IN EVERYTHING
Praise God!
Are you tired? Praise God.
Are you weary? Praise God.
Are you heartbroken? Praise God!
Are you frustrated? Praise God!
Are you in the middle of a storm? Praise God!
Are you stuck in one place? Praise God!
Do you feel like nothing positive is happening in your life? Praise God?
Do you think your prayers have not being answered? Praise God!
Do you think time is ticking and you haven't done that thing? Praise God!
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (AMPC)
Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].
God has a plan and wants to open doors for you. These doors are already open. The challenge lies in recognizing these doors and walking through them. He opened a door for Rahab, and she became an ancestor of Jesus. He opened a door for Joseph, and he became prime minister of Egypt in a land where he was a stranger.
Many believers live a Christian life without entering the doors that God has opened for them. Kenneth E. Hagin once said that for 12 years he pastored, and God told him, "I didn't tell you to pastor." This principle applies not just to ministry but also to the marketplace. Kenneth Copeland prophesied in 1979 that God ordained every real scientific breakthrough to come through believers, but many are not in a position to receive it.
Luke 12:22-32 MSG
22-24 He continued this subject with his disciples. “Don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or if the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the ravens, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, carefree in the care of God. And you count far more.
25-28 “Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? If fussing can’t even do that, why fuss at all? Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don’t fuss with their appearance—but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen, don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?
29-32 “What I’m trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.
The mistake is that we are trying to 'get' while God is trying to 'give', but what He wants to give is not what we are trying to get. We are not aligning our prayers with His desires. It’s about entering into what God has in store for you.
Romans 4:1-3 MSG
So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, 'Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.
For everything, there is a season and a time for every purpose. In other words, every season has a purpose. In this current season of your life, God wants you to enter into something. Stepping in will meet all of your needs. God's doors are open, and they are permanently open. It is our hearts that often remain closed. Jesus is knocking on your heart's door in order to open it. The tests and trials you are going through prepare you for what lies behind that door. The more painful the process, the more strategically important that door is in your life. Just like renovating a building requires tearing down old structures, the process may seem destructive. The building will remain stagnant unless you allow this renovation to happen.
Romans 5:2 MSG
We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
To open that door, you need to do the following four things:
Forgive: Unforgiveness closes the door to your heart.
Be generous. Joseph's generosity in interpreting dreams opened the door for his advancement.
Spend time praying in the Spirit (read my previous post for more light on this).
Spend time worshipping God.
Romans 5:3-6 MSG
3-5 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
6 Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready.
Finally, it's not about writing out what you think God should do in your life; it's about opening your heart to God and discovering the door He has already opened for you.
If you have any thoughts to share, please leave a comment below
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Thank you so much for sharing. This blessed me in a great measure.