Ixtheus Christian Devotionals

Dear Friends in Christ,

Sometimes our lives get filled with such confusion and conflicting circumstances and needs and opportunities that we can get a headache just thinking about them. We know we want to serve the Lord in some capacity, perhaps a volunteer part-time position, or even going in to full time service...but there are all these unanswered questions and loose ends and unresloved priorities and insufficient funding that we just want to sink down into our easy chair and forget the whole thing.

It is at this point that we need to apply a few organizational principles and faith and a lot of prayer, and to realize that ...

...God is not the author of confusion, but of peace....
1 Cor 14:33a (KJV) 

AND

The LORD is near unto all them that call upon him,
 to all that call upon him in truth.
He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: 
he also will hear their cry, and will save them.
Psa 145:19 (KJV) 

It has been my observation after all these years that God puts a desire in our hearts to serve Him, maybe very subtly at first, and then goes about leading us around until He creates that desire in us. We may not desire His will at first, but eventually we will get a deep down hunger for what He wants us to do, and become willing to let go of what we wanted to do in the first place. 

And near the end of the process, it seems that He keeps our new desire just out of reach  until we really come to the point of just crying out in prayer for Him to fulfill what our new desire is, and what His original desire was all along. 

Perhaps it is that you are at this point right now. God is right at the doorway of fulfilling the desires of your heart, but you have to do a few things to go "over the top" as it were. Circumstances have become so confusing and decisions seem so conflicting that you just cant see the path ahead in any clear way. If you are at this point, for whatever kind of decision you need to make, try this...

Get a big piece of paper or a legal pad and use it as a tool to organize your thoughts to figure out what you are going to pray for. You need to kind of "download" all those conflicting facts and ideas onto some paper where it will stay in one place and stop swimming around, and you can evaluate it on its own merits and compare it to other courses of action.

1) identify what the desire of your heart is. 
Make a few columns on a really big piece of art paper and put in those columns all the confusing details of what your life decisions are. Perhaps right now all these facts and decisions are swimming around unorganized and un-prioritized in your mind. 

Make the headings of these columns something like this...and be brutally honest, and do it in a prayerful attitude, or you won't get a good result. Assume that there is a perfect solution to this problem, which is the kind of solution only God can construct...
  a.. What do i really want to be doing with the next few years.? 
  b.. What are my absolute necessities? time, travel, expenses, pay, benefits, insurance, etc. 
  c.. What things would i be willing to give up? 
  d.. What things am i unwilling to give up? 
  e.. What things can I in no way give up? 
  f.. Would i be willing to raise financial support from friends, relatives, etc, and get monetary monthly faith commitments from them to go into a ministry if that ministry can't absolutely support us full time, but we feel that the Lord is absolutely leading us there?
2) Now, you can compare what opportunities you have with what is your bottom line of needs,  and see what is missing and how far you are away from this as a goal. Then you can make a list of those things that you expect the organization to do for you, (pay, housing, benefits, etc), and present it to them in a kindly way saying this is our fleece, our bottom line, if you can fulfill it, we are there, if not, we will wait for the Lord's direction about some other ministry (and there are plenty of ministry openings out there, by the way).

Bottom line here...get this all laid out where you can see it and prioritize it, then pray like crazy for the Lord to reveal His will to you ...to open the right doors and close others until He shows you what His will is, and moves a few mountains out of the way so that it can be done. And in all your prayers, always keep the attitude...

...Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: 
nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 
Luke 22:42 (KJV) 

Set your minimum requirements and stick to them, knowing that the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and He knows you have need of these things...and that He doesn't want you to go spinning off in some direction that He doesnt want you to go in, but wants to gently lead you as a shepherd so that you find just the right pasture.

In everything you do, put God first, 
and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.
 {7} Don't be conceited, sure of your own wisdom. 
Instead, trust and reverence the Lord, 
and turn your back on evil; 
when you do that, 
then you will be given renewed health and vitality. 

{8} {9} Honor the Lord by giving him the first part of all your income,
 and he will fill your barns with wheat  and barley 
and overflow your wine vats with the finest wines.
 Prov 3:6-9 (TLB) 

May your life be filled with peace and success as you seek to serve Him...
in Christ.....brother bob..........<><

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IXTHEUS CHRISTIAN DEVOTIONALS 
ALWAYS FREE OF CHARGE
(but not necessarily  free of COST)
feel free to redistribute these materials to whomever you want...
be careful to observe copyright information where appropriate...
for questions, comments, help or suggestions, or subscriptions, contact us at
 ixtheus@execpc.com

Visit my evangelistic presentation at...
http://www.execpc.com/~ixtheus

God Bless You.....brother bob.......<><

If you have comments or questions, email me at ixtheus@execpc.com