Be determined to know more than others. If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself— begin to have spiritual discernment.

When you know that you should do something and you do it, immediately you know more. Examine where you have become sluggish, where you began losing interest spiritually, and you will find that it goes back to a point where you did not do something you knew you should do. You did not do it because there seemed to be no immediate call to do it. But now you have no insight or discernment, and at a time of crisis you are spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-controlled. It is a dangerous thing to refuse to continue learning and knowing more.

The counterfeit of obedience is a state of mind in which you create your own opportunities to sacrifice yourself, and your zeal and enthusiasm are mistaken for discernment. It is easier to sacrifice yourself than to fulfill your spiritual destiny, which is stated in Romans 12:1-2. It is much better to fulfill the purpose of God in your life by discerning His will than it is to perform great acts of self-sacrifice. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice . . .” (1 Samuel 15:22). Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been. “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know . . .” (John 7:17).

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June 8, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Thank you for the lessons Lord. I am learning that Your will is not determined by the outcome as interpreted by my eyes and my filters. It is not an easy lesson.  I have always interpreted Your will by the doors that open to provision, safety …a good or more secure outcome for me and mine.  I have interpreted my next steps by how they might add to the safety, security, and provision for my family and me. It is not an easy lesson to learn that I am to no longer use those elements as my yardstick to determine Your will, my next steps or actions. The song says blessed be your name in all things…and I understand that I can sing that song as long as I am obedient to your will and often Your will is not necessarily found in my perceptions. You are the provision, safety, and security…and I am to follow You-not the elements that might signal safety, security and provision.

And God says…”It is a great deception.  You often interpret My will by the worldly success or outcome or opportunity. You think it was a success if 1000 showed up at church, or if 25 came forward, or if the investment paid off and or he or she were healed. And while it is My will that people are healed and you be blessed, my perfect will is for you to become conformed to the likeness of Christ Jesus. Jesus only acted in My will and you know the outcome of His physical life. And yet it was the most victorious life ever lived. The victory came out of what appeared (to human eyes and perceptions) to be utter defeat. The eternal victory came after and through the physical and worldly failure. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; praise the name of Jesus in all things. Operate in My will because You know it is My will, not because you think it has the most successful worldly outcome. My ways are not your ways.

Romans 12

Place Your Life Before God

^1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.