If we will gain God's greatest blessings, we must embrace His highest purpose.

THE WORKMANSHIP OF GOD: CHRISTLIKENESS
In the last days, God's word promises that the "mountain of the house of the Lord will be established" (Isa 2:2). Our sincere conviction is that if this dwelling place of God truly emerges in our cities, it will transform entire regions and great revival will emerge. However, I would make it clear from the beginning, if our goal is anything other than becoming a home for Jesus, this truth will simply become another "wind of doctrine"; we will again be blown off course. Without the abiding fullness of Christ in the church, we will have no more impact in the world than a political party, whose strength rests in numbers and not God.

Consequently, there are two priorities every serious Christian should recognize. We need to return to the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ; and we desperately need divine intervention or our nation will perish.

In the ninetieth Psalm, Moses uttered a prayer that everyone who has had enough of their feeble efforts should also pray. In somber and earnest supplication he implored,

"Let Thy work appear to Thy servants, and Thy majesty to their children. And let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and do confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands" (Psalm 90:16-17).

This is a heartfelt prayer, full of deep thought and candid reflection. Moses was not willing to "try something" and ask the Lord to bless it. He prayed, "Let Thy work appear..." He appealed to God to confirm (margin: "establish") the works of his hands. What is divine confirmation? It is where the Lord works through your efforts and backs up your words with His power (Mk 16:20; Heb 2:4). God identifies Himself fully with what you are doing. Moses was praying for the endorsement of the Almighty upon his life.

I want to underscore that we have peace with God through Christ's sacrifice. We are not looking for divine acceptance, but divine endorsement. The question is not one of salvation, but of power in this life to change our world. How then can we truly know that we have found God's highest purposes for us? How can we, like Moses, obtain the endorsement of Almighty God?

If we would find permanence to our works, they must be the eternal works of God and not more of man's ideas. Jesus said, "For the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me" (Jn 5:36). Ultimately, we only glorify God when we, like Jesus, accomplish the work which He has given us to do (Jn 17:4).

You may question, "Does God have eternal, enduring assignments for me?" Yes, but the first "work of God" that is accomplished in us is not our work but His, that we "believe in Him whom He has sent" (Jn 6:29). We must abandon all hope of finding true spiritual success apart from dependent, steadfast faith in the person and power of Jesus Christ.

This forsaking of our ideas to embrace simple obedience to Christ is the "work of God." We cannot attain the works of God unless we become the "workmanship" of God. As Paul wrote,

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Eph 2:10).

At this very moment, there are eternal, powerful works prepared for each of us. Yet, until we see that the Father's highest purpose is to reveal in us the nature of Christ, we will not qualify for the power of Christ, which is God's full endorsement upon our lives.