The Purpose of Windows

The Holy Spirit is impressing upon me a window today. It can be a closed one or an open one like the one below.

Credit: www.photo-dictionary.com

Windows provide vision of what is inside or outside but it takes a door (obviously open) before you can enter or exit to that which you are seeing on the other side.

Sometimes God would give us a windows experience, declaring what is possible - it can be the potential of a future, something on the horizon, the potential of a person, a country or a company - but He would have us wait for the right door of opportunity to pass before we can enter. Or sometimes we were just meant to appreciate the view but not really enter it as there is a different door for us. Some of us visit houses and see the windows of what is inside but not really go in as we are just travelling to our own destination (and our own doors). I will explain this in more detail later.

God has a plan for your life.

Whatever it is, the Lord is at work in our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 says that God has a plan for us. His plan is not according to our power but His to fulfill it. God is releasing us from the feeling that it is up to us to fulfill our destiny. If we talk to as much people enough, if we do enough for people, maybe there will be a place of leadership for us. But sometimes, only God really knows what our purpose is - surely He does. Sometimes, God will allow us to wait for things before they can pass so that we can rely on His Spirit to accomplish it. So that ultimately, the glory will go to Him.

Make no mistake about it, God loves you. God has a plan for your life. No matter what failures you've gone through, because God loves you, they will still work out for your good. Some of us may have lost jobs, have made career transitions, but just know that God loves you. He has a destiny and plan for your life. What is happening to you does not change that He loves you and He has a plan for you to fill. 

Be in faith.

God's love, He told me, is what will release us from the fear of failure. Because if we know that God loves us and God is for us and the fulfillment of our dreams is up to God, what does it matter that I fail? God will still make it right. His plans for me does not change. His acceptance of me does not depend on my performance. I am still accepted, loved and God still has a future and a hope for me, the word of God says, regardless of my circumstances. 

When God tells you that it is time to get out of your comfortable boat like He told Peter, do not fear trying! Sometimes though we take a step of faith but we find the results are not yet there, have no fear, God's grace will catch you! Look at Peter, his legacy was not bounded by all the wrong words Jesus corrected him from or the moment he fell in the sea of Galilee when he tried to walk on water or when He denied Jesus three times. He still built God's church because that's what God told Him He would do. He still fished for men because God told Him He would fish for men. If God tells you to go and you take a step out, have no fear even if you think you might make a mistake. Just go and do it and leave the mistakes to God. He is still honing your craft and building your character and aligning the people, the opportunities and circumstance for His plan for you to prevail! And so we are released from the fear of being embarrassed for ever trying!!! Just try and be in faith. God can take care of the rest. 

We are to be a people of faith. God responds to faith. Keep asking, keep trying, keep knocking and keep believing. See doors that are for you open. Go and fulfill what you believe in your heart God has called you to do. I'll be cheering you through and I'm cheering for you in my own way (as this is where I'm more comfortable sometimes cheering for anyone). Go and take a step of faith! :-) God is with you.

Balance faith with God's wisdom

On another note, I've had moments in my life where there were so many open doors I did not know which one to enter. I was thankful to have graduated from a good school with God allowing me to have good grades and enabling me to accomplish many things during my college years. Doors of opportunity were opening for me even while I was still in college. I landed a job contract before I even graduated. And the opportunities did not stop there, they kept on calling for the first few years of my yuppie life. I got calls from various companies. The university Career office really must have done a good job!

However, here is the twist. God called me the first year of my working life. And it was never the same again. The very things that I wanted to enter, I had to consult Him because I experienced that just because a door is open, it does not mean it's the right one for me. I learned it the hard way.

It took me so much denial of self to remain still and wait on God before He says go and enter. It was not easy. The training was not easy. The world tells me to succeed and go after my dreams the earliest that I can. Success has been a pursuit in life. We were called to make the right decisions but sometimes we see decisions in the lens of the visible eye. What looks good to us may not always be the same to God. God's ways are higher than our ways.

This is not just about corporate life. When my initial dreams to go on a fast lane to corporate success did not materialize, I assumed it was probably ministry. I felt I may be too spiritual sometimes for what I felt before was natural work, but as I found out I'm also too corporate in my orientation of ministry! I like things done in a structured, planned way. Oh my gosh where will I place myself? 

Ministry does not work with fully clear plans at least not always. You would find that the moment you stepped in to do what God called you to do, He would lead you sometimes not according to what you think but you would still be amazed, because it's God at work not us. If it were fully planned, there will be no room for faith. The topics I discuss in this platform I feel are a tug of God on my heart. Even when I have an idea, sometimes the writing or God's timing comes out different. But then that's God! That's His Spirit! So I just cooperate and do what He wants done.

I also realized that even in ministry, it is God who will do the promoting, not our abilities. God is the one who will promote you so the glory is always His. 

But even with all this surrendering to His direction and wisdom, in God's goodness, God opened the right workplace for me. He opened the right ministry for me that I knew deep down I was equipped for that kind of work. Hence I blog, I meet people, I volunteer but I still enjoy my work because I know it's from God! And I still have dreams for my workplace and career life but God's dreams for me were more important.

My windows but not doors experience

Whatever my dreams were for the world, God fulfilled it already through other people. Little by little! Although I wish I could have entered some of these doors and and have done them myself, but hey they still happened.

I see the corporate world making the kind of advertisements I could only dream about. I'm talking about the kind of ads that empower people. For example, the Dove ad that tells you to embrace your own beauty. I like that. Or the recent Great Taste coffee ad that tells us the principles of greatness. I'm talking about powerful messages that resonate to consumers and are still good and aligned to building the brand. Those were the ads I would have loved thinking about but even if I did not do it, hey good job to these guys! ;-)

What else? I see the kind of movies that I "dream" of watching. A balance of truth, creativity, inspiration, moments of crisis, imagination and fantasy! I love that. I almost always go on a movie every month now. I just leave so inspired!

How about music? I am singing the kind of songs that I dream of singing, even on my own. I am learning powerful lyrics, the kind of songs that bring healing and are healthy for my emotions. Through these lyrics, God was healing me. Some of them made me stronger because they were more powerful. Some of them made my heart rest and wow how we need that. Some of them are entertaining. These are my dream songs and thank you that I get to sing them even when I think no one is listening! I'm living the songs that I want to sing in my lifetime thanks to you! One more dream fulfilled.

My dreams for the Church? The Church is run so excellently you would think real managers or experts in leadership are running it. The Church is run like an excellent company because God gives it vision for the future, God gives it the blueprint, God gives the leaders character, God transforms the people. I'm a marketing person. I feel the Church is run like a well-marketed organization. There is set design and video production, web design, blogs, events marketing, social media, podcasts, pamphlets and book sales. Some and other denominations have a television, radio, and magazine ministry! I love it! So much color. A number of them are run by volunteers. Everything by the grace of God.

The truth (and this is according to the Bible) is we are just vessels that God uses to display His glory. Some of our pastors when they started had to work on their speaking and English skills. Some of them had to learn things and trust that it is God who is working on their ministry. Some of them are introverts. The word of God says that He uses the weak things of the world to nullify our ways so that God gets the greater glory! A number of us aren't rich according to the eyes of the world, but as we obeyed God, He just provided.

There is no perfect Church, but this kind of Church really blows me away! 

Even though I may not be in the extreme of the corporate or the extreme of the Church organizations, I saw great development in both that inspires me! I'm in the "happy middle."

A dose of balance though, this does not mean we follow automatically good ideas that we see or almost always what I say. I'm just saying that God is really the center of every good thing that I'm seeing in every country, sector, and society around me. We should still ask His wisdom what to do. :-) He has an idea what we should be doing. We should ask Him - God is this the right time for me to enter into this or would you have me wait for something else?

Concluding notes

Thank you for giving me those windows experiences! They may not be the right doors for me but the windows are enough. It fulfilled some of my dreams. God is allowing me to see the windows, the horizons to get a bigger picture and propel me forward, to get me excited for what is next even though I don't fully know the plan yet!

Wow thank you so much. I'm seeing a better world and hopefully better days ahead. I hope I have a word that would relate to all people today. God bless you always.

Whatever is in the future, be still for God is already there. He will make a way. Until the time has come and until the door of opportunity arrives, God will do what is necessary to prepare us for the next step. If He gives you a windows experience, hang onto it. God will never frustrate us with something He won't be able to fulfill. 

I also encourage everyone to receive God's dreams for their life and I guess sometimes be open if it's different from ours. It is between you and Him. There is no pressure because it is God who is at work in everyone as each does his part. And you have your part. If you find it, you can be sure that God is on the other side helping you and cheering you on. We are already accepted and this is regardless of our part or our role. Follow Jesus. Make Him the center of your life and God will make the way clear. After all, He said He is the way, the truth and the life.

With God, work life is never to feel meaningless or purposeless because we are all doing them unto Him. If we want to live a life full of purpose, God is the answer. We will give it our best yet! So that heaven applauds even though not always in this life. God's approval is more important. God will clear the way for us. In Jesus Name.

Want to pray a prayer today as a response?

How about saying this short prayer with me? :-)

Jesus, I surrender to your purpose and plans. Use me as You will and when You will. Ignite my faith that You have a better plan for me. In Jesus Name. Amen.