Not An Island
By:
Anita Sikes
INTRODUCTION
Father God has a master plan, one that includes every member of His family. It is a perfect plan precisely designed to accomplish His kingdom purposes. His plan is a guaranteed success and includes everyone and every purpose. Father God has provided everything that we need to complete His plan for us. However it requires faith, action, trust and obedience from us. The best part of God’s plan is that He knows every aspect of it and there are no surprises that He is unaware of, that He doesn’t already have an answer or provision for. Father God has designed His plan individually and corporately for us, meaning that each of us has his or her own part to accomplish but total perfection is only reached when we all work together just our body parts work together in perfect unity.
I. The Master Design
In order for us to gain a complete understanding of God’s master plan the only correct place to start is His Word. In Jeremiah 1:5 and Jeremiah 29:11 these scripture state that God knew us before we were born and that He plans of peace and not evil for us, but to give us a future and a hope. Father God’s love for us is complex that it includes every detail for every person with nothing missing or incomplete. In its complexity it can only be developed in our lives by faith and obedience.
The master design will only work in our lives as we wholly submit to His love and His plan even when we don’t understand all of its miraculous workings. Because God knows everything we only need to know Him, not all of the details. There are parts of God’s master design that we will only be able to comprehend as we walk it out step by step, from glory to glory.
The person I interviewed for the Ministry of Helps is Carl Sikes the Pastor of My New Life In Christ Church of Wauchula. He has been involved with the church for 16 years.
II. Vital Members
God’s master plan is perfect for every child in His kingdom, designed to complete every need in every person. Pastor Carl has been involved in helping at his church for 16years. His first position in the Ministry of Helps was a greeter; this included meeting people at the entrance of the church, giving them bulletins and information about the church and the services. Other areas of his services have included being an Usher, working with the praise and worship team on the soundboard, janitorial duties, lawn maintenance, and prayer leader.
Father God in His infinite Wisdom knows what each child of His needs and how to guide them through His plan. Every child in God’s Kingdom is vital not only to His plan but most importantly to Him. Father God loves and needs all of His children because above His plan is for a family with Him as the Father.
Pastor Carl has seen how each step of obedience has taught and prepared him for the next level of service, for example it has given him more confidence. Pastor Carl has seen Father God’s faithfulness and devotion to each member of His Kingdom. He shared that there were times that it would have been easier to quit; however, God helped him to understand that this was never an option, stating that Jesus never quit and Father God never quits. Pastor Carl realized that in order for God’s Kingdom in his life to be fulfilled he had to maintain his faith and obedience even when it wasn’t easy or comfortable. Pastor Carl realized that it takes every piece to make a whole.
III. Total unity
In Genesis 11 we read that because the people had total unity working together to accomplish their plan that God Himself said nothing that they propose to do would be withheld from them.
Pastor Carl explains at every level of his service to God’s Kingdom he has experienced God’s supernatural abilities flow through him, in answered prayers or in the joy you see in others when they have realized Father God’s love manifested to them through the obedience to His plan. Total unity is accomplished only when each person works toward fulfilling his or her specific part, working together in faith and love. Faith works by love, without love faith will never work.
Pastor Carl remembers an example of just such an opportunity, recently while traveling there was a young woman with a flat tire on the roadside that needed assistance. Pastor Carl stopped, changed her tire and witnessed to her about God’s love. The young lady was traveling alone and didn’t even have anyone to call for help. This young lay saw Father God’s love in action through Pastor Carl, however, Pastor Carl believes that he experienced the greater manifestation of God’s love and stated that it was a life changing experience for him. This is an example of the unity of God’s plan that He created us to be integral parts of the same body each dependent on one another just as our physical body parts are interdependent on each other. Father God never intended or designed us to be an island unto ourselves.
IV. Kingdom Accomplishments
In John 14 Jesus explained to His disciples that the person that believes in Him will do
greater works because Jesus goes to the Father. This scripture explains that according to the
master plan, each of us is a vital member, has a vital part and in total unity we will accomplish
the plan that Father God has for us, the good plan spoken of in Jeremiah 29:11.
Pastor Carl has seen the rewards of faithfulness in his life through answered prayers,
through God always making a way when there seemed to be no way, and seeing the divine
progress that can only come from Father God. Pastor Carl has experienced peace during storms
when in the natural there was no reason for peace. Pastor Carl has seen lives transformed into
whole lives worth living and celebrating.
Pastor Carl has seen people’s lives healed and hope reestablished in them through the
Kingdom and God’s Master Plan. Father God is all knowing and ever present, only by following
His plan will we accomplish His Kingdom work that Jesus instructed us to pray about in
Matthew chapter 6. The best part of Kingdom accomplishments is that both the person who
ministers and the person(s) ministered to are eternally changed and equipped.
This Master plan is designed, equipped, and accomplished by the Master Himself and
this makes success not only a guarantee but an absolute! Living in the Master plan we cannot
fail, repentance brings restoration and our resource supply is unlimited. In total unity every child
of God is perfectly fitted and perfectly capable to enjoy and serve in His Kingdom.
- ETERNAL REWARDS
When we serve Father God we are rewarded in this life and in our eternal life to come.
We are able to enjoy His blessings of peace, protection, provision, and wisdom just to name a
few now in this life.We are also able to see and enjoy Kingdom accomplishments in others lives.
In Matthew chapter 25 in the parable of the talents Jesus teaches that when we are faithful to
serve according to the Fathers’ master plan and use the talents and gifts that He
has given us our eternal rewards will be granted to us and He will say “Well done good and
faithful servant.”
Pastor Carl’s advice to everyone seeking to serve in the Kingdom would be, to never
allow any one or any circumstance to discourage you, to always remain faithful and do your
work as unto God Himself. We walk by faith and not by sight, this is necessary because our
adversary Satan tries to deceive people with false information appearing real. Even when there
are less than ideal circumstances in our lives we only have to know that Jesus has already
overcame the world and the circumstances.
Because God’s plan is specific to each person, He has already given you all that you ever
need to fulfill the calling that He has placed into your life. In our earthly families each person,
regardless of how many brothers or sisters there are is individually different each from other
the same is true in the body of Christ. Each calling is tailored specifically to the person that God
has called to accomplish the work.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NKJV
STUDY BIBLE
SECOND EDITION
THOMAS NELSON
CONCLUSION
In our daily service of God’s kingdom we learn step by step, and day by day more of His
plan and purposes. We understand that only God has the perfect design, the Master Design for
every aspect of our lives. He has not left any detail unattended to, details pertaining to us,
pertaining to others or the total plan.
Because of Father God’s perfect love and plan for us each person is a vital member
and only with total unity we will accomplish His plan for His kingdom. Father God designed
us with special gifts and anointing’s that fit and function perfectly together. We will only
accomplish His perfect plan we realize that we are all valuable and not an island unto
ourselves.
The rewards that we will reap, not that the rewards are our purpose, they are only a result are
eternal. We will enjoy those rewards here in our earthly walk and in eternity to come.
The Ministry of Helps is not just a beginning place for us to start after our coming into His
Kingdom, it is a way of life. Learning to serve is the greatest aspect of ministry that one will ever
learn. In serving others we will experience the Master Design for our lives and the lives of
others.