Trust the Process...

 

TRUST THE PROCESS…

Mary Ann Wray

I pray this word may encourage someone today…

I was thinking about Joseph and how he was given vision and a calling from God at a very young age. Yet circumstances and people began to turn against everything God showed him he would become. He found himself abandoned by his natural family and in a corrupted system and society that was totally away from God.  He was surrounded by idolatry, dishonesty, evil plots, lies, and what would seem to be a hopeless dead end.

Yet God never left him. There is no doubt God was molding and shaping his character in the midst of unseemly circumstances contrary to what would appear to be God's perfect will for his life. Yet Joseph didn't cave in under those circumstances. Rather he submitted to the sovereignty of God.

You and I may not be called to the same level of responsibility as Joseph was. But as His children each one of us have an assignment to fulfill as part of the Great Commission. Whether you're called to be a doctor, a mother, a teacher, a financial planner, a politician, worship leader, a preacher, or a construction worker, God's hand is on your life with purpose even after you ‘retire’. God never retires His plan for you.

Ephesians 2: 10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  His “workmanship” is the Greek word poeima that indicates “that which has been made”. Your life is not an accident nor was it ordained by God to be a chaotic mixture of confusion and lack of direction. Your life’s work was never meant to end until Jesus returns or He calls you home.

Poiēma shows us that God Himself has created you as a work of His own hands, and has a plan for your life that fits into His Master Plan. God's ultimate purpose for your life is that you and I are conformed to the image of His dear Son as lamps and witnesses in a Dark World.

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8: 29

God’s Master Plan for your life is worked out and accomplished as you present yourself to Him as a living sacrifice. Paul said this in his letter to the church in Rome in chapter 12 verses 1 and 2…

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

 

There are two key words in this verse that are worth noting. They are the words “conformed” and “transformed.: The word conform there is schematico where we get the term for a schematic or a blueprint. The world's blueprint is to follow the lust of one’s own eyes, the passions and appetites of the flesh and follow after selfish ambition and the pride of life. But the word transformed there is metamorpho where we get the term metamorphosis as when a worm is transformed into a butterfly or a larva is transformed into a different looking creature than how it began.

The process of metamorphosis is twofold. When we are born in the natural we inherit the sin nature from Adam (wormlike). When we are Born Again, God removes our sins and gives us a nature patterned after Christ in its place. However,  the process of transformation does not stop with the New Birth; it begins there. That's why Paul is exhorting the church in Rome to present themselves as living sacrifices as our “reasonable service.” Notice that the emphasis is not on what we do in terms of works,  rather offering ourselves up unto him as our reasonable service. Works are important, but without the right heart posture and motive they are ‘dead’.

The ongoing journey of sanctification into the image of the Son, i.e., the character and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, is what God is really after in us. That is what produces lasting fruit as in the case of Joseph. At the right time, God fulfilled His ultimate purpose and reconciled Joseph’s family bringing everything back to it’s proper order and Divine Design. We too will experience the complete fulfillment of everything that was meant to be in its proper, right and just fulfillment corporately and individually, when the Lord returns as Judge over all flesh and creates The New Heaven and the New Earth.

Joseph had peace and the favor of God while enduring untold injustices. The Bible said iron entered into his soul when he was put in stocks. In other words, those chains didn’t make him bitter; they made him stronger in his commitment to the Will of God and his personal convictions. Joseph kept his eye on the prize which was and is God Himself. If you keep your eyes on Jesus, the process is not only doable but bearable with joy and fulfillment along the way. He promises in Romans 8: 28 that all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

This reminds me of the following verses about endurance:

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1: 2-4

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..." Hebrews 12:1–2

Remember, that it is God at work in your life for His good will and pleasure. Trust the process and praise Him in all things with thanksgiving. He gives the peace that passes all understanding when you do that and supernatural joy unspeakable. Every moment of your existence is under the watchful eye of Yahweh. You can make every moment count with a heart of submission to His sovereignty under His mighty hand!

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,  casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.  Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.  And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.  To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

1 Peter 5: 6-11

Surrendering to his Will and sovereignty is a daily choice. Won’t you pray a prayer surrender to him today especially if you’re going through a difficult season?