This whole business of God’s supremacy, or His will. Who are we to change what must be? Vs. as a believer He invites me to be a part of His workings. To play a part in His plans. To actually change things both in the spirit and physical realm. Through partnering with Him and the Holy Spirit, I can move mountains, shake strongholds, bring to life that which is dead and alter the course of humanity. We can alter the course of a person, many people, a nation and even the world.
For many years, I took a more Calvinistic approach to life: ‘what is, is what must be. I can do little to change circumstances.’ This simply is not true. There is no room for passivity in the lives of those who follow Jesus.
Jonah 3, the King of Nineveh proclaimed a fast both of man and beast so that they could focus on mightily calling out to God. “Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we many not perish!”
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, He relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them and he did not do it.
Wow.
They humbled themselves through fasting and prayer, they repented from their evil ways and God changed His mind about destroying Nineveh.
Abraham negotiated with God for the salvation of Sodom and Gomorrah. Destruction still came, but not before Abraham asked for its salvation if 5 righteous men were found in it. Obviously, there weren’t 5 righteous people to be found in Sodom. Just the same, Abraham understood his position as a believer: he could change God’s purpose.
King Hezekiah, lying upon his deathbed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. God relented in his purpose and instead added 15 years to Hezekiah’s life.
Do you see the pattern? People can change God’s mind! We can alter God’s plans!
How do we go about accepting this invitation to become an active participant in the will and plans of this supreme Being?
#1: It’s not about us. It’s not about what we want. In the case of Hezekiah, since he made it about himself and did not follow God whole-heartedly afterward, his family was destroyed and the capital city sacked in the following generations.
Understand this: it is not about what you want.
Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me.” Jeremiah 9:23-24
#2: It is about His glory. His name. This has always been and will always be His purpose.
#3: Turn from your evil ways. Humble yourself. Make restitution with any you have offended. Shed bad habits, put away ungodly things from before your eyes. Ask Him to show you where repentance needs to happen.
#4: Start praying. Align your spirit with His spirit that resides within you. ‘But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.’ John 14:26
His Spirit lives within us: learn to know him and heed his nudges. Most often these nudges will occur as thoughts and/or feelings.
God has big plans. Extraordinary ideas and gigantic purposes. Beyond what we can imagine.
He invites you to be a part of them. Not like a pawn on a chess-board, moving about the board at the complete will and power of the player. No, but more like an invitation to use the tools he’s placed at our disposal.
To be a part of something far bigger and far more glorious than ourselves and our little spheres.
As believers who have been redeemed and have the Holy Spirit within us, we have an open invitation to step up and become the movers, shakers and world changers with God. We are invited to strategize and play with him! He even invites us to change his plans!
This is awesome! To partner with God and change things in the world, seen and unseen. Present and future. To change destinies. To alter the course of a life, a people, a nation. He is willing to be persuaded!
You may have heard that God has planned every detail of our life. This simply is not true. James 4:2 tells us that ‘we do not have because we do not ask.’ This implies that our prayers can cause some things to happen that would not occur otherwise. This also implies that God can and will respond differently. God has determined certain things in our life but not everything. His will allows for dynamic events to occur in our lives.
In the following 2 examples, look what happens when a person utilizes those tools of abundant living.
In the story of Job, God baits Satan into testing Job’s depth of righteousness. God was laughing at Satan in saying “Have you seen Job, Satan? He is a righteous man who will not curse me.”
Satan counters with: “Of course he is righteous, because you have put a hedge of protection around him!”
God does something he normally doesn’t do; he removes that hedge of protection and allows Satan access to Job and all his possessions.
In the end, God is still laughing at Satan because though Satan played his best hand and brought Job to the lowest emotional, spiritual and physical state possible, Job still did not curse God.
I bet God still brings that up to Satan occasionally. “Yo, Satan. Remember Job?”
Same with Jesus Christ. God sent him to earth in the form of a human. Satan threw his worst at Jesus. Loneliness, rejection, doubt, betrayal, pain, both physical and emotional. As Jesus was growing up, I’m sure Satan flaunted his best cases before Jesus: the pain, anger and horrors of what humanity is capable of. Jesus saw it all. Yet he sinned not. Not once.
Jesus bowed his head and took it all in. Even death. A gruesome and humiliating death.
“Because of this, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-10
Again, God prevails and laughs at Satan.
“Hey Satan, you know my son Jesus Christ, right? You remember how that went down?”
Now we have an invitation to partner with God and be a part of His purposes. He invites us to strategize and plan with him. Alter things. Change circumstances.
Though He knows all things and will always be the Supreme Being, we have the ability as believers to change things, both in heaven and on earth. Spiritually and physically. In the world both seen and unseen.
Maybe God is waiting for you to step up and partner with him in changing the course of someone’s destiny.
Maybe something or someone is marked for destruction, but God is asking you to align yourself with His purpose (His glory) and change the outcome of that specific situation or someone.
Step up. Humble yourself. Begin to pray. Ask the Spirit to teach you. Become a player with God. Become a world-changer.
What more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets – who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection…
Hebrews 11:32-35