I love it when people not only listen to God, but actually do what God tells them to do. It’s easy to say that you’d do what God wants you to do if you could just figure out what that is. But God has already told us what to do, He has already told us how to live. In fact, Jesus made clear by the way He lived His life what our lives are to look like if we claim to follow Him.
There will be those who live their lives waiting on God to tell them what to do, and there will be those who live their lives in light of what God has already said. Which one will you be?
This past week, I encountered seven individuals who are choosing to live their lives not only listening to God, but doing all that God would want them to do. And because they’ve chosen to do what God wants them to do, people around them are benefiting from that. Case in point – I was the beneficiary of seven people doing what God told them to do.
Encouragement.
Each of the seven felt like God was telling them to encourage me this past week. So they did. Some called me, some e-mailed me, some prayed for me, some met with me and one even wrote a hand-written letter… like a letter with pen and paper! These people did not conspire together to overwhelm me with encouragement, rather, God impressed upon each of their hearts to encourage me in some way.
Do you think I was encouraged? Absolutely! Do you know why? Two reasons.
- I love it when people hear from God! It encourages me to know that God is speaking and that people are seeking to listen to what He has to say.
- I love it when people do what God tells them to do! That not only encourages me, but that inspires me to do the same.
I was GREATLY encouraged by their encouragement towards me, but their encouragement for me was rooted in something even more encouraging. God wanted me to be encouraged this past week, so He sent seven different people my way to pass along His encouragement which needless to say was really encouraging.
There might be some who would say that if God would just tell me to encourage someone, I’d do it. Some might argue that if God would make clear to them that He wanted to use them to pass along an encouraging word, they’d do it if they could just know that’s what God wanted them to do.
God has spoken.
The good news is that God has already told us to be people of great encouragement.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 – “So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.”
This is just one verse, but the Bible is filled with things that God desires us to do, namely, to be people who excel in encouraging and building one another up. Clearly, the above verse does not specifically say ‘Encourage Michael Davis’, but when God impressed my name upon seven different hearts, they applied what they already knew God wanted them to do towards me.
Just Do It.
The next time God brings a person to mind simply ask God this one question – ‘Lord, is there something that you want me to do to bless, serve, love and/or encourage the person that I’m thinking about?’ Whatever God tells you to do in response to that prayer – just do it. Whether you text, e-mail, call, write a letter or get together in person, follow through on what God would want you to do.
And know this, every time you do what God leads you to do, you will be used by God to remind somebody else that God is real and that God cares.
To the seven… thank you for reminding me that God is real and that God cares about me!
