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CHAPTER 5
GOD – THE CENTER OF OUR BEING
God will not be manipulated! We cannot twist God’s arm in an attempt to get Him to
perform, so that He will do what we want Him to do. Just like we cannot give in to our
children if they are going to throw a fit, or play games to manipulate us by acting sweet, sad,
disappointed or pout. We cannot bless them when they act like that because that would
ultimately hurt them. They would think that this is the way to get their own way or get the
things they want. So it is with God, He cannot bless us when we try to manipulate Him
either.
Sometimes we think that if we: a) PRAY – for X amount of time each day that God will think
we are spiritual and answer our prayers, or b) FAST for a certain length of time that God will
see our attempt at fasting and do what we are fasting for, or c) TITHE and God will have to
take care of our finances. God can see through our motives, whether they are pure or self-
seeking. If they are self-seeking then He will not come to our rescue. Each of these can all
be used to try to manipulate God into doing what we want Him to do for us; this is trying to
twist God’s arm. He simply cannot answers these types of actions from a wrong motivation.
We cannot obligate God! He will not be obligated to anyone. Today there are certain
teachings going around, like the faith confession teachings that try to manipulate God into
performing a certain way. The person confessing certain phrases or claiming certain things
from God is hyping themselves up to believe something that just isn’t scriptural. This is when
God steps out! He will not bend to the use of formulas. He responds only to real and true
“faith” from a pure heart, without hidden motivation to gain something for oneself. Often
books are written to tell us of something that the Lord has shown the writer. But then, we
take the book and try to “copy” the experience that the writer had, because we want to get
to that same place. We turn the truth or principles in the book into a formula that we are
trying to achieve, by doing the same things that the writer did. It just doesn’t work. That’s
why these books last only for a brief time and then they are gone. We cannot put God into a
box, manipulate Him or try to get Him to do for us exactly what He has done for someone
else. He works with each of us differently, according to our own need and His plan for our
lives. He is in control and will not relinquish it.
It is TRUE that God will take care of our finances when we tithe and obey His financial
principles. It is vital, however, that we not get tied up with debt either by overextended
credit cards, loans, overspending or self-indulgence. Remember the Scripture in Romans 13:
8, “Owe no man anything but love.” And the Lord will answer our prayers and our fasting
either with yes, no, or wait. But we cannot twist His arm by our performance, expecting Him
to perform if we do these things. Ask yourself this question, how do you feel when someone
tries to manipulate you?
What God desires is a relationship with you! He made you. Why did He make you? First
and foremost, so that He could fellowship with you, and love you for whom you are. He
made you uniquely His own creation. You are one of a kind and you are so very important to
Him! You are His child! As parents, we love our children and want to fellowship and relate
with them. Well, so does God. He wants to love you, bless you, care for you and be
personally involved in all aspects of your life. All He asks is that we love Him back, with all
our hearts! That is the first and greatest commandment. “You must love the Lord your God
with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind” (Matt 22:37).
You say, what does that mean? Let me explain it to you. It means that in every aspect of
our life, in everything that we ARE and in everything that we DO (in our ministry, our
wifehood, our parenting, our prayer life, our fasting, our homemaking, our integrity, our
honesty, our friendships, our occupation, our church life, our desires, our likes and our
dislikes), all stem from the center of our being, where God must reside and be in control
rather than self; so that all that we do is centered on pleasing Him instead of ourselves.
Then, all that we are, and all that we do will become God motivated! You will ask yourself,
is this the right thing to do, to think, to feel, to believe, to trust in? Will this please God?
Could I take God with me here? Is this ok to say? Is this according to Scripture and does it
line up with the Word? When God is the center of our life, then all our intentions come into
right alignment with His will, because we LOVE Him. Having God at the center of our being
enables us to avoid selfishness, and looking out for our own interests. We will have God’s
best interest at heart instead.
“In Him we live, and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). This means we live with Christ
being the very core or center of our being, not our self. Self must become dethroned and
God must become enthroned in our hearts, so that we can become controlled by Him rather
than by self. “That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never
please God. “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the
Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you” (Rom 8:8-9). We must be yielded to Him and
we must come to the place where we can truly say, “not my will but thine be done.”
Then when we pray, it will not always be to “get something from God” but we will go to
prayer because we love God and want to be in His presence. Because we love God, we
begin to love others, and become concerned about them even as He is, and we find
ourselves beginning to pray differently.
When we fast, it is because He has called us to a fast, not so we can persuade God to do
something we want Him to do for us.
When we tithe, it will be because we want to show Him that we “TRUST” Him, because we
know that He is our resource. He is totally faithful in every respect and He will take good
care of us all the days of our lives. We can totally TRUST Him to do so in every part of our
lives, if we will only turn the control over to Him.
He in turn, when we make Him the center of our lives, gives us hearts of “flesh.” He begins
to take out the stony heart and replace it with a heart of flesh. A heart that loves, is
compassionate, kind and possessing all the fruits of the Holy Spirit inside of us, which begin
to come out of us to bless a lost and dying world for His glory. “I will put in them a heart of
flesh – and they shall become my people and I shall become their God!” (Ezekiel 36:26).
Wow! What a privilege we have awaiting us if we will only yield to Him, because we love our
Father! With love for God as the motivator behind all that we do, we will then be walking in
the Spirit!
Loving Him becomes your very essence, sufficiency and satisfaction in life (after all, He IS
really all that matters in life). You begin to see that without an intimate personal relationship
with your Father and your Lord, that life has no meaning at all. No amount of “things” can
satisfy us. No amount of vacations, clothes, cars, bank accounts, children, friends,
relationships can really ever satisfy. Because He and He alone, is the meaning to life,
without Christ as the center of our life, life ceases to exist!
GOD – THE CENTER OF OUR BEING
God will not be manipulated! We cannot twist God’s arm in an attempt to get Him to
perform, so that He will do what we want Him to do. Just like we cannot give in to our
children if they are going to throw a fit, or play games to manipulate us by acting sweet, sad,
disappointed or pout. We cannot bless them when they act like that because that would
ultimately hurt them. They would think that this is the way to get their own way or get the
things they want. So it is with God, He cannot bless us when we try to manipulate Him
either.
Sometimes we think that if we: a) PRAY – for X amount of time each day that God will think
we are spiritual and answer our prayers, or b) FAST for a certain length of time that God will
see our attempt at fasting and do what we are fasting for, or c) TITHE and God will have to
take care of our finances. God can see through our motives, whether they are pure or self-
seeking. If they are self-seeking then He will not come to our rescue. Each of these can all
be used to try to manipulate God into doing what we want Him to do for us; this is trying to
twist God’s arm. He simply cannot answers these types of actions from a wrong motivation.
We cannot obligate God! He will not be obligated to anyone. Today there are certain
teachings going around, like the faith confession teachings that try to manipulate God into
performing a certain way. The person confessing certain phrases or claiming certain things
from God is hyping themselves up to believe something that just isn’t scriptural. This is when
God steps out! He will not bend to the use of formulas. He responds only to real and true
“faith” from a pure heart, without hidden motivation to gain something for oneself. Often
books are written to tell us of something that the Lord has shown the writer. But then, we
take the book and try to “copy” the experience that the writer had, because we want to get
to that same place. We turn the truth or principles in the book into a formula that we are
trying to achieve, by doing the same things that the writer did. It just doesn’t work. That’s
why these books last only for a brief time and then they are gone. We cannot put God into a
box, manipulate Him or try to get Him to do for us exactly what He has done for someone
else. He works with each of us differently, according to our own need and His plan for our
lives. He is in control and will not relinquish it.
It is TRUE that God will take care of our finances when we tithe and obey His financial
principles. It is vital, however, that we not get tied up with debt either by overextended
credit cards, loans, overspending or self-indulgence. Remember the Scripture in Romans 13:
8, “Owe no man anything but love.” And the Lord will answer our prayers and our fasting
either with yes, no, or wait. But we cannot twist His arm by our performance, expecting Him
to perform if we do these things. Ask yourself this question, how do you feel when someone
tries to manipulate you?
What God desires is a relationship with you! He made you. Why did He make you? First
and foremost, so that He could fellowship with you, and love you for whom you are. He
made you uniquely His own creation. You are one of a kind and you are so very important to
Him! You are His child! As parents, we love our children and want to fellowship and relate
with them. Well, so does God. He wants to love you, bless you, care for you and be
personally involved in all aspects of your life. All He asks is that we love Him back, with all
our hearts! That is the first and greatest commandment. “You must love the Lord your God
with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind” (Matt 22:37).
You say, what does that mean? Let me explain it to you. It means that in every aspect of
our life, in everything that we ARE and in everything that we DO (in our ministry, our
wifehood, our parenting, our prayer life, our fasting, our homemaking, our integrity, our
honesty, our friendships, our occupation, our church life, our desires, our likes and our
dislikes), all stem from the center of our being, where God must reside and be in control
rather than self; so that all that we do is centered on pleasing Him instead of ourselves.
Then, all that we are, and all that we do will become God motivated! You will ask yourself,
is this the right thing to do, to think, to feel, to believe, to trust in? Will this please God?
Could I take God with me here? Is this ok to say? Is this according to Scripture and does it
line up with the Word? When God is the center of our life, then all our intentions come into
right alignment with His will, because we LOVE Him. Having God at the center of our being
enables us to avoid selfishness, and looking out for our own interests. We will have God’s
best interest at heart instead.
“In Him we live, and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). This means we live with Christ
being the very core or center of our being, not our self. Self must become dethroned and
God must become enthroned in our hearts, so that we can become controlled by Him rather
than by self. “That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never
please God. “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the
Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you” (Rom 8:8-9). We must be yielded to Him and
we must come to the place where we can truly say, “not my will but thine be done.”
Then when we pray, it will not always be to “get something from God” but we will go to
prayer because we love God and want to be in His presence. Because we love God, we
begin to love others, and become concerned about them even as He is, and we find
ourselves beginning to pray differently.
When we fast, it is because He has called us to a fast, not so we can persuade God to do
something we want Him to do for us.
When we tithe, it will be because we want to show Him that we “TRUST” Him, because we
know that He is our resource. He is totally faithful in every respect and He will take good
care of us all the days of our lives. We can totally TRUST Him to do so in every part of our
lives, if we will only turn the control over to Him.
He in turn, when we make Him the center of our lives, gives us hearts of “flesh.” He begins
to take out the stony heart and replace it with a heart of flesh. A heart that loves, is
compassionate, kind and possessing all the fruits of the Holy Spirit inside of us, which begin
to come out of us to bless a lost and dying world for His glory. “I will put in them a heart of
flesh – and they shall become my people and I shall become their God!” (Ezekiel 36:26).
Wow! What a privilege we have awaiting us if we will only yield to Him, because we love our
Father! With love for God as the motivator behind all that we do, we will then be walking in
the Spirit!
Loving Him becomes your very essence, sufficiency and satisfaction in life (after all, He IS
really all that matters in life). You begin to see that without an intimate personal relationship
with your Father and your Lord, that life has no meaning at all. No amount of “things” can
satisfy us. No amount of vacations, clothes, cars, bank accounts, children, friends,
relationships can really ever satisfy. Because He and He alone, is the meaning to life,
without Christ as the center of our life, life ceases to exist!
| Women for the Lord www.WomenfortheLord.com "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." Proverbs 31:10 |
