God Has A Plan! 1-11–26

Welcome to the word for the week. Put yourself in this scenario as we start this week. Your name is Elijah, you are a prophet of God, God tells you to pronounce that there will be no rain for the next three years, and then He hides you in a secret place. In that place He uses unusual ways to provide for you and when the water runs dry He simply moves you to another place. You already know that these actions will affect a lot of people and none of them will be exactly happy with you if they are on the wrong side of the punishment. The main person mad at you will be the king himself. Then, God tells you to go and pronounce the rain again. You send your servant to check for the evidence of rain and the first six times he comes and says he does not see anything. Finally, on the seventh time he sees a cloud that looks like a hand which signals that the rain is finally on the way. It is easy to be okay about that story when you already know the outcome but imagine if you were Elijah and you had to wait on God like that. Could you?

That question is important this week because everything is not going to be easy. There are going to be times when you will have to follow what seems to be strange commands from God and then wait for Him to actually do them. If you had to tell the king it is not going to rain you need to understand the serious risk to your own life that would cause. Then, you find yourself having to trust God every single day for daily food, water, and safety. After three years then you would have to trust God that it will rain again. Did I mention that before all of this you would actually have to trust God that it would not rain for the next three years? My point is everything you will have to do or go through will not always feel good. You will have to trust God. This does not apply to what you want for yourself. This applies to what God has in store. It is important that you understand the difference between the two. Too often we want what we want and then we put God’s name behind it. The truth is if His name is not out front then you already have a problem.

If trusting God was as easy as we try to make it then no one would struggle to do it. So let’s look at a few reasons why trusting God is a struggle. The obvious is a lack of faith that God will do what He said. Then we have fear of the unknown. We have being so comfortable in a bad situation until we do not want to move forward because it means we will have to start all over. Perhaps you have experience with past failures and you do not want that to happen again. Maybe, enough people have told you what you cannot do and now you actually believe them over God. There are a ton of reasons is my point. But, take a good look at the reasons in this paragraph again. Not one of those reasons is because of God. The truth is we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. The question is do we really believe that? Faith is most needed when your belief is at its lowest point. That is when you need to say God you have to take control in this. That is when you have to turn things over to God.

I have to close this week but here are some thoughts to consider. You know what you want in your life but do you know what God wants for your life? You know your plans but do you know His? You know what you desire but do you know what He desires? You know how soon you want things but do you know how long it will take for you to be developed enough to handle what you want? You know the deadline in front of you but are you aware of the extension of time God has in store and how long that is? You have a whole list of what they say on multiple pages but do you even have one line of what He said? Have you ever thought about the fact that the One who created you also knows the best pathways for you to get there? When is the last time you asked God what you should do before you actually did it? We have the greatest asset in this life within us and that is the Holy Spirit of God. The question is do we ask for directions before we start the journey?

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you in His grace,
Bishop Carlos J. Lennon