This morning we continue with our series entitled, “Refined Focus”, with an emphasis on “Focusing on God’s Finished Work”. We have been looking at the life and call of the Apostle Paul. Let’s get back to it.
Paul did not call himself to preach the Gospel, therefore he could not make his own opportunities to preach. Since Paul was a “go-getter”, before coming to Christ he was accustomed to making things happen. This explains why he attempted to preach the gospel just days after conversion. He tried to preach in Damascus and Jerusalem and he was almost killed in both places. It was not until Paul learned to stop trying to “make” everything happen on his own, and to rest in God’s finished work, that Paul was able to flow with God in ministry and reach the people he was called to reach.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. You don’t generate your own ministry opportunities. You did not call yourself to the ministry. So like Paul, you must learn to allow the one who called you to prepare the opportunities for you. This is hard for people like Paul, like me, who are hard-charging, bold, confident, assertive people with type-A personalities. But like Paul learned, you have to rest in God’s finished work. You may be convinced of “what” God called you to do, but knowing your “what” is only half the equation. You also have to wait on your “when”.
2. Waiting on God to open the door is a humbling experience. The day Paul received his call to preach the Gospel was the same day he thought he was ready to preach. But he had to spend three years in Tarsus, all alone, dying to everything and everyone he knew, before God would release him into his call. I know what it’s like to go through a similar process. It’s humbling when you are a person who is accustomed to going and doing, but God tells you to sit, wait and learn. You know what you are called to do. But you don’t know when you will get to do it, until God tells you when. Or until He opens the door. The day finally came for Paul when Barnabas came looking for him in Tarsus. It took three years, but the day came. The day came for Paul and it will come for you! But you must learn to rest in God’s finished work and trust His timing.
3. It’s often hard for us to understand all the things that have to align for us to walk in our purpose. I’ll give you two examples:
Example 1: God promised a portion of land to Abraham and his descendants. God told Abraham that his descendants would possess the land. However, several things were going to have to happen first. His descendants were going to have to endure 400 years of slavery in Egypt. That’s one side of the equation. On the other side, the land was occupied. God was not ready to remove the inhabitants. But there would come a time, 400(+) years later, when their wickedness would reach the point where God was ready to remove them. All of these things had to align before God told Moses to send the 12 spies into the land. It took over 440 years, but what God said to Abraham finally came to pass; because it was already done before the world began. In the earth it was only a matter of time.
Example 2: It is clear that Saul of Tarsus was converted in Acts 9, he was called to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles and his divine identity was “The Apostle Paul”. But in Acts 9 he was still known as Saul, the Gospel had not reached the Gentiles yet, and Saul/Paul did not even know what to preach. He was Born-Again, but he had no true relationship with the Father yet. He did not know how to be led of the Spirit yet. Three years later ‘the stars aligned’. By this point the Gospel had finally reached the Gentiles in a place called Antioch. By this point Paul had spent three years spending time with the Father, learning to develop his relationship with God and His Spirit. So when both sides (Paul and the Gentiles) were ready, Paul did not have to make his own opportunity to preach. God sent Barnabas from Antioch to Tarsus, to look for Paul, and to bring him to his assignment. In the fulness of time, Paul’s breakthrough came looking for him. The same will happen for you!
My Point: Since faith is out part of the equation, we often feel like we have to go “make” something happen. However, there can be no faith where there is no grace. And grace is not our part of the equation, it is God’s. We can’t release faith where God has not already provided grace. Abraham had a promise, but his descendents did not walk in that promise until 440 years later; until it was the fulness of God’s timing. Paul had a call on his life. He was called before he was born, he did not accept the call until he was a grown man, and he could not walk in the call until God opened the door for him to do so, after three years in isolation. This is why learning to REST IN GOD’S FINISHED WORK is so important. You will get frustrated if you try to make God give you something that is not yours to have. You will get frustrated if you pursue opportunities you were not called to walk in. You can pray 24 hours a day, you can fast to the point of starvation, but you can’t make God give you something that He did not already plan for you. Faith is not you telling God what to do, and putting an “In Jesus’ name” at the end of it. Faith is God telling you what to do. Faith is you dying to self. Faith is you pursuing what is already yours by grace!
Closing Confession: Father, this is a season of refined focus for me. I bring my life into focus in 2016. You called me before the world began. You mapped out my life before I ever took one breath. You prepared my success before I ever lived one day. I am now learning to REST in Your Finished Work. I am learning to accept what You called me to do, and pursue only that! I release my faith daily, but only where You have already provided grace. I live by faith, so that is may be by grace that I become the man/woman You called me to be. I am not a self-made man/woman. I am a God-made man/woman, because I humble myself to Your process and I REST in Your Finished Work! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
