This morning we continue our journey into this new year with a focus on making “Intentional Progress.” I shared with you six steps to intentional progress and I will walk through them over the next few weeks. As a reminder, here are the six steps.
Here are the steps again:
1. Pray/Discern
2. Plan/Prepare
3. Wait/Discern God’s Timing
4. Execute/Measure Progress
5. Wait/Faith & Patience
6. Receive When Harvest Time Comes
We are looking at the first step right now: praying and discerning the will of God. With that in mind, we looked at John 5. Today we will go back to John 5 and take a closer look at verse 30, as we seek to learn from the life of Jesus.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. The key to making perfect decisions is simply doing the will of the one who is perfect.
(John 5:30 TPT)
30 “Nothing I do is from my own initiative. As I hear the judgment passed by my Father, I execute those judgments. And my judgments will be perfect, because I seek only to fulfill the desires of my Father who sent me.”
As we endeavor to make the most of 2022, one of the ways we know we can increase the quality of our lives is by increasing the quality of our decisions. Let’s learn from Jesus concerning this.
— Jesus was not on this planet to do whatever He wanted. He knew He was here for a reason, and He limited His focus, time, energy, and effort to ONLY doing what He believed He was sent to this planet to do. This is actually the ultimate way to live as a Born-Again believer. The more we strive to live this way, the more God will live through us, and the closer we will be to becoming the man/woman we were birthed to be.
— Your decisions and actions matter. The entire planet functions on a system of sowing and reaping, cause and effect, and the free will of humans. So, you are where you are today, in life, because of the decisions you have made in the past. And you will be where you will be in the future because of the decisions you make today. That said, Jesus gave us the key to making great decisions. That key is actually seeking God concerning what He already decided and then simply doing that!
— Jesus said, “Nothing I do is from my own initiative. As I hear the judgment passed by my Father, I execute those judgments. And my judgments will be perfect, because I seek only to fulfill the desires of my Father who sent me.”
— When you are carrying out the order or intentions of your superior, you don’t take on any pressure concerning the decisions because you know you are NOT the one who decided. Your superior has already decided, and you are simply carrying out their wishes. When this happens, you get to enjoy the “backing” of your superior, and while you are performing their bidding, you are actually operation under their authority and power. If anyone questions what you are doing, you get to simply say that you are carrying out the order of “so and so.” This is actually how Jesus lived. He did nothing on His own. He carried out the will of the Father. Jesus left heaven to come to the earth. He limited Himself to operating as a mere man who was anointed by God. Jesus was God in the flesh, but He had to learn like all humans learn. He had to grow and develop, like all humans. And He was limited to the direct vicinity He was operating in, because He was operating as a man. But since He was a man who was fully surrendered to God in heaven, He knew that all of heaven had His back. When He made a decision, He knew the Father had to back it, because He was actually NOT the one mankind the decision. It was the Father, living in Him, who had already decided. All Jesus was doing was carrying out the wishes of the Father on this planet. Guess what? This is the way we are supposed to live.
2. When you know you are carrying out the will of the Father, you don’t take on any pressure to perform.
(John 5:30 TPT)
30 “Nothing I do is from my own initiative. As I hear the judgment passed by my Father, I execute those judgments. And my judgments will be perfect, because I seek only to fulfill the desires of my Father who sent me.”
As you seek to make the most of 2022, you will plan, prepare, layout goals, and ultimately pursue them. As we learn from Jesus, the best way to ensure we are doing all of this the right way, is by ensuring that we are hearing from God every step of the way.
— The reason why Step #1 of the six steps I laid out for you is praying and discerning God’s will, is because everything should start with God. When you know that what you are doing was birthed in God’s heart BEFORE it manifested itself in yours, you are able to operate with a level of confidence and boldness that will not be shaken.
— Faith begins where the will of God is known. Once you know what God has said and know that you are doing what He told you to do, you can operate in fearless confidence (a.k.a., faith) because you will know that all of heaven has your back.
— Jesus had fearless confidence as a man, and He was able to manifest heaven on earth daily because He knew He was only doing what the Father was leading Him to do.
— Jesus’ decisions were perfect while He was operating as a man because He was not the one making them. He waited to hear what His Father in heaven had already decided, and He then launched out under the power and authority of those decisions. Living this way, He became a conduit of heaven on earth. Guess what? We are capable of living the same way. But in order for us to operate under the same level of power, we must provide the Father the same level of submission.
— I can’t tell you how many times I have said something like the following to God: “Father, I was minding my own business when You told me to do this. I am only doing this because I believe it is Your will. I am out here doing Your bidding. This is not my own will. I did not want to do this. I am only here because of You. Therefore, my full confidence is in You! I am looking to You to bring to pass Your will in this situation. The results have nothing to do with me. It’s Your will, therefore it’s Your bill!” When I am able to say something like that with a clean heart, knowing that I am ONLY doing what the Father led me to do, then ALL my confidence is in Him. I don’t take on any pressure to perform. I don’t have to make it successful because the one who sent me has to make it successful. It’s His will and not my own!
— There are many things in my life, and in the life of my wife Isabella, that we are doing solely because the Father told us to. Now, this does not guarantee that everything will go easy and that success will come without challenges. There is a devil, and he gets a vote. The devil has people on this planet who are susceptible to his influence, and he uses them to hinder God’s plans all the time. Furthermore, God never promised it would be easy, and He never said we would have success without challenge. But if we remain in faith, fully believing that God will do what He said He would do, there is no way God will let us down. The only way we can lose is if WE QUIT and accept the loss.
— I will close by encouraging someone today. I am speaking to someone who knows they are doing what God told them to do, but they are frustrated because things have been harder than they imagined they would be. Look up my brother/sister. God is still God. His promise is still good. He is still on the throne. He is still backing every Word He has released. He is still watching over His Word to perform it on this planet. Now, He never said it would be easy. But He has given you the grace to endure and overcome every challenge on the road to your destiny. God has great things in store for you for 2022. Don’t cut yourself off from God’s best by delving into fear, doubt, and unbelief. Great is coming for you. Just keep believing. If God said it, He HAS TO perform it. If He promised it, He HAS TO make His promise good. Don’t give up on God. Don’t take on unnecessary pressure to perform. You don’t have to make it happen. You just have to keep believing. If you have the faith, God has the power. GREATER IS COMING; please don’t give up before it does!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for giving me the perfect example in Jesus. As Jesus is, so am I, in this world. Therefore, I live like Jesus in every way. Like Jesus, I say, “??Nothing I do is from my own initiative.” I am not on this planet to do what I want. I am only here to do what You want because You are the one who sent me here. I am here to do Your bidding, and I will do so every day of my life. Like Jesus, I say, “As I hear the judgment passed by my Father, I execute those judgments.” I launch out every day with fearless confidence because my confidence is not in me. My total confidence is in You. I receive my orders from headquarters daily. I do what You lead me to do, and I do so without fear because I am operating under Your power and authority on this planet. Like Jesus, I say, “I seek only to fulfill the desires of my Father who sent me.” This is why I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith! In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
