" For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them " (Ephesians 2 : 8 – 10).
By grace He saved us, through faith, which is not from us but a free gift of God, not of any work we’ve done, lest anyone should boast on God.. and God went further saying.. that we are His own workmanship.. and when He created us in Christ Jesus, and because of His unconditional love, He prepared for us beforehand good works and great plan – to each one of us – for us to walk in.
This is not fate, nor destiny, because some might say:
" If He created and saved us by His unconditional grace, through faith that is not of ourselves but is a free gift too, and if He prepared for us beforehand works and plan to walk in, then what is the role of man? What about his freedom? ”.
- The role of man is to accept this unconditional free love, or to refuse it.. this is concerning salvation.. The role of man is to accept what God prepared for him from good works and great plan that will bear much fruit, or to refuse it and count on his understanding and power, and see the results, and compare them with the results coming out from walking in God’s plan.. The role of man is to realize the time and the boundaries of his dwellings, his role in spreading the kingdom, fulfilling this role with faithfulness, effort and courage no matter
how great the sacrifices were, or to refuse it.
Paul says in his letter to the Romans:
" And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? " (Romans 8 : 28 – 32).
The picture is getting more clear and certain, concerning God’s purpose and plan for each one of us.
For the good father works day and night to prepare the best for his children, not to force them do what he wants, not out of control to their behavior or life plans, but out of love to them, after all the choice is theirs, either they accept what he already prepared for them, or they refuse.
He called us according to His purpose, and He made all things – whatever they are – work for our good, then He predestined us to be conformed to the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and He Justified and glorified us, and He is always with us, and didn’t spare His own son, His precious one, but delivered Him up for us, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
This is what He has done.. He gave us everything, and he waits for the response of each one of us.
Let us go to the book of Acts to understand the message the Holy Spirit wants to give us today:
" And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said: For we are also His offspring " (Acts 17 : 26 – 28).
What I want to highlight here is that the time and the boundaries of your dwellings are not made by coincidence.. God had determined beforehand the time of your dwellings and its place..
What matters now is.. that this new concept and revelation make you ask God seriously with hunger and thirst:
Why did you create me in this precise time, in this exact place?
The answer in general, is what we’ve already mentioned:
You are the workmanship of God, He created you in Christ Jesus, for good works He prepared beforehand that you should walk in them.. and on this basis He had called you, justified you, glorified you, made you conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus His Son, and made everything work for your good, and He is by your side, He gave His Son for you and with Him He gave you everything.. He appointed you for a specific clear role, in a specific time and place.. and now He waits for your answer, will you accept or refuse.
So you are not in this time and country and church and ministry by coincidence..
We should clearly know that God creator of the universe, who holds times and seasons in His hand had created us in specific times, to bring His kingdom on earth, and He is searching for someone to intercede and stand in the gap, between Him and this evil world, because when we realize this great secret in ourselves, this great purpose, and when we know that this is our exact time to do this work, and our exact place to do the job, then things will change, and we will see the kingdom of God expanding and the lost getting saved.
It is clear how important timing is for God, and He had put a great responsibility on us to understand the importance of timing, because our ability to read the times will make the difference between " gaining " or " loosing " the specific divine appointment for each one of us, for our church, for our country and for our region, as well as it could be the key element for us to seize the opportunity to overcome the struggles that face us or the ones that will face us on all levels.
Beloveds:
" Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint " (Proverbs 29 : 18).
If you don’t realize what we’ve mentioned here.. if you don’t realize your role and be committed to it and to the vision God gave you, then you will cast off restraint, you will be walking without having an aim or a destination, and the results will be bad or at least you will have none.
Most of the people – not to say all of them – have a defined plan and a clear vision to what they do, and if we make a statistic, or if you ask yourself, you would find out the truth of what I am saying, individuals, and groups, companies, organizations… all of them have a plan and a vision to fulfill their ambitions in this life..
And if you want to know your ambition in this life, ask yourself what is it that captures your heart day and night in order to fulfill it, whether in thinking, or in planning or in actual execution.. because if you don’t have a clear plan and a deep understanding for your existence and role, you will not work with enthusiasm to fulfill this plan or to do your role seriously and actively , you will be lukewarm and indifferent to your work !!!
The Lord said:
" For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also " (Matthew 6 : 21).
The process if very easy.. if you want to know your first interest in this life, or your treasure in life, search for what captures your heart all the time, this will surely be your treasure..
You will find yourself taken day and night by this treasure or by this work, thinking.. planning.. worrying.. sacrificing.. giving all your time to it.. and other similar things, all this to succeed in your work..
It is your first fascination – not to say your only fascination – it follows you everywhere all the time..
Today, let me tell you honestly, if the Lord and His work and plan for your life, and all the works He had prepared beforehand for you to walk in, are not your first fascination, then you will not succeed and you will not bear the fruit God wants you to.. instead you will bring curse to your life, things will not go in your life like God wants them to, and you will find yourself not delighting in the many promises God has for you, which are written on the pages of the Bible, for God’s word says: " Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord negligently or with slackness " (Jeremiah 48 : 10).
N.B: this call to do God’s work faithfully with effort and courage, and to walk in the good works He prepared for us, is not a call to be a full time minister, but it is a call for you to know the exact time and the boundaries of your dwellings, and to ask God seriously with hunger and thirst to know what He wants from you at this time and place where He created you, and to do your role actively, seriously and faithfully ..
One of the reasons that make us work lukewarmly or with slackness as we’ve mentioned before, is that we don’t know our role and its importance in God’s eyes in the time and place He set for each one of us..
If we look at the book of Revelation , in the chapters where God send letters to the seven churches, we would find the weaknesses, the sins and the problems that existed in that churches, and we would find points of strength too.. like all the churches of our days, and like each one of us too.
But the amazing thing is the situation of the church of Laodicea, the very well known verse says: " Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me " (Revelation 3 : 20).
Everybody thinks that this verse is to unbelievers, to open their hearts to the lord so He comes in and gives them salvation and eternal life.. but if we read the verse in its context, we would realize that God wasn’t knocking on the unbelievers hearts, He was knocking the door of that church of His..
It is important to realize the symbolic picture of this subject, the Lord was moving among the other six churches to light up His candle in each one of them, so they would reflect His light, He was correcting their sins and encouraging the people, but when He reached the Laodicea church: He couldn’t come in !!!
The reason is: the spiritual lukewarm, as He himself said:
" I wish you were cold or hot ".
The cold symbolizes the one who rejects the Lord, and the Lord can deal with this rejection, because the cold has never met the love of God, and he has hope to know it when he knows the Lord, and what He did for him. He might change in one moment from being cold into hot.. and the hot is the one who’s God fire is burning inside of him, he is crazy for the Lord on fire for Him, for His work and plan, these are the ones God searches for in all times..
But the laodiceans were lukewarm, they were not resisting God’s work and plan, but at the same time they were indifferent not caring for His work and its progress, not knowing their time of existence, not knowing their places, and the role each one of them is asked to do, this is why God was tough in His words to them:
" So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth " (Revelation 3 : 16).
As if God was saying: " a lukewarm Christianity makes me vomit ".
This is what caused the door to be closed in God’s face, for He can not enter such church..
But the Lord didn’t give up, He kept on standing and knocking, waiting for someone to come and open the door for Him, as if He had hope that if anyone opens the door He will come in, and He said to the angel of that church:
" Because you say: I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see ". (Revelation 3 : 17 – 18).
In order to have a spiritual insight, and refuse to be satisfied by just being saved, coming to church on Sunday, singing and listening to the preaching, knowing that we are going to heaven at the end.. and in order not to be indifferent, letting circumstances lead us and drag us, and letting Satan blind our minds and take us away from God’s purpose for each one of us..
We should see that we are a chosen kind, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, conformed to the Lord Jesus Christ, and He created us for great purposes, He called us, justified us, glorified us and gave us His only Son, and with Him He gave us everything, He predetermined our boundaries and time of dwellings, He prepared good works for us, a good pleasant perfect plan He made for us in order to walk in it, He raised us to change history, circumstances, times and seasons, to stand in the gap between Him and the evil world, to intercede and bring the lost to the kingdom of light, and to expand His kingdom and let His will be on earth as it is in heaven..
We should see that we are in a violent war, and that it is going to aggravate in the coming days, we should cry to the Lord to deliver us from every lukewarm and to make us hot crazy and on fire for him, and to reveal to us new plans and strategies and tactics, that go with the size and kind of the war we are fighting, in order to tear down and destroy the works of the kingdom of darkness, and be victorious in our war, enjoying all the blessings God prepared for us which Satan is trying to hide from us, we should bind the strong one and enter his house and deliver the captives and steal the spoils..
He created us for great purposes.. so let us not let Satan neither our lukewarm and falling short, nor our ignorance for the time and the boundaries of our dwellings and for our role make us loose these purposes and goals !!!
