Tanzania 2009 #19

As I got up this morning I felt inclined to share reading from a devotional I read. It is from "My Utmost For His Highest." July 28.
After Obedience -- What?
"And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and go to the other side..." Mark 6:45
We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God's purpose for us. His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident.
What is my dream of God's purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm & unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working toward a particular finish; His end is the process--that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that all is right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.
God's training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we get wrong when we think of the afterwards. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end.
God's end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present: if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is Precious.

My new brother, Ray, from Cheetah asked me to post this on the Blog. It has been a reminder to me again this trip that I need to be more open to what God wants to so in me than what I think He wants me to do For Him.
Blessings on you all.

Because of Him,
Randy

(Sent from my Verizon Wireless CrackBerry)