LIGHTS! ACTION!

As I finished my prayer time on one of the days during the last week where I had been praying about the day ahead and things going on around me, I felt the Lord remind me about a number of my memory verses on the topic of getting on with things and taking action. Once we understand God’s timeline and accept it His timeline we are expected to be in action.

I have been getting this message for the last couple of months every morning to get on with it and push on as it is not the season to be sitting back and waiting. For myself a lot of things have been put in place, a lot of transformation has taken place and the Lord is saying now lets get on with it for this is the season I have my children in.  Is that the same for you?

 

Throughout scripture we are given verses on the need for action.

DO SOMETHING

James 2:22

Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?

You can be a child of faith, but we are told that is nothing without action.  We won’t be thanked for having all the faith in the world but then have done nothing. He will grow our faith as we step into it and keep moving forward no matter the battle or obstacles we have in front of us. It is a spiritual battle we are in and Paul leaves us in no doubt about that in Ephesians. If you are taking ground for the kingdom, if you are completing your calling and walking in your giftings you can expect obstacles and opposition from the enemy as he doesn’t want you taking any ground (in fact the enemy would see you go backwards).  This is why the Lord tells us to move forward in faith.  Faith and works together. Action.

He reinforces this in

Hebrews 6:12

that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

There is no reward for sitting on the couch waiting. Do the people we admire in the bible do that? Imitate those that have moved in action (in the balance of faith and patience). You may not be able to do anything physically to move forward but we can do something spiritually through prayer or supporting others.

It is the parable of the talents.  If you do something, the Lord can then use this action and plough back more to you and multiply for you and grow you quicker.  If you do nothing He has nothing to work with. Remember He uses all things for good.  If you happen to do the wrong thing He will use this in your walk.  How many of us can attest to that?

Whatever you do pray into it for wisdom and revelation that you are doing something on the path He has for you.  Don’t do what I have done many times and shoot away to do something without applying His wisdom and practicality. He is a practical God and expects us to apply common sense.

There is a tension here we need to work within. However we still need to move.

 

DON’T STOP, DON’T LOOK BACK

Hebrews 10:38

Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”

Luke 9:61-62

And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

These two verses are very firm and leave no doubt.  We can’t be children who live in the past saying I want to go back to where I was. He expects us to grow and move forward.  When He says His soul has no pleasure in us or we are not fit for the kingdom of God we need to sit up and take notice.  He is teaching us something here. In these verses I don’t believe He is teaching us to be content doing nothing and just to be comfortable.

 

WORK FOR HIS KINGDOM

In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us how to pray and in verse 10 he says for us to pray

Your kingdom come, Your will be done.

 

Do we sit back and wait for this? No we are given some instruction by Luke

Luke 17:20-21

Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 “nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

Thy kingdom come does not come through observation because the kingdom of God is within you.  Action is required, movement forward for the kingdom of God to come.  If we sit still and do nothing, if we don’t move forward and allow transformation through sanctification then how can His kingdom come within us.  We can’t be sluggish. The Lord works with us and He wants us to have faith and give Him something to work with. Don’t sit back and be a full time observer.

 

ACTION WITH PEACE

There is a place we get to where we can do action from a place of peace.  We arrive at a place in ourselves where His kingdom is in us and we are at peace moving forward for Him no matter what the circumstances are.

Psalms 17:15 

As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.

What a place to get to. Action from a place of peace. This comes and is effective when you are at peace and you heart is one with the Lord
Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
This peace comes from knowing that we can trust the Lord and no matter how fierce the battle we can still move forward knowing our position in Christ.
Philippians 4:6-7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

In peace there is no anxiety and this is a position we can hold while we move forward with action. It is an awesome place to live from.
Mark 10:15

“Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

Don’t sit back and over analyse things, over intellectualise things or wait for the ultimate revelation.  A child doesn’t do that. Let us be at peace like a child trusting Him, moving forward in excitement no matter the task and let us enter the kingdom of God.

 

One of my favourite go to areas in the bible are the following.

2 Corinthians 8:10-12

And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; 11 but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. 12 For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.

There are no excuses for me not to take action.  I can’t necessarily wait (as long as I am practical – that tension again) for everything to be perfect and then go.  What faith is that.  He reminds me to just move ahead in what He has given me and to trust Him in a position of peace.

 

The words He gives me each morning lately are

“keep moving son, don’t stop but get about doing what we have been talking about for years, I trust you to get the job done and desire to see you come to fruition.  Now let’s keep going and complete it.  I am with you, I love you and I will be with you, so keep going.’

What excuse do I have when He tells me this?

Where are you at?  Are you giving Him something to work with?

Push into Him and ask Him what He wants you to do.  Pray into it and he will reveal it to you as He desires to see you complete what He has put you on earth for.