What Good Works Did He Place Inside You?

When I was nine years old I went to summer camp near Cripple Creek Colorado. For three years in a row we would stop and mine for gold. I never found gold despite trying for hours and paying to do so. My friends and I had some laughs getting our hands dirty and maybe each other a little wet by the creek. It sure would have been a lot more laughs and rewarding if we had struck gold. What I learned the most in those summer camps is doing things together can be rewarding to my soul if never financially rewarding to my bank account.

Did you know that you and I were wired for good works and God was preparing for this before we were created. Your soul is hardwired for you to walk in good works. There is gold (desire for good works) hidden in you. Not to be saved from a result of your work but God did create you in Christ for good works. There are two questions in life that possibly need to be answered by everyone. Number one: “What does God think of you?” And number two: “What good works did He place inside you?” The purpose of good works is to serve others but many people don’t know even where to begin. There are mainly three areas in your life that can fuel your decisions for good works that you may not know about. Number One is Passion: What can you do for hours that brings energy to your soul? Number Two is Pain: What pain have you experienced that if you could change the world from that one thing, you would do that? And Number Three is Proficiency. What area have multiple people told you that you are highly skilled in?

When Christians try to do good works that they are not hard wired for, they often burn out quickly or worse, do it with a bad attitude. However, when these three areas collide, Passion, Pain, and Proficiency you will often find a spiritual marathon runner determined to keep their eyes on Jesus. A kingdom vision with a healthy pace to finish the race in good works and focused on Jesus. Feel free to take a moment and ask the Lord now about these 3 areas in your life that help define your wiring for good works. Anticipate His kingdom vision for you becoming clearer and clearer.

Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Hebrews 12:1 NLT Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

*photo chart credit to calibrate 360 (Discover Your Purpose)….

How To Have Kingdom Vision

My daughters first bike was not put together when it came in the box from the store. So as a father who was rarely handy with tools, I was a little nervous that I might put her surprise bicycle together poorly. The morning of her birthday I decided to ride the bike myself in my neighborhood to “test” it out. I imagine my neighbors thought I was crazy as they were looking out their window at a thirty year old man riding a five year old’s bike. I rode that little girl’s pink bike down my street and back, making sure the handle bars were steady and the brakes were sufficient.

When Jesus brought kingdom vision to the earth, He was amazing in showing the power of God’s love in miracles to the earth. Had Jesus stopped there by only doing the miracles Himself, the kingdom would not have advanced forward so we could enjoy it today. Jesus had kingdom vision of the future of His disciples doing greater things than Him. Did you know Jesus had you in mind as the “joy” set before Him to endure the cross? Jesus always had vision for the future that drove Him to love. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two to minister the kingdom on earth as He had showed them to do Himself. Kingdom vision always has a plan to invest in the next generation to do greater things than them.

Without daily Kingdom vision, contentment is elusive and our life will be a breeding ground for anxiety. Did you know that I received greater joy watching my daughter ride her bike for the first time than riding my bike for the first time myself? Can you imagine if I never let my daughter ride her bike but chose to ride it myself? There are grown adults that are spiritually responsible to disciple no one. Just riding their own bike, isolated by themselves (or worse a children’s bike), and wondering why they are anxious in life. Kingdom vision takes the last thing Jesus told us before ascending into Heaven to heart, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, (Matthew 28:19)”

But what if you didn’t have a father to teach you to ride a bike? Can we be real? This is where so many Christians in the faith were not discipled by the generation before them so they repeat the insecurity pattern of holding tightly their spiritual gifts. Insecurity struggles to rejoice when the young people are discovering their gifts because maybe they never received a time of parental rejoicing for themselves. A generational curse of poor fathering and mothering can either be our identity or we can look to Jesus who became our curse and receive kingdom vision lessons from Him. Jesus is always supplying vision for those hungry to receive!

John 14:12-14 NKJ¹² “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. ¹³ And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.