It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes.

If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.

The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.

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December 18 2015

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Good morning God and thank you for this lesson. And while I thought I was living right in the middle of a faithful surrender to Romans 8:28, all things work together for good to those who love God; I noticed that I was just trying to control a conversation so that I came out on top. I had replaced my transparency with communication methods designed to “give me the edge” because I wanted to “be in control”. What is up with that? Just when I feel like I have grown past the seduction of the big four; to look good, feel good, be right and be in control, I fall right back into a trap to try and regain control. Lord, I pray that You will help me become a man after your own heart as I surrender myself to You. Help me walk by faith even when I cannot see.

And God says…”It is good that you recognize your failure to surrender and live connected. Paul recognized and lamented his repeated failures…”Who will save me from this wretched condition? Thank God it has already been done by Christ Jesus.” You will never be perfect this side of heaven, and you will find that your nature will always pull you in the direction of trying to “look good, feel good, be right and be in control”. You can avoid this trap when you are surrendered and connected to Me. And when you are not surrendered and connected, this side of heaven, remember that I do not see your failures. I see only Jesus. Acknowledge Me in all your ways, and I will make your paths straight. And like the father that told Jesus, I believe, help me in my unbelief; you can say and pray; I surrender, help me God in my unsurrender.”