By Ken Fletcher
“I have been willful. I have missed God because of my own choices that I have made in my own will. I have lost years of service to the Master by not allowing Him to lead me. That is what has happened in reality in my life.
Looking back, there were times when I did better than others in really following the Lord.–Doing what He wanted me to do and going where He wanted me to go. But, in spite of my willfulness, He has managed to bless me much more than I deserve.
In all, I have found that Jesus is a true friend who sees through all of the junk right down to who we are in our heart. All the wrong thinking and wrong teaching. All the misunderstandings. All the selfish ways we followed after. That is Jesus! He truly is a real friend that sticks closer than a brother.
It is He that has brought me to where I am now. Only by His grace do I write tonight. If there is anything good happening in me, it’s because of Jesus and my faith in Him. Even though it is Jesus that does the miracles, we do have a major part to play. And, that part is living by faith in Him. His leading. His timing.
As I just revealed to you, I have missed God’s best many times by my own selfish plans and choices. I have had it my way many times. What I have found out after all of that is, why waste time in our own selfish agendas when we can really come into what Jesus wants to do in and through us in this life?
Though I have missed it in my life many times, I am committed to only doing it Jesus’ way from now on. Which is smarter, more fulfilling, more abundant, eternal, and the very best we can experience? It is His way in all things! We are blended together. We can actually understand and grasp the value of doing things Jesus’ way.
Maybe it comes to us with spiritual maturity. I am not sure. What I am sure is that we determine how much of Jesus we want to experience in this life. We are the ones who settle for less. As willful people we can expect trouble coming because of our own selfish choices. There will be loss coming in the future.
But, if we follow Jesus in our life, all things are possible! We live in faith in Him and what He is telling us to do. I have found that even though I have missed God many times in the past, I can have it different with Him from now on.
What is important to me now? Doing what Jesus says. He keeps me on track in His will for me personally. I am constantly endeavoring to stay focused on what He wants me to do. I know that I have some years left on the earth to do what He wants. But, I also know that my time is shorter now than where I have already been.
I praise God for Him bringing me into this understanding with Him. Jesus just told me tonight as I was eating some stew, I can have clearer, more precise leading. I can have deeper wisdom and understanding. I can have whatever my heart desires with Jesus! There is no restrictions with Him! And, as He told me this, I realized, oh yes, that is what I want. Because, I have tasted enough of His will to know that I want more and more of His and less and less of my own way.
I get on here and expose myself to you like this. Why? Well, it’s for you. Maybe you need to make some corrections! Maybe you need a wake up call about your direction and motivation? What makes you tick? What is motivating you forward? Your will or God’s will?
Or maybe, right now, it’s sort of a blend of the 2–a percentage of your will and His.–What you want and maybe some of what He wants? Well, no matter where you find yourself today, you can choose to go His way from now on.
We have been studying on the Know Thyself series about hearing clearly from Jesus all the time. I believe there is a strong connection between our desire to only do it His way and hearing Jesus clearly in our thoughts.
A pure heart before Jesus is a heart of faith. It is an exposed heart before Him. Completely submitted and committed with His will. Wanting to do it His way and not our own way any longer. It is this place in the heart of the believer that is true–the place where we hear and know correctly who we are–the place where Jesus and the Father transfer their thoughts to our thoughts. It is the true place. The exposed place. The all of me place.
Do most folks live there? Nope! They have no idea what it means to be there. It’s the secret place where truth abides in the midst of a deceptive world–we have the truth inside!
Friends, it’s all about what we want! We can have so much more with Jesus–IF we want. We can go ahead and have it our way–if we want. But, understand, without His direction, it’s not going to turn out right. Because of our willful directions apart from His best, we will find lots of problems and trouble. Ask me how I know!
What is Jesus saying to you personally as you read this tonight? Are you on track? Is everything submitted before Him? You doing it your way tonight? Only you and He knows the true of your heart.
Now, you understand, you can be deceived in your heart. But, not Him! You can humbly ask Him to show you the truth of where you really are! He will. If your honest with Him. Many times, we can deceive ourselves and not realize it.
Our own will can be deceived of our real place with Jesus. But, if we will really expose our hearts before God, and draw near to Him with a true heart, we can see what He sees in us! Which is the true of things! That is where I want to live. In that place!
The place where I know what He wants me to do in any situation. It’s that place where we can see who we really are in Him. It is the place of true perception. The place of peace. Of understanding of our times here on earth. It’s the place of true sight of reality.
Our own way is the place of blindness of who we are and where we should be going. I want to see what Jesus sees for me in this life. That is my desire. After all is said and done, I want people to know, I did it His way. I found that my way was substandard in every way!
I hope that you can come into an understanding with Him and see for yourself, there is nothing better that you can do than giving Jesus your will–which is you life in total. Your will is actually all you have of your own exclusively. It is yours. God gave it to you to do what you will.
When we are wise enough to give Jesus our complete life, which is our own will, then we can come into this place of clarity with Him. People are afraid to do this. They are afraid of the loss of control. Even when we give it to Him, He does not control us like a robot. We choose to follow Him willingly knowing that He is going to take real good care of us! And, He does.
Jesus leads us into supply and abundance–the place where we are prepared for what is coming. It is the place of benefit and blessing. Of wisdom and understanding. It’s the place where you know and He knows that He has us completely to do what He wants to do.–Which is all good for you and I.
I encourage you tonight, wherever you are in life, whatever is happening, where ever you are heading, through your will, you can choose a course change! It is all up to you! Jesus is ever abiding with you.
How much do you want of Jesus? How clear do you want it between you and Him? How much do you desire of this relationship with God? Humm….? That is where you and I are living right now! That is the nitty gritty root of our future on earth.
Foolish people will blow by this and blindly do things their own way going forward. And, unfortunately, because of it, they will have much more trouble to deal with. But, it doesn’t have to be like that with you or them! Because, it can all be different if and when you really totally give it all to Jesus! It is serious, serious business!
Will you go ahead into your future in your own concept or will you decide to get His concept of you? My prayers are with you tonight, dear friend. I’m wishing you will experience God’s best. But, in truth, it IS up to you! What WILL you do?” KF KenFletcher.org
