A good friend of mine and I had been working on a significant project for the Lord. We believed that it would result in a mighty work for the Lord and of course were excited about it. We both thought about our God given talents and how we have been blessed with resources and how best to use them for whatever time the Lord allows us to remain on this earth to glorify God. We prayed that God would reveal whether He approved of this plan, and we knew that the only way the project would succeed is if it is according to God’s will and He agrees.
It is a difficult thing knowing God’s will for our lives. Many things need to come together for us to accomplish our lofty goals and it will require some difficult work on our parts.
In the early stages of our planning, things were rocking along perfectly, but later we ran into some problems. One problem was rather large, and it stressed me almost to a breaking point. Without getting personal or going into detail, the problem was centered on an individual from whom we needed cooperation to get the project going. This person had been less than honest in our dealings and in one case flat out lied about me behind my back. I was sick of his arrogance, and he made a snide remark to me and I became livid and lashed out at him. Basically, the low point was when I told him I was inclined to come over there and smack that stupid looking grin right off his face. What a way to begin a project honoring the Lord eh?
Oh boy . . . Naturally after that I could not rest well nor find peace. My buddy who was involved with the project was worked up too. I mused to him as to whether we should entertain the idea that our plan might not be within God’s will as we are encountering many roadblocks. I told him we simply could not make any progress, and I didn’t know if the project was not within God’s will to do it or Satan just fighting us, but things seemed to be heading downhill fast.
A couple of days passed, and my buddy brought the subject up again and made a good point. He essentially told me that our project could affect the lives of many people in a very positive manner, and it just might go down as a great work for the Lord. He then asked me how I thought Satan might view that kind of success with that project. I answered that I thought Satan would not like it at all and might be inclined to try everything he could to stop it from ever happening. Duh . . .
I had been pondering the same issue only from a different angle. In wondering whether it was God or Satan getting in the way of things, I could not conceive of God using my temper, as bad as it was, to stop the project. I do not believe God would inspire me to tell someone that I would smack them one, (among other things). Stuff like that comes from our dark side and is of Satan and the flesh, and not of Jesus Christ our loving Savior.
So, should I just abandon the project?
A great lesson was learned by me here. Just because things do not fall into place perfectly without a dark cloud in sight does not mean that our plans are not within the will of God. Satan is doing everything in his power to fight Christians and the Lord’s work. All through the Bible we are reminded of this. The most notable example was Satan trying to kill Jesus as a baby via King Herod. The parents of Jesus were warned by an angel to flee to Egypt to prevent the Savior of the world from being slaughtered. Satan did not want our Lord and Savior to visit the cross as it was the beginning of the end for Him and numbered his days.
A life example is a great preacher friend of mine who wanted to start a new church mainly for young people. He would need to relocate to a different area that could support his ministry ideals and it was close enough and he was popular enough whereby some members were sure to go with him if he were to leave. He was chastised unbearably for breaking up the former church by some folks not in tune with God’s plan and more in tune with their own ideas of what would be good for the church. I know he agonized over whether he made the right decision as he fought through some ugly stuff that he shared, but he felt it was God’s will to proceed and he found a way to pull it off. Today both churches are prospering and glorifying God in a mighty way and he was indeed right to keep hanging tough despite Satan’s’ vicious’ campaign against him.
Discerning God’s will for one’s life is difficult at best. Don’t view every roadblock as God disapproving of your plan. Remember Satan is at every turn trying to stop progress for the Lord. But remember prayer is necessary to discern God’s will. We need to use it without ceasing when battling with Satan.
Finally, I would encourage you to use the buddy system to do a mighty work for the Lord. Two heads are better than one and two, three, or even more folks are better yet. Find Christian friends and figure out something to work towards that will benefit the kingdom of God. If just one person benefits and perhaps comes to know the Lord it will have all been worth it a million times over. Remember when you die and enter heaven you will enter as you entered the world, naked as a jay bird. You will not be wearing fine clothes or jewelry, and you will not be taking your cars, boats, planes, houses, travel experiences, Super Bowl ring or any material possession with you. You will just be allowed to take your good works done in this lifetime into the next and that is it.
What will you be taking with you if you are destined to be called home today???
2 Tim. 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit
of fear, but of power and of love
and of a sound mind.