Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
Let me ask you directly: Are you willing to be obscure? A servant's mindset will teach you what that attitude is all about. To put it in simple terms, in the Body of Christ some people are called to be the toes. Not everyone can be a right hand, an eye, or an ear. Some people have to be the toe, or the heel, or the kidney, or the liver.
You may have had big-time plans in your life—major league dreams that haven't panned out. You were going to write a bestselling book, but the opportunities just haven't come along. Are you willing to write for your church newsletter?
The fact is, you cannot sow a fleshly seed and reap a spiritual plant. You cannot plant a carnal act and grow spiritual fruit. If you manipulate and connive and scheme and lie to get yourself to the top, don't thank God for the promotion! God knows, as you know, that you manoeuvred and pulled strings and buried those carnal carcasses in the soil to get yourself promoted.
I wouldn't have to go back very far on my calendar to revisit a week where I missed the mark—missed the whole target—more than I hit close to the bull's eye. And I don't have to be a prophet to proclaim that you have experienced the same. Of course you have. You may be having such a week even as you read these words.
When the self-life finally sits down, the well of a new life lies near. When will we ever learn that? Highly qualified, capable people prefer to be on the move; sitting down goes against the grain.
In my book, there's only one thing worse than being at the end of a self-directed life, and that's being in the middle of one.
Bottom line: If you are moving in the energy of the flesh, your efforts are doomed to fail. But when you trust the Lord God to give you the next step, when you wait in humility upon Him, He will open the doors or close them, and you'll get to rest and relax until He says, "Go."
So many of us feel as though we have to hide our failures, believing no one else could have possibly failed as we have. Some are even afraid to tell God about it, fearing He might be as put off as we imagine others will be.
Neglecting to ask God's counsel, neglecting to seek God's timing, you step in to handle things prematurely. And by and by, you've got a mess on your hands.
If you act without discerning His timing, you may lose the smile of divine favour. He will not bless what He has not ordained.
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