God is in Charge of the Fruit

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” John 15:16 (NIV)

Last week was a bit of a discouragement for a variety of reasons.  A friend sent me the above Scripture to encourage me… and it did.  Usually I will just read a Scripture at face value and let God speak to me, but this time, I felt compelled to look up what this particular Scripture means. I love that God whispered that suggestion and that I followed through.  What God spoke to me was this:

My plans don’t matter… not really.  God is going to do what He’s going to do and the part that I play in what God is going to do is my choice.  I can either choose to accept His invitation to be used of Him, in the way He wants, or I can choose to sit on the sidelines.  Either way, though, God is going to work things out according to His plans… with or without my cooperation.

However, on the flipside.  God has a purpose and plan for my life and He wants to use me to help fulfill His purpose in this life… As it states in the verse above, He chose me.  But again, it’s still my choice if I allow Him to use me for His purpose… or not.

When I look at it that way, it says a few things to me.  First, the pressure is off.  God wants to use my life for His good.  I don’t have to do anything except obey.  The outcome or accomplishment that God wants fulfilled?  That’s on Him.  He is the One who will get the glory and the “pressure” for the miracle or the impossible is on Him… not dependent upon me.  My only role is to obey the path God puts me on and stay faithful to the mission He assigned to me.  If I do that, He will work out the details and as it should be, He will get all the glory.  People will be looking to whether or not God came through… and whether or not I obeyed the directions of His mission.

I wrote this to encourage us all today.  All of us who are God’s children have been chosen by our Father.  Because we have been chosen, we each have a specific mission/ministry that He wants to use us to carry out.  While we are responsible to be obedient to His guidelines (not taking control and doing it our way) in order to fulfill the mission He has in mind for us, the outcome?  That’s completely on God!  He doesn’t need us worrying, planning, taking over, making suggestions, or seeking an alternative route to the mission He gave us.  He just needs us to be faithful children who trust that He has our best in mind and that the mission He assigned us fits within our strengths, talents and abilities.

I truly believe it makes God happy when we surrender our will, lay our agenda down and truly seek to do what He has called us to do.  When we stop wanting our way and surrender completely to His way, that is when He can do His best work because our agendas are out of the way.

God has a goal and purpose for each of us during our lifetimes.  It’s an honor and a privilege to know He has chosen us to help Him fulfill them.  When we ask God what is our part… He is more than happy to answer.  When we do so with an obedient heart, then He knows we are ready to be used by Him.

© Cheri Swalwell 2016