversation with those I don't know. But if I am working for the Lord, that is all that matters.