Christian Journey
The Gift of a Lifetime
Most gift-giving comes with strings attached and an expectation of reciprocation on some level. We are afforded many occasions throughout the year to give gifts to others as a gesture of affirmation, validation or reconciliation to possibly strengthen fragile relationships. In each case of gift-giving you have the giver and the receiver and at the core exists the relationship between the two.
God set the bar really high when it comes to the pure essence of gift-giving when He revealed His heart on the matter:
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)
In other words, when God gives a gift to us it is pure with no strings attached and perfectly designed to meet our need for all time as a recipient. God’s gift is given voluntarily without any payment or expectation in return. If we accept His gift we accept without any particular effort of having to earn it.
When we receive His perfect gift we find all the affirmation, acceptance and validation that we sought in other gifts that can never meet this need. Most of all we find our relationship restored to the God who created us to be in relationship with Him.
The perfect gift is Jesus Christ our Savior, the Gift of a lifetime. What He offers can never be paid for by any effort on our part. He was sent by God to save mankind.
“…I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Have you received the Gift of a lifetime?
Passing God’s Test
One of the ways we can know when God is moving us from one season to another toward fulfilling our purpose is when we find ourselves facing a test. Not just any test, but ‘the’ test that if we successfully pass will usher us into the fulfillment of God’s promises.
Abraham was tested many times before arriving at the ultimate test of obeying God. First he had to pass the test of faith by believing all that God initially spoke to him of leaving his family and all that he had ever known to go “to the land that I (God) will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) God promised to make of him a great nation, to make his name great and to bless him. God even promised to bless his offspring by giving the promised land to them.
Ultimately God promised Abraham a son: “…your very own son shall be your heir.” (Genesis 15:4)
“And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)
Abraham was 75 years old (Genesis 12:4) when God first called him to leave his family and travel to a land that he did not know with Sarah, his wife who was barren. And yet because he believed the Lord he was made righteous in God’s sight.
Finally, at the age of 100, some 25 years after God initially called Abraham to follow Him and after many exploits of faith that tested his obedience, Sarah conceived and bore Isaac. (Genesis 21) Then ‘the’ tests of all tests was brought before Abraham-the sacrifice of his son:
“After these things God tested Abraham…He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:1,2)
Abraham had learned that he could trust in God’s provision in every circumstance even to the point of answering his son’s question of “where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” (Genesis 22:6)
Abraham passed the ‘test of all tests’ by being willing to offer up his own son in absolute obedience to God who was entrusting the birth of a nation into his hands. And God lets us know in our hearts and in our lives when we pass just as He announced to Abraham when he passed:
“…now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” (Genesis 22:12)
Abraham could now be trusted as God’s instrument of providing salvation to the nations through His only Son, Jesus Christ one day.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Are you facing a test in your faith walk? Ask God to show you His provision in order to pass the test and enter into the fulfillment of all His promises!
God & Thankfulness
Thankfulness is a common emotion that prompts us to express gratefulness.
There are two miracles in the bible where lives were completely changed and their response to the miracle that brings application to our lives today.
Naaman, the commander of the army of the King of Syria was described as “a great man with his master and in high favor…a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.” (2 Kings 5:1) He learned through an Israelite servant girl that there was a prophet in Israel that could heal him of leprosy. He went to the Prophet Elisha, a man of God and received his miracle of healing in an act of obedience by following the specific instructions of the prophet.
Afterwards, Naaman the Commander displayed his gratefulness by returning to Elisha with a gift (of which Elisha did not accept) and proclamation:
“Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel, so accept now a present from your servant.” (2 Kings 5:15)
The second miracle occurs in the New Testament when 10 lepers encountered Jesus passing along between the cities of Samaria and Galilee. They began crying out to the Lord to have mercy on them and when He saw them He gave them specific instructions to go show themselves to the priests. In an act of obedience as they “went they were cleansed.” (Luke 17:14)
“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving thanks to Him. Now he was a Samaritan.” (Luke 17:15,16)
Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” (Luke 17:17)
God and thankfulness work together. A grateful heart attitude is cultivated by remembering to ‘return’ to the Lord and thank Him for the daily miracles in our lives. This is the blessed life!
And He said to him, “Rise and go your way, your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:19)
God Desires
Desires come from the heart. They seem to be shaped from a combination of experiences, purpose, talent and inspiration from the world we live in and shaped by influencers that grab our heart. Described as “to wish or long for; crave, covet; to ask for; request,” desires can lead us in many directions.
King David prayed in the Book of Psalms for God to teach him to live wisely by making him aware of the brevity of life on earth.
“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)
Living a life focused on God Desires can save us from wasting a ton of time chasing after the wrong desires. Pursuing a desire that does not align with God’s best for our lives prevents us from experiencing and fulfilling our highest purpose in this life. In the end we want to be able to proclaim as Jesus did to His Father in heaven when His end was near in the Book of John:
“I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave Me to do.” (John 17:4)
How can we know that our desires are God desires? We can begin by following His instruction to delight ourselves in Him, to give great joy or pleasure in desiring to know Him and learning about all His ways. When we decide to shape our lives around this encouragement God promises to give us desires that lead us toward accomplishing the deepest desires of our heart and His. This is the joy of purpose living!
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)
God With Us
How can we know that all will be well in this life and journey with God? How can we allow challenges in this life to grow our faith instead of weaken our faith? Last, how can we know that we are on the winning side in our journey with God through life on this earth?
We must take God at His Word and believe in His promises. We must accept that His way of leading us and working out life issues will often take a different approach than we might take. His thoughts and ways are far above our ways of thinking and problem solving.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8,9)
Once we embrace this truth we can believe God’s promise that all will be well with us. In love, He links this promise with obedience, specifically, obeying His commandments.
“But this command I gave them: Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.” (Jeremiah 7:23)
Trusting and obeying God keeps us in a position of triumph. Jesus overcame everything in this world that could possibly come against us. He is Immanuel, (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:23)
Walk in all the ways that God commands you and He promises to be with you.
“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal possession…” (2Corinthians 2:14)
God Love
Children all over the world grow up with the need to be loved and accepted. Parents want the same for their children and yet they would have to admit that this love need is impossible to meet. Hearts are shaped daily in the moments of living life where the need for love can become complicated and difficult to meet. What parents are capable of doing however is loving their children in a way that leads them to the perfect love that can only come from God.
“For God so loved the world…”
This God Love completes us like no other type of love that we seek. Every need that we will ever have over our lifetime points us toward this God Love which has come to meet our needs. Nothing can take its place, any other type of love simply points us in its direction.
“…that He gave His only Son…”
God Love is the perfect solution to wholeness and acceptance that we seek from others and other things. We must believe in the possibility that someone would desire to love us to this unconditional degree that God Love offers.
“…that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Experiencing God Love brings clarity in a confusing world and sincere purpose of direction toward fulfilling our personal destiny. God Love is non-condemning, it is based on full acceptance without having to get ‘cleaned-up’ first. It brings amazing freedom to become who you were meant to be.
“…God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.” (1John 4:9)
Love God, love Jesus, love others. Live!
God & Waiting
“You’re in good company” I heard God speak to my heart one day many years ago when I was asking Him how much longer would I have to wait for a particular prayer to be answered. To be honest, His words startled me until He began to bring to mind some of the spiritual giants in the Bible who were called to ‘wait’ many years before seeing God’s promises fulfilled in their lives.
“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation.” (Psalm 62:1)
Waiting in God’s economy is similar to being prepared. During the early stages of being called to do something for God we are naturally eager to see the fulfillment, but God knows that we are not prepared to sustain it. For most of us our eyes are on being established and not on the God who establishes.
“He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress, I shall not be greatly shaken.” (Psalm 62:2)
Are you moving in the direction of God alone becoming your rock and your salvation? If yes, then your waiting season is bearing fruit. You are beginning to understand that there is a connection between your waiting, your preparation and the fulfillment of your calling.
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him.” (Psalm 62:5)
Embrace the waiting and allow God to become your rock, your salvation and your fortress. When your preparation is near completion you will not be easily shaken and you will know that salvation comes from God alone.
God Seeker
God enjoys blessing His children and He also desires to prepare us to not only receive His blessings but to position us to manage them as well.
Purpose and blessings go together. Seeking God and learning to serve Him aligns our lives toward fulfilling His purpose for us. Our ideas around purpose pale when compared to God’s purpose for us; He is the God of higher ways and higher thoughts.
When King David had prepared the plan and the materials for Solomon, his son to build God’s House, he encouraged his son with these words;
“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you…” (1 Chronicles 28:9)
We can hear the wisdom and experience in King David’s words. He learned first-hand his need to know, to serve and to seek God with all his heart and how his success in fulfilling God’s purpose directly related to his relationship with God.
A lifestyle of knowing, serving and seeking God will bring clarity to your purpose and the best way to fulfill it. God knows our heart and our plans are not hidden from His sight. He knows when we are ready to be sincere in our search for His purpose and not our own. If we are sincere in our seeking, He promises to be found by us and to reward those who don’t give up on the seeking.
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Determine to know, to serve and to seek God with a willing heart. He promises to reward your efforts.
loretta j. willis, author 