God-Centered Living
Memory verse: Some trust in chariots and some in horses. But we trust in the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20:7)
To live a God-centered life, you must focus your life on God’s purposes, not on your own plans. You must seek to view situations from God’s perspective rather than from your own distorted human outlook. When God starts to do something in the world, He takes the initiative to reveal His will to people. For some divine reason He has chosen to involve His people in accomplishing His purposes.
Answer the following questions. Find and read the Scriptures listed if you do not already know the answers.
What was God about to do when He asked Noah to build an Ark (see Gen 6:5-14)?
What was God about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah when He came to Abraham (see Gen 18:16-21; 19:13)?
What was God about to do when He came to Gideon (see Judges 6:11-16)?
What was God about to do when He came to Saul (later called Paul) on the road to Damascus (see Acts 9:1-16)?
At each of these moments, what was the most important factor?
What the individual wanted to do for God
What God was about to do
God was about to destroy the world with a great flood when He approached Noah. When God prepared to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He told Abraham. God came to Gideon when He was about to deliver the Israelites from the oppression of Midian. God encountered Saul when He wanted to carry the gospel message to the Gentiles around the known world. Without a doubt the most important factor in each situation was what God was about to do.
Let’s use Noah as an example. What about his plans to serve God? They would not make much sense in the light of the coming destruction, would they? Noah was not calling God in to help him accomplish what he was dreaming of doing for God. God never asks people to dream up something to do for Him. We do not sit down and dream what we want to do for God and then call God in to help us accomplish it. The pattern in Scripture is that we submit ourselves to God. Then we wait until God shows us what He is about to do, or we watch to see what God is already doing around us and join Him.
Final Thoughts:
To know and do God’s will, I must deny self and return to a God-centered life
I must focus my life on God’s purposes, not on my own plans
I must seek to see from God’s perspective rather than from my own distorted human outlook
I must wait until God shows me what He is about to do through me
I must watch to see what God is doing around me and join Him