“We are God’s own handiwork, His workmanship, we are created in Christ
Jesus, born anew, that we may do those good works which God predestined,
planned beforehand, for us, taking the paths, that He prepared ahead of time,
that we should walk in them, living the good life which He prearranged and made
ready for us to live” (Ephesians 2:10).
We are God’s handiwork, His
masterpiece. We are, you are, and I am. We are recreated in Christ in order to
do the good works God planned for us before He made us! This is why we have
been born again. The really good news according to this Scripture is that
Apostle Paul says that God has set paths before us ahead of time. Then it says
that we should learn to walk in those paths that He has already prepared. Don’t
take for granted that you’re doing it. Like the old song says, “You can go your
own way,” and many of God’s people are choosing their own way through their
limited thinking. It’s like many in the church are looking for the exact same
thing as people in the world . . . things such as comfort and security. We ought to have that part of it pretty
well covered, folks!
Oftentimes, we base our thinking and our
decisions on the security level. Unwilling to take a risk, we hold on to our
comfort. Shortly after coming off the mission field and arriving in Fayetteville, NC, I discovered that I don’t like
to grow too comfortable. When I start to get too comfortable and secure, look
out, Emory, things are about to change. Why? Because for me, God doesn’t want
me getting so wrapped up in the security of this world that I’m not able to
take the risk of obeying Him. Are you willing to risk, or what are you holding
on to? Are we saying, “I’ll give this much, but I gotta hold on to this?" When
we hold back, we’re showing God that we don’t really trust Him. We find our
security in something else, and usually it’s in the same type of thing in which
the world finds their security.
Now, we see that we should learn
to walk in those paths that the Lord has already prepared, and this will lead
to living the good life that God has prearranged for us to live. Wouldn’t you
like to live the good life that God has prearranged? If so, then you’re going
to have to follow Him and that is always going to bring an element of apparent
risk. And there are those who will say, “Well, God doesn’t really want you to
forsake it all. He just wants to know that you’re willing.” I’ve heard many
Christians over the years say, “He doesn’t really want you to give it up, it’s
an attitude of the heart.” He just wants to know that you’re willing to give it
up. No, you aren't willing to give it up! And He knows you aren't willing to give
it all up because you're not doing it! We may be trying to play God a fool, but
He ain’t no fool; He does see the heart.
What we forget is that everything
we need to accomplish that which God has created us to accomplish is already ours. It
already exists. Everything already exists in either the seen realm or the
unseen realm. If it’s in the unseen realm, we simply need faith in order to
bring it into the seen realm. Even those things that are coming from the
spiritual into the natural realm are truly already in existence. Everything
you need to be whom God created you to be is in you. It’s already in you. You
have this supernatural DNA by virtue of the new birth. Do you believe that you
even received some sort of blood transfusion when you got “borned” again? Do
you believe that you have the very life of God flowing through your veins? I
do! We don’t just sing, “I Have a River of Life,” we have a river of life
flowing in us and through us.
God is looking for dreamers: those
who will be bold and bodacious enough to dream for Him. I am finding that
dreamers accomplish very significant things. We don’t read of too many in the
Scriptures, but we do read of enough to know that God uses dreamers to
accomplish great things. You may think I’m crazy, but it’s okay. Here’s what I
believe about each person: I believe that every one of us has the potential
within to do something so significant that it could change the world.
While I was reading this weekend,
I discovered something very interesting. Have you ever heard of XM radio? We
didn’t even know what that was fifteen years ago, did we? You know why? It
didn’t exist fifteen years ago. XM Radio was
founded by a fellow named Noah Samara
who is an African. He didn’t have any money. He had a vision to set up a communication
network for the people of Africa because their lack of communication was
killing them. He had a desire to help other people! Do you know that in a year
and a half Noah raised a billion and a half dollars? He started with nothing
except a dream. Wow!
My wife and I were watching a TV
show the other night, and they made mention of some guy named Jay Sorensen. Did you
ever think of stupid little things like those wrappers that keep you from
burning your fingers on a cup of coffee? I believe they call them “sleeves.”
The guy who invented those is now a multi-, multimillionaire. Then they were
talking about turkey bones! One Thanksgiving a family was sitting around the
table, and you know the tradition of breaking the wishbone? How many wishbones
are in each turkey? ONE! Ken Ahroni said, “That’s not enough.” And it’s NOT if
you’ve been around kids or grandkids at the holiday table. There’s only one
wishbone, and they each want to break one! So you know what Ken did? He
invented a synthetic wishbone that would snap and break, so on Thanksgiving,
everyone could have one. Do you know how many wishbones they’re making now? His
company is producing thirty thousand wishbones a DAY! I’m just sayin’.
You see, some of those “crazy”
ideas you get . . . may only be crazy to you. And until they become a reality
to you, they will only remain just a dream or some fantastic thing that’s
beyond reach or the ability to come into fruition. It’ll just be a fantasy, and
you’ll simply live a life restricted by your own thinking until and unless you
venture outside the confines of comfort and security. I’d like to encourage
each and every believer who is within the reach of this blog to pay very close
attention to the ideas that God is placing within your heart and mind. He’s
constantly speaking, may we ever be constantly listening.
~ pg
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