MAKE YOUR WORK SUCCEED

"For My people have com-mitted two evils: they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, and they have hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns which cannot hold water" (Jeremiah 2:13). The people in Jeremiah 2:13 worked hard to dig wells for themselves, but their wells could not hold water. I am sure they were very disappointed when they did not get the result they wanted after working so hard. I know what it is like to work hard with no results. I have spent many years of my life digging "empty wells" like these, and that frustrated and discouraged me. It took me a long time to realize that unless "the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it" (Psalm 127:1). You may be digging an empty well right now. You may be working on something or some-body. You may have your own little project going on, but you are doing it your way. You may be following your own little plan, trying to make things happen in your own strength and ability. If so, it is not going to work if you have left God out of your plan. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to do some-thing about something you cannot do anything about. It is similar to having your car stuck in the mud and continuing to press the accelerator down and spin your wheels until you burn up the engine. We often burn out from weariness due to "works of the flesh," which are works that do not work! Many times we make a plan and then pray for it to work. God wants us to pray first and ask Him for His plan. After we have come to know His plan, He then wants us to trust Him to bring it to pass. Our activity - birthed out of the flesh - actually prevents God from showing Himself strong in our lives. That is not the way to live the higher life that God has prepared for us. Ask God to help you and lead you as you work, so that your efforts will be productive! - The Everyday Life Bible, Joyce Meyer, Faith Words, 2006.