Obedient
faith!
Verse for Today: Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Luke
5:5 - Simon answered and said: "Master, we worked hard all night and
caught nothing; but I will do as You say and let down the net".
If
Jesus
is our Master, we are bound to heed to His commands in all that we do.
No
matter how many attempts we make, unless we our efforts are based on the
Master’s
commands, we will not get blessings according to His measure. Unless we
cast
our nets at the spot the Master shows us, we would end up getting
frustrated
and exhausted without results. Our expertise, experience and impulses
will fail
us if we fail the Lord. Peter and his co-disciples found that they could
not
get results in spite of commendable expertise in fishing, best efforts,
good intentions and high motivation. When their efforts were futile, the
Lord used
their failure to show them that without Him they can do nothing. So if
we get
some results, we must discern whether it comes from the Lord or not. It
is a
fact that some times the world system and satanic forces give people
results to
prove to us that we can get what we want through our own efforts. This
is a blatant
deception of our enemy. When we face failure, we are often unwilling to
admit it
to the Lord and seek His wise counsel. We try to find situational
justifications
about our failures rather than admitting our spiritual shortsightedness.
But
genuine trust in the Lord will lead us to go to Him and admit our
failures and
wait for Him to speak. When the Lord asks us to try again according to
His plan,
we should go forward humbly and fearfully and in full obedience. Then we
will find
the kind of results that the Lord wants us to have. What comes out of
the Lord’s
instructions will bring glory to Him whereas what comes from our own
efforts will
lead to worldly recognition and pride. Nebuchadnezzar felt that all that
he
achieved were from his own efforts and took great pride in his smartness
rather
than humbling himself before God. Such pride ends up in destruction.
Dear
friend, have you been facing failures in your efforts? Have your repeated
efforts and failures made you frustrated and exhausted? Do you wonder why your attempts
have not brought forth expected results? Are you searching for reasons why your
expertise and experience are in futile? It is time to understand that worldly
wisdom, expertise and experience are no match for God’s wisdom and instructions.
Peter was willing to confess his failures to the Lord and waited for His
instructions to get out of it. When Abraham and Isaac crossed the boundaries of
Canaan out of their own wisdom and got into lots of trouble and heartache,
Jacob waited on the Lord for instructions to move from place to place. Let us be
warned that the enemy of our souls will try to make us believe that whatever
that has come out of our wisdom and expertise is a ‘blessing’ from God. If we
break God’s principles in doing business or any other partnership in this
world, the ‘good’ results we pick up should not be considered as God’s
blessings. Let us wait quietly in God’s presence and listen. Let us follow His
commands meticulously. This will enable us to give all glory for all that we
are and have to the Lord. We will thus sail through the sea of life according
to the good, perfect and acceptable will of God. Only with such attitudes and
efforts will our Lord be well pleased. Let us today commit ourselves to do what
the Lord asks us to do in His strength, and attribute all the results to Him. Then
we will be content, Like Paul, in our poverty and plenty alike, living daily by
praising God in all our circumstances.
Proverbs
3:5 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own
understanding.
Thought for Today
When
our hearts and hands follow God’s commands, our eyes will see His blessings.
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