In You, Through You, and For You

  Assembly required. How many of us have read those two words on a box before we purchased a Christmas present and thought I can do this, no problem. Yet, when we sat down to put that new dollhouse or bike together at midnight Christmas Eve we fling the directions to the side and jump head first into assembling the massive conglomeration of H3 bolts and A11 cross support beams? How has that worked out for you over the years? For those of you that haven't experienced the joy of this milestone step in parenthood, just hold on, your turn will come soon enough! What I have learned through my own personal experiences is that putting the parts together to finally have a toy to play with or a bike to ride takes time. Coupled with that knowledge it is also safe to say that it is necessary to follow the instructions provided to avoid the end product being wobbly or dysfunctional. Way too often I would wind up with a pile of hardware and a couple of pieces sitting there when I thought I was finished, little did I know those last couple of parts and those missing nuts and bolts were the very pieces that made the end product function properly. In today's Flat Tire Ministry Thought, I'm going to be discussing how our relationship with God is strikingly similar to this idea of following the instructions we have been given through God's Word. I believe it is safe to say, "Some assembly required".

 

I titled our conversation today "In You, Through You, and For You" because I believe those are the steps (instructions) we must put in place as we build a relationship with God. The salvation experience is just the beginning of our journey, we could label that the purchase of our gift. Asking God to forgive us of our sins and to make a home in our hearts gives us the base foundation, yet the work that comes after our initial acceptance of God as our Savior is where the three aforementioned steps are necessary in our goal of forming a deep relationship with our Lord and Savior. 

 

In you, the first step is starts during the salvation experience. We ask God to come into our heart, mind, body, and soul. For God to come into our heart something has to be removed to make room for God. This is where you must experience a life shift towards building the foundation of your relationship with the God of all creation. Reading His Holy Bible, listening to uplifting music and teachings, and developing a quiet time where you can talk to God and hear back from Him through His Holy Spirit is where something changes "in you". What is the timeline on this step of "building" our relationship with God? That is not an easy question to answer. Each person's timetable is going to be different, but it is paramount to keep in mind that God doesn't necessarily work "through” us until He is working "in" us. "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him." Philippians 2:13. 

 

When we have built a home for God inside our heart, mind, and soul then that is the time that God can really begin working "through you". When God speaks to us it isn't necessarily in a loud, commanding voice, just ask Elijah (I Kings 19:11-13). We can much better serve God when we understand God. That allows us to follow His gentle nudges to share our testimony with a colleague at work or to the person you just happened to be sitting beside on the subway ride home from work. God can work through you and He will, but we need to understand our job before we go to work right? "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10.

 

The third step in God's instruction manual is God working "for you". This is where we get the instructions and toss them to the side because we want God to work for us right now when we need a miracle to happen in our life or the life of someone we care about. Regardless of where we are on the spectrum of our relationship with God or even if we have established a relationship with God, when calamity strikes we reach out and ask God to intervene. In the Gospel of Mark, we are told the story of a blind man who called out from a crowd for healing to which Jesus responded, "Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road." Mark 10:52. There are numerous stories of God's healing power being on display through the life of His Son Jesus while He was living among us and it isn't hard to find someone that can tell you of a miracle that God has done in their own life or the life of someone they know and love. That is God working "for you", but it is critically important to understand that God working "for you" doesn’t mean we will automatically have every prayer we pray answered exactly the way we envision the outcome to be? I'm sorry, but that isn't exactly how it works.

 

God working "for you" means that whatever the outcome is, we come to a place of understanding that God has a plan and a purpose for everything that happens in us and through us, and He has a plan that will work “for” us. Not necessarily the exact way that we envision the outcome, but when we have steps 1 & 2 in place first, God working "for you" takes on a completely different interpretation. It is only after God is working in us and through us that Him working for us takes on a deeper complex understanding of God's will for our life and those we are connected to. We submit in faith to God’s will understanding that His ways are bigger than we could ever understand, yet we trust that God’s plan is working for us the exact way God’s plan wants it to be. 

 

My prayer for you today is that you will allow God to work in you to build a relationship based on love, trust, and faith. From there, may God work through you to impact the lives of those that you live with, work with, and spend time with each day. Then finally, may God work for you to see the difference you can make in this world for God's glory and not our own selfish wants and desires. May God bless you and keep you! 

Coach Carter