God showed me that He is planning to do new, amazing things in my life--He already has, but He keeps prompting me that there are even more amazing blessings ahead.
“Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:18-19
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:31-32
The lady who shared this Scripture at a retreat I went to several years ago used this to demonstrate that God is a good Daddy who loves to bless us--if He gave His only Son to die on the cross for our sins so that we could have eternal life, why WOULDN'T He want to bless us in other ways as well?She did not use this verse to condone the idea that God is a genie who magically gives us whatever He wants--she was simply pointing out that God enjoys blessing us.
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us," Ephesians 3:20
I LOVE the EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY part!! How many times in your life has God done exceedingly abundantly above anything that you asked Him?! :) Probably a lot when you stop to think about it!
These first three verses were all given to me at the same women's retreat several years ago. God has partly fulfilled all of them in my life.
A few weeks after I returned from the retreat, one of my pastors was speaking on Sunday and he mentioned this verse. Immediately I knew that it was confirmation for the first three verses.
“Look among the nations and watch—
Be utterly astounded!
For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you." Habakkuk 1:5
Awesome, huh?! What God has for me is so awesome that I wouldn't believe it even if He told me. :)
"The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
I really love this Scripture. Isn't it so beautiful to think of God rejoicing over us with singing while we are unaware? I also like the part that says He will quiet me with His love. Sometimes I need a calming force in my life. It's nice to really meditate on the depth of God's love and goodness toward me because it really does calm my spirit.
Lately, I have been pondering the amazing faith of some of the most renowned men who lived during Bible times. I want to have that level of complete confidence in God that they had. Today I was reading II Samuel 7. In this chapter, God sends Nathan to tell David all of God's promises for him and his family (eternal dynasty and that Solomon would build the temple). David's response has such a beautiful humility. II Sam. 7:18 says, "Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed." He was so in awe of what God shared with him. He immediately sat before the Lord to ponder and absorb these awesome promises. His prayer is also so inspiring and deeply moving. I feel convicted when I read that, because I know myself enough to realize that EVEN IF God Himself came down from heaven to personally deliver an amazing, awesome, "larger-than-life" promise to me, I am ashamed to admit that I would have several questions for Him and would need a shameful number of reassurances before I could begin to allow myself to believe God.
For the past few months, I have been seeking God constantly, asking Him to reveal which of my dreams are just mine, and which of my dreams He has planted in my heart. Obviously I want to rid myself of any dreams of which God is not a part, and I want to recognize which dreams are His so that when He opens doors for those dreams to become a reality, I will respond (hopefully with enthusiasm!). Today as I was reading II Sam. 7, it dawned on me that part of the reason God has been silent over the past few months is because I don't have enough faith yet to believe what He wants to tell me. The Bible is replete with examples of God's prophecies to His faithful servants (just read Hebrews 11!). God was VERY SPECIFIC in the promises that He gave to His followers. He was very specific with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Israelite nation, David, Samuel, and the list is endless. I realized that God cannot reveal anything to me until I am ready to believe Him just as these men were. I have hope for myself because Moses doubted God in the beginning, but then he came to believe. And Moses ended up having a very intimate relationship with God.
I am confident that God wants to reveal His will to me. Here are some Scriptures which I believe prove that I am correct.
- James 1:5
- If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (To me, knowing God's specific plans for my life is a part of wisdom because how can I expect to follow Him if He doesn't tell me where to go?)
- Jeremiah 29:11
- "For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."
- Psalm 32:8
- The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
I will advise you and watch over you." That means that He will tell us His plans for us. The implication is that He will tell us what to do--He will share His plans with us. - Psalm 119:3
- I like a French version of this verse best--my English equivalent is: "They commit no evil; they follow the paths that God has traced out for them."
- Prov. 3:6
- Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.
I'm sure there are many more that escape me now. Pretty much no one reads this blog, BUT if God puts it into your heart, I would love anyone to share any other verses in the comment section which prove that God desires to reveal His specific plans to us for our lives. It would encourage me!
So ... my latest quest--in order to position myself to enter the Promised Land that God has for me--is to commit to believing God and increasing my faith, SO THAT WHEN (do you like the confidence there already?!--not IF, but WHEN!) God reveals His specific plans for my life, I can embrace them wholeheartedly and joyfully, and allow myself to grieve and let go of the dreams that I planted myself without His blessing. Right now, I feel like I definitely have way too many hopes, dreams, and plans, and they can't possibly be all from Him. On a positive note, He did give me ONE of my dreams a couple of months ago! I am still so excited! I had prayed for two years to find a Bible Study group. I discovered one in my church a couple of months ago, and I LOVE it! What a blessing! So that dream was definitely from Him! I really hope that this summer, as I have the blessing of spending several hours with Him per day, He will choose to reveal more of His dreams for my life and begin to open other doors.
I hope this inspires you to ask God to share His specific plans for your life to you as well! And as you do, I hope you become even more in awe of this amazing God we serve, for whom NOTHING is impossible!
God bless you! :)
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