His Will: Your Abundance

God is good all the time. This seems like lunacy to the world. If God is good all the time, why does he allow suffering? How can he (seemingly) turn his back on those he claims to love if what the Christians say is true, and God is love? While we as Christ followers know this characteristic of God to be true, having experienced it in our own lives, it is still easy to understand how this concept would confound an unbeliever. We, too, deal with loss and disappointment. We see evil in the world, and we are frustrated by the deterioration of morals and the increase in hate that is always evident in the twenty-four hour news cycle. Yet, we have an undergirding of hope in the face of all the bad--a resolve that comes from the Holy Spirit strengthening us. We understand that He has a perfect plan for our lives that will prosper us and not harm us--no matter what each day brings. We KNOW that God is good and God is love, but do we always FEEL that truth? When we consider our futures and God’s perfect plan, do we just know it with our minds, or do we claim it with our hearts, as well? There is no greater feeling than absolutely knowing you are where God wants you to be, and you are doing what God has planned for you to do. Those seasons of clarity and passion are where we want to dwell, but thankfully, God’s plan for us is multi-faceted--not “one and done”. Just because God put you somewhere for a season does not mean that He will keep you there. New seasons may bring new addresses, a different career path, a new family dynamic, or a new area of service. Once the shift is complete, we have that light bulb moment of “Oh, now I see what you were up to Lord!”. But what about the in between time--those times when you sense a shift is coming, but you have no idea when the plan will materialize or what it will look like. God is so good and His plan for us is so multi-dimensional that these unsettled times come around pretty often, bringing a new opportunity for us to claim the promises of our inheritance as children of the Living God, the creator of the universe--our Father. We can be certain that something new is just around the corner, and while that is a huge blessing and incredible evidence for just how involved our heavenly Father is in every aspect of our lives, we are impatient. How do we claim the next season? Do we simply wait for a divine word to come to us in the night? Or do we leap into the first opportunity that presents itself, assuming that it must be from God since we know He has been preparing us for a change. The simple truth is this--God reveals His plan for us when the time is right--both in circumstance and within our own hearts. There may be details that have nothing to do with us that must be worked out beforehand; we have no control over that aspect, but you can bet that you have spiritual areas that need some preparation for what’s ahead. We can choose to wait passively (and often prolong the struggle), or we can look to the Word for guidance and wait actively. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8) Are you ready to wait actively for direction? Whether you’re seeking direction for relationships, career paths, finances, or your place to serve God, you can rest assured that He has a plan for that, and He wants you to know it.