Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

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Lesson Helps for the Week of May 29, 1955
C.YjP.U. TOPIC
for May 15, 1955
Rev. Roy Blackwood, Jr.
GOD'S WILX. FOR MY LIFE
Rom. 12:6-18
1. We Know That God Has a Par
ticular Plan for Every Life.
EVERY LIFE.
Because God has created us;
food and aid to keep us alive;
Only
given us
sent His
Begotten Son with a plan of sal
vation to save us; and prepared a man
sion in heaven to keep us for eternity:
we know He has a particular plan for
the time we spend on earth. He wouldn't
have planned all these other things so
carefully without caring about what we
did on earth.
Because God told us quite plainly in
Eph. 2 :10 that we are "created in Christ
Jesus unto good works which God
hath before ordained (or planned)
we should walk in them"!
that
Because Christ told us of that plan.
In Matt. 10:29-33 He told us that God
had a plan for everything, even the
sparrows, and that His particular plan
for our lives begins with our salvation
on the day we say, along
with Paul,
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do"
No other life can fulfil the plan which
God has made for your life, and the
man that misses God's plan for his life
is like the wheel that's out of line in a
big machine: it beats itself to pieces
and damages the whole machine.
2. Many People Miss God's
Plan for Their Lives
Thousands of people come and go like
actors on the stage of earth without
even trying to get in touch with God and
His plan for them. Their lives "miss the
They're uneasy
and unhappy.
And that was why God said; "Work out
your own salvation with fear and trem
bling, for it is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of his good plea
sure."
Watch for that plan, study to find
it, pray for it, work for it, and wait for
it, "with fear and trembling"
lest you
miss it. We should treasure every talent,
guard every friendship, evaluate every
influence and plan every year and day
carefully because these are the means
by which we must "work the plan
of life which God has already made for
us. These are the means by which He
speaks to us to tell us where He wants
us to be and what He wants us to do.
May 11, 1955
What a terrible thing if we missed any
of His plan for our lives!
Some miss God's plan because they're
afraid to look for it
afraid of what God
might ask them to do. Others allow the
wrong kind of friends or even their fam
ily, to make them deaf to God's wishes
and some allow a desire for wealth, a
career, or social position, to blind them
to God's plan. Some try to "choose their
own calling"
and find that the phrase
contradicts itself. It's God who does the
calling and the choosing and when we
insist upon choosing our own path, we
inevitably choose wrong. Christ has giv
en us a very pointed command about
this (see John 15:16).
3. How Does God Reveal His Will
for Our Lives
1. God guides us by the Bible. First
and most important is God's written
manual of detailed instructions the
Bible. Many "Christians" today say,
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do"
and then never make any consistent ef
fort to study God's Word to know what
He's directing them to do. When we re
ceive a letter of instruction from some
one, we don't wait for some sudden tele
gram or telephone call to tell us what to
do, we read the letter first. But many
people keep asking God for some super
natural revelation from God concerning
His will for their lives, without reading
His letter of Instruction. (See Rom.
12:1; II Tim. 2:15).
2. God guides us by the Spirit. He can
and does give us "a sanctified imagina
tion,"
and the Spirit of Truth, who has
written the Bible, can act as our person
al interpreter to explain its application
to our individual lives. Paul explains one
instance of this in Rom. 8:26.
3. God guides us by circumstances. He
doesn't usually send a deaf man to lead
music; or a man who can't learn lan
guages to a mission field. But this is not
an infallible rule. The story around Josh.
9:14 is an illustration of the WRONG
way to consider circumstances. They
must always be tested thoroughly in the
test chambers of the Word and Prayer.
4. What Must We Do to Find
God's Will for Our Lives
1. BELIEVE: Believe Eph. 2:10 just
as much as Eph. 2:8. Believe that God
has a detailed plan for your life and then
look for it. Just as there's only one an
swer to a mathematical problem, so
there's only one plan for your life. Set
yourself to find God's plan and watch
2.
for it at every stage of life.
PRAY: God has promised the neces
sary wisdom (Jas. 1:5). If we will pray
regularly, trustfully, and expectantly,
God will help us to see His plan for our
lives.
3. WILL: That is, determine to do
God's will whenever it is made clear to
you, whatever it might require of you.
Christ said; "If any man will to do My
will, he shall know . . When we begin
to choose God's will instead of our own
for our lives, then we will begin to
know His will.
4. BE DILIGENT with the task at
hand: Some people insist that consecra
tion can be measured in miles; i. e. the
farther God sends you from home, the
more consecrated you are. But Christ
Commanded the disciples to work for
Him "beginning at Jerusalem"
where
they were (Luke 24:47). God usually
leaves a man right where he is after he
has consecrated his life
at least until
he proves his sincerity and ability to
handle some bigger task. Usually, God
requires us to prove our diligence to
witness at home with a dishcloth or a
hammer or a school book, before sending
us overseas as a missionary (I Cor. 10:
31). See Gideon's example: Judges 6:
11, 12.
5. FOLLOW Him step by step
throughout life: We should always be
preparing ourselves to find Christ lead
ing us on to something more. Someone
has said; "The golden chain of God's
great purpose for your life is woven of
the single links which we lay hold of
one at a time along the pathway of daily
. . .
opportunity The man who faithful
ly picks up the links need never fear
about missing the It was at this
point too that God issued the warning
in Prov. 29:18 and gave the promise in
II Cor. 12 :9.
FOR THE LEADER
1. Outline with scripture God's plan
for Salvation.
2. Have someone share a CHARAC
TER STUDY of Gideon showing how he
found God's will for his life.
3. Discuss what revelations of His
will God has made for your own lives.
Invite some older person to tell you how
God has guided his life preferrably an
elder in the congregation.
PSALMS
51:7-14, page 131
23:
119: page 287
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