Acts 9:4-6 NKJV –
Saul: “LORD what do you want me to do?”
Holy Spirit:“(Arise and go into the city, and) You will be told what you must do.”
In his conversation with the Holy Spirit, Saul makes no presumptions or assumptions – he did not know what the LORD wanted him to do. As we stand on the cusp of a new year, do we know what the LORD wants us to do or are we presuming and assuming to know? Saul was a man well-versed in the laws of the fathers of the nation of Israel, a man who knew the Scriptures of the day, and he made no assumptions. We should not assume we know what GOD wants us to do because we know the Scriptures, because we know the Bible, because we know the promises of GOD to us as written in the Bible. With all his knowledge, Saul enquired from the LORD and waited to hear from the LORD.
Unlike Saul, our biggest problem is that we make assumptions about what the LORD wants and expects of us. We have already mapped out what we want to do, what we want to achieve for the coming year, BUT an overwhelming number of us have not sought the face of GOD and asked Him what He wants us to do in the coming year. This is the key to a blessed, successful, prosperous and victorious life in Christ; A blessed, successful, prosperous, victorious life in Christ is not a life of assumption or a life of assuming that because it is written therefore it shall be. We assume to know what GOD wants because it is written in Scripture, because it is the promises of GOD to us as written in the Bible, because it is lógos; When in fact what we need to do is seek GOD, search GOD, and wait on GOD for the rhḗma for ‘man shall not live by bread alone, but on every Word, by every rhḗma, that comes out of the mouth of GOD’ [Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3]; And rhḗma is the word of the now! And each year you need, you require, a rhḗma – what the LORD might have said last year might not be the same thing that the LORD will say this year; This means we should wait on the LORD, we should ask ‘LORD what do you want me to do for you?’.
Paul, who was still going by the name Saul at the time, knew way more about the laws of GOD than you and I put together, and yet he had the absolute humility to enquire from GOD; The LORD saw that Saul’s heart was open, that he was humble; And the Bible says that the LORD lifts up the humble but those with pride (those who assume to know) the LORD rejects. When Paul humbled himself before the LORD and asked, “LORD what do you want me to do?”, he was asking the question of purpose. So now the question we should ask is – What is GOD’s purpose for 2024? Everything revolves around GOD’s purpose. Notice, NOTHING revolves around your purpose, around what you want, around what you think, or around what you say, but EVERYTHING revolves around what GOD says and around GOD’s purpose. We would do well to know this and to remember this! True achievement is in Christ, and that comes about by knowing the purpose of the LORD, asking “LORD what do you want me to do?”, and waiting on the LORD when He says, “you will be told what to do”.
This means you and I will not know what to do unless you and I have been told. So please let us not assume if we have not been told! What is the purpose of GOD if we are going to run on assumptions? Do not be quick to run with a purpose that GOD never gave just because some pastor/some prophet said it – always make your own inquiry with GOD and ask GOD yourself “LORD, is the word given by the pastor/prophet really true for my life, is what that prophet said really from YOU?”. Humble yourself before the GOD of all heaven and earth, and plead with the LORD to tell you what it is He wants you to do/to tell you what it is He wants you to do for Him because truth be told this life is boring without GOD’s purpose, this life is difficult without GOD’s purpose, we are lost without GOD’s purpose, and we do destructive things without GOD’s purpose; But no, instead we know it all, we present to GOD the already mapped and planned out plans for our lives and expect GOD to just rubber stamp it – this cannot be.
There is true absolute greatness that is imparted when we enquire from GOD and wait on the LORD, at the feet of Jesus without presumption, without assumption, asking the question “LORD what do you want me to do?” / “Father what did you make me for?” / “GOD what did you create me for?” / “GOD why am I alive / why are you keeping me alive?”. Purpose, GOD’s purpose, is the beginning of everything with GOD. Seeking and knowing the purpose is the key to what we should ask and what we should discover. It is written that “for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of GOD” meaning that the Holy Spirit, who is the third person of the Trinity embodied in GOD, does not assume to know what GOD the Father wants, what GOD the Father desires; The Holy Spirit who is GOD Himself has the humility to seek [1 Corinthians 2:10b]. How deep is GOD that the Holy Spirit has to search out GOD The Father to search out His purpose, search out what is in the heart of GOD The Father to find out what The Father desires, search the mind of GOD The Father to discover the thoughts of The Father?
In the Psalms it says, ‘His thoughts about me are without number’ [Psalms 139:17] – so the questions for all of us then are: Have we really sought out those thoughts? How many of the (innumerable) thoughts that GOD has for us do we know? And how many of the thoughts that GOD has for us have we discovered/have been revealed to us? Oh but the Holy Spirit will not reveal these thoughts, these deep things of GOD, to us if we do not have a relationship with Him, a communion with Him. The Holy Spirit will not just reveal the intimate precious things that He has had to search out of GOD The Father with you who is a stranger to Him (Holy Spirit) – so your relationship, your communion, with the Holy Spirit must be extremely close and personal, it must be intimate! Christ Jesus said, ‘I will not leave you orphans’ [John 14:18], ‘I go to my Father’ [John 20:17] ‘and I will ask The Father to send Another to stay with you forever’ [John 14:16]; Why then are you now ignoring and neglecting the ‘Another’ that The Father has sent for you child of GOD, He who is meant to stay with you forever?
It is written in Acts 13:1-4 that “the Holy Spirit said” [Acts 13:2b], meaning that the Holy Spirit speaks in actual and real language. It is the Holy Spirit who gave man life – man became a living soul with thoughts, memory, feelings, emotions, speech because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has real coherent speech, and He speaks directly [Acts 13:2]. Barnabas and Saul were already in the Church but they were not sent out by the Church, they were sent out by the Holy Spirit Himself – the Word was that direct when He spoke to them. Some of us need to start hearing what the Holy Spirit is saying directly to us – you and I need to hear what the LORD wants of us now, not two days, two months, two years or twenty years ago, but what is He saying to me now, what is His business with me now, what is His work with me now. You will know when GOD speaks because the Holy Spirit (GOD The Holy Spirit of the Trinity) speaks in direct, coherent speech and in understandable language.
When we wait on the LORD, we humble ourselves before GOD and we surrender the things that we want to do, our own plans, and the things that we really feel strong about to Him. This is what ought to happen, for us to wait on the LORD and surrender our plans to the LORD as directed in Proverbs 16:3 APM/TPT. Only once we have surrendered our plans and wait on the LORD, will the Holy Spirit speak in guidance and instruction. We sit with noble thoughts of things that we want to do for GOD, which might not necessarily be what the LORD wants us to do for Him; what we want to do for GOD is not necessarily the will, the purpose, or the plan of GOD for our lives. Our thoughts and plans must become agreeable with His will and His guidance over our lives for us to succeed. Millennia and countless lifetimes later, we still speak about how Paul waited to hear on the LORD. Believers, we can learn a lesson from Paul who began by asking and waiting to hear from the LORD, and needless to say this man of GOD was extremely successful, prosperous, victorious, and blessed in spirit.
This principle is so important that the Lord Christ Jesus instructed His disciples to tarry, to linger around in waiting, in Jerusalem [Luke 24:29] if they wanted any semblance of success and prosperity. There will be no success, no prosperity, no victory, no authority and no power from GOD without waiting on GOD. Notice that instead of tarrying we rush ourselves to go and do, and we come out the other end wanting. The Word says ‘those who wait on the LORD, shall renew their strength, and they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint’ [Isaiah 40:31] – There is wisdom and victorious prosperity in tarrying, in waiting on the LORD and not rushing. Everything in creation made by GOD, revolves around His will, His purpose and His plan for creation. This is GOD’s strategy for His creation and He has left nothing to chance; And this is because His strategy for us is well laid-out, to the last finest detail, and divinely comprehensive [Ephesians 1:11].
GOD does not, will not and cannot, do anything outside of the framework of the Word that is aligned with His perfect will, His perfect purpose, no matter how much praying, fasting, pleading we do. As a result, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with GOD when we pray, and GOD then searches the heart and knows the mind of the Holy Spirit as the intercessions are in accordance with the will of GOD [Romans 8:26-27]. The reason for this is because our prayers are such deal-breakers that the Holy Spirt has to intercede and pray for us as everything that happens must be in accordance with GOD’s plan which was set out before the foundation of the world. This means there is no prayer answered, no breakthrough happening, no testimony spoken without the Holy Spirit’s intervention; His intercession is that important. It is crucial for us to enjoy a level of intimacy like no other with the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit to entrust us with and reveal to us the intimate details of the thoughts and the plans of GOD The Father; A relationship so intimate that we know the very heartbeat of the Holy Spirit; A relationship that it eliminates all assumptions, presumptions and guess-work, and inspires in us the confidence to speak boldly.
Unless we are guided and led by the Holy Spirit into the new year, we are doomed and will fail the year even before it begins or takes off in earnest. Make no mistake, the LORD knows how intelligent and intellectually exceptional we are, and yet still tells us ‘do not lean on your own understanding’ but that you must allow the Holy Spirit to direct our every step [Proverbs 3:5-6]. Believers, we must get into the habit of involving GOD in the seemingly small decisions of the day-to-day things to have a successful, prosperous, victorious, and blessed life in the LORD – and because we do not involve GOD in these things, come the end of the year we cannot rejoice as we have nothing to show for it. Proverbs 3:6 calls on us to acknowledge (and involve) Him in ALL our ways, ALL OF THEM, nothing left to our own devices. Yes we operate with authority and power, but that authority and power does not operate at your will or at my whim; It does not operate where GOD’s will and purpose has not sent you (or me for that matter); And you and I cannot rebuke and bind where GOD has not sent us. The purpose, will and plans of GOD will always prevail above all else – Know this, understand this, retain this fact.
Although the Holy Spirit will never impose Himself or force His will on us and we must allow Him to work in us (through us), as anything that we do that is not in accordance with GOD’s purpose will not work to our benefit [Romans 8:28]. How you and I get to win the year is by paying the price of hearing the Holy Spirit. Even my inheritance in Christ Jesus (through Christ Jesus) is intractably connected to His purpose for my life because all creation that GOD made revolves around His purpose and not man’s purpose [Ephesians 1:11 KJV]. We chase after men and women of GOD for miracles and breakthroughs when we should be chasing after the will and the purpose that GOD has for our lives. We live on borrowed time. Look at your life, how are you using with the time GOD has borrowed you? One of these days GOD will require the life He borrowed you back, and you will need to account for what you did with the time and the talent He had given you. A lot of Christians are in a daze but GOD says it is time to sober up and get real with the business of GOD The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. We can do nothing without GOD and there is nothing for us without the Holy Spirit. Do not perish in the stupor.
There is wisdom and victorious prosperity in tarrying, in waiting on the LORD and not rushing. Everything in creation made by GOD, revolves around His will, His purpose and His plan for creation. This is GOD’s strategy for His creation and He has left nothing to chance; And this is because His strategy for us is well laid-out, to the last finest detail, and divinely comprehensive
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