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Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser

Wait For God’s Plan Before Acting

In the Christian faith, understanding the balance between grace, works, and God’s guidance is crucial to living a life aligned with God’s will. While believers are called to serve and honour God through their actions, Scripture emphasises the importance of seeking His direction before taking any steps. The Apostle Paul reminds believers that salvation is a gift of grace, not the result of works, and that the good works we are called to do have been prepared by God in advance. In light of this, we are encouraged to rely on God’s grace, trust in His plan, and patiently await His revelation before engaging in any work on His behalf. This approach will ensure that your actions are rooted in God’s purpose and carried out in His strength. This article explores the importance of waiting on God before we act.

Do not rush to do anything until God reveals his plan to you. God will give you the grace to do what he wants you to do, so don’t attempt to do anything for Him until you have a revelation from Him.  8” For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do(Ephesians 2:8-10). I want to help you understand the basic foundational doctrine of the New Testament: we are saved by grace, not by works. There’s nothing we can do to save ourselves. Most of you know that, but we often overlook the fact that the same way we were saved is how we must learn to live. 

God wants us to live by faith, not just receive Christ by faith. He wants us to walk in the good works that he prepared for us, even before we were born. Don’t lean on your own understanding and your own strength. Always take your time before taking any action, and wait until God reveals His plan to you. Prior to his encounter with the Lord, the apostle Paul tried to do things in his own wisdom. Paul was a persecutor of the church. He was trying with all of his might to destroy the church. He was there when Stephen was stoned. He was gladly gathering up Christians and seeing them put in jail. Although he was quite wicked, he genuinely believed he was doing the right thing. He was a very religious yet legalistic Jew who adhered to all the rules and regulations, taking pride in his strict observance. But God met him on the road to Damascus and revealed himself to him. He had quite an experience with God. I won’t get into all the details but he fell from his horse, and couldn’t speak for several days.

With this encounter, Jesus said to him, “Why are you coming up against me? Why are you fighting against me”? And Paul said, “What would you have me do, Lord”? All God wants to hear from you when He confronts you about something is, “God, I’m sorry if I’m not doing it Your way. What do You want me to do?” As long as you are willing to change, God will work with you. No matter how many mistakes you make, how often you fail, or how many times you fall into a pit, if your heart is set on pleasing God, He will never give up on you as long as you don’t give up on Him. And God, by revelation, told him that he was to preach the Gospel and it was to be the Gospel of grace.

Wait For God’s Plan Before Acting
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" Always remember that we are saved by grace and must learn to live by grace and faith to fulfil God's purpose for us on this earth. "

Always remember that we are saved by grace and must learn to live by grace and faith to fulfil God’s purpose for us on this earth. Grace is God’s favour but it’s not just God’s favour. It’s God’s favour but it’s also the power of the Holy Spirit being made available to us to enable us to do the things that He tells us to do. We can’t achieve our goals solely through human effort, struggle, or self-discipline. While these qualities are important and necessary, Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” Think for a moment about how different your life would be if everything you did was motivated by faith and carried out in faith.

God wants us to not only receive Christ by faith but to also live by faith. At some point, most people reach the end of their own efforts and realize that they cannot achieve salvation on their own. They recognize their need for God and, for a moment, invite Jesus into their lives. However, once they begin reading the Bible, studying, or listening to sermons, they often revert to relying on their own strength to try to follow the teachings of the Bible instead of depending on God. We often forget that we are not only saved by grace, but we must also learn to live by grace and faith. My friend, don’t rush to do things in your own strength unless you have received revelation from God.

Paul was chosen by God to reveal the concept of grace to the church, and his qualifications stemmed from his life experiences. Everything changed for Paul after his encounter with the Lord. Paul starts out in Galatians 1, verse 1Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead”.  He makes it very clear that he didn’t call himself to do what he was doing, that he was not an apostle by the will of man. No man put him in that position. It was crucial for Paul to defend his apostleship because if the false teachers could discredit his apostleship, they would also undermine the message he preached.

Therefore, in Galatians 1:1, Paul established his apostleship as the authority from which he spoke. He didn’t put himself in that position, he was called by God to do what he was doing. The point Paul was making is that his calling was divine. He didn’t call himself, nor did any other person or group call him. God Himself called Paul to his ministry. Therefore, those who resisted Paul were resisting God, who sent him. Knowing that your actions align with God’s will provides courage, strength, and the perseverance to complete the task He has called you to. But when you do something just to please others without knowing if it’s right for you, you won’t do it well. Please ensure you can say, “I wholeheartedly believe that what I am doing is in the will of God.”

Don’t you think that’s a good idea? I truly believe I am called to do what I’m doing. I feel very comfortable in my current role. I have no concerns or fears about it, and I’m not worried about what others think because I know that God has called me to this purpose. Therefore, if God has called me to do it, it’s up to Him to make it succeed. It’s not even up to me today to make this good, it’s totally up to God. What I have to do is just surrender to God and let him do what he wants to do. Satan is a deceiver. He’s constantly trying to discourage us. We should rely on God’s Word in general and specifically on the voice of the Holy Spirit as our guide. Once we are certain of this, we must persist regardless of our circumstances.