Divine Opportunities & Purpose

SAY THIS PRAYER: LORD, WHATEVER WILL MAKE ANOTHER PERSON TAKE MY PLACE, WHATEVER WILL MAKE ANOTHER PERSON GET THE BLESSING PREPARED FOR ME, LORD REMOVE FROM MY LIFE TODAY.

You can actually manipulate and influence people and situations to create an opportunity for yourself. You can maneuver your way around and create opportunities for yourself. But it is better and much safer to move and work with divine opportunities not man-made or man orchestrated opportunities.

In Luke 15:11-16, the prodigal son got an opportunity to travel out. An opportunity came his way to get so much money. But he was the one that manipulated situations to create this opportunity for himself. What was the outcome of this supposedly good opportunity? Spiritual contamination through wild living. Abject poverty. Shame and reproach. The son of a wealthy, respected man in society, now eating from the same bowl with pigs.

What was the real problem with this opportunity the prodigal son arranged for himself. TIMING. The problem wasn’t the money. The fact that the father had this inheritance for him meant the father actually wanted him to have the inheritance, to have the money. But he got it before the father even passed on. He got it before the time the father had planned to give him. The problem was the timing. He went ahead of his father’s plans for him. He created a shortcut for his father’s plans for his life.

Sarah went ahead of God in creating an opportunity to have a child through Hagar. A decision she later regretted (Genesis 16).

It is a dangerous thing to go ahead of God’s will and plan for our lives. God’s process to the achievement of divine purpose is He must be the One ahead, He must go before us, He must be the One in front of us, the One guiding and leading us, not us going ahead of God (Deuteronomy 31:8, Isaiah 45:2, Exodus 13:21, Deuteronomy 1:30).

Conclusion

God has a great plan for our lives which He wants to see fulfilled. He is watching to see that His Word concerning our lives is fulfilled (Jeremiah 1:12). The devil doesn’t want to see this plan actualized. The way he comes about this is to get us to miss, neglect or waste divine opportunities, or to go ahead of God’s plan for our lives. Isaiah 54:16 refers to the devil as the waster. Like Blind Bartimeaus we need to determine in our hearts that whenever a divine opportunity comes our way, we won’t allow anything and anyone prevent us from receiving this opportunity (Mark 10: 46-52). Though promises may delay, blessings may not come how and when we want them, we must continue to press on to toward the goal to win the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. We must press on to accomplish the purpose for which God created us (Philippians 3:14).