
Doors are for going through, from one place to somewhere else. š You don’t need a degree to go through a door or love people! As Christians we can spend a lot of our time waiting for God to sovereignly intervene in our lives⦠waiting for a door to open. Today I want to say this – donāt just stand there⦠hoping to be noticed ā¦DO something! Show the Lord that you want to be transformed by His love, and start living this life, the one you already have – by giving that love away to others. Don’t wait to be empowered – OBEY instead! Show God your willingness to be His vessel.
Pick one or two difficult people in your vicinity and love on them and plan on not giving up on them – no matter what! Anyone can find something loving to do for strangers and do it … if you can do it in secret, even better! Visit the sick, talk to people in the supermarket. Help the poor, teach little kids, lead a bible study group ⦠do something. It is easier to steer a moving object than a stationary one. Itās when we sit down, arms folded, almost daring Him to interrupt our well-made life-plans, that our lives become static and lifeless.
The kind of life this world presents consists mainly of plodding along, day after day, doing pretty much the same stuff over and over again. If you want things to change, then see a need and do something about it. Open doors donāt just suddenly appear. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you find your purpose, while you are doing your bible study and praying. Nag Him about it. Show the Lord you mean business. There are unmotivated people everywhere. Instead, make a quality decision to learn His Ways – and start practising them. Start living like everything in the bible is true… because it is.
Scare your pastor – volunteer to help out at church! Movement is a sign of life⦠um ā¦thatās why they shake people who appear lifeless! You and I can debate spiritual theories about anything, up one hill and down the other. The truth is that His truth will always winā¦not my opinion, not your opinion, not your fav preacherās opinion – His truth. One day all our theological errors will be revealed – because Christ will appear. And He will simply blow our theories away.
At the same time, study the bible, but donāt study it so hard that your brain takes over from using your faith. Faith is an action word, and we need to show our faith a whole lot more than we tell it. āFor the one who has will be given more, until he overflows with abundance. And the one with hardly anything, even what little he has will be taken from him.āā Matthew 25:29. Learn to overflow with love toward other people. Get rid of NICE, and go for real love. And if you get it wrong. Repent. Start again. Remember, love always looks like something.
Quit staring at, or āfollowing,ā all those bright, shiny people in Christian circles, as if they have something you donāt! Phooey. They have the same Holy Spirit-Helper you do. If God withdraws His hand from their lives they will look just like everyone else. What you can see is the fire of God within! Isn’t He so beautiful? So go after Him for yourself. Thinking about Jesus and what He likes, needs to be encouraged. Also remember to be grateful, even for little things.
There are great exploits awaiting any of His kids that dare to stand up and say: “Here I am Lord, send me!” Even if it is just two doors down the road, to the depressed guy whose yard looks like a tip! You donāt have to be anyone to love people – just HIS! Sometimes we sit around, mouths open like baby birds waiting to be fed. Read the book, Paul says, ācome off milk, and get into meat!’
Meanwhile, donāt just sit about and hope and wait for someone else to tell you what your spiritual gift is. Instead, work on loving people, forgiving them, helping them. Gifts turn up when you do what He said – on purpose. Nobody told me what my gifts were for over 30 years. Nobody cared – they were too busy looking for their own. š The church at large is often so busy that they need people to do practical jobs. Sadly they arenāt always looking for blossoming gifts .. Here’s a thought …stop using the pastor and love on him instead.
We need to stop making the wheels of routine relentlessly turn, and pick up His yoke. Whatever your gift from God is, it is not about you – your spiritual prowess, your calling. God doesn’t need our help – He needs our obedience! Everything, everything, EVERYTHING is about Him. āWhat do we have that was not given to us?āLast of all, please donāt settle for less. Open doors appear as we go along, doing good wherever we can. Real faith involves taking risks. šš»