God Hits A Moving Target!
MY CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD
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God Hits A Moving Target!
Welcome to the OABG Daily Blog and Podcast!
But God hits a moving target!
When I read that line this morning in my Bible, it made me realize that no matter how all over the place you are in your life, your purpose that God created you for, is still your purpose. As Christians, we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. So even if you have been totally missing the mark, just know, God hits a moving target! That means there is still hope for you to get yourself together. That means if you just do the last thing he told you to do, then you can be ON TARGET for God. That means you can be living ON PURPOSE for God.
This morning, the Holy Spirit told me: WORK ON YOUR BOOK TODAY!
Now I have two choices: work on the book today and be obedient to the assignment God gave me or be disobedient and find everything else to do BUT what He told me to do. And you already know that I am about that obedient life. God doesn’t have to chase after me anymore to be obedient. God doesn’t have to allow a series of events to happen in my life to get me to pay attention to His voice.
And speaking of His voice, in Acts 22, Paul is having to testify to the Jerusalem mob about his Damascus road experience. In the story, he recounts in detail what happened. He spoke in Aramaic which made them listen to him intently. Kind of like, if I was to speak a language that you could resonate with, it would make you feel more comfortable listening to me. You could relate better.
Paul said an intense light suddenly flashed around him and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me? He answered and said Who are you Lord? And this is what I noticed as I read Paul’s testimony. When the Lord answered him, nobody else heard the Lord’s voice but Paul. And check this out, Paul wasn’t concerned that they didn’t hear either. He kept talking to the Lord and asked him what he should do?
Paul testifies that he asked and the Lord answered: Get up and go into Damascus and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do. As we saw when this originally happened, it wasn’t until Paul obeyed God’s first set of instructions that he got to the next point of his transformational journey. Could it be that you and I stay stuck longer in a place because we don’t follow God’s instructions when he says, get up and go?
In yesterday’s podcast, I talked about the importance of telling the details. And the title of yesterday’s podcast was GET UP. Who knew that would be the theme today too, as we study Acts 22. I highlighted the words: get up and go; why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized, and wash aways your sins, calling on His name. Praying. Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly. Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.
Basically all throughout this recount and storytelling moment, those were the words that stood out to me. Paul’s whole encounter with Jesus can be summed up with GET UP AND GO. And notice Paul didn’t ask but one question: What should I do Lord? He heard from Ananias what his assignment was. Then He heard from the Lord while in prayer. And even when Paul was like…But Lord they know my past and all the bad stuff I did. The Lord repeated the message of GO!
Now when Paul got to the part of his story about the Lord sending him to the Gentiles, the mob got mad and wanted to kill Paul. And what’s interesting is that Paul had to let them know he was roman citizen and it wasn’t legal for them to be beating him the way they were doing because he was uncondemned. Paul was like, look nah, I was born a Roman citizen and y’all out straight of line with this. In the study notes, Dr. Evans says Paul wasn’t afraid to be beaten for Christ, but he also wasn’t afraid to exercise his legal rights to escape illegitimate punishment and take his case and message to a higher governmental authority.
One thing that I want to reiterate and ensure that you also get too, is that we can see that the Lord did not inform Paul about his purpose until he was obedient. Paul had to follow the first set of instructions before he could get the next set of instructions. A lot of us want to know God’s purpose for our lives, but are we missing it because of disobedience?
The good news on the blog and podcast today is that there is a clear two-step method (thanks to the awesome Tony Evans study notes) that I have taken the liberty to list out for ease of use:
Follow God in faith.
Do what you already know you’re supposed to be doing. This shows God that you are serious about pursuing Him.
When we show God how serious we are in pursuing Him, THEN He can begin to guide us, direct us, and order our steps. But we must do the two-step first. When Paul asked, “What should I do Lord?” The Lord answered him with specific instructions. So we know that the instructions God gave you to do are specific. Do them in faith. Be serious about your faith walk. Stop letting the world make you think you can dip in and out of obedience to God. We can be like Paul, someone who had a pretty rough past, who was moving all around persecuting Jesus and anyone who believed ing Jesus. But God hit that moving target on a road to Damascus. And God used Paul in a mighty way to save people.
Are you being Saul or Paul in your life right now? Follow the two steps so that you can be used by God.
P..S. Be sure to press play above & listen to each episode as I always go deeper on the audio version.
YOUR ASSIGNMENTS
What did the Lord God say to you in your conversation with Him this morning?
Are you being Saul or Paul in your life right now? Follow the two steps so that you can be used by God.
REMINDER: Don’t forget to read the Scriptural Bible Study below and see what the Lord says to you about it.
SALVATION PRAYER
If you’re not a believer and have a desire to be, openly confess and declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). When you pray that prayer out loud, you are saved. Get connected with a good, bible-based church in your community and start having a conversation through prayer with God every day. And let me be the first to welcome you to your new life with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. YAAAAY!!!!! You made the best decision you could ever make! Feel free to email me at info@onassignmentbyGod.com and let me know about your newfound life or if you need prayer for anything.
Check out today’s Scriptural Bible Study!!