Hey Everybody,

This is the last part of the “God’s Campaign For You” series. You can view the series intro here, part 1 here and part 2 here. This blog will focus on what God will do for you. Enjoy.

Intro

President John F. Kennedy famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” While this is idealistic and sounds like a good approach in general, when it comes to your Christian life, this is exactly the type of mentality that is commonly accepted yet in direct opposition to the Gospel. The reason is because the focus is on your doing. When that is the emphasis, it’s very easy to get into guilt and condemnation because you are not doing enough or doing the wrong things.

But thank God that He has given us a new place to reason about ourselves in Christ. You no more have to reason about yourself from your works. Christ came to do away with that. He has given us something new to believe, however when you add your works, you make Christ of no effect (Gal. 5:4).

In Philippians chapter 3 Paul warns them stay away from people whose God is what they do through their flesh. If you think you can become complete by the work of your own hands, then your works are your god. The only way to frustrate the grace of God is to try to earn it. You don’t need to perform to be right with God. That is a perversion of the gospel of grace, it takes away from His glory and gives it to you. All of our works are as filthy rags (Is. 64:6). It doesn’t say all your bad works, but ALL your works.

Your value and worth is not based on anything that you do, it is in Christ. That’s not to say that we are worthless it’s just that our value has nothing to do with what we do or don’t do. We shouldn’t say because our works are worthless that we are worthless. We shouldn’t connect our value to our works at all. Works are the worthless thing, not you. So my point is, you don’t need to keep hearing about what you’re doing right or wrong, but about what God has done and will do for you.

Isn’t It Selfish To Think About What God Can Do For You?

Now some may this is a selfish perspective to only think about what God can do for you, but we all need to be persuaded of this and/or reminded from time to time or else our minds will always be on our needs. We will never be able to rest and enjoy life. It’s like if somebody is pinching your arm. You won’t be able to think about anything else until the pain ceases. It’s not selfish or immature no matter what stage of your walk with Christ you’re in. It just means you need to be reminded of what God has said and done in Jesus.

They say the best thing for kids is when they get on a regular schedule. This way they know when they will be fed, go to sleep, etc. and their minds can go to rest that their parents are providing for them. Similarly, when we know what God has said and done in Jesus, our minds can go to rest and get off of our own needs. But you can’t give what you don’t first receive. We need to receive His compassion for us but also receive it to a point that it can manifest in us towards others.

As Bertie Brits said: “Your life is made available to co-experience His life of compassion for others as a result of the wonderful union between us that He has provided in Jesus.”

As Jesus said in Matthew 23:26: “First wash the inside of the cup, and then the outside will become clean too.”

See right beliefs lead to right actions. The problem is many Christians seem to believe the Gospel is something you only hear to get saved but then the rest of your Christian life is about behavior modification. So again, the Gospel of what God has done and will do for you is what you need to hear and keep on hearing.

What God Will Do For You

When it comes to what God will do for you, Psalm 37:4 comes to mind which says, “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” I think many people, myself included tend to focus on the last part of this verse which talks about God giving us the desires of our heart, but the first part about delighting yourself in the Lord is critical. You have to understand that God is not saying He will give you the desires of your heart as you spend your time delighting in the things of the world. For example, if you like BMW cars and choose to continuously let your thoughts be filled with BMW’s, that is not delighting yourself in the Lord. God is not saying he will give you the desires brought forth from BMW, He is saying He will give you the desires brought forth from Him.

The other thing I wanted to touch on that I previously hinted at when union with God was mentioned is that apart from Him we can nothing (John 15:5). It would be like trying to have a child with only one person. You need two to have a child. When you do have that union with God, He brings forth the fruit of the spirit in you which is listed in Gal. 5:22:

• Love
• Joy
• Peace
• Forbearance
• Kindness
• Goodness
• Faithfulness

So this is not a list for us to go try to do in own ability. This is what we can expect God to produce in our lives as we simply abide in Him.

Here is a list of some other scriptures which talk about what God will do for you:

• Trust in theLord with all your heart
      and lean not on your own understanding;
  ⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
      and he will make your paths straight. 3:5-6 NIV
• The lions may grow weak and hungry,
  but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Psalm 34:10 NIV
• those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind. 40:31 MSG
• If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. James 1:5 NIV
• The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 NIV
• “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1

And while we’re at it, here’s a few about what God will not do:

• Never will I leave you; Never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13:5 NIV
• so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. Hebrews 6:18 NIV
• For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Hebrews 8:12 KJV
• Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:3-4 MSG (He will not change His mind about us)

So What Are We To Do?

If you have been reading my blogs then you probably know by now that I’m pretty strict about staying away from telling people to do things. I much prefer an approach that reconciles people to God and points them to Him for direction. However, after reading a post like this, you may be thinking to yourself, what am I to do then? In general, I would say nothing. Just cast your cares on Him and trust that He will take care of it. There a few things you can do that the Bible talks about to ensure that you stay in this place of rest:

Sit At His Feet (Luke 10:38-42) – Jesus said this is the one thing needful in the Mary & Martha story. This is what we can do to allow God to persuade us and wash us clean with His Word and it’s not a one-time thing. This is something we should continually be doing.

Guard Your Heart (Prov. 4:23) – Do not allow your belief system to be corrupted by the lies of the enemy. Fill yourself up with messages and teachings that are pure grace. Check out my resources page if you are looking for good places.

Labor To Rest (Hebrews 4:11 KJV) – The key to understanding this scripture is to see that you are operating from a place of rest. There are many things in this world that will tug at you to try to get you out of resting in God and into self-preservation mode. The disciples flat out asked Jesus what is the work that He would have them do in John 6 and he answered that they believe. That is the work for us…to continue to believe in Him as our Savior in every area of life and not try to do it in our own strength, ability and wisdom. This is also the “work” James was talking about when he said faith without works is dead. He was simply saying faith, without continuing in faith is dead. Greg Henry has an awesome teaching on the book of James. Here is a link to one in particular that discusses the work James was referring to.

And just so there is no confusion, I’m not against working hard or doing things with excellence. I’m just saying that it’s very easy for us to fall into the trap of trusting in our own hard work. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do good things and be successful, but let those desires comes forth from your relationship with God, not trying to impress others and keep up with the Jones’, etc.

Conclusion

I started this series discussing how the two Presidential candidates have not inspired much confidence from the American people with a goal of reminding you about how God is someone you can trust. I hope these blogs have convinced you that there is only one guy who can give you life regardless of who is elected. It’s certainly alright to have an opinion but if you feel fear and anxiety about who the President will be then it’s an indication that you have gotten your eyes off of Jesus as the source of your life. Here’s a few more scriptures to encourage you. Thanks for stopping by.

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Psalm 127:1 ESV

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1 NIV