“To have faith in Christ means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”
C.S. Lewis
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippians 4:13
Do As I Say
Ever heard the phrase “do as I say, not as I do”? I’m sure we all have heard it and probably said it, but sometimes we actually do what we say to our own detriment. What do I mean?
Two weeks ago I wrote on You Are What You Think. The idea is how our thoughts eventually affect our actions and the need to reset our mind. Last week’s post was Say What You Think. The second step of transforming your mindset is to change what you say about yourself and your circumstances. The final step is to act on what your transformed mind is thinking and your transformed mouth is saying.
If your thoughts are still negative and defeating, then it will spill out in your speaking and affect your decisions. I have been trying to work on my mindset, but it is a work in progress. Just a week ago someone told me about their new job, and I mentioned needing either a new job or another source of income. He said, “Do it. Apply. Now is the time.”
Opportunities and Obstacles
6 Scatter your seed in the morning, and in the evening don’t be idle because you don’t know which will succeed, this one or that, or whether both will be equally good. Ecclesiastes 11:6
I immediately came up with excuses. At first all I thought about was my current situation and all the obstacles to finding a new job. I read a few job descriptions and I thought, “They will never hire me.” I realized I had slipped back into old thought processes to the point I wasn’t even willing to try.
The next week a couple of opportunities popped up in my email and online, so I applied for a couple of jobs. I was shocked to get a phone call from one of the opportunities within a few days. Whether or not I get the job, I learned one thing: I am a viable candidate for those types of jobs or I wouldn’t have gotten an interview.
Bottom Line
My plans aren’t your plans,
Isaiah 55:8-11
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
9 Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my plans than your plans.
10 Just as the rain and the snow come down from the sky
and don’t return there without watering the earth,
making it conceive and yield plants
and providing seed to the sower and food to the eater,
11 so is my word that comes from my mouth;
it does not return to me empty.
Instead, it does what I want,
and accomplishes what I intend.
The bottom line is that I will never know if I don’t try. If I am praying for God’s will and it doesn’t work out, then I know it is for my own good. Our job is to sow seeds wherever and whenever we are given the opportunity. Whether it is a job opportunity or just an opportunity to serve others, we never know what God will do with it.
I want a mindset that sets out in the morning to make the most of the day and the opportunities to witness and serve God. I fail more than I succeed, but with God’s help we can do anything. Each day is a fresh start, so keep trying. You will be amazed what God will do when you are willing to be obedient to at least try.
What I’m Reading:
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Amen Ms. Linda. We can’t know how the seed we spread will fall, as we are not meant to know the soil of another’s heart. Learning to accept that fact makes it much easier for me to keep sowing Christ’s gospel. I’ve seen times when I’ve seeded areas of ground that did not yield much the season before and a bumper crop has sprung up. We often tend to avoid those areas we judge to harsh (soil to hard, too wet, too dense, too sandy, etc.) for the seeds to germinate. God loves to use those times to remind us that it is not our job to judge; just to keep sowing and let Him bring the harvest. God’s blessings little lady.
thank you for your insights, Linda!