Experiencing God
Day 5: Knowing Where God Is at Work
Day 5: Knowing Where God Is at Work
What God initiates, He completes.
Sometimes God tries to get our attention by revealing where He is at work. We see it, but we do not immediately identify it as His activity. We say to ourselves, I don’t know whether God wants me to get involved here. I had better pray about it. By the time we pray, the opportunity to join God is gone. A tender, sensitive heart will be ready to respond to God at the slightest prompting. God makes your heart tender and sensitive in the love relationship so you are in tune with what is on His heart for the circumstances around you.
If you are going to join God in His work, you need to know where He is working. The Scriptures identify things only God can do. You need to learn to identify these. Then when something happens around you that only God can do, you will recognize it is God’s activity. This does not deny God’s initiative. Unless God opens your spiritual eyes, you will not know He is the One at work. He takes the initiative to open your eyes.
Things Only God Can Do
At the beginning of unit 2, I gave an illustration of something only God can do. Review “College Campus Bible Studies” at the beginning of unit 2 and record something only God can do.
___________________________________________________________________
The Scriptures say no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him (see John 6:44). No one seeks God or pursues spiritual things unless the Spirit of God is at work in his life. Suppose a neighbor, a friend, or one of your children begins to inquire about spiritual things. You do not have to question whether that is God drawing him or her. He is the only One who can do that. People do not seek God unless He is at work in their lives.
For example, as Jesus passed through a crowd, He always looked for where the Father was at work. The crowd was not the harvest field. The harvest field was within that crowd. Jesus saw Zacchaeus in a tree. Jesus may have said to Himself, Nobody can seek Me with that kind of earnestness unless My Father is at work in his heart. So Jesus pulled away from the crowd and said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). What happened? Salvation came to that household that day. Jesus always looked for the activity of the Father and joined Him. Salvation came as a result of Jesus’ joining His life to the Father’s activity.
Read the following Scriptures and answer the questions that follow.
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. … You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17).
If you love and obey Christ, whom will the Father give you? List two of His names. _____________________________________________________________
Where will this Person live? ___________________________________________
“The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).
What are two things the Holy Spirit will do for Jesus’ disciples?
____________________________________________________________________
“When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).
What are three things the Holy Spirit does? ______________________________
____________________________________________________________________
When you become a Christian, you enter a love relationship with Jesus Christ—God Himself. At that point the Counselor, the Spirit of truth, takes up residence in your life. He is always present to teach you. The Holy Spirit also convicts people of guilt for their sin. He convicts the world of righteousness and judgment. Here’s a list of some things only God can do.
Things Only God Can Do
1. Draws people to Himself
2. Causes people to seek Him
3. Reveals spiritual truth
4. Convicts the world of guilt about sin
5. Convicts the world of righteousness
6. Convicts the world of judgment
When you see one of these things happening, you know God is at work. He is at work when you see someone coming to Christ, asking about spiritual matters, beginning to understand spiritual truth, experiencing conviction of sin, being convinced of Christ’s righteousness, or being convinced of judgment.
Watching for God’s Activity
Jim had worked hard to become the CEO of his company. For years he had focused on climbing the corporate ladder, paying whatever price was necessary to get to the top. God began to convict Jim that he had never asked God why He had placed him in his influential position. Jim prayed and asked God to open his eyes to what He was doing in the company. That week someone on his staff began talking about the Bible. When Jim answered the questions, the employee asked him how he knew so much about the Bible. He asked Jim what he could do to know the Bible the way Jim did.
Suppose you were in Jim’s place. How would you find out what to do next?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Pray and watch to see what God does next. Only the Father knows what He has purposed, and He knows the best way to accomplish His will. He knows why He brought these individuals together in this company and why He gave Jim the burden to bring them together. After you pray, get off your knees and watch to see what God does next. For Jim, it might be to lead a Bible study for interested employees on Wednesdays during the lunch hour. Jim would watch to see what people said when they participated. Suppose someone in the plant comes to Jim and says, “My family is really having a hard time financially. I am having an especially tough time with my teenager.”
Make the connection. Jim had just prayed, “God, show me where You are at work.” He needs to make the connection between his prayers and what happens next. If you do not connect what happens next, you may miss God’s answer to your prayer. Always connect what happens next. Then what should Jim do?
Find out what God is already doing by asking probing questions. Ask the kind of questions that will reveal what is happening in that person’s life to find out what God is doing:
Probing Questions
• How can I pray for you?
• Do you want to talk?
• What do you see as the greatest challenge in your life?
• What is the most significant thing happening in your life now?
• Would you tell me what God is doing in your life?
• What is God bringing to the surface in your life?
• What particular burden has God given you?
Listen. The person responds, “I really don’t have a relationship with God. But since having this problem with my teenager, I sure have been thinking about it.” Or “When I was a kid, I used to go to Sunday School. My mom and dad made me go. I got away from it, but our financial problems have really caused me to think about this.” Those statements sound as if God is at work in the person’s life. He may be drawing the person to Himself, causing the person to seek God, or bringing conviction of sin.
What are some actions described in the previous paragraphs that will help you see whether God is at work in a situation?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Look again at the box “Things Only God Can Do” in today’s lesson. What would you watch for as you look for God’s activity in the lives of people around you? List at least three.
I would watch for someone who _________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Record the names of people around you who are experiencing God’s activity in their lives.
________________________________________________________________________
When you want to know what God is doing around you, pray. Watch to see what happens next. Make the connection between your prayer and what follows. Find out what God is doing by asking probing questions. Then listen. Be ready to make the adjustments required to join God in what He is already doing.
A man visited our church by accident and saw in the bulletin statements requesting prayer for our missions in Kyle, Prince Albert, Love, Regina, Blaine Lake, and other locations. He asked what the requests meant. I explained that our church had made a commitment: if God showed us where someone desired a Bible study or a church, we would respond. He asked, “You mean if I asked you to come and help us start a church in our town, you would come?” I told him we would, and he started to cry. He was a construction worker in Leroy, 75 miles east of us. He said he had been pleading with people to start a church in Leroy for 24 years. Nobody had wanted to help. He asked if we would come. We established a church in Leroy and bought two lots on the main street. This man was so excited he bought a school building and moved it to the site. He now serves as a lay pastor.
As a church we were already conditioned to recognize things only God can do. When He let us see where He was working, we immediately realized that was our invitation to join Him. Frequently, the reason we do not join God is because we are not committed to join Him. We want God to bless us, not to work through us. As a church, do not look for ways God is going to bless you. Look for ways God is going to reveal Himself by working through you and beyond you to accomplish His purposes. God’s work in you will bring a blessing to you and others, but the blessing is a by-product of your obedience and experience of God at work in your midst.
Who can tell what a stranger’s visit can mean in your church? Ask questions about what God is doing where that person is. Then you will know how to adjust your life to be an instrument of God so He can accomplish His work through you. When you start to see God moving, adjust your life and respond.
Has this illustration given you any ideas about how you can begin to watch for God’s activity around you? In your family? In your work? In your church? Record any ideas you have.
________________________________________________________________________
The impressions you wrote down may be from God Himself. He may be inviting you to look for His activity. Don’t miss the opportunity. Pray and watch to see what happens next.
When God Speaks
We have spent two days focusing on God’s invitation for you to become involved with Him in His work. Be aware of two points about God’s invitation for you to join Him.
1. God speaks when He is about to accomplish His purposes. All Scripture shows that when God reveals to you what He is doing, that is the time to respond. Although the completion of God’s work may be a long time away—for example, Abram’s son was born 25 years after God’s promise—the time God comes to you is the time for your response. That is when you need to adjust your life to Him. You may need to prepare for what He is going to do through you.
2. What God initiates, He completes. Isaiah confirmed this truth when God said,
What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do” (Isa. 46:11).
Earlier he had warned God’s people,
The L ORD Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.” For the L ORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? (Isa. 14:24,27).
God says that if He lets His people know what He is about to do, it is as good as done—He Himself will bring it to pass (also see 1 Kings 8:56; Phil. 1:6).
When God speaks, He guarantees it will happen. This holds enormous implications for individual believers, churches, and denominations. When we come to God to know what He is about to do where we are, we also have the assurance that what God indicates He is about to do will certainly occur.
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? What God initiates, He always completes. ❒ Agree ❒ Disagree What is the reason for your response?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
If you disagreed with the statement, be sure you always base your understanding of God on Scripture, not on personal opinion or experience alone. Throughout history, people have said they had a word from the Lord, but then it did not come to pass. Do not look to these kinds of experiences to determine your understanding of God.
I must add a strong word of caution for spiritual leaders: if you ever indicate to God’s people that you have a word from the Lord, you are obligated to follow through with what God said until He brings it to pass. God declared that anyone who says, “I have a word from the Lord” that does not come to pass is a false prophet (see Deut. 18:18-22; Jer. 28:9; Ezek. 12:24-25). A true prophet of God is someone who has a word from the Lord that comes to pass. God’s nature demands it! Whatever God says inevitably occurs.
Review your Scripture-memory verses and be prepared to recite them to a partner in your small-group session this week.
SUMMARY STATEMENTS
A tender, sensitive heart will be ready to respond to God at the slightest prompting.
Pray and watch to see what God does next.
Make the connection. Ask probing questions. Listen.
God speaks when He is about to accomplish His purposes.
What God initiates, He completes.
Review today’s lesson. Pray and ask God to identify one or more statements or Scriptures He wants you to understand, learn, or practice. Highlight them. Then respond to the following.
What was the most meaningful statement or Scripture you read today?
Reword the statement or Scripture into a prayer of response to God.
What does God want you to do in response to today’s study?
What God initiates, He completes.
Sometimes God tries to get our attention by revealing where He is at work. We see it, but we do not immediately identify it as His activity. We say to ourselves, I don’t know whether God wants me to get involved here. I had better pray about it. By the time we pray, the opportunity to join God is gone. A tender, sensitive heart will be ready to respond to God at the slightest prompting. God makes your heart tender and sensitive in the love relationship so you are in tune with what is on His heart for the circumstances around you.
If you are going to join God in His work, you need to know where He is working. The Scriptures identify things only God can do. You need to learn to identify these. Then when something happens around you that only God can do, you will recognize it is God’s activity. This does not deny God’s initiative. Unless God opens your spiritual eyes, you will not know He is the One at work. He takes the initiative to open your eyes.
Things Only God Can Do
At the beginning of unit 2, I gave an illustration of something only God can do. Review “College Campus Bible Studies” at the beginning of unit 2 and record something only God can do.
___________________________________________________________________
The Scriptures say no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him (see John 6:44). No one seeks God or pursues spiritual things unless the Spirit of God is at work in his life. Suppose a neighbor, a friend, or one of your children begins to inquire about spiritual things. You do not have to question whether that is God drawing him or her. He is the only One who can do that. People do not seek God unless He is at work in their lives.
For example, as Jesus passed through a crowd, He always looked for where the Father was at work. The crowd was not the harvest field. The harvest field was within that crowd. Jesus saw Zacchaeus in a tree. Jesus may have said to Himself, Nobody can seek Me with that kind of earnestness unless My Father is at work in his heart. So Jesus pulled away from the crowd and said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). What happened? Salvation came to that household that day. Jesus always looked for the activity of the Father and joined Him. Salvation came as a result of Jesus’ joining His life to the Father’s activity.
Read the following Scriptures and answer the questions that follow.
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. … You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17).
If you love and obey Christ, whom will the Father give you? List two of His names. _____________________________________________________________
Where will this Person live? ___________________________________________
“The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).
What are two things the Holy Spirit will do for Jesus’ disciples?
____________________________________________________________________
“When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).
What are three things the Holy Spirit does? ______________________________
____________________________________________________________________
When you become a Christian, you enter a love relationship with Jesus Christ—God Himself. At that point the Counselor, the Spirit of truth, takes up residence in your life. He is always present to teach you. The Holy Spirit also convicts people of guilt for their sin. He convicts the world of righteousness and judgment. Here’s a list of some things only God can do.
Things Only God Can Do
1. Draws people to Himself
2. Causes people to seek Him
3. Reveals spiritual truth
4. Convicts the world of guilt about sin
5. Convicts the world of righteousness
6. Convicts the world of judgment
When you see one of these things happening, you know God is at work. He is at work when you see someone coming to Christ, asking about spiritual matters, beginning to understand spiritual truth, experiencing conviction of sin, being convinced of Christ’s righteousness, or being convinced of judgment.
Watching for God’s Activity
Jim had worked hard to become the CEO of his company. For years he had focused on climbing the corporate ladder, paying whatever price was necessary to get to the top. God began to convict Jim that he had never asked God why He had placed him in his influential position. Jim prayed and asked God to open his eyes to what He was doing in the company. That week someone on his staff began talking about the Bible. When Jim answered the questions, the employee asked him how he knew so much about the Bible. He asked Jim what he could do to know the Bible the way Jim did.
Suppose you were in Jim’s place. How would you find out what to do next?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Pray and watch to see what God does next. Only the Father knows what He has purposed, and He knows the best way to accomplish His will. He knows why He brought these individuals together in this company and why He gave Jim the burden to bring them together. After you pray, get off your knees and watch to see what God does next. For Jim, it might be to lead a Bible study for interested employees on Wednesdays during the lunch hour. Jim would watch to see what people said when they participated. Suppose someone in the plant comes to Jim and says, “My family is really having a hard time financially. I am having an especially tough time with my teenager.”
Make the connection. Jim had just prayed, “God, show me where You are at work.” He needs to make the connection between his prayers and what happens next. If you do not connect what happens next, you may miss God’s answer to your prayer. Always connect what happens next. Then what should Jim do?
Find out what God is already doing by asking probing questions. Ask the kind of questions that will reveal what is happening in that person’s life to find out what God is doing:
Probing Questions
• How can I pray for you?
• Do you want to talk?
• What do you see as the greatest challenge in your life?
• What is the most significant thing happening in your life now?
• Would you tell me what God is doing in your life?
• What is God bringing to the surface in your life?
• What particular burden has God given you?
Listen. The person responds, “I really don’t have a relationship with God. But since having this problem with my teenager, I sure have been thinking about it.” Or “When I was a kid, I used to go to Sunday School. My mom and dad made me go. I got away from it, but our financial problems have really caused me to think about this.” Those statements sound as if God is at work in the person’s life. He may be drawing the person to Himself, causing the person to seek God, or bringing conviction of sin.
What are some actions described in the previous paragraphs that will help you see whether God is at work in a situation?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Look again at the box “Things Only God Can Do” in today’s lesson. What would you watch for as you look for God’s activity in the lives of people around you? List at least three.
I would watch for someone who _________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Record the names of people around you who are experiencing God’s activity in their lives.
________________________________________________________________________
When you want to know what God is doing around you, pray. Watch to see what happens next. Make the connection between your prayer and what follows. Find out what God is doing by asking probing questions. Then listen. Be ready to make the adjustments required to join God in what He is already doing.
A man visited our church by accident and saw in the bulletin statements requesting prayer for our missions in Kyle, Prince Albert, Love, Regina, Blaine Lake, and other locations. He asked what the requests meant. I explained that our church had made a commitment: if God showed us where someone desired a Bible study or a church, we would respond. He asked, “You mean if I asked you to come and help us start a church in our town, you would come?” I told him we would, and he started to cry. He was a construction worker in Leroy, 75 miles east of us. He said he had been pleading with people to start a church in Leroy for 24 years. Nobody had wanted to help. He asked if we would come. We established a church in Leroy and bought two lots on the main street. This man was so excited he bought a school building and moved it to the site. He now serves as a lay pastor.
As a church we were already conditioned to recognize things only God can do. When He let us see where He was working, we immediately realized that was our invitation to join Him. Frequently, the reason we do not join God is because we are not committed to join Him. We want God to bless us, not to work through us. As a church, do not look for ways God is going to bless you. Look for ways God is going to reveal Himself by working through you and beyond you to accomplish His purposes. God’s work in you will bring a blessing to you and others, but the blessing is a by-product of your obedience and experience of God at work in your midst.
Who can tell what a stranger’s visit can mean in your church? Ask questions about what God is doing where that person is. Then you will know how to adjust your life to be an instrument of God so He can accomplish His work through you. When you start to see God moving, adjust your life and respond.
Has this illustration given you any ideas about how you can begin to watch for God’s activity around you? In your family? In your work? In your church? Record any ideas you have.
________________________________________________________________________
The impressions you wrote down may be from God Himself. He may be inviting you to look for His activity. Don’t miss the opportunity. Pray and watch to see what happens next.
When God Speaks
We have spent two days focusing on God’s invitation for you to become involved with Him in His work. Be aware of two points about God’s invitation for you to join Him.
1. God speaks when He is about to accomplish His purposes. All Scripture shows that when God reveals to you what He is doing, that is the time to respond. Although the completion of God’s work may be a long time away—for example, Abram’s son was born 25 years after God’s promise—the time God comes to you is the time for your response. That is when you need to adjust your life to Him. You may need to prepare for what He is going to do through you.
2. What God initiates, He completes. Isaiah confirmed this truth when God said,
What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do” (Isa. 46:11).
Earlier he had warned God’s people,
The L ORD Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.” For the L ORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? (Isa. 14:24,27).
God says that if He lets His people know what He is about to do, it is as good as done—He Himself will bring it to pass (also see 1 Kings 8:56; Phil. 1:6).
When God speaks, He guarantees it will happen. This holds enormous implications for individual believers, churches, and denominations. When we come to God to know what He is about to do where we are, we also have the assurance that what God indicates He is about to do will certainly occur.
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? What God initiates, He always completes. ❒ Agree ❒ Disagree What is the reason for your response?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
If you disagreed with the statement, be sure you always base your understanding of God on Scripture, not on personal opinion or experience alone. Throughout history, people have said they had a word from the Lord, but then it did not come to pass. Do not look to these kinds of experiences to determine your understanding of God.
I must add a strong word of caution for spiritual leaders: if you ever indicate to God’s people that you have a word from the Lord, you are obligated to follow through with what God said until He brings it to pass. God declared that anyone who says, “I have a word from the Lord” that does not come to pass is a false prophet (see Deut. 18:18-22; Jer. 28:9; Ezek. 12:24-25). A true prophet of God is someone who has a word from the Lord that comes to pass. God’s nature demands it! Whatever God says inevitably occurs.
Review your Scripture-memory verses and be prepared to recite them to a partner in your small-group session this week.
SUMMARY STATEMENTS
A tender, sensitive heart will be ready to respond to God at the slightest prompting.
Pray and watch to see what God does next.
Make the connection. Ask probing questions. Listen.
God speaks when He is about to accomplish His purposes.
What God initiates, He completes.
Review today’s lesson. Pray and ask God to identify one or more statements or Scriptures He wants you to understand, learn, or practice. Highlight them. Then respond to the following.
What was the most meaningful statement or Scripture you read today?
Reword the statement or Scripture into a prayer of response to God.
What does God want you to do in response to today’s study?