Design, by God

As I was driving up to Boone the other morning, I came around a bend in the road just as the sun was rising over the mountains below. It was such an incredible sight - one I wish I could have stopped and taken in a bit longer. We've probably all had those moments when we encounter a view of God’s majesty in creation that literally takes our breath away - a surreal kind of beauty that makes us stop and stare.

I am forever in awe of God’s handiwork and the things He puts into motion that are unhindered in doing what He created them to do. Whether a storm hides the sun from our view or we get to witness its extraordinary splendor unveiled, it always rises to do what it was designed by God to do. It's easy to get caught up in the worries of this world in which we live and forget that the One who set the heavens in motion and spoke this world into existence tells you and I that we are also His handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that He has already prepared for us. (Ephesians 2:10)

God tells us that He has a plan and a purpose for our lives. "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jer 29:11) We know these verses and even quote them to our friends going through difficult seasons of life, when they're questioning why God has allowed something to turn their lives upside down - but do we truly believe this for ourselves? Have we made these truths personal? Do we claim them as truth in our own day to day lives or just when we hit those times of uncertainty?

If you are like me, when I witness someone who has fully embraced God's calling on their life, on fire for the Lord, allowing Him to work through their life unhindered, it makes me stop and stare at the beauty of God's love and grace overflowing into the lives of others. God still desires to use the lives of ordinary men and women like you and I. It's the way He's always worked. He desires to use those of us who are willing to walk by faith, surrendered to Him and unhindered by the things of this world - for His Kingdom and His glory. It's time for you and I, for all of God's people, to embrace His desire to see us set in motion to do what He has designed us to do - individually and corporately as His church.

If you and I would begin to live each day as though we truly believe that God stands ready to set us in motion each morning to do what He's created us to do - that He has a plan and a purpose for each hour in our day - I believe we would witness God's power unleashed in and through our lives in ways we can't imagine, countless lives impacted and eternities changed forever. I believe we would encounter a view of God’s majesty that literally takes our breath away.

"Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perserverence the race marked out for us." (Hebrews 12:1) It's time to lay it all at the foot of the cross, allowing Jesus to untether our hearts from the world, so we can live unhindered for Him - so that like the sun, we can rise to do what we were designed by God to do!

Lord, please help me throw off the things of this world and the sin that I've allowed into my life that hinder me from living fully for you each day. I lay it all at your feet right now. Forgive me for exchanging your plan for my own. Please show me what it is that you have designed me to do. Show me where to begin today. In Jesus name, Amen