My own intentions......

Those of you who have been reading here for a while and/or know me in person know that I am a wee bit of a perfectionist.  I have "my own intentions" and, in all honesty,  I would really prefer it if my life happened the way I "intend" for it to happen.  

However, I'm almost 43 years old and so far, I've noticed that my own intentions are pretty much worthless.  Thankfully, I can look back over the past 43 years and see that God's intentions were MUCH better than mine in every. single. circumstance.  And yet, every day, my own intentions rear their ugly heads and get in the way.  Today I needed this reminder that sin--my own or that of others--has not changed God's creative purpose for me.  I pray that my soul will be "open and cloudless" to HIS intentions for me.  After all, they are perfect.

The first thing that happens after we recognize our election by God in Christ Jesus is the destruction of our preconceived ideas, our narrow-minded thinking, and all of our other allegiances.  We are turned solely into servants of God’s own purpose. The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Sin has diverted the human race onto another course but it has not altered God’s purpose to the slightest degree. 

When we are born again, we [realize] God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself. This realization of our election by God is the most joyful on earth, and we must learn to rely on this tremendous creative purpose of God. The first thing God will do is force the interests of the whole world through the channel of our hearts. The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us......

We must continually keep our souls open to the fact of God’s creative purpose and never confuse or cloud it with our own intentions.  If we do, God will have to force our intentions aside no matter how much it may hurt. A missionary is created for the purpose of being God’s servant, one in whom God is glorified.  Once we realize that it is through the salvation of Jesus Christ that we are made perfectly fit for the purpose of God, we will understand why Jesus Christ is so strict and relentless in His demands.  He demands absolute righteousness from His servants because He has put into them the very nature of God.

My Utmost for His Highest

Oswald Chambers