In Step with God

In Ephesians 2 10 we read, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. Now friends, we either believe that verse to be true in our lives or not. This verse speaks of God's sovereignty and providence in our lives.

If you are a believer, you can look back on your life and see the hand of God directing us here, leading us there, placing the right Christian influence in our life at the most critical time. I can think of all the godly men that God placed in my path to turn my life to him. It was no accident or mere coincidence that God placed Adrian Rogers and Stephen Olford in my life to redirect me back on the path he had already purposed for me to be on.

Perhaps you can look at your own life and see God's hand directing the events of your life to bring you into a closer walk with him. Our text today in Ephesians is a striking composite of God's plan for our life. God as the master craftsman bore us out of his divine workshop, so to speak, to fulfill his purpose in our life.

In his sovereignty, he created us, he designed us, he equipped us, he predestined us, he prepared us to walk in the preordained footprints he providentially placed before us. It is for our good and his glory that we should bring forth the good works that God hath already ordained. It was no accident that I wrote the authorized biography of J. Sidlow Baxter and that a major Christian publisher like Baker Books should publish it.

God had already worked that out long before in my life by gifting me and training me as a writer. If you look at your own life, friend, you can see the hidden hand of God moving you here, holding you there for your good and for his glory. The theme of our text today is the title of my message, In Step With God.

We can either be in step with God currently in our lives or through rebellion we can be out of step with God and this is very best for us. I fought against God for years and his call on me to be his preacher. I didn't want to be poor.

I was a successful businessman making tons of money and I knew the sacrifice of being a poor preacher and I shied away from that for a long time. But God and his sovereignty kept redirecting my path to a life of service to him. Finally, I could no longer resist him and he has smiled upon my preaching ministry in remarkable ways.

I'm poor in the things of this world but I'm rich towards God and that's all that really matters. How is it with you, friend? Can you honestly say that you are currently in step with God and it's best for your life? Or have you been striving against his will and now you are out of step with him? I've had it both ways and I can say this from personal experience. The most miserable person on the planet is the Christian out of step with God's best for them.

I was talking to a young college girl and she told me that God had called her to the foreign mission field but she looked into it and realized she didn't want to be poor as a missionary so she was pursuing a high paying job in the medical field instead. It's easy to miss God's best for us if we fail to yield to his will in our life. Our text today declares the fact of a preordained path for each of us according to his purpose.

As we walk with God, will we step into those prepared footprints for us or will we miss them by being out of step with him?