daily devotional

There is a big picture plan for your life. A destiny of purpose and fulfillment, and it’s all completely possible. The way has been made. The path is set before you. We worry we will never find that path, but the truth is, finding the path isn’t really the problem. The problem is, we stop short on the path. We’re heading in the right direction. God is guiding us and we are on our way … then we stop.

You’ve been worried about the path, haven’t you? Your prayers have centered around searching and finding the path. But what if it’s not about finding the path … you’re already on it my friend … what if it’s just about continuing down the path? What if it’s about moving forward more than it is about making turns?

Where you are right now is exactly where God wants to work. You don’t have to go searching for a different path. This is it. Here you are. You’re standing on holy ground because God is working here. Yes, here where life is less than perfect and you’re unsure where this is all leading. Where it’s leading isn’t for you to worry about, afterall you cannot control tomorrow. You have no idea what will unfold over the next week, month and year. Life may radically change in the blink of an eye, because that’s what life does. You don’t know where this is going, you’re not supposed to. Your faith is required for this journey. Will you have the faith to keep moving forward with God … or have you stopped here?

Stop searching for a different path and just take the next step with God here. He can take you where you need to go from here, that’s never in question. You’ve always been on the path that can get you there, you’ve just been stopping short.

I wonder how many times you’ve been on your way, totally in alignment with God’s greatest plans for your life, but you stopped short. You let up. You stalled. You quit. You got stuck. And you settled. You settled somewhere along the path short of the destination. Honey, you haven’t “arrived” yet. How do I know? Because you’re still breathing. THIS IS NOT WHERE YOU STOP.

Ephesians 2:10 tells us “we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do the good things he prepared in advance for us to do.”

There are specific things God has planned for your life, but you can miss the plan. That is an option. God doesn’t intervene on your behalf to force his goodness upon you. You can fall short of the goodness he created you for. How? The most probable way is to just stop along the way.

We experience a taste of the goodness, and we decide it’s good enough. We settle for where we are and miss God has so much more for us. Your mind can not comprehend what God truly has available for you. Your eyes have never seen what he has declared is possible for you. As his masterpiece, he has fully equipped you in every way for the path, but the one thing you determine is how far down the path you go.

May you have a new resolve to keep going. To keep showing up. To keep giving this life your all. To dare to see all the good plans God prepared in advance for you. His plan has made a way, but it’s up to you to go for it.

Won’t you just decide you’re not letting up? Won’t you commit to moving forward with God and seeing what he has for you? Won’t you appreciate every single thing you have while still having a hunger for the more that is available for you?

As Christians it’s drilled in our heads to be satisfied with what we have and consider it selfish to want more. That’s not the example God sets for us though. As he created, he saw it was good at the end of each day, then he continued. He could have stopped when he created one mountain range. He could have said, the Alps is enough. It’s massive. It would have been enough to just leave the rest of the earth flat and have the Alps as the only mountain destination. But instead he said ‘that is just beautiful, let me make more!’ The God who declared it was good made more. He made the Rocky Mountains, the Smoky Mountains, the Appalachian Mountains, the Himalayas, the Blue Mountains, the Black Hills, the Maya Mountains, the Andes, and hundreds more. It was good, then God said more.

He filled the oceans with thousands of sea creatures, some we still haven’t even discovered. Why? Because God desired more.

It’s a good thing he desired more … you’re like human number 108 billion to have ever lived in this world. If he wouldn’t have wanted more, he would have never made you. God desired more.

And you, precious human number 108 billion, you were created in his image. So, he created you to desire more. It’s not wrong. It’s not selfish. It’s by design so you don’t give up on the path to the good plans he has for you.

There is MORE for you my sister. More is possible for you. More is available to you. More for you to do. More for you to experience. More for you to discover.

The secret is finding the holy balance between where you are, and the more you were created for. To find contentment here where you are on the journey, but not cease the journey. To be satisfied without settling. To be fully here while moving forward.

Jesus said “come, follow me.” He hasn’t stopped, you shouldn’t either. He’s still moving forward, and if you’re following him you’re being called forward.

Here’s our prayer today: Lord, don’t let me be satisfied with anything less than your fullness. I’m on this path with you and as long as you give me days of life, I know it’s leading me somewhere further. Strengthen me to keep going. Focus me to not settle. Keep me hungry. Hungry for your full and complete goodness. My greatest desire is the good plans you prepared in advance for me to do.