Love God and Be Committed to His Purpose

Philippians 2:13 (NLT)
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

Briana was thirteen when she realized that she wanted to become a doctor. Her pediatrician jump-started her desire and passion to pursue healthcare. He had a great bedside manner and awesome hospitality. During one of her appointments with him, she asked what made him want to become a pediatrician. He said, “I knew this is what God wanted me to do. As a kid, I had my heart set on being a construction worker, but God made it clear that my purpose was to be a doctor.” As they talked a little bit more, he told Briana that when your heart is to please God, He will make His desires your desires, and He will open doors that you couldn’t imagine. His response sparked something within her, and Briana knew this was the path God wanted her to take.

Although her parents were Christians, Briana didn’t have a strong desire to know God intimately before that day, but after the appointment with her doctor, she was never the same. She promised God that she would follow and love Him for the rest of her life. 1Corinthians 12:6 (NLT) tells us, “God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.” This is a truth we must believe with our whole hearts. God doesn’t move us around like puppets. He doesn’t orchestrate every detail of our lives, but He has as many ways to get our attention as there are people. He anoints and appoints each of us for His purpose, and following it is the greatest blessing of life.

Romans 8:28(NLT) says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Many of us have misunderstood this verse. We’ve made the mistake of removing the conditions of His promise here, and therefore, we have diminished the truth of what God is revealing. Every action, behavior, event, and occurrence that happens in our lives and in the world doesn’t carry the approval and favor of our Heavenly Father. There are things that happen on a daily basis that God doesn’t like, and there are things that happen that we don’t like. God doesn’t bless the things that do not please Him. He doesn’t cause the things that He doesn’t like to work together, and we must be clear about this.

Romans 8:28 clarifies that the recipients of this promise of causing all things to work together is to those that love God and are called according to His purpose. He will take the circumstances that have troubled those of us that love Him and are called according to His purpose, and He will cause them to work together for our good. It’s a mistake to think that people who do not love God and ignore their purpose in His Will can receive that same blessing.

God’s purpose is important to Him and therefore, it must be important to us. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us not to depend on our own understanding, but to trust God with all our hearts and seek His Will in all we do because only He can show us the path of life. Briana came to understand that God indeed had a plan for her life, and she made a commitment to yield to His direction and guidance. This is a very conscious and intentional choice that we must make. We must rest in the Father’s care and trust that He is going to cause all things to work together for our good because we love Him, and we are committed to His purpose for our lives.

God is the One who gives us the desire to what pleases Him. The ways of the Lord are endless, and He knows how to work in us. He knows how to present us with opportunities and relationships that open doors for us like the parting of the Red Sea. God will make the path plain to us, but we have to pay attention. Like Briana, we must focus on our relationship with God and do the things that build and strengthen it. We don’t have to try to force things to come together, because that’s a strategy that will ultimately disappoint us. When we put God in the driver seat of our lives, we don’t have to push, we have to pray.

God tells us in Philippians 4:6(NLT), “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” We must pray in the morning and pray before we go to bed each night. Continually relinquishing control to God and dedicating our days to Him will keep us on the path of His purpose. Briana graduated from nursing school at twenty-six, and landed a job as a pediatric nurse, and she absolutely loves it. Like her, we must seek God in everything we do and above all, trust that He will lead, guide, and direct us according to His divine Will and plan for our lives.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

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