What Are You Equipped To Do?

"Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.  Amen."
Hebrews 13:20-21 (NKJV)

There were several places that I worked at in the past where I had to do different things.  Most of the time, when I was given some new thing to do, I would be trained to do that work.  But when I was trained to do some new job, which was different than what I had previously done, I could not just do things the way I had before.  If I tried to use some skill from a previous job to do my new job, it may not have worked, and it would certainly not have been something that pleased my boss.  To do my job effectively, I had to do the work I was trained for.

The Bible is very clear that God has a plan for each person, and God will help us in what He has planned for us to do.  But the key is that the plan God has for each of us is His plan, not our plan.  If we want to have success in life, and especially in the things that God has called us and equipped us to do, then we need to follow His plan.  If we do not follow God's plan, and we try to do our own plan, then we will be doing something we are not really equipped for, and as Hebrews 13:21 says, we will not be well pleasing to God.

God will help us and equip us do what He has planned for us, including helping us do what His Word says to do.  The key is as Hebrews 13:21 says, that God will help us do His will and what is well pleasing in His sight.  God will equip us to do His will, but if we are following our own will, we will be trying to do something we are not equipped for, we will not have the success we should have, and we will not be well pleasing to God.  The best thing for us to do is to find the will of God for every part of our life, get in line with God's will, and work with God in His plan.  

What Is Your Inheritance?

"that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."
Ephesians 1:17-18 (NKJV)

An inheritance is something that you receive from someone, usually a relative, after that person has died, and it is not something you earn or choose for yourself.  Depending on the family you are a part of, that person who died may leave you money, some possession, or even in some cases an official title.  Someone else in the family might receive something different than you as an inheritance, but you are not allowed to just take what someone else has and try to make it yours, each person is given their own inheritance.

The Bible has a lot to say about our inheritance in Christ.  Colossians 1:12 says that we have been qualified to be partakers of the inheritance, so it is not something that we earn.  While all the things we need to live a godly life have been provided for us through Jesus (2 Peter 1:3), we need to know specifically what God wants each of us to take hold of as our part of the inheritance in Christ.  We do not just pick our own inheritance, God is the One who gives it to us, and He will show us our part in the overall inheritance of Christ, and how to make use of it in our life.

In Ephesians 1, Paul prayed that believers would understand the inheritance we have in Christ.  As a part of God's family, because of what Jesus did for us through His death and resurrection, we have an inheritance in Christ.  That inheritance belongs to all of us, but there are some things that belong to us individually as a part of God's plan for our life.  For example, Psalm 2:8 says that we can claim the nations for our inheritance, but Psalm 47:4 says that God will choose our inheritance for us.  We learn about our inheritance in the Word of God, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can learn what our part of the inheritance is.

Walking In Love - Plank Awareness

"And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother's eye."
Luke 6:41-42 (NKJV)

It can be easy to notice problems other people have, and be irritated and offended by them, without having any awareness of issues in our own life that cause problems for others.  A good example of this is how people deal with their luggage when boarding a plane, and they sometimes bump into others with their things.  And then they store their bags without any thought of how what they are doing affects anyone else.  It would be better if everyone paid a little more attention to what they were doing, and how it affects others.

While people seem to get more and more self-absorbed, this is not a good thing, and it is definitely contrary to what the Bible teaches.  Too often people are caught up in their own world and what matters the most to them, and they have no thought for how what they are doing affects others.  It can be hard to break the habit of selfishness, and to not be offended when other people act poorly, but as Christians, we have the love of God in our heart, and we can be kind and walk in love towards others.

In Luke 6, Jesus talked about people who saw a small problem that someone else had (which He compared to a speck), and how these people seemed oblivious to the problem they themselves had (which Jesus compared to a plank).  It is easy to see the faults of others and miss the things in our own life that need to be dealt with.  Rather than look at other people's problems (the specks), we need to walk in love and have some "plank awareness," through the help of the Holy Spirit and living by the standard of God's Word.  That way we can be more effective in helping others.

Prior Plan For Provision

"Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
"Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.
And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.
1 Kings 17:2-4 (NKJV)

Putting things off until the last minute is a normal part of life for many people.  If we are wise, we will plan ahead for things, instead of waiting until the last minute for something to happen, and then we would be ready and able to meet whatever challenge we face.  While we do not know everything, there are some things that we can do now to be prepared for what is coming in the future.  The better we are prepared for the future, the easier it will be to deal with whatever situation we might face.

No one knows the future, or is wise enough to be ready to deal with everything that will happen in the future.  But as Christians, our Heavenly Father knows the future and He is always ready to help us with whatever need may arise in our life.  Our God is the God who sees ahead, and He has a prior plan for provision.  No matter what the future holds, no matter what need may arise, or what situation we will face in the future, God already knows about it, and He is ready with the help we need to succeed in those situations.

In James 5:17, we are told that the prophet Elijah was just like us, he was not someone special who had a relationship with God that no one else could ever have.  In 1 Kings 17 we see that when Elijah had a need, God directed Elijah where to go and what to do so that the need would be met.  God was not surprised by the situation and had to tell Elijah to come back tomorrow for an answer.  God always has a prior plan for provision for our life, no matter what we face.  It is up to us to trust God, follow His direction, and do as He says so that as we move forward in our life, the provision that God has provided for us will be ours.

Bad Past? Bright Future!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

Many years ago, when I was traveling to raise financial support to live in Germany, I stopped at a hotel that did not look great, but the advertised price and location fit what I was looking for.  The hotel was not very nice, and I made a mental note to never stay at that place again.  Just because I stayed there once did not mean I had to stay there again, and it did not mean I had to stay in similarly bad hotels for the rest of my life.  Although I did stay there in the past, I never have to stay there again.

People receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord at different ages, and everyone has a past of some kind.  Some people come to know Jesus at a young age, while others are born again when they are older.  But whether our past before we met Jesus was good or bad, it has no bearing on our future with God and God's plan for our life.  God has a plan and purpose for every person, and our past, whether good or bad, does not change the plan that God has for us.  Our past is not the most important thing in our life, but what is important is that we are a new creation in Christ.

When Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17 about being a new creation in Christ, and old things being passed away, Paul was writing about something he personally really understood.  In 1 Timothy 1:12-13, Paul talked about how God had put him into the ministry, even though Paul had been someone who persecuted Christians and had blasphemed God.  Paul's past did not ruin God's plan, and God's plan in our life does not depend on our having a perfect past.  We may have been like Paul and done some bad things, but we need to leave our past behind and move forward into the bright future we have with God.