Over the past few months, I have been traveling a lot. From Houston to Jacksonville, to Dallas to Tampa, a lot has been going on. Fundraising has become my current life status, and that isn’t a bad thing. I’ve learned a lot along the way. One major thing I’ve come across is the revelation of what it means to say “yes” to God.
I’ve often heard the question “What does love look like?” inside of sermons, blog posts, and conversations with spiritual people all around the world. The answer always given is that we can’t just say we love people but we have to show love. Love isn’t just a feeling but also an action. No married person loves just to hear their whole married life that their spouse loves them, but they want their spouse to show it. This is because love isn’t just a feeling, it is also an action.
It occurred to me one day that this same truth applies to our saying “yes” to God. We can’t just say “yes” to God and then continue the way we were living before. “Yes” requires action on our part as well. We have the ability to choose, or free will. Say, for instance, God calls us to go to Africa. If we tell God “yes” but never make the actions to getting over to Africa, then we’ve obviously haven’t gone through with our “yes.” Say we spend the rest of our lives and never go to Africa. Then our “yes” was never really a “yes”. We desired to say “yes”, but our actions told Him “no”.
Time and time again I have woken up early in the morning to spend time with Jesus, and I did not want to wake up. In fact, there were times where I woke up and just fell back asleep after giving some excuse. I would then miss my time with God. Years ago I got the revelation that, for me, if I spent time with God in the mornings then the rest of my day would quickly be filled with victory. There would be no times of doubt, no times of discouragement, and no times of feeling defeated if God filled my heart with the first fruits of my day with encouragement and joy. This is how God works in my life. For others, it could be very different. But you see, filling my day with encouragement and joy means that I have to decide to give God the first fruits of my day. If I wake up late and immediately head to breakfast, get dressed, and start working on the day, then I typically get discouraged at some point throughout the day. This is why God told me personally to give him my first fruits of every day. There always remains that choice that I have to make. God told me He would fill my day with victory, joy, and life if I made the decision to get up earlier in the morning. So telling God “yes” meant something on my part.
Friends, don’t let material things get in the way of your “yes” to God. Whether it be sleep, entertainment, food, etc… none of those things matter in eternity. What matters in eternity are your decisions to God today. I don’t believe God hits us with a 2×4 on our head and forces us to do any of the things He asks us to do. This means you may have to bulldoze through things that get in your way. You may not feel like you want to, but the focus isn’t a feeling, it’s an action. It all comes down to the question, “Do you want to do what God called you to do today or do it 20 years from now?” If God called you to do it today, then you have everything you need on the inside of you to finish the task. You are strong enough to accomplish the things that God put in your heart today. Don’t quit! Take action on your “yes” and do it today. Don’t put it off. Take what discouragement you might be feeling and set it aside. God called you. Now let your actions scream the loudest “YES” you’ve ever made!
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