Finding God's GOOD PLAN for YOUR life.

Dear Believing Friends
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." John 8:12 (NASB95)

Just find the path in life that GOD leads you into and HE will give you grace and help and guidance.

To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Luke 9:59 (ESV)

If you follow the path in life determined by the expectations of others, you will have frustration after frustration and your Christian life will be little better than hanging on until you get to heaven. Find God's plan for YOUR life at all costs!

Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. MY YOKE IS EASY AND MY BURDEN IS LIGHT.

It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others. Ephesians 2:10 (TLB)

For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

Find the good works that GOD has prepared for you!!! (Ephesians 2:10)

Go and find your destiny. Your destiny is written in heaven but you have to find your script and live it out. It is not automatic.

Please let me know what you think.

God bless you from
Bill

YOU ARE UNIQUE.

CS Lewis was an English scholar at Oxford University. He was an expert in ancient languages and old English Literature. He was also an atheist until he had a powerful conversion experience. 

What should a new convert like this do if he wants to win thousands of souls to Christ and save even millions from damnation? 

Obviously he should use his talents to study theology, Hebrew and Greek and maybe Chinese, so he could be a pastor, a missionary or an evangelist.
He did none of these things. He continued to write scholarly articles about old literature and then God raised him up to write paperback books to stimulate people to think about God and the truth of the Bible.
His books are nothing like the books written by pastors, evangelists or theologians. Thank God they are unique and different! CS Lewis’s unique way of thinking has drawn thousands or perhaps millions of people to Christ.
Supposing CS Lewis had been converted in his twenties. And just imagine he had suffered a terrible mental breakdown. Suppose he had been torn apart by trauma and suppose he had been mentored by disciples of Kenneth Hagin or CH Spurgeon or by this or that anointed ministry. 
Supposing this broken young man had laid everything on the altar for Jesus. Supposing he had abandoned his passion for literature and original writing. Supposing he had used his great talents to become a good imitation of Kenneth Hagin or Charles Spurgeon or some other gifted preacher. HOW TERRIBLE!
Who are YOU?
If you belong to Jesus, you are a son or daughter of the Most High God. You are a representative of Jesus Christ on earth. But so are we all. I am these things and so are you.
But WHO ARE YOU?
Luke was not Paul but thank God they were different.
The great missionary who laid the foundation for the glorious Chinese church of today was Hudson Taylor. When he went to China, the missionaries lived in an English community separated from Chinese society. They won few converts and when a Chinese person came to Christ, he had to leave his people and become a second rate imitation of and English Christian. Hudson Taylor lived amongst the Chinese. He spoke Chinese and dressed like a Chinese man. He was criticised by both the Chinese and by the English missionaries but he sowed the seed for the mightiest national church on Earth, over 140 million Chinese Christians serving God today in spite of persecution.
Are you trying to fit in with the vision of someone else, a pastor, a parent, a Christian leader? If you never discover your unique personal calling and gifting, you will be devastated when you arrive in heaven.
Suppose you play soccer and you are gifted to be a wonderful goalkeeper. But your father and your coach was a great striker and you look up to him. You may waste your life trying to be a striker.
Suppose your father was a wonderful doctor but your passion is art or poetry and you have an outstanding talent. What if you waste your life trying to be a good doctor. How terrible!
Do you have the courage to be different?
Ask God who you are! Listen until GOD tells you! We often hear of VOCATIONS which means CALLINGS. 

You have a calling if you hear GOD CALLING! Ask and listen. 

• Maybe you already know but you are not following your calling. Maybe you are following someone else’s calling. It is time to change.

Seek and you will find.
'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV)

Go to where God is moving.

Are you praying and waiting for the Spirit of Revival to come to you?

Could it be that the Spirit HAS ALREADY COME to your city with fresh power?

Maybe HE is waiting for YOU to come and seek Him out?

PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD!

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Mark 1:4-5 (ESV)

Supposing the Jews had heard of John but continued their religious routine, attending the synagogue and the Temple as usual.

Supposing they waited for this new preacher to come to their synagogue (their “local church”). They would have missed the purpose of God for their life.

Later Jesus came and He ministered in the wilderness but also visited local congregations and preached in the Temple.

What if Jesus called a man to follow Him...

What if that man told Jesus he should remain loyal to his local Rabbi ...

What if he decided to wait for Jesus to visit his local congregation to minister once in a while....

Could that man be a disciple of Jesus?

When the Spirit of God moves in an exceptional way, He has a purpose.

We must adapt to fit His purpose.

We need to fit in with His choice of time and place.
We need to go where the wind is blowing.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8 (ESV)

We can learn a lot from surfers.

A mediocre surfer only goes to a beach near his home. If the waves are bigger, he has a good day. If the waves are smaller, he has a bad day or he doesn’t go.

Really serious surfers travel long distances to the best surf beaches with the biggest and best waves.

There are so many Christians who rarely go to a meeting outside their local congregation. There may be a world class preacher visiting a neighbouring suburb. There may be great miracles and healings but Christians who seriously need healings don’t go.

Some may be stuck in the routine of their local church activities. Some are actually taught it is their duty NOT to seek signs and wonders outside of their church or denominations!

What is the LOCAL CHURCH?

When Paul wrote his letters to local churches, he wrote to “The Church in Rome,” or “The Church in Corinth,” or “The Church in Philippi.”

Your local church is the community of all believers in your city, Perth, Sydney, Durban, Berlin, Auckland, Orlando Florida, or wherever you are.

This is the New Testament concept of the local church. Where is your local church? Jesus said this:

For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20 (NKJV)

If you have a Christian workmate, neighbour or friend and you meet for fellowship or prayer, that is a branch of your local church. It does not matter which denomination we belong to. That is not an important issue.

If we are hungry and thirsty for God, we must be like the wise men from the East who followed the star to Bethlehem to find Jesus; we must be like the shepherds who left their sheep in the care of the angels to worship the Son of God in the stable.

We must be like the crowds of Jews who left the daily routine of their jobs, businesses and local congregations to go out into the wilderness. Why did they go? They went to be challenged with a life changing message from God through John the Baptist.

In our generation there are inspired preachers doing the ministry of John the Baptist and many people are going to their meetings and conferences. But there are other people who are stuck in a rut in their local congregations waiting for revival to drop on them where they are.

It is time to wake up and MOVE.

Some people might find this message controversial or difficult. I make no apology. I feel a strong touch of the Holy Spirit on me as I write and I believe this is a message from God.

Test all things; hold fast what is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (NKJV)

Please let me know what you think.

God bless you from

Bill Derham