Some of you today might be sitting in the midst of the church and saying, "My life is such a waste. There is nothing spiritual about my life and my job doesn't seem to have any real value to God's kingdom. BUT if you could only see in the spiritual realm, the tsunami, the flood of prayers from the saints for the people all around you that do not know Christ. You have no idea who is praying at this very moment for the people you work with every day. Find the place that God has you and begin to give your life away. Sometimes we resist the very plan that God has for us. Consider the Book of Jonah in the Bible....
The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Think about these verses for a moment this morning. Why does God even have to say anything to Jonah? Why not speak to someone in Nineveh? For some reason He spoke to Jonah and said "I have something I need you to do. I have heard cries for help for this city, I have seen affliction there and people wrestling with despair. They have no light and have lost hope."
Jonah said, "No."
Are there places in your life where you have said no to God? Jonah ran from the Lord and wasn't willing to obey Him. God sent a storm into Jonah's life until he was willing to admit, "Guys, I'm the problem." Then the sailors threw him overboard and the word says that God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah. Things got harder and harder until Jonah was willing to obey and the fish spit him out on dry land. How many of us start to obey until things get better in our lives and then we stop being obedient again? So often we forget the vows we made before God. "I surrender all......"
I can remember in my high school years I was listening to a tape by a man named James Robinson and his daughter had just gotten married and he said on that tape how his desire was to be one who helps God's bride get ready for the bridegroom. I heard that and I thought, "God, that is what I want to do! Help the bride get ready for the bridegroom." I can remember that just like it was yesterday and that began my journey.
Well, then I became a youth pastor and the church was starting to grow and then it happened.....the church broke apart. I remember thinking, I'm done. I didn't want to go through that again with another church. My Dad had always told me that the one thing no one could take away from me was my mind and If I ever don't know where to go, just go back to school. So I enrolled back in college and had decided I would finish and go to work for my Dad's law firm.
Everything was really moving along and I then I remember sitting in this class and I had an important exam and my mind just froze. I had prepared and studied and yet my mind was blank. My mind just locked up and after two hours I turned in a blank piece of paper.
I had no interest in even being there and I left totally discouraged and went to the house of a family who had invited me to a Bible study. A friend of mine there, who is like a sister to me, could tell that I was discouraged and pressed me until I told her what had happened. I told her how my mind went blank and I had no interest in even being there to take the test.
So we went to the Bible study and God spoke to me and asked, "Are you willing to put your complete confidence in the fact that no one can take your mind away? I've let you run for two years and now it's time to get back to where you belong."
I knew God was getting my attention and out of the blue I got a phone call from a church asking me to be a youth pastor.
God has a redemptive plan that includes you. He doesn't need us and doesn't have to use us but he chooses to. When Isaiah came to the place of seeing God in all His glory he fell on his face until God cleansed him. Then his immediate response of gratitude was, "Lord, here am I....send me."
So often God is waiting for us to say yes to Him. All you have is today to be an expression of God's love into someone else's life. I hope you'll consider this devotional as you begin your day today. God is for you and you can trust His direction because He is not playing games with your life.
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