A Saved Soul ~ But a Wasted Life?

A Saved Soul ~ But a Wasted Life?

By Rodney W. Francis

One does not have to look very far these days to realize that we are living in a desperate generation ~ desperate because so many are without the true knowledge of Jesus Christ to save and make humanity whole! Even in Christian circles there are so many needy people who do not seem to have found the answers to life that they are looking for. One of the reasons for this is because the Christian Church is not functioning in the way God intended it to. Every Christian has been saved and called of God to be a part of the answer to this world’s need. But if we are not functioning in the purposes of God, then there is a “spiritual frustration” that becomes active within us and it causes us to live at a lower level of life than we are created for. We can be guilty of being a saved soul, but a wasted life.

CATCH A HOLD OF GOD’S VISION AND WILL FOR YOUR LIFE!

Too often I come across Christians who do not know what God’s will is for their lives. “Where there is no vision (“prophetic revelation”),the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). This means that if we have no direction from God as to why He has saved us ~ and what purpose He has saved us for ~ then there is no forward projection in our life. We will slip into a purposeless life-style that will cause us to miss out on so much that God has for us. We will wander through life aimlessly.

• It is my conviction that every saved person in Jesus Christ has a specific task and calling to fulfil in life.

• We were created to be like that.

Jesus said: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Every born-again, Holy Spirit-filled believer has an ability placed within us by God to be able to witness and to share our faith and testimony with others. Living with this outward expression of our faith helps us to rise above all the negativities that life throws at us. We need to be reminded that Christianity is “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Think about this for a moment.

• If Jesus is alive from the dead ~ and He is ~ and He lives inside of you and me ~ and He does ~ we must be different to those who do not know Christ.

• His heart is to reproduce His life in us!

• That means we have an obligation to develop a relationship with Him that is personal enough for us to know His voice, how and when He speaks to us (for it through His speaking to us that we know His will for our lives).

• As a result of Him speaking to us we know what His calling is for our lives, and it is then our responsibility to give ourselves to that calling and see what God can do in and through us.

• Whatever God says to us is exactly right for us. He knows what He created us for and what we can achieve “in the power of His might” (Ephesians 3:16-21).

• That is carrying the vision of God!

Christianity is not “sitting in church listening to another sermon”;it is following Jesus and allowing Him to “make us” to be able to fulfil His plan and purposes in us. Christianity is not a passive listening, but rather an active listening to the voice of God, and then activating (obeying) whatever He has told us. Whatever He tells us, we are able to accomplish. Most times it will stretch our faith, but that is how we grow in the things of God.

CONSIDER THIS SCRIPTURE

Consider prayerfully and carefully this Scripture: “For indeed the Gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Hebrews 4:2). If we feel we do not hear God’s voice, and we do not know what His will is for our lives, perhaps this Scripture is giving us the reason why?

• We need to do something about the word we hear preached!

Yes, we have to actively give ourselves to it, so that “the word will become flesh in us” (John 1:14), and Jesus can be more clearly seen and heard through our born-again, newly-created lives that are now (supposedly) under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

• If we do not actively apply what we hear from God and His word, then we become a saved soul, but a wasted life.

• None of us can afford to live like that!

Not only do we have the sure promises of Jesus to guide us into a fruitful life-style, but we also have the Blessed Holy Spirit and His nine wonderful gifts to enable us to express the voice, will and blessing of God to others. All the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit operate as a result of our hearing, sensing, having a prompting or unction from Him. I call those nine gifts the “Christians’ tools of the trade.” They enable us to accomplish in other peoples’ lives what we can never achieve with natural ability or talent. It has been my privilege to impact many thousands of lives around the world as a result of stepping out in the gifts of the Holy Spirit after I hear God asking me to say certain things, or to do this or that. He is the Spirit of Truth! He is not going to lead us wrong. He wants the best for us ~ and others ~ so we can all function to the glory of God in our God-given callings. When we know the will and purpose of God for our lives, there is just so much to do and occupy our time for the glory of Jesus! There is no time to be “sitting around wasting” and living like “accidents going somewhere to happen.”

• There is always somebody waiting on the other side of our obedience!

So, if you do not know as yet what your calling is, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near . . .” (He is not far away from any of us) (see Isaiah 55:6-13). Jesus said: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). Think about this statement. It is not about sitting around waiting passively “to see if God will do something”, but our demonstrating our love and desire to God that we long for His will to be done in and through our lives ~ in the here and now! It is about being motivated to fulfil the purposes of God, and fulfilling the reasons for which He saved us in the first place.

MIX WITH THOSE WHO ARE FULFILLING THEIR CALLING IN GOD

Talk to those who do know their calling in God, and let them inspire you to believe in the God Who believes in you, and to rise up above all negative believing and confessions ~ knowing you are saved to fulfil a destiny in God! Be filled with the Spirit and allow His voice to penetrate into the very innermost part of your being, so that you will know that you know that you know that you are saved and called of God to fulfil your role as an ambassador of Jesus Christ in this needy 21st century (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-21). You can do it! Whatever you do, do not be a saved soul ~ but a wasted life! God bless YOU!

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