God’s will not ours be done

I see life like a storybook and carnally we can only see the chapter of our story that we are living in right now. God however is the author of the book and He knows the beginning, the middle and the end. Things we don’t understand or that are painful at the time have to happen for our end to be perfect.

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How often do we try to live our lives our way, on our own, making our own plans only to have those plans fall apart and crumble? To which we then turn to God and cry out and seek Him and pray for everything to be sorted. We pray for what we want, promising to never lose sight of Him again and in the midst of life and happiness, what do we do?; we go back to doing life our way and making our own plans. It is a cycle that many of us so easily succumb to however, when we TRULY realise that ‘Human plans are futile’ (Psalm 94:11) and completely surrender our lives to God and His will only, then will we have true purpose, happiness and peace. Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘Trust in the lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, remember the lord in everything you do and you will have great success’.

In the past I can see many times when I have lived my life my own way, making my plans, prioritising other people and things before God, only to have it all taken away and to experience heart-breaking pain in my human form at the loss of a loved one. All of my plans just disappear in an instant. Yet it is in these dark places that God truly reveals himself and in my loss and pain, I have to rejoice and be glad as God so clearly told me in Proverbs 16: 20 ‘Whoever heeds to instruction prospers, and blessed is the one who trusts in the lord’. Wow, how amazing! I had to have everything taken away to re-focus, to realise that this is my time to turn everything in my life around and live in God’s will and I am already beginning to see a huge transformation in all areas of my life. I have been reminded continuously that Christ is the solid rock on which we stand and all other ground is sinking sand, Amen! Psalm 18:2 ‘The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold’.

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You see, when we live our life our own way we lose our spiritual focus and abandon Him. In our human nature we tend to be selfish, consumed with our own interests, pursuing our own plans, but Proverbs 11:24 tells us that this spirit leads to poverty. When things in life are going well, we are so quick to put our time with God, our prayer life and our devotions on the back-burner, however what is the inevitable result of this selfish act? sin!  Living our own way and not being in the Word every single day leaves us vulnerable and that’s how we let sin enter our lives.  After all Psalm 119:105 ‘His word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’. The amazing thing though is that He loves us so much that He forgives us of all our sins even though we are so undeserving. If we are not continually seeking God and living each day with Him then we lose our focus, become weak, which then allows sin to creep in. This is why it is so important to put on the full armour of Christ as written in Ephesians 6:11 and to seek Him every day; Jeremiah 29:13 ‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart’.

No matter how much we try to do our own thing, make our own plans and map out our future we should always remember; Proverbs 16:9 ‘in their hearts humans plan their course, but the lord establishes their steps’ and when we go our own way and map out where our life also remember that; Hebrews 12:6 ‘the lord disciplines the one he loves’ and so if our focus is on Christ, there is only so long we can ‘do our own thing’ and stray from God’s will before He will intervene and discipline us.

I see life like a storybook and carnally we can only see the chapter of our story that we are living in right now. God however is the author of the book and He knows the beginning, the middle and the end. Things we don’t understand or that are painful at the time have to happen for our end to be perfect.  Remember this: God is a loving God who has plans to prosper us; Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’.  So let us trust in Him and His will for our lives. After all, His word tells us in Psalm 37:4 ‘delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart’. Amen

Proverbs 20:24 ‘A person’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way?’

Author: Joleana O’Neill

May God bless and enrich your life

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