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Veteran's Memorial Building - Rotunda Suite
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lOGIN

Missed Opportunities

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To all my Embassy family: Greetings and salutations in the matchless name of Jesus. Grace and peace be multiplied in every one of your lives and to you as a congregation.

 

There is a misunderstanding that has become a stumbling block within the house that I desire to rectify and bring clarity to. I do not desire for you to fall into legalism, but I do desire to balance some of the excesses of liberty and pave the way for the kind of faith that produces good works.

The subject I’d like to discuss is the power and influence of man’s will upon the will and purposes of God. Many people think, to their detriment, that God’s will and God’s purposes are rock-solid, immovable, and unchanging. We think that God is simply going to do whatever it is that He wants to do and in no way can we ever influence His infinite plan with our limited and finite agendas.
    
Also, Children of God, there are some saints that determine in their mindsthat the will of God is always revealed by the outcome of things. They think that if certain things theyventure to do are ‘apparently’ unsuccessful, then it must not have been God’s will in the first place. This too is a gross error.

 

Well, it may surprise you to know Saints of God, that God doesn’t always get His way with things.We know that God’s ultimate purpose and will for the universe (established in heaven and predicted in scripture) will be accomplished in the end. Yet and still God is disappointed with OUR decisions as we fail to align ourselves with His will for OUR individual lives. Most of the time in the earth, the will of God is not done. Even when outcomes are prophesied they can be changed oftentimes by what we do, especially if it is a prediction of some sort of blessing. Prophecies need to be received and mixed with the faith of those to whom it is released. Prophecies can sometimes be fast forwarded, postponed, stopped, and even reversed; determined upon the will of men and their responses to the stimulus of God’s word.

 

We see God’s word and determined will being altered all throughout scripture. For example, Isaiah told Hezekiah the King that he would die that day. But, when the King turned his face toward the wall in prayer, pleading for his life to God, God sent Isaiah back with another prophecy altering and revoking the previous prophecy before Isaiah could get off the King’s front porch.God can change a prophecy! God can alter your destiny by certain decisions you make! God extended the King’s life by many years. Now, if God’s first prophecy was immoveable, why did it change?

 

Jonah was told to go to Nineveh and prophesy it’s destruction, but the repentance that came from the King and people at the word of the prophet was so great, God postponed the destruction and released it upon a different generation. Now, if God’s will is immutable, how could it be altered; and how can an unchanging will become postponed?

Anything or anyone with an unchanging will in this universe is insane! God knows all things, but He has also created the animate (animal life) to express choice and exert its will upon this universe and within the design of the dimension and reality in which we live. And as any will can be influenced by the revealed wills of others, even God’s will CAN be influenced by the choices and decisions of men. It is God’s covenanted and established word that is immutable. God’s promises that have been purchased and certified and revealed to men as immutable are immutable. God’s eternal nature of love and light-producing life is immutable! But God has feelings or what we call emotions even as He has created us with the same.

Emotions are there to influence judgment and effect decisions. He (as it has been revealed in scripture) has diverse, profound, and oftentimes complex feelings about things. But His opinions about the principal natures of things are unchanging. He gets happy, sad, jealous, pleased, angry, and oftentimes sweet. We express all the array of heartfelt emotions that He does. Sometimes God will even cooperate with us in our imperfect plans and agendas out of His great love and care for us, walking it out with us to teach us sonship and faith.

In a nutshell, for all intents and purposes, without exacerbating or agonizing over anumber of predestination and eternity theological doctrinal issues, it is best for us to think and know that we can affect the world and bring change. And in God’s dealings with you, it is best for you to see thatthere are a lot of heavenly decisions that can and will change based on your actions and faith. Though these decisionsmay change, they still remain in perfect synchronistic alignment with the nature of God.

When God had determined to destroy the Israelites and start over with a new group, Moses the prophet made intercession and begged God to spare them. God changed His mind and the scripture says that God repented of the destruction that He had determined to do!

God’s will was that the children of Israel go out of Egypt through the Red Sea and immediately into the Promised Land; but they were fearful. They were unfaithful! They wouldn’t mix God’s word with faith! They missed their opportunity!!!And God still fulfilled His ultimate purpose with another group of people (their very own children, in fact). God can replace the stubborn and unfaithful, and fill his or her seat with someone faithful; someone better; and still accomplish His ultimate will. God isn’t stuck with anyone!

God’s will was that they fight and get victory over the inhabitants of the land and remain in the Promised Land as free men.His will was that they remain in the presence of the Lord forever, but the book of Judges recorded that they wouldn’t obey! They wouldn’t be faithful to the agreement (covenant). And the inhabitants became thorns in their sides and rose up and put them into bondage and captivity! They took them away and off of the land that God had given to them. This was not God’s will. This was not God’s plan! This was not God’s blessing! They had missed their opportunity to be in alignment with God’s purpose and opportunity FOR THEM.

Now, when God blesses you with something, it is an opportunity to serve him faithfully in it or with it. If you destroy your God-given opportunity, God is not to blame for it. God does His part, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have a part to play. If He blesses you with a job and you don’t show up and are unfaithful with your responsibilities, it is great pride and self-righteousness to say God must not have given me the job in the first place because I got fired. Some people think God is not supposed to just bless you with a job; He’s supposed to wake you up in the morning, comb your hair, brush your teeth, and drive you in His car. I’m simply saying that there is a part that we must do. He’s given you hands and feet and body parts to cooperate with Him as He brings you into full maturity.

If God blesses you with a relationship, don’t blame Him if you mess it up! God blessed you with an OPPORTUNITY to succeed in the relationship! God said you must love your woman. God said you must honor and respect your man. God says that you must be faithful to the emotional and sexual needs of your partner! You must render due benevolence. This is natural law when it comes to men and women whether vows are exchanged or not. It is an instinctive natural order.If you aren’t doing your part and there is a break-up, don’t dare say you got with the wrong person(based on this aspect alone) or say it wasn’t God’s will.Your failure is written within the code of the universe. God’s not picking on you! Some folks would blame everyone and anyone rather than take responsibility for their own actions. Rather, say, “I’m an unfaithful loser” and repent, but don’t blame it on God. Maybe if you don’t repent, it’s God’s will for your woman or man to leave your lousy ass.

If God gives you children and you fail to protect them from the dangers of the world and you let them get under the kitchen cabinet and they drink peroxide or some poison, don’t say it was God’s will. Say,“I’m a lousy, wicked parent!”Don’t get so comfortable with grace that you don’t think self-accountability and good works matter. We sometimes like to shift our irresponsibility to some strange mystical spiritual reason. Some of us NEED to feel bad and mourn. Mourning is a part of the wordrepentance that sometimes goes overlooked. I pray that the Lord blesses our congregation with a spirit of regret. Godly, spiritual, mystical, holy regret is what we need. We chalk many things up to God’s will, which we should see as personal sin!

If God gives you a position in the Church, don’t mess it up. He may want you there, but no position is an immoveable position. Elisha replaced even Elijah. As we have seen in recent days, if you are unfaithful to His stewardship appointment, you will be moved. If you are not honest (walking in the light), but doing things hidden and in darkness, you are a liar and there will be corrections and chastisements.  If you are not walking in humility and love for all the saints, there will be corrections and chastisements.

God’s will is that none would perish, but all would come to repentance. Nevertheless, many perish and few come to repentance. Be faithful with God’s opportunities and blessings! Don’t waste them! Don’t despise them and see them as insignificant!Don’t throw your destiny into the sacrificial fires of natural love (the lust for carnal things over and above God’s will). Don’t have your original destiny stolen by fear, laziness, or offense!As the scriptures say, “Endure hardness as a good soldier.” The enemy will fight you every step of the way, but you resist the devil! You will be challenged on every side, but you can endure it! If you have been unfaithful to the opportunities of life and of Christ, mourn with gigantic tears of remorse and turn from those wicked and unprofitable ways. Determine within yourself to stand fast and God may, in His mercy, give you another chance to fulfill that particular seat. And again I say be faithful.

 

Your servant,

 

Dr. Nathaniel Duffey III