c) DOING THE WILL OF GOD
God has a plan and purpose for every one of our lives and He gives us grace to fulfill that plan and that is why it is important to do His will. If you are trying to do something that God hasn’t called you to do then the grace won’t be there to do it.
Ephesians 4:7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
Colossians 2: 6-7 My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving. (The Message Bible)
Illustration: When Kevin asked me to go with him to Kyrgyzstan I said I would pray about it. In my mind though my answer was already no, for a few different reasons.
First: I hated to fly because if I am honest I was afraid of crashing and we had to fly with the Russian airline Aeroflot which had a bad reputation.
Second: Kevin’s stories of his visit to Uzbekistan were scary, being stopped by the police all the time, what if we were arrested and our kids would be back in the States without us?
Third: The food would be very different and the bathrooms left a lot to be desired.
When I prayed about it though I felt impressed that God wanted me to go so I agreed to ” DO IT AFRAID” as Joyce Meyer says. Before we left, people would ask me if I was excited about the trip and I would say no, I was going with trepidation. Praise God He responds to our obedience. The three flights there went smoothly, even Aeroflot had a new fleet of planes. The food was fine I coped with the bathrooms. The bible school where we taught was raided by the KGB but God took care of the situation and we were able to continue our ministry there. On the journey home I had such a peace that I didn’t experience the usual fear of flying God delivered me.
When you step out and do the will of God you find that God’s grace meets you at your point of need.
CONCLUSION
DON’T BE SATISFIED WITH THE GRACE YOU HAVE
You can grow in the grace of God as you grow in the knowledge of God.
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen
2 Peter 1:2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
As we trust in the Lord and grow in our relationship with Him, He will continue to work in us by His Spirit of Grace until we see Jesus and our salvation will be complete.
Philippians 1:6 And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.
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