Consider Your Wayz!

Ephesians 1:3-14  

   
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,

10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians 1, entire chapter

    My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments…Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.  Proverbs 3:1, 5-7

Read entire chapter: Proverbs 3

    Recent events have found me looking at life from a totally different perspective. For the last few years I have been content with life; following the paths that the Lord had laid out clearly before me. The past two years or so the Lord has been redirecting me in areas of my life that include: location, vocation, and relationships. Several unexpected turns in my life have been made due to circumstances beyond my control. They revealed to me some areas in my life that I was struggling with, that had never been problems for me in the past, or at least not to the same extent. I soon found myself questioning the purposes of God in my own life; wondering why God would close doors on me when everything seemed to “fit” just perfectly. Then through that period of testing it became evident to me that the very things that I thought were having the most positive impact on my life were becoming too important to me. My love for those very aspects of my life were strong, seemingly wholesome, and appeared to be Christ-honoring; but God’s desire for me is to rely upon Him and trust in His omniscience and sovereignty rather than to rely on His good gifts, for joy in this life. It is important that I obtain my joy from my love for my God who is most gracious and holy in character. I still struggle with certain aspects of these “good gifts” in my life, and find myself still clinging to the hopes that things will turn out the way that I think they should. I have found that my stubbornness and self-pity mar my view of God, and interfere with my ability to serve God with an unhindered zeal. I would be delighted should the Lord reopen some of those doors of opportunity for me in the future. However, I am even more desirous of seeing God glorified in my life.

    Recently I watched a story (Through the Shadow Lands) of C. S. Lewis who during a difficult and trying time in his life believed that he had what appeared to be the fulfillment of promises of God within his grasp, only to have them taken away from him. He responded in self pity, questioning the love of God and the purpose of man. C. S. Lewis said that he felt as though God had opened a door before him, then as he came to the door, it was shut, then bolted, and then bolted again. That is often the way we feel when we have our heart set on something that we believe to be good and honorable and the Lord redirects us; not because that path is evil, but simply because He has greater plans for our lives and desires to test our faith that we may trust in his Sovereignty

    I often find myself wanting to blame “circumstances” or individuals for these problems, but must realize that God is sovereignly working out His plan for my life; the course that has been ordained before the foundation of the earth. God wants to glorify His name through the care, guidance, and provision of His children. How wonderful to know that He sees the end from the beginning and makes no mistakes! To God be the Glory!

    Do we trust God with our very lives?  Every aspect of it?

    God has an entirely different path for us than that which we envision for ourselves. His ways are far better than our ways, and His thoughts far higher than our thoughts! After some time C.S. Lewis finally began to move from a condition of self pity to recognizing the hand of God at work in the affairs of men and in his own life.

    Are you seeing the hand of God at work in your life?

    God knows the end from the beginning. Will you trust the One who has created your course to guide you through it?

    God alone can do this without fault; we only confuse the path.

    If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally and without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5