This morning we continue our series entitled, “Refined Focus”. We have been studying the Bible under this theme all year. I trust this series has been a blessing to you. As we prepare for the end of the year, the Lord has shifted me to teach on His finished work. For the last three months of the year we will continue to refine our focus. Not on what we are seeking God to do in our lives, but rather on what God has already done.
When I got a revelation of God’s finished work it changed almost every aspect of my walk with Christ. As God leads me to teach you what He has taught me, my prayer is that you experience the same. This will change you way you interact with God, the way you pray, the way you see your future, the way you deal with stress, and just about every area of your life.
For this morning I will use salvation as an example. The Father provided eternal life, through His Son Jesus, on Calvary’s cross, once and for all. Everyone everywhere has the offer of eternal life. This offer stands and has stood for over 2,000 years. This offer has nothing to do with human effort or human performance. We cannot work for it, earn it or ever deserve it. All we can do is simply receive what the Father has provided through His Son Jesus.
When someone accepts the free gift of eternal life, by acknowledging Jesus as Lord, most believers erroneously say, “God saved Jimmy today” or “God saved Sarah today”. Actually, God provided eternal life for Jimmy and Sarah 2,000 years ago. All that happened today was an acceptance on the part of Jimmy and Sarah. Please don’t disregard the difference as an issue of semantics. No, there is a huge difference in the two statements. In one statement we believe God just did something. In the other we understand the work was already done, and all we as humans needed to do was accept (by faith) what God had already provided (by grace).
I am truly looking forward to teaching you more about this over the next three months.
So what does this mean to you today? A will share a few things to simply set the stage for this series.
- God made plans for you before the world began. When you grasp the enormity of this reality you will stop trying to come up with plans on your own. The only way to truly succeed in life is to discover, develop in and then deploy into the plans God already made for you.
- Your when (when you were born) and your where (where you were born) align with your why (why you were born).
- You are not a mistake. God planned for your arrival. He already prepared your success. So while you are trying to get Him to do something, He is trying to get you to receive what He already did.
- While you are trying to get God to move, He is trying to get you to realize He already moved and all you have to do is discover and tap into what He has already done.
- Success in Christ does not come with more trying. That’s human effort. Success comes with more dying to your humanity, so divinity can be manifested through you.
Closing Confession: Father, this is a season of refined focus for me. I bring my life into focus in 2016. I walk with You and You walk with me daily. As I do, You reveal to me what You have already done. As I discover Your will, I quickly place Your will above my own, I die to self, I yield to You, and I become the man I was born to be. Instead of attempting to get You to move, I spend time discovering what You have already done. When I discover it, I declare that I develop in it, and I then deploy into it. Living this way, I get to experience Your best every day. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
