1569 You’ve Been Invited

God has an invitation for you. He’s inviting you to be part of his great plan for your life. He’s inviting you to be part of his work that is bigger than anything you could ever ask, think, or imagine. Now, here’s the thing about his invitation … you’re not going to fully understand it and you will likely never feel quite good enough to step into it. But still, the invitation is extended to you personally. And here’s what I’ve come to trust … if God is the one doing the extending, he will be the one also doing the equipping, so I’m going to be bold enough to step on up! But what if you don’t accept the invitation? Really, what if you just can’t believe the promptings within are really from God, so you dismiss them? What if you believe it, but your unbelief gets in the way every time? Are you letting God down? Will his work go undone because you lacked the faith to accept your role in it? For the longest time, I put all this pressure on myself thinking if I didn’t do what God was asking me to do, then his work would go undone. That sounds humble, right? Wrong. Actually it was a total anxiety trip that created a performance mentality run by my ego. Let’s be real clear, God is God. He can do anything. We are human. We cannot. God doesn’t “need” you. Out of love, he has INVITED YOU! Psalm 8: 3-4 MSG, “I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry. Moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?” God is totally self-sufficient, but he is also relational. He wants you to be part of his works, so he invites you to come and partner with him. Not because he needs you, but because he wants you. You’ve been invited to be part of unspeakable miraculous works brewed up in the heavenly realms. You’ve been invited to carry the power of God within you and join in the partnership of moving mountains, parting seas, and feeding crowds. If you don’t accept the invitation, God will still do his thing, you will just miss the opportunity to be part of it. Jesus tells a story in Luke 14: 16-24: ““A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
“‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’” I’ve always read this story and thought it was only about Heaven. But, what God revealed to me is, it’s about here and now too. God is doing something. He’s been preparing, and now he is inviting guests to come be part of what he has been working on. He’s invited you. He’s invited me. One by one, we excuse ourselves. But God’s work will not go undone. His banquet will be filled, so if you don’t accept the invitation, he will invited someone else until everything is fulfilled. And for those who excused themselves from the invitation, they will miss out! This was like an ah-ha moment for me earlier this week. I watched on TV as the family running the 99+1 Mission went to their state capitol and were recognized. This is the family and the mi