Unless the Lord...

 Today I'm loading the car with what I think I should have for the book event tomorrow. It's my first one so I really don't know what to expect. I have the books, of course. Then the Bible, tablecloth, journal and pens to recreate the cover photo. I printed "About the Author" and "About the Book" handouts. But this morning I was thinking that any thought, work, or resources I put into distributing this Bible study is in vain if God doesn't work through it. 

Psalm 127:1-2

Unless the Lord builds a house,

its builders labor over it in vain;

unless the Lord watches over a city,

the watchman stays alert in vain.

In vain you get up early and stay up late,

working hard to have enough food—

yes, He gives sleep to the one He loves.

Whatever you and I do should be yielded to God for Him to fulfill His purposes for us. I don't desire to be famous. In fact, that's just the opposite of what I want. What I do want, is for God to fulfill His purposes for me. I pray that is your desire as well. 

Psalm 57:2

I call to God Most High,

to God who fulfills His purpose for me.

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Psalm 138:7-8

If I walk into the thick of danger,

You will preserve my life

from the anger of my enemies.

You will extend Your hand;

Your right hand will save me.

8 The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me.

Lord, Your love is eternal;

do not abandon the work of Your hands.

We must understand that the purposes He has for us are to be aligned with the purpose He had in Jesus. Ephesians 3 reveals to us that His purpose was salvation, redemption, forgiveness of our sin, and beyond that great gift, blessing after blessing in Christ Jesus our Lord. Read these verses carefully and see all that God purposes for us.

Ephesians 3:8-19

8 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah, 9 and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. 10 This is so God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens. 11 This is according to His eternal purpose accomplished in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord. 12 In Him we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 13 So then I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory.

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. 16 I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit, 17 and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think 

Take a minute to think about all that these verses tell us: Incalculable riches. Boldness. Confident access to Him. His riches in Glory. Power. Rooted and established in love. Able to comprehend the enormity of God's love. Know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge. Filled with all the fullness of God. You can list more from what you see in these verses. God wants us to have all of these blessing. 

Philippians 1:5-7

5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you[a] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and establishment of the gospel.

Whatever we are doing, our focus needs to be on God's amazing purposes, not on what we need to do to accomplish our purpose, but on how we need to yield to Him so that He can fulfill His purposes.