Monday, February 18, 2019
I know God does not reveal His intentions ahead of time, and there is a reason for this! His purposes and plans are far greater than I am able to comprehend, and God looks at things from an eternal perspective, with which it is impossible for me to grasp!
That’s why I believe it’s impossible for us to fully know what “God’s will is for our lives” ahead of time. There is a reason for this – to increase my faith and trust in God – to take one day at a time, one step at a time (Luke 11:3; II Corinthians 4:16), and not worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34). That’s why God tells us over and over again to wait on Him!
We cannot know what His plans or intentions are, and it may be like dominoes, where our life might be the catalyst for just one other life, who influences one other person to come to Christ and serve God, who may be the one to influence hundreds of thousands.
I don’t get to write my own obituary, but I do get to influence what it says by obeying God’s direction, through His Holy Spirit – one day at a time!
We can look at the examples in Scripture of this “domino effect” – Rahab, for example, the prostitute who was in the line of Joseph, the virgin Mary’s husband, and was the great-grandmother of King David. Or the disciples, the twelve men whose influence changed the world today, despite ultimately facing martyrdom.
In more modern times, one man, Robert Wilder, launched the Student Volunteer Movement for Missions in the 1880s of Princeton University, who influenced Samuel Moffett, who led a young Korean to Christ, Kiel Son-Chu, who helped instigate a revival that birthed the modern Korean church and its immense missionary force.
Or take Edward Kimball, who led Dwight L. Moody to the Lord, who led thousands to Christ, including F.B. Meyer. He influenced J.W. Chapman, who influenced Billy Sunday, who influenced Mordecai Ham, and eventually led to the conversion of a 17-year old boy in North Carolina named Billy Graham.
Or a little closer to home, an English speaking missionary in Khartoum, Sudan, who taught English to a young convert from Greek Orthodoxy who’d been thrown out of school for refusing to kiss the hand of the Orthodox priest, just because she thought it would come in handy someday. That boy was my dad, who would have never come to the United States if he had never learned English from that female missionary, and, as a result, took the gospel to millions of lost through the evangelistic efforts of AMG International, which he led for more than 60 years.
Now only eternity will reveal the influence my life may or may not have – depending on my obedience to Him and the Holy Spirit’s leading on a day-by-day basis, one step at a time. I pray I will not fail in this regard to take advantage of each opportunity God sets before me – and every open door He puts in my way!