Today's Scripture
John 1:43-51
“When you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” John 1:48
Worshipping in Everyday Occasions. We presume that we would be ready for battle if confronted with a great crisis, but it is not the crisis that builds something within us—it simply reveals what we are made of already. Do you find yourself saying, “If God calls me to battle, of course I will rise to the occasion”? Yet you won’t rise to the occasion unless you have done so on God’s training ground. The process that gets us ready, that develops us, is critical if we are to “be” for Him. If you are not doing the task that is closest to you now, which God has engineered into your life, when the crisis comes, instead of being fit for battle, you will be revealed as being unfit. Crises always reveal a person’s true character. Everyone can attest to this spiritual principle at work in our lives, whether we are willing to admit it or not.
A private relationship of worshiping God is the greatest essential element of spiritual fitness. The time will come, as Nathanael experienced in this passage, that a private “fig-tree” life will no longer be possible. Everything will be out in the open, and you will find yourself to be of no value there if you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions in your own home. If your worship is right in your private relationship with God, then when He sets you free, you will be ready. It is in the unseen life, known only to God, that you have been made perfectly fit for his service. And when the strain of the crisis comes, you can be relied upon by God.
Are you saying, “But I can’t be expected to live a sanctified life in my present circumstances; I have no time for prayer or Bible study right now; besides, my opportunity for battle hasn’t come yet, but when it does, of course, I will be ready”? No, you will not. If you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions, when you get involved in God’s work, you will not only be useless to yourself but also a hindrance to those around you.
God’s training ground, where the believer’s weapons are found, is the hidden, personal, worshiping life of the follower.
Today's Prayer
Jesus, thank You for leading us to worship You in everyday situations and circumstances. Deliver us from our assumption that we are ready as your sons. Finish making us into who we’re supposed to be for You. Help us see the value of navigating Your training ground as You lead us to be powerful for You.