It’s encouraging when God inspires people to predict that you have a great future. But what about those prophecies? Will they simply be fulfilled, regardless? Or must you co-operate with them, so they can come true? How much is up to God, and how much is up to you?
Jesus could do nothing to fulfil the prophecies which foretold that not a bone of his body would be broken, and that he would make his grave with the rich in his death. The fulfilment of them was beyond his power, as he hung, bleeding and dying on the Cross.
Yet Jesus had instructed a blind man he healed not to tell anyone, and had commanded Peter, James and John to be silent about a vision they had seen, to avoid premature problems. And nearing the end, he avoided his own people, who wanted to kill him. Why? Couldn’t he simply have mysteriously “passed through them,” as he’d done before?
The answer is that you have a part to play in developing your destiny. But wasn’t your future predetermined? Well, yes; but God knew how hard you would fight to win; how much you would strive to survive; what courage you would display when faced with seemingly impossible odds? What if your friends’ prophecies were based on the potential God saw in you, and not the lack of it you see in yourself?
Why did the apostle Paul bother informing his captors about a plot to assassinate him? After all, Jesus himself had just told Paul that “as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.” The word “must” is an imperative! Was it God’s “must” or Paul’s? If it was Paul’s, is that why he prayed and fasted aboard a storm-tossed, soon-to-be-wrecked sailing ship, although he had God’s assurance that he was personally unsinkable?
How much is up to God and how much is up to you? Well, call to mind those personal prophecies. How far did God say you would go? How much faith did he say you would need? What’s imperative to you? Good questions to ask yourself!
Someone has said that success may be just 10% more effort. What if it was 1%? What if you trusted just a little more, worked just a little harder, held on just a little longer?
What if you really believed that God wants you to make it? (He does, you know.) Wouldn’t that make a difference