Do All Things Work for Good? – Part 1

This week Michael writes: We're all on a journey that God has prepared for each of us.  For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has foreordained that we should walk therein. The first stage of the journey is finding out what God is like. How well do you know Him?  Paul said, "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.” The second stage is to understand how He has enabled us with the fruit of the spirit. The third step is knowing how God has gifted each of us. Through the journey we will understand and know His will for our lives as we enter the fourth stage: living according to his calling.  

James 1 states that God has called us to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.  Sometimes people think that pastors can raise the dead. Without a firm commitment to God and His word, it's difficult for people to make a commitment to others, including their own spouses.  If we're to be reconciled, it must be on God's terms ... we must meet each other at the foot of the cross. Jesus' disciples understood what it would mean to be a disciplined follower of Christ. To be a genuine Christian believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. To say, "Jesus is Lord," means to declare that we are not our own ... He is our master. It's not who we are but rather, whose we are. When we make His word our word, then we can meet others in Christ with a common commitment. We cannot have peace with others until we have the Prince of Peace, our Lord Jesus Christ.

God wants to know, whatever you're doing, are you doing it with a heart of love?  People look at appearances (image is everything), but God looks upon the heart. God doesn't look at your actions, He looks at your heart. Out of the heart are the issues of life.

According to Romans 8:28, all things work together for good to those who love God; to those who are called according to his purpose. 

God is always sovereign. He is all powerful ... His word and His will shall come to pass.  Upon the journey of life, we do not know the end from the beginning ... but he does.  Trusting God depends on our concept and understanding of Him. Knowing Him will determine whether our joy is in the Lord and not in the tragedies and trials of a fallen world. If we've tasted and seen that God is good, then we can know the love of our Heavenly Father. Love is the nature of God himself. He loves us not because of who we are but because of who He is. God is love and in Him is no darkness at all.  

Jesus said, "there is none good, no not one." What is "good?" the 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “good” as: Having moral qualities best adapted to its design and use, or the qualities which God's law requires; virtuous; pious; religious; applied to persons, and opposed to bad, vitious, wicked, evil. Goodness is the nature of God himself. Good must be understood in the light of God's definition, not man's. 

Let's continue Michael's message on "All Things Work for Good" in the next post.

In Christ, Brian