The Master’s Plan

God’s timing in everything is perfect. It’s when we feel farthest from the Lord, that He is teaching us the most.  Our lives are full of wilderness and mountain top experiences.  On the mountain tops, God’s presence is mighty, but in the wilderness, God’s absence is frightening.  Life’s challenges and triumphs give us the opportunity to see so many different sides of God’s character.  God never shows up early and He never shows up late.  He is always right on-time.  We will never be able to understand why He does the things He does, or any of His divine strategies.  All we can do is put our faith and trust in Him because He alone knows what is best.

            I love what Beth Moore teaches us to say everyday as our shield of faith: God is who He says He is; God can do what He says He can do; I am who God says I am; I can do all things through Christ; & God’s word is alive and active in me.  Sometimes God allows us to hit rock bottom so we can discover for ourselves that He is the rock at the bottom.  When we are at our weakest and most vulnerable point, God is at His strongest.  Too many times we just want to be delivered from circumstances and sin without truly being transformed by them. 

            All of our power comes from God, so all of our glory and praise should also go to God.  We don’t always know the reasons for the trials and tests we walk through, but we must have faith and trust in the Lord, that He does.  Weekly, daily, hourly, minute-by-minute or however often you need it; proclaim God’s goodness and His promises.  Every time you pray to God, get in the mindset to praise Him for 2 things before you ask for anything.  Your faith in the Lord will put a new song in your mouth and there is tremendous power in praise.  Without walking the road I chose to travel, my understanding of the painful times would be vague at best.  My life had to be turned upside down and I had to be sifted like wheat.  My Master allowed that to happen because I had some junk and some baggage that needed to get gone and stay gone.  When God began to restore me from the inside out, I didn’t just break free, I was broken free.  I seek God daily to maintain that victory.

            God’s word is the sword of the Spirit and if we want to become a powerful force in the kingdom of God, we must learn how to use it.  A stronghold is any way that the devil tries to presume authority over our lives.  The thing that we must know is that if we belong to Christ, Satan has no right to exercise authority over us.  His only hope is that we are too ignorant regarding God’s word to know it, or that we have been beaten down so much in the past that we’re just used to it.  Because we live in a lost world, we don’t have to be faced with a demonic enemy to need the word of God ready on our tongue.  We only need to be faced with our own individual weaknesses, doubts, and day-to-day challenges.

            Sometimes, it’s easy to believe that God’s power is limitless, that He created everything into existence and that He reigns over all the earth, but we find it hard to believe in His individual promises in our own lives.  Our God is faithful and He will never put us through more than what we can bear and when temptation presents itself, He will provide a way out.  God is not out to get us and He is not sitting in Heaven enjoying our downfalls.  Even in our deserts and wildernesses that can make us feel imprisoned, He is our dwelling place, our refuge, our sustainer, our strong tower, and our deliverer.

            Until we take the steps necessary to place our faith in God, we might have well been sitting on the threshold of a spiritual buffet starving to death.  It isn’t about us being reminded of who we are, but who God is.  When God makes a promise, He is absolutely reliable, completely trustworthy, and entirely able to follow through on His Word.  God swears by His own name because there is no name higher.  He is El Shadday, God Almighty.  Scripture is full of God’s promises and when we respond to Him faithfully, there is nothing that can stand in the way of their fruition.  Until I truly began to know the Lord and believe in His promises, the purpose for my life was unknown to me and I was not empowered to fulfill it.  I had to stop focusing on who I was and begin to focus on who God is.  He is my Lord and apart from Him I have no good thing.  He is more powerful than my most powerful enemy and His is bigger that my biggest circumstance or need.  We must decide to do whatever it takes for however long it takes, knowing that if God is for us, who can be against us?

            One of Jesus’ favorite miracles was healing blind people, often in the presence of the spiritually blind.  It saddens me to realize that the Jews were blind to their own Messiah as many unbelievers are today.  Israel’s blindness to the true Messiah will soon end.  My prayer is that many will have the veil lifted and will come to know Christ.  When this happens, it will be a revelation and a point in time where they will be grafted back into the olive tree.  Because of God’s greatness and goodness, the branches that were once broken off and dead will once again come to life.  All Israel will be saved.  The Master’s plan is truly a mystery and we are not meant to understand everything.  Very soon though, there will be a massive spiritual awakening in Israel.  God’s covenant promise did not expire and He does not change.  He is coming back for His bride and for the apple of His eye.