5-25-20 Lord, Help Me Fulfill Your Good Purpose

Hi Friends,

     Once you have sincerely surrendered your life to Jesus as Savior and Lord, your life is no longer yours. This is a good thing, my Friends! When I was in charge of “my life,” I was miserable! But the more I understand I am here to live out the “good purpose” of God, life is becoming more and more fulfilling. Listen one more time to this fabulous verse:

“for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” Php 2:13 NIV

     God’s good purpose may not be what we expect it to be, but we can be sure that God’s good purpose always revolves around God’s perfect Love. Let’s take this pandemic as an example. There are several good purposes for God to allow this difficult challenge. God may be helping us count the number of our days, as Moses asks in Ps 90. We humans tend to think we have all the time in the world, but as we are seeing, the truth is, life is fleeting. We must live and love today because that is what we have. As they say, yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not guaranteed. We must be about our Father’s business as a young Jesus said, and sometimes Church, we drag our feet instead of doing what we know God has been telling us to do. Whether that means forgiving that person you have a grudge against, starting that business that will bless others, or stepping outside your comfort level and sharing the Gospel with your family, God is putting something on each of our hearts and His good purpose right now is to urge us to move forward. The more we understand how much He loves us, the more we will understand that time is precious and we cannot wait any longer to obey His promptings.

     Another good purpose in our current circumstances is to help us appreciate the simple things of life. How many of us might have been complaining about our jobs before we lost them? How many of us took it for granted that we would attend our church services with all our brothers and sisters? How many of us ever thought we would have to allow a loved one to be all alone in the hospital because we would not be allowed to visit? There are so many things about life that we would either ignore or complain about or even belittle that, now, we are so very sorry about the missed opportunities to thank God for each thing. God is in the details, and He has been constantly blessing us all along in small ways, as well as big ones. I pray we will see these now more and more and give Him thanks more and more.

     Here’s a quick list of some more good purposes in the midst of this challenging climate: to bring out the good in people by stirring our compassion for one another. To transform us into His likeness, growing in us the Fruit of the Spirit such as patience and faithfulness. To teach us what real love is, sacrificing our own conveniences for the benefit of a stranger. To bring judgement on some who have been refusing God for way too long. But most of all, God’s good purpose is to awaken His Church to be who we were always meant to be, His ambassadors to the lost and lonely. This is always the most loving thing God desires, to draw others to Himself so they can be saved, and He desires to use His Church to accomplish this amazing feat. This is why God works in us to will and act, so that we may know Love and make Him known. It is all and always about Love. As I said above, God’s good purpose may not be what we expect it to be, but we can be sure that God’s good purpose always revolves around God’s perfect Love. Now that “my life” is no longer mine, now that I am not consumed with my own small plans but live to point others to God and His Kingdom, my life is abundantly filled with peace and joy and fulfillment. Pray with me: Lord, help me fulfill Your good purpose. Then won’t you join me?

     Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.

<>< Peace, Diane