"You and I need to find out what, in the name of Christ, is big enough to move us forward and overcome our own barriers to change. It may be our spiritual gift; it may be forgiveness; it may be our new identity in Christ, it may be a missionary call... whatever it is, real transformation isn't going to happen until we are in its grip. For Christ, it was 'the joy set before him' that compelled him to endure the cross and its shame (Hebrews 12:2).
What will it be for you that will transform you so much that it affects what you do and say? What will it be for me?"
I read this entry Monday morning in a daily devotional email I receive from John Fischer. It really got me thinking because I can sometimes find it challenging to move forward especially when the way forward is not very clear. It got me thinking about how God guides us--or me in particular. In the past he has given me a push with a lost job or with a lost relationship. Sometimes it has been with a need in a church I'm attending or someone asking me to participate in a ministry at the church.
Then later in the day I listened to the daily installment from another great meditational website called "Pray As You Go". The reading was 1 John 3:21-4:1 (I've included it here from The Message but it was read from the NIV). They were talking about our desires and why we act or don't act on them. In this selection John talks about testing the spirits and being bold before God when our hearts do not condemn us. He mentions that God gives us what we ask for if we obey his commandments and love one another. One of the questions for mulling over was: how do we test the spirits when we get an urge or desire? How do we know that this desire is from God or not?
What an interesting juxtaposition, interesting that I would receive these two thoughts on the same day. First, I am asked to consider what gets me growing; what will it take to get me going in a direction that is positive and beneficial and growing with God; and at the same time asking how will we know that this "push" is of the Spirit? I've been wondering about this a lot because I am waiting for God to call me to a church to serve as a pastor. The desire is there and I believe it is from the Spirit, but when things don't happen on the time-table I expect, I begin to wonder. Is this really of the Spirit or did my desire just overwhelm me?
The "secret" comes in 3:22 of John's letter. He says that we "receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him." If we are living in his light and in his love, we will receive whatever we ask from God because we are living in sync with his will. If we are doing what he asks us to do, our desires are going to be in line with his. That sounds so simple, but it is not; it is the whole Christian life.
