Stepping Stones 7-28-15 Do You Really Want the Promised Land?

Stepping Stones 7-28-15 Do You Really Want the Promised Land?
July 28, 2015 Lighthouse Network

July 28, 2015
Transformational Thought
My goal as a father is to raise my daughters so they are fulfilled, content, and independent (able to function on their own financially, psychologically, emotionally, and relationally). As they do that, they need to become dependent on God to achieve their God-given potential and purpose. The one skill I focus on so they can be victorious in all these goals is showing them how to be Godly decision-makers. This is the most important task in life and one over which they have 100% control. Godly decision-making leads to the “Promised Land Living” Moses described in Deuteronomy 30. I think we would all agree that Godly decision-making is a great goal for our kids. Thankfully, my teenagers now realize that being Godly decision-makers will determine the course and enjoyment they will experience in this life as well as the next.

However, when they were younger (felt like just last week) they wanted too stay up late … have ice cream for dinner … sleep in late in the summer … leave their chores for their mom to do … rush through their homework … or take any short cut in life. The great goal of Godly decision-making, or at least a healthy strategy to achieve it, was at times, the farthest thing from their minds.

There is no question that it is God’s will to bless you by sanctifying you. His word tells us, “This is the will of God, your sanctification ….” The real question remains … is it your will? If so, then is there regular proof in your life that this really is your will? If your answer is no, why are you making your life so hard and dangerous?

Are you willing to let God do everything in you that Christ made possible through His death and payment on the cross? Are you willing to let His life be exhibited through your flesh? As children, we all yielded to the will of our teachers, athletic coaches, acting coaches, music instructors, dance teachers and often our parents. We endured struggles with homework, physical strain, long practice sessions, final exams, learning tough musical pieces, many chores and punishments during childhood. We experienced the frustration of incompetence and insecurity. But we stuck with it, trusted those leaders, and had faith that they willed something good and desirable for us. Their goal became our goal.

God is the greatest coach, teacher, or parent … ever. His will for you is grander and closer to you than you could ever imagine. So make it yours. Begin by submitting to His coaching and parenting. If you aren’t submitting, you aren’t trusting Him. You’re definitely trusting something vastly inferior, like yourself or the world.

Today, examine whether you really want the best for your life. If you answered, “yes”, are you following God’s plan and using His instruction book as your guide in your daily decisions? Are you getting in His way, becoming your own worst enemy? Align your will with that of the One who created you. He knows you better than you know yourself. Don’t act like a selfish child, selling out the chance for life’s great rewards in order to have immediate comfort. Our curriculum workshops can help you get out of God’s way and understand how to follow His leading. Whether you will enjoy Promised Land living or you continue to wander in the wilderness is really your decision, so choose well.

Prayer
Thank You, Father, for making it possible for Your will to be my will. Thank You for uniting me through Jesus Christ to You … for making me pure and holy … and freeing me from the death grip of sin. How liberating it is to know that there is nothing in this universe that can separate me from Your love. Help me absorb Your love and know how much You really care for me. Melt my resistance to Your will. Show me how to get out of Your way as You work on me and with me through Your Holy Spirit. I pray this in the name the one who always submitted to Your will, even above His own, Jesus Christ – and all God’s children say, AMEN!

The Truth
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 

God’s will is for you to be holy… 1 Thessalonians 4:3

The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, it is within your reach. Deuteronomy 30:9-11

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