Right Here Right Now

Don’t waste this time worrying about what God knows you need. Trust God to meet your needs.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live,

but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh

I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galations 2:20

I have had the privilege of serving a number of people in my relatively short ministry. One thing I have noticed is that the longer people receive help from others, the less able and/or willing they become to be a help. There is an old saying that says, “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.” People who are given fish long enough will look for the guy with the fish rather than opportunities to grab a pole and tackle box.

Dependency, when not kept in its proper place can become a cancer of the heart. We must always remain dependent on God, but God doesn’t call us to live an empty, dependent life – not in the way we often think of it. We depend on God’s wisdom, power, and authority, but God uses those things to empower.

Government welfare programs are designed to keep people dependent on government. God’s provision empowers people to minister to others in his Name. No matter what season or station of life you find yourself in right now, this time matters and what you do with it matters.

It can be very easy to be consumed by your own needs, especially if you are in a weak and broken season of life. We all need to receive from God his grace. At the same time, that grace is meant to compel you to give grace in kind. Though you may be nursing very real needs in your life, you also have something to offer. Anyone who has had an encounter with Jesus has something to draw from and minister from.

Your service may be as simple and unassuming as a kind word or bit of counsel; maybe some encouragement for someone in need. How we might measure the “bigness” of a service is unimportant, right here, right now you have something to do. “You are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for you to do.”

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

MATTHEW 4:19

God is not unaware of your current status (and he doesn’t even need Facebook to check in on you). He knows where you are and what you’re going through. Being fully man, Jesus knows your struggles intimately. And he has work for you to do; gifts for you to offer; service for you to render.

In Acts 17 we are told that God “determines the time and place each one of us shall live so that men would seek God.” In other words, God placed you here and now so that you would seek him, and so that others would seek him through you.

Don’t waste this time worrying about what God knows you need. Trust God to meet your needs (not satisfy your wants), and prayerfully seek those God-ordained opportunities to serve someone else in Jesus’ name.

I think it is no wonder that Jesus chose so many fishermen as his disciples: men who knew how to fish.

Michael Hayward is a graduate of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, California and has been serving Faith Community Church of Rohnert Park, California as lead pastor since 2005.His passion is to see people grow in their love for God and their love for others by building healthy relationships through which God is experienced, glorified, and revealed to a needy world.

Click here to learn more about the author Pastor Michael Hayward