Skip to main content

“He shapes his will in us far more than he speaks his will to us.”

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, The Last Arrow: Save Nothing for the Next Life (p. 178). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I’ve just been out walking by and looking at the Pacific Ocean and I’ve just had two things came to me: One, God sure does know how to create and two, he sure knows how to create big.  His Ocean is way bigger than the largest city in the world that we have created and way more beautiful.  And he also is the one who created you and me and he still is interested in us even though we possibly have messed up. 

Erwin says, “I wonder how many times God has asked us, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ and in false humility, we stammered and said, ‘Whatever you want to do, Lord, is fine.’”

He goes on, “The psalmist David tells us that we are to delight ourselves in the Lord and he will give us the desires of our heart (Ps. 37:4). This means we need to know our hearts, we need to know our desires, and we must allow those desires to first be informed and then formed by our love and worship of God. He shapes his will in us far more than he speaks his will to us. If we want to know what God wants, we need to give him our hearts and let him build desires in us that we want more than anything else in the world. That is why the asking is so important.”

He then says, “If you don’t know what you want, then God’s trying to give you what he wants for you is a wasted effort. You have to want what God wants in order to receive what he wants to give you… I’m convinced there are many of us who are walking blind because we ask God for a cane rather than for sight. It is clear that there are times in life when it is not within the scope of God’s intention for our life to give us certain things we ask for. But wouldn’t you rather err by asking for too much than too little?”


By the way, if he can create the Ocean He can do so much more than we can ask.  So, what do you want him to do for you?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life.   It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed.   Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life.   Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you.   You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good.   Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because G...
Post a Comment
Read more

“What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept?”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Rick posed this question at the end of his chapter, You Are Not an Accident.   In this chapter he deals with the fact that God created you the way you are with a purpose.   In other words you are not an accident.   I am also reading the Apostle John’s view of Jesus and what He said and did while He was here on earth.   In the beginning of Chapter 9 there is a story about a blind man.   And the disciples who were with Him asked Him a good question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? ”   Have you ever asked the same thing about something in you that you don’t like?   Like that characteristic is a curse or something.   Society has set a standard that is not a standard of God.   Remember, He created you and you are not an accident. Je...
Post a Comment
Read more