Lately I feel like I’m just waiting and nothing is moving. Job stuff, relationships, all of it kind of on pause. The verse I keep going back to is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Easier to read than to live though. How do you tell the difference between God saying wait and me just being scared to move?
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God selected a group of people and told them exactly what to do. Israel always fell short.
Christians have an advantage over Israel because when we become Christians we get the Holy Spirit who, if not grieved or quenched, will make us better people (Gal 5).
Instead of God giving us specific instructions to follow, we are to apply what we learn as we mature in faith so that we show the love of Christ in our lives. As the “body of Christ” our actions and demonstration of selfless love (Christ-likeness) help the world see the advantages of being a Christian.
Sadly most of us fall short of this demonstration of Christ-likeness. However what we can do is to pray for wisdom (James 1:5-6), transition from the flesh to walking by the Spirit (Gal 5:16), and be not conformed to the world (Rom 12:2).
We are to use our minds to seek truth and apply it in our lives. For example in regard to relationships, it can be an advantage to seek out the advice of older and wiser Christians.
Pray constantly. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Praying is having a conversation with the Lord.
That’s when I read His word. And if I have time then I read it even more. God’s will for our lives is all in the word. The way it works is you read the word first and most. When it says Obedience is rewarded for instance, then you know that His will is for you to be obedient, so you do it. If it says give to the poor, then do that whenever you can (In Obedience!) then you know that’s His will for you.
You don’t really have to worry about finding someone to help. God may just have them knock on your door, or point them out on the street somewhere except God likes to throw us twists to test our reaction to different situations.
Like one time you may see a homeless man and think, I will help the poor and give him lunch money or whatever. Then sometimes they sense a goodness about you, so they ask for more, and U-Oh I didn’t figure to give that much money away hmmm. He did that to me a couple times. and my conscience started quoting me scripture (Matthew 25: 36-40) and saying I should help them even more because he probably really needs it. But I’m retired on SS and so give roughly the same amount each month, to give him more, would dip into my gas money, or grocery money Lol! Now I have a decision to make! Well the Matthew 25 scripture says what we give to help others counts just like if Jesus Himself walked up and said, I need some cash…If Jesus did that to you, of course you would help Him! Who wouldn’t?! Ahh, but it’s not Jesus (or it is and He is in disguise!) and so wanting to be obedient to the Lord I went ahead and gave to the man all that he asked for, because some have entertained Jesus unawares! Besides, The Lord opened the doors and gave me my money in the first place, and everything good come from the Lord and if I depend on Him for my sustenance, then I can help a poor man and the Lord still wont let me go hungry or the lights get shut off. So it must have been the right thing to do so I did that. And felt great about it! The Lord loves a cheerful giver.
Before I retired I was a Mechanical Contractor and I made good money for me & my Family. I thought I was smart, and a good businessman. But that’s not necessarily so according to scripture. The Lord gave me the talent to and skills for the trade, He even gave me the good tools for it, and the opportunity for Customers and a need for me to engage the business with. So it was all God and not me.
So if it’s all God and I see someone who needs help, I want to be good to them. Like how good I would want someone to do for me if I were in those shoes. So I better listen to my Conscience and never go against my conscience.
So, so what, I’m poor. But as I sit in poverty, I grow rich in His Word. I don’t work anymore, so I have plenty of time to read and pray! So my advice is to try to Obey the Lord more today than yesterday. When you stop being better, you stop being good, every day. Maybe the Lord has you in a time of rest, so rest in the Lord and be patient as we learn to be more obedient. Because there isn’t 10 Commandment’s in Scripture! They’re on every page. Where scripture says we are to help the poor…is that suggestion?! I would say no. It’s like that all through it. And we take more and more and apply it to our daily walk.