You may have encountered some challenging circumstances this year, but trust God. He is in control, and he is orchestrating your steps in line with his divine will for your life. Your life is in God’s hands, so stop trying to figure how everything is going to work out because you can’t. But you can trust God. He has a plan for your life, and when you are connected to his plan, he will work all things together for your good.
TWISTS AND TURNS IN GOD’S PLANS
Joseph and Mary were directly connected to God’s plan. The angel, Gabriel, told Mary that she was chosen to be the mother of Christ, and she became pregnant even though she was a virgin. Joseph and Mary were engaged when she told him the news, and he didn’t believe her at first. In fact, he wanted to break up with her, but an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him that the child she was carrying was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
So, Joseph took Mary as his wife, and right when the baby was about to be born, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken throughout the Roman empire, and everyone had to return to their ancestral towns to register. Because Joseph was of the lineage of David, he had to travel to Bethlehem with Mary who would soon give birth.
No doubt, Joseph and Mary found their circumstances extremely inconvenient. Perhaps they thought Jesus would be born in their home in Nazareth. But now they found themselves journeying to Bethlehem with thousands of other travelers, and when they reached their destination, there was no room for them to stay.
DIVINE DESTINY
Isn’t that just like life? Right when you think you have everything figured out, a problem comes out of nowhere that throws you off guard and starts making you question your faith. You can imagine how stressed out Joseph and Mary must have been, but God allowed the census to happen because it was in line with his will. Almost 700 years earlier, the Holy Spirit moved on the prophet Micah to prophesy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). God had a specific place ordained for the birth of his Son.
I feel the Holy Spirit. God has a place with your name on it. He has a destiny for you, and he is behind the scenes, directing your circumstances like a master puppeteer. The Bible says, “the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord” (Psalm 37:23).
You may not understand why God allows certain events to happen in your life, like Joseph, Jacob’s son, who was betrayed by his brothers. They threw him into a pit and then sold him to Ishmaelite traders. Joseph went down into the pit, then down into Egypt, and, finally, down into the dungeon. But God had a plan, and, in the dungeon, Joseph interpreted the dream of Pharaoh’s butler, who mentioned him to Pharaoh. When Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, Pharaoh made him the prime minister of Egypt, and Joseph was able to preserve thousands of lives during one of the severest famines of his times. In the end, God made all things work together for good, and he will do the same for you. Praise God!
DON’T LIMIT GOD
So, Joseph and Mary couldn’t find a place to stay in Bethlehem. “And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:6-7). Imagine how Joseph and Mary must have felt. The Son of God born in a stable?
God often reveals himself to us in ways we do not expect, which is why we should never put him in a box or limit him to how we think he ought to show up. God said in Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
GLORY TO GLORY
Jesus was willing to leave all the glory in heaven, come to this earth, and be born in a stable, so we could know that his salvation is for all, the rich and the poor. He wasn’t born in a palace because he wanted us to know that “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28 NLT). He was willing to humble himself, and if you are willing to humble yourself, God will promote you. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6).
You may be in a stable right now, but you are headed for glory. You may be in a pit, but God has a palace for your future. He says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” God has great plans for your life, and there is no devil in hell that can stop God’s plan from coming to pass in your life.
When Jesus was born, God announced his birth through a choir of angels. He put a big star over the exact spot where Jesus was born, and there was nothing the devil or Herod or principalities or the rules of the darkness of this world could do about it because God has more power than all the forces of hell. He is in control, and he is working all things together for your good. Trust Him. He will not disappoint your faith! You are going from glory to glory!
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Sean Pinder Ministries
P.O. Box 2726
McKinney, TX 75070
God Bless,
Pastors Sean & Aimee Pinder
