by Joyce Meyer - posted June 25, 2016
Follow God’s Leading
by Joyce Meyer - posted June 25, 2016
Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.
—Proverbs 16:3
Trying to figure everything out before you obey God will steal your joy. God doesn’t have to answer you when you ask, “Why God, why?” Trust means that you won’t always have 11 answers when you want them. Sometimes you just have to get to the other side of a situation to see the whole picture of what God is doing in your life.
God may be trying to separate you from some influence in your life that is keeping you from receiving the better plan He has for you. He may be “pruning” you to encourage new, healthier growth (See John 15:1-8). Use uncertain times to demonstrate your faith by trusting Him.
Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.
—Proverbs 16:3
Trying to figure everything out before you obey God will steal your joy. God doesn’t have to answer you when you ask, “Why God, why?” Trust means that you won’t always have 11 answers when you want them. Sometimes you just have to get to the other side of a situation to see the whole picture of what God is doing in your life.
God may be trying to separate you from some influence in your life that is keeping you from receiving the better plan He has for you. He may be “pruning” you to encourage new, healthier growth (See John 15:1-8). Use uncertain times to demonstrate your faith by trusting Him.
Focus on the Father
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.”
Luke 15:11–12
J. Wilbur Chapman was often asked to speak in prisons as he traveled around the country in revival meetings. It is said that once he was at the prison in Joliet, Illinois, preparing to speak when the warden said, “Dr. Chapman, we have had twenty-four ministers here this year, and every one of them has preached on the Prodigal Son. Can you speak on something else?” Chapman looked at his Bible which was marked in Luke 15, and then stood to preach. But instead of focusing on the wayward son, Chapman talked about the loving father who never gave up on his child.
We call it the parable of the Prodigal Son, but Jesus told this story as the conclusion of a series of three parables aimed at revealing the nature of God’s love toward the lost and the way people respond when others are saved. The world we live in has a distorted picture of God, and that has often infected the church as well. We need to return to the focus that the Bible places on our Heavenly Father and understanding of His nature and character.
This parable begins with what was, in the Middle Eastern culture of Jesus’ day, an unbearable insult. Sons did not go to their fathers and demand to be given their inheritance. Yet rather than responding in kind, the father did as he was asked. All of us were born as sinners, enemies of God both by nature and by choice. We have no hope apart from God’s love, but His love is overwhelming. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Luke 15:11–12
J. Wilbur Chapman was often asked to speak in prisons as he traveled around the country in revival meetings. It is said that once he was at the prison in Joliet, Illinois, preparing to speak when the warden said, “Dr. Chapman, we have had twenty-four ministers here this year, and every one of them has preached on the Prodigal Son. Can you speak on something else?” Chapman looked at his Bible which was marked in Luke 15, and then stood to preach. But instead of focusing on the wayward son, Chapman talked about the loving father who never gave up on his child.
We call it the parable of the Prodigal Son, but Jesus told this story as the conclusion of a series of three parables aimed at revealing the nature of God’s love toward the lost and the way people respond when others are saved. The world we live in has a distorted picture of God, and that has often infected the church as well. We need to return to the focus that the Bible places on our Heavenly Father and understanding of His nature and character.
This parable begins with what was, in the Middle Eastern culture of Jesus’ day, an unbearable insult. Sons did not go to their fathers and demand to be given their inheritance. Yet rather than responding in kind, the father did as he was asked. All of us were born as sinners, enemies of God both by nature and by choice. We have no hope apart from God’s love, but His love is overwhelming. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Today’s Growth Principle:
Never doubt that God’s amazing love for you is settled and certain regardless of what happens in your life.
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