What Do You Do When You Don’t Know What To Do? (By Pastor Louis Rosenthal)
What Do You Do When You Don’t Know What To Do?
You’ve been praying and praying – you’ve asked God to restore your marriage – You’ve asked God to draw your children back to Him – You’re lonely and confused and just don’t know what to do. What do you do while you are waiting on the Lord to answer your prayer? Well, while you’re waiting on God to answer you in the natural here are 5 key steps that can help you stay focused and on mission for the Lord.
Exercise Spiritual Disciples – Bible Intake (reading, meditating on, studying, and memorizing Scripture), Prayer, Fasting, Devotional Journaling, Silence & Solitude. We hear from God best through His word.
Walk worthy of the calling on your life – You must guard your behavior. You must start with the right mind set – Philippians 2:5 says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” We must pursue hard the will of God. Instead of questioning why we are going through this trial, our mind set must be I’m going to make it through this trial. God has allowed or directed this trial for my good and His glory. James 4:7 says, “Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee.”
Give away your spiritual gift – Every believer in Christ Jesus has been given at least one spiritual gift and they are to use it to glorify God. Have you discovered your spiritual gift? If you have not, then pray to God to reveal your spiritual gift? You may still be in your storm because God is using it to ignite your spiritual gift so that you will get busy with kingdom advancement. As each one of us has received a gift use it to serve one another. When you find yourself in mighty storm that you can’t see your way out of, what so often sets you up to get on the avenue of blessing is when you help somebody else. Every breakthrough and every miracle starts with an act of obedience therefore; ask God what He wants you to be doing in the meantime of your deliverance. Volunteer some of your time to be a blessing to others (volunteer at a teen shelter, Red Cross, Christian Community Center, or your local church). You can prepare a meal for someone; write a note to someone who is enduring a trial; allow the time of your trial to lead you to serve others. Often times after we serve others our blessing or breakthrough occurs. However, we can’t manipulate God - you can’t serve to be blessed because God knows the heart.
Learn how to WORSHIP in the midst of your storm – Don’t stop attending and participating in church - don’t stop fellowshipping with Christians. You must learn how to focus your attention on God and not your problem. God does not ignore a broken and contrite heart (2 Chronicles 20:17-18).
Live in Expectancy - Expect God to answer and deliver you out of your trial in His perfect timing. The litmus test is Psalm 50:15 - God will deliver us so that we may glorify Him. How will God be glorified by delivering you from your storm? Will you testify to others how God delivered you so that they also may be encouraged? The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. When we pray we must live in expectancy of answered prayer according to 1 John 5:14-15.
An awesome song of praise (and you don’t have to be in rocky marriage to appreciate the message of the song) that can help you focus on God “while you are waiting” on God to answer you - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHIqOHU6Dhg
To God be the Glory,
Pastor Louis Rosenthal