Roughly two years into our marriage, Jennifer and I had moved to the Denver, Colorado area, found a church, and got involved in their young couples group. John and Jill became some of our closest friends. Jill, also a nurse, and I ended up working for the same company. We all spent a lot of time together.
One evening, when Jill happened to be out of town, John, Jennifer, and I planned an adventure. We would fly a small plane (John was a pilot who was training me to fly) into Canada, get a ride to the back country and backpack for four days. The three us of loved the idea. We found out later that Jill didn’t care for backpacking, but she was outvoted. With our plans finalized, we weighed all our gear to make sure the plane could fly, and John and I took turns piloting to Calgary.
Catching a cab from Calgary to Norquay Ski Resort, we began our journey to culminate in Lake Louise four and a half days later. Two and a half days into our journey, we lost the trail. There had been quite a bit of rain and the runoff buried the path and made new ones. We ended up getting lost, and we all died of starvation and exposure. No, wait, we lived.
Thankfully, John being an experienced pilot had a topographical map, a compass, and the knowledge that at this northerly latitude, there was some 11 degrees difference between true north and magnetic north. Armed with all of this, 30 minutes later John pointed and said, “The trail should be about 50 feet that way.” And it was.
God has called us all to run on the path He set before us (Hebrews 12), to do the good works He prepared for us (Ephesians 2). However, many of us lose track of that path, and we aren’t sure how to get back on the trail. I believe that the Bible has the answers for this. And once you gain this understanding, you can be quite certain you are doing the good works God has called you to do.
Before we move on, there are many verses that give us the general will for all of God’s people, and they have to do with loving God and loving others; doing the “one another” passages within the body of Christ. These are things we are all called to do, and are a good part of the good works mentioned. However, I also believe that God made us all with unique talents and abilities that we are to use for such a time as this, and these concern more of the specific works God prepared for us to walk in. These are the things I want to discuss now.
While there are a number of Bible verses that speak to this, I want to focus on three. I think most will be familiar to you.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV)
We are called to trust in the LORD, and not in our own understanding. Other versions say that He will direct our paths, or He will clear the road for you to follow, or He will direct thy ways. In any case, as we trust Him, we see He has set a path before us (Hebrews 12). We may not understand why He has sent us in a certain direction, but we are to lean on Him; trust Him.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)
Not only are we to trust in God, but we are to seek first His Kingdom. The word “seek” can be loosely translated as beating a path to. It means you are always going to Him, you are setting your mind on Him. So by seeking His Kingdom, this becomes what you desire to see come about. Your life is all about God and His Kingdom. All you want to do is please Him.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
This verse became so powerful to me once I saw what it meant. This does not mean that if we delight in the Lord and then desire a Ferrari He will give us one. No. What the word “give” here means is that He will produce this in you. Therefore, when we delight in the Lord, He will produce in our hearts the desires He wants us to have.
Putting this all together, when we trust in the Lord with all our heart, when we seek Him and His Kingdom, when we delight ourselves in Him and His ways, He will produce within us His desires; He will direct our ideas in the right direction. We do still need to test all things in light of Scripture, because we are still fallen people in a fallen world. We are still a bunch of little sinners, so the testing by way of Scripture is still necessary.
Therefore, when you have a good and right relationship with our God, you can better trust your desires are what He wants you to have. Now what? Go to my posts on Goals and Achievement which start here, and goes for four consecutive articles. This will help get this all on paper.
All of this is also taught in my Retreats and Seminars. To see what is in the works, go to my Events page. Or, if you would like for me to come to you to give any or all of my series of talks, shoot me an email at steven@co-inspire.biz. I’m sure we can set something up.