Joplin, Missouri, is in the recovery stages from a devastating Tornado that tore what was eventually determined to be a 1 mile wide by 16 mile-long path of destruction and devastation.
The news has covered this well, and I think that short of being in a cave somewhere, you’ve heard all about it.
What else you may have heard about is the massive response and outpouring of love from all over for those affected. I was amazed at the willingness of so many to drop what they were doing and head to Joplin to help. Even those affected, homes destroyed, themselves injured, were literally crawling out from under the rubble to help others. Truly amazing.
The effort and help are still ongoing. The assistance is there for those who need it. But as the dust has settled, already so many are raising the question, “What do I do next?” They may have lost their homes, their cars, their places of employment- and without someone to turn to, it can lead to despair.
We have to look upon our travel with God and following His Holy Spirit with a day-by-day attitude:
James 4:13
13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
LIke it or not, God’s plan is for us to follow, and this flies in the face of all the people who love to make everything a big organization, with steering committees and long agendas.
Like Jesus said in Matthew 8: 20
“The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Ministry takes you where He wants you to go, not necessarily to go where we want and expect Him to lead us as we choose.
Many people cannot get their head around it- God wants us to follow, to fellowship. Some aspects of His leading do require organization, discipline, and planning, but only after He has stated what He wants done.
Paul struggled with choices that the Spirit blocked, and eventually got his vision, in Acts 16;
6They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; 7and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; 8and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
My own life has been one of seeking His leading, and for too long I tried to make His leading fit “my plans.” I wanted to minister, but could never break away from my income over the road. I held impromptu meetings and prayer services, and joined in with other established ministries. But God didn’t want to “fit in,” he wanted a disciple who would follow.
To follow the Spirit is to listen to the Spirit. Romans 10:17 says:
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
To know the word of Christ, we must read what He has said, become familiar with it, so that when the Master speaks, His sheep will know his voice.
Whatever you do, I would not encourage you to idly take mine nor any other human word for it. Read up on it, study it, pray over it, and allow His spirit to speak in you. Then, above all, ACT.
