The devil would love to get us distracted and get us off the course on which God has placed us. God has something He wants you and me to do. Our goal is not to only do our jobs well, but to honor God with our best. Every day we need to find out what God wants us to do, do it the best possible way, and refuse to be distracted by the devil. We need to say as the apostle Paul said, “This one thing I do!” Know that God’s goals are our goals and He wants us to follow Him and do it with all our strength for His glory!
Just as each one of us wakes up each morning with a new day ahead of us, the new season of Deaf Café lies ahead. It is full of new opportunities, full of promise, and full of the excitement of joining God where He is working. The goal for Deaf Café and for our personal lives remains the same: to glorify God and to reach people for Jesus Christ. There will be challenges, struggles, and things we need to improve. But we depend on God to show us and to lead us to doing our best for His glory.
There are four commitments we can make to in our lives and with Deaf Café as we enter the dawn of a new day and a new season:
1. Commit ourselves to not focus on the failures of the past – Philippians 3:14 – “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” We cannot change the past. We learn from our mistakes. As Paul said to early believers, we “press on.” That means we continue through our struggles and our successes to reach our goal. We give 100% to glorifying God. God was in the past when we had failures and struggles and he is in the present and is in the future so we do not need to live life imprisoned by the past.
2. Commit ourselves to give up our bitterness toward others – Paul says in Colossians 3:13 “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.” Remember, the Lord forgave us, so we must forgive others. That is a direct challenge to each one of us. Bitterness toward others destroys. It destroys fellowship. It destroys friendships. It destroys families. It destroys marriages. It destroys ministries. God is not asking us to ignore whatever anyone has done to us and He is not asking us to pretend something did not happen. If Christ can forgive our sins even though for him it meant enduring the pain of the cross then surely we can give up our bitterness toward others no matter what it might cost us personally. The question is are we willing to do it?
3. Commit ourselves to restoring relationships – Romans 12:18 – “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.” It is up to us. God uses this verse to personally challenge each one of us to do all we can to restore our relationships. God wants us to do whatever we can to restore any relationships that have gone wrong. Some relationships might have gone wrong because of what other people have done said and God knows the situation better than we do. That is why he starts by saying “Do all that you can.” On the other hand, we need to ask ourselves, individually, if I am the only person who finds it hardest to say “I am sorry” to the people I am closest too? Pray about it.
4. Commit ourselves to turn our back on our past disobedience to God’s will – Romans 6:12-14 – “Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.” The New Testament says that is exactly how many Christians choose to live. Christ died to set them free, the Holy Spirit has given them the power to be free, but just like some former slaves they still choose to obey their old master, sin. God here in his word challenges us to turn our back on that temptation and sin whatever it is. He challenges us to stop letting it control the way we live. He challenges us to stop giving into the temptation to sin. God wants us to stop obeying the old master. Let’s be clear about this: Jesus’ death broke once and for all the power of sin. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to resist sin. We do not need to go forward still being defeated by past disobedience to God. We have the victory in Jesus Christ. God says we are no longer a slave to sin so don’t live like one or act like one. Our salvation is secure. Jesus already died for our sin. God will forgive our everyday mistakes and his power is sufficient to resist that sin. The result will be that Deaf Café is not just a new season but each member and guest will experience a renewed spiritual life. Don’t miss this opportunity.
I know this is long, but it is important for us to understand. We have a new day dawning in our lives and in Deaf Café. Will this Just be the same Deaf Café all over again? Or are we willing to rise to these challenges from God’s word and make these commitments and so make it a life changing event for ourselves and our guests? It is up to us.
Hello Again!!
7 years ago
