Devotionals for the Heart: What to do when God gives you an assignment

When God Gives You An Assignment
A devotional by Monique Anderson

“You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.” – Ezekiel 2:7 (NIV)

In Ezekiel chapter 2, God sends Ezekiel on an assignment that will not conclude successfully. In fact, He’s sending him on a failed mission.

God sent Ezekiel to a rebellious nation where the people are “stubborn and hard-hearted”. The nation of Israel had been rebelling against God for generations, and God knew they had no intentions of changing no matter who He sent to speak to them. Nonetheless, He wanted Ezekiel to deliver His message to the people whether they would listen or not.

“But the people of Israel won’t listen to you any more than they listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn.” – Ezekiel 3:7 (NLT)

Would you be able to follow through with an assignment that God tells you will be a failure?

Perhaps you’re thinking: What would be the point? Why bother sharing a message from God if the people will not receive it?

But isn’t this our everyday struggle? As disciples of Jesus Christ, we’re called to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ faithfully and continually even when people don’t want to receive it.

Maybe you’re wondering, “If that’s the case, what is the point?” The point is not the success of the assignment but the success of your obedience to the assignment.

A lot of times we think our purpose in the assignment is the outcome. God is not watching the outcome, He’s watching our hearts. The truth of the matter is we will never see the outcome if we never fulfill the assignment.

My Life Application Study Bible says, “the measure of Ezekiel’s success would not be how well the people responded, but how well he obeyed God and thus fulfilled God’s purpose for him.” This note from my Bible is based on Ezekiel 2:3-5.

This tells me that God’s main purpose for our lives is our obedience. It’s not to have a large following or influence but simply to be obedient to the call on our lives. How well are you fulfilling God’s purpose for your life based strictly on your obedience? I can be transparent and tell you that I am failing miserably.

I’m always so focused on the outcome of what He tells me to do I end up not even doing it at all. How will people receive me? Will they even care to listen? And what do I even have to offer? I’m always so fixated on people’s response that I miss the mark on the assignment altogether. Can you relate? I just recently failed a mission with this exact mindset.

A friend of mine shared a message with me that she got from a devotional she read. She instructed me (through the Holy Spirit) to share this message with my step-daughter.

As I scrolled through the screenshots she sent, I thought to myself “my step-daughter will not receive this.” I was immediately consumed with how she would respond. Would she even care to listen? Would this change anything in her heart or mind? These thoughts delayed my obedience for two days. I had to submit all these thoughts to God and let Him lead. The Holy Spirit convicted me and reminded me of this text in Ezekiel. I heard God say, “You must speak my words to her, whether she listens or not.” Although I was eventually obedient, delayed obedience is still disobedience.

This section of Ezekiel’s story has given me a new perspective on God’s purpose for me and every task He hands me. He’s only looking for my “Yes and Amen” then He will handle the rest. I’m learning not to focus on the success of the task but being obedient to it. Focusing on the outcome will just lead to disobedience.

For all I know, I could have delayed my step-daughter’s healing and deliverance by being so hung up on her response. When God assigns us a task, especially one that involves other people, we cannot be delayed in our actions. Not only are we being disobedient, but we are also impeding on someone else’s blessing.

I encourage you to re-examine your assignment(s) from God. What are you focused on? What is your motivation for completing it? Success or Obedience?

Remember the success is in your obedience.

Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, forgive us for our disobedience. Forgive us for focusing on the outcome instead of the task at hand. I pray that you convict our hearts to remember Ezekiel when given instructions. Help us to be obedient to the call and not worry about the outcome of it. Allow us to relinquish the power we think we have in other’s people’s response. Remind us that your people’s response to the word we share is in your hands. Help us to move forward with your assignment with our hands open wide, willing to let go of the outcome. Teach us how to walk in obedience to your commands. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

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Author Bio:

Monique is a writer, wife, and bonus mom to a 14 year old. She just recently unleashed her always present yet hidden talent of writing to the masses. She was born and raised in Mount Vernon, NY where she still resides, and serves on the prayer team of her church The Gathering Harlem.  

Monique always felt like God was chasing after her, but never felt the need to surrender. Until that is when life started veering left, and she no longer wanted to steer so she finally gave Jesus the wheel. After forming her relationship with God she always felt compelled to share the revelation’s that the word gave to her. She always felt the Holy Spirit prompting her to write, but was afraid of what people might think. So her writing started in her journal. The journal turned into a book, and the book into a blog.

Slowly but surely God’s love started to cast out all fear. She started to consistently update her bi- weekly blog yourstrulymoe.com. Her obedience led to further revelation. God revealed to her that he would use her to help others along their walk the same way God helped her along hers. Since Monique did not grow up in church she always felt intimidated by the Christian life. She thought that she would be losing so much of herself, not realizing that she would actually find her TRUE self.

Since God has shown her who he really created her to be, she now feels it is her life’s work to help those that are taking their first baby steps in this walk with Christ. She is doing so through her blog, and soon to be published book. She is excited to extend her reach to podcasts and speaking engagements in the near future.

Her blog is the stepping stone to fulfilling the vision God gave to her – “Sharing God’s revelations so we can all reflect his image and fulfill his purpose.”

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Connect with Monique:
Website: www.yourstrulymoe.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourstruly__moe/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Yours-Truly-Moe-140255684101423

Words of Faith: Emilie's story about obeying God

The Beauty in Obedience
A Words of Faith story by Emilie Anne Hendryx

Sometimes having faith means being obedient.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never really liked the term “obedience”. I wasn’t a rowdy, rebellious child, but it isn’t so much obeying parents I take issue with but more obeying God. Now, before you go and get the wrong idea, I’m not saying I don’t want to obey God. I do! However, the thought that it’s something I “have” to do used to be (and sometimes still is) difficult for me.

Why is obedience hard? Because I feel like it’s a forced thing, something you have to do, like an obligation, and I don’t like the thought of my relationship with God being about obligation. I see my relationship with the Lord as just that—a relationship. It’s something I get the pleasure to enjoy, not something I force myself to do. But…what happens when I’m “not feeling it”? What happens when my sinful self gets in the way of the enjoyment of my relationship with Him?

Let’s be real: We sin and our lives are marked by the need for continual repentance. No matter where we are in our walk with the Lord this will always be true until He comes back, so that means there will be times when we “aren’t feeling it”. This realization pushes me forward which is where obedience comes in.

The dictionary says to obey is to: “comply with the command, direction, or request…[to] submit to the authority of.” When we obey, we are submitting to God’s authority in our lives. He has offered saving faith through His son Jesus but that comes with a command to have faith—to believe (Ephesians 2:8). And sometimes building our faith comes with the realization that we need to be obedient to his commands. At first glance this doesn’t sound as inviting as the thought of “just having faith”, but it is.

In example, there are times during my busy life when I don’t want to clean the house. I think, It can wait until tomorrow. But then tomorrow comes and I convince myself it can wait another day. I will keep doing this, but eventually living conditions will become unbearable. I’ll have to clean. If I were to take this attitude toward my relationship with God, I could easily put off spending time with him until tomorrow…or the next day…or the next, etc. If I didn’t realize how important time spent with Him is, I could lose sight of what belief in Him looks like rather than feels like.

This is tricky! I’m not saying you need to “force yourself” in your relationship with Christ, but I’ve noticed something about myself: I’m prone to slip into times where I “put off” good things. Cleaning, eating healthy, working out, sleeping enough, spending time with God…the list goes on. Especially in this New Year I’ve realized the reality of obeying then feeling. I don’t take this as a rule for my life, but I believe there are times when we are called to obedience, despite how we may feel, and then the Lord changes our hearts through the process.

I saw my lack of dedicated time with the Lord and realized things weren’t just going to magically change. I prayed and asked for His help, then decided I would do something about it. I started putting an alarm across the room so I would have to get up and out of bed to turn it off. Then, with that extra morning time, I focused on reading His word, journaling, praying, and spending time with Him before my day began.

I won’t say I’ve got it all figured out, but God has taken me from a place of obedience to a place of enjoyment! On most days I look forward to 6 a.m. (I realize that’s not early for some of you…but when you work from home and don’t have to get up, it’s a sacrifice *hehe*).

I urge you to evaluate your habits. Invite the Lord into this time with you and see where He would have you obey. Then pray that the obedience would lead to desire and desire to joy!

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Author bio: 

Emilie is a freelance writer and photographer living in the heart of Washington, D.C. She’s a member of ACFW and currently working on a romantic suspense series while dreaming up YA Sci-Fi dystopian worlds on the side. 

She’s got a soft spot in her heart for animals and a love for the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. 

In her spare time you can find her playing guitar or reading a book all while drinking too much coffee. 

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Connect with Emilie on her blog, www.eahendryx.blogspot.com, or on her Facebook author page, www.facebook.com/emiliehendryx.