“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
John 14:12-14 NIV
http://bible.com/111/jhn.14.12-14.niv
There are some wonderful promises in God’s word. We need to be careful, however, that we read the entire verse. In this scripture passage we are promised that if we ask anything in Jesus’ name that it will be done. There is, however, a qualifier. Here Jesus instructs us to do the works He has been doing. So spread the gospel and anything you ask in His name will be done for you.
Romans 8:28 is another verse often quoted without the qualifier. We like to say that all things work for the good of those that love the Lord. We all love the Lord right? He’s an awesome God. However, the rest of that verse is “and are called according to his purpose “. This means those of us that are doing the work that God called us to do.
Now if you are new to this whole Christian love walk thing, you may be in a time of needing to be nourished. You need a good mentor. You need to spend time in God’s word. If, however, you accepted Christ as your savior years ago and have been sitting like a baby bird with your mouth open waiting for someone else to do all the work and feed you, well it’s time for you to get to work!
God has given each and everyone of us specific talents or gifts to be used in his ministry. If you don’t know what your gift is you can go to a website called giftstest.com and answer a few simple questions and they will email you the results within minutes.
Think about God’s children as a family with a household to run. You can’t expect one person to do the laundry, clean the floors, cook the meals, clean the kitchen, clean the bathrooms and bedrooms, clean the windows, do the grocery shopping, perform basic maintenance inside the home, cut the grass, do the weedeating and tend to the flower beds while the other family members do nothing right? The household runs much more efficiently and peacefully if the work is evenly distributed.
If you do not attend church, I urge you to find a good, bible teaching church. Verify to be sure that the lessons taught line up with God’s Holy word. Find out what your special God given gift is and put It to use. I have heard that 80% of the work in a church is done by 20% of the members. Churches are thrilled to have members join that want to work!
The Bible tells us more than once that if we work for God, he works for us. We have all been given a gift or a talent we can use to bring glory to God. We all want our prayers to be heard. We all want God to give us what we ask for.
Its not rocket science people. The Bible clearly states that if we believe in Him, love Him, and do the work He has called us to do, that he will give us what we ask for.
I don’t know about you, but I ask for a lot. Throughout my life I have experienced the life lesson taught by these verses. In the last year I have learned to work for God amidst the turmoil and distractions that Satan sends my way and God has given me what I’ve asked for. Another really neat thing is that the things he did not give me were for my own good. I had asked for a couple of things and found out a year later that it would have been disastrous had God given me those things. God is so good!
Works don’t get us into heaven. We must accept Christ as our savior and believe in Him. That gets us to heaven. Once we are saved though, we should want to work for God. It’s how we grow. Also, if you are on the way to heaven, works can make it a more pleasant journey.
It is my hope and prayer for you today that you will discover your gift or talent and put it to good use for God. You will be so glad you did!
So get busy and have a great day!