Barnabas Bulletin ~ 0178
DO YOU KNOW GOD’S WILL FOR YOUR LIFE?
This is perhaps the most important question for every individual Christian to answer. So much of life is the direct result of how well we know God’s will and purpose for us. He reached out and saved us because He has a purpose for us ~ a purpose that only you, and only I, can fulfil.
-
If we do not know God’s will for our life, then how can we be effective and fruitful in serving Him?
-
What is it that motivates us? For me, knowing God’s will for my life is the greatest motivation I have.
-
To know what He has called me to be and to do is such a tremendous blessing and makes all of life very worthwhile.
I am so glad that I was saved in a church that believed in and functioned in the Prophetic Ministry. Prophetic Ministry is all about recognizing the voice of God in whatever way it comes to us. I was taught right from the beginning of my Christian walk to seek God’s face; to ask Him to reveal Himself to me; to expect Him to talk to me, etc. As a result I did hear God very clearly as a young 18-year-old. God spoke to me and told me He was calling me to the ministry. He also challenged me with these words: “If you will get to know My voice, and will do what I ask you; there is nowhere in this world where you and I cannot go together, and we not be successful.” I grabbed a hold of those words and they have motivated and been my major desire throughout the last 55 years. My Number One priority has been to get to know the voice of God and to obey it. Over the years God has spoken to me and His voice has taken me around the world many times to minister to individuals, small crowds, and even large crowds of people.
-
Every time I have obeyed I have seen the promise of God come to pass that He spoke to me.
-
I have learned that it is my obedience to what He speaks to me that unties His hands to fulfil whatever it is that He has spoken to me to do.
The Gospel Faith Messenger Ministry has been built on this principle. I was a school drop-out, had no great education, have never attended a Bible College, etc., yet through knowing God’s will for my life He has been able to use me to minister to multitudes of people in more than 205 nations through the avenues of this Ministry. It is time-tested and it works! The GFM Ministry operates entirely on faith; Jean and I live by faith (since the year 2000) ~ and even though it costs several thousand dollars per week to keep running, every month every bill is paid. Yet we do not really know where our next dollar is coming from. It is a totally different life-style than anything else we have ever known. To the natural mind it is crazy ~ but when you do what God asks you to do, then it works! I feel more secure now living this way than I ever did when I had the ‘security’ of a pastor’s salary! The daily outworking of faith confirms that we did hear the voice of God to us correctly and He gives evidence again and again of His goodness towards us in supplying our every need (Philippians 4:19).
HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD IS VITAL
Hearing the voice of God is vital. In my travels over the years I have heard far too many Christians say this to me: “I wish God spoke to me; I have never heard Him speaking to me.” I think how sad that is, because I know the result of that is that their lives cannot be anywhere near as fruitful in the purposes of God as one who does hear and know God’s will. The question has to be asked, Christian:
-
How desperate are you to hear God speak to you?
-
What are you doing about putting yourself into a place where God can speak to you ~ or rather where you can recognize when God is speaking to you? God is speaking to us a lot more than we realize.
-
The problem is, “Are we listening?”
-
We need to be in a place with God whereby we are willing to do whatever He asks of us; where we are willing to submit our will to His will; where we are willing to lay down our own personal ambitions and allow God to speak to us in such a way that we can focus on the purpose for which He has chosen and called us.
Let me remind you that every great man and woman in the Bible all started out as total unknown nobody’s until one event happened in the life of them all. They heard the voice of God and obeyed Him! They did not have to spend years in theological training and obtain all the degrees; no, they had a personal encounter with the Lord and it changed their lives in a powerful way. It made them bold and courageous to do whatever God had called them to do. Today it is yours and my responsibility to be Christ’s ambassadors, His spokesmen and women in a world that desperately needs to hear from God.
-
Are you listening?
-
Are you willing and available?
-
There is absolutely no room for any excuses. As long as we hold on to an excuse we will always disobey God.
The voice of God will always be confirmed by the principles of Scripture (that is why it is so important in these times to know what the Bible says). Deception abounds when Christians are ignorant of the teachings of the Bible. Make sure you “search the Scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11) so you will be able to easily discern the voice of God when it comes to you. It takes personal discipline, but it is worth it! My heart is that you might know what it is to hear God’s voice in such a way that you can know it, obey it and accomplish mighty things in His name today. Jesus said: “the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice . . . My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10). That is His desire for you. Listen and obey. Love in Jesus ~ Rodney W. Francis.
Bible Reading: Romans 12:1-2 Mark 8:34-38 Mark 16:13-20
Prayer: “Father God, I come to You in the Name of Your Loving Son, Jesus Christ, and I submit my life afresh to You. I ask You to speak to me in such a way that I will know it is You. Please put Your finger on anything in my life that prevents me from hearing Your voice, so that I can deal with it. I realize that I cannot be really effective in my life if I am not clearly hearing Your voice. Break through to me in a powerful way I pray. Thank You for hearing my prayer and cry. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
The Gospel Faith Messenger Ministry, New Zealand. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.