Jennifer Lazarus
The Works of God in My Life --- 8/1/2007

When asked to write an article, I thought, “What? Write something? It’s the summer—I don’t write when school’s not in session.” Then it occurred to me—this isn’t a school assignment, but a testimony of what God and His anointing in my life mean to me. I should be happy to write such a thing. So it is with pleasure and great privilege that I submit this summation of my view on God’s anointing.

There aren’t words that are truly able to express how I feel about God’s anointing in my life, but since I have been asked to write this, I have found words that come to mind when I think about all He has done for me. Having God in my life has given me the opportunity to experience and to better understand perseverance, faith and trust, peace, purpose, and challenge.

Perseverance is a key component in serving God. If everyone gave up when some trial came their way, no one would make it. We are all guaranteed to have trials in our lives. Job is a perfect example of this. He lost everything. When things started to go badly his wife said, “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9), and Job said, “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10) The Bible says “Your Father…maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45) Job recognized this. Yes, bad things do happen to good people, but if we hang in there like Job did, God will bring us through those trials and things will be better than they were before. God has given me the determination to make it this far. I had my chance to give up years ago when I wanted to fit in with my school friends, and I had friends from church who were bad influences and could have dragged me out of the church when they went, but, for whatever reason, God gave me the strength to keep moving forward and not give up. The rewards have been great and I cannot begin to express how blessed I am. Furthermore, without perseverance, I never would have grown enough to experience the things you are about to read.

God’s anointing has taught me to have faith and to trust in Him. In addition to the faith that is transmitted by reading His Word and hearing His Word being preached, there are so many instances when He has come through for me in the nick of time. In spite of that, I have had my moments of doubt. I can recall a time, a few years ago, at youth prayer, when I felt like God wasn’t hearing my prayers. There was one thing I constantly prayed for, but it seemed like I was being ignored. That night I was just like, “God, are you even hearing me? Please send someone to pray for me so I at least know you hear me.” I continued praying, and, for awhile, no one came. Just when I started doubting, someone came and began to pray with me. I felt like such a terrible person for doubting Him in the first place. I said all that to say that God does hear our prayers. He has reasons for delaying His response, which brings me to my next point—trust. We need to trust that He knows what He is doing. I tend to have trouble in this area. I am one of those people who like to be in control. Because of that, I have difficulty in letting go and putting it all in God’s hands. God has been dealing with me on that. Recently, I was visiting a cousin’s church, and while I was praying, a lady I had recently met came and prayed with me. She told me a few things, one being that I simply need to trust Him. That was kind of a wake up call for me because until that point I don’t think I even realized that was the real issue I was struggling with. About a week later, I was at home, alone with my dog. This example may sound corny, but it works here. My family recently put our dog on a diet. Anyway, this particular day, my dog was looking at me as if to say, “Please give me some good food,” and I pet his little head and said, “It’s for your own good—we know what’s best for you.” As soon as I got those words out of my mouth, God spoke to me and said, “And I know what’s best for you—trust me.” God made that pretty clear—just as dogs have to depend on their masters, we as humans have to depend on our master in Heaven. He is omnipotent, knowing what we do not know. He knows what is best for us and He knows what He is doing. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)

“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…” (1 Corinthians 14:33) I have found this to be true during my times of crisis. When I feel the pressure I pray. God gives me peace, and I am able to handle the problems calmly. One such instance occurred about a year ago. I was in my first semester of college, stressed by the many hours worth of paper-writing and studying I had to do, along with a bunch of other stuff going on outside of school. I was more overwhelmed than I had ever been. I ended up breaking down and crying because I didn’t know what else to do. I don’t remember how I dealt with it the rest of that day, but the next day was Sunday. I remember being in the sanctuary, singing some song and I felt God so strongly that all I could do was worship Him. After that I just felt a rush of peace flow through me. I can’t explain how relieved I felt. I thought about my issues and basically shrugged them off as if to say “whatever.” Only God can turn such pressure into peace.

I have been given a better understanding of purpose. “We are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) “Ye are a chosen generation.” (1 Peter 2:9) God has chosen us to fulfill His purpose. We are not oblivious entities living lives of meaninglessness. We have all heard preachers declare that we are not here by accident. God has a purpose for each and every one of us. Some may not know what their specific calling is, but that is no reason to give up—remember we’ve got to have perseverance. For those who do not know what you are supposed to do, you do know you’re here to worship and serve God. Keep that up and in time God will reveal what else you need to do for Him.

God has challenged me to do better. I, as well as all others, have great potential to do more for Him, and I truly hope we reach that potential. He has challenged me to trust in Him, to pray and worship more, be more spirit-minded, to witness more and be a soul-winner, and much, much more. If we are not being challenged by God, what are we doing here? How will we ever grow if we’re not trying to do better?

With all of that being said, I will continue to worship and have faith in our God and will strive to do better in order to fulfill His purpose in my life. I hope and pray that this article will be edifying to whoever may read it, and I hope it brings strength, comfort, and faith to those who are struggling with some of the issues I have addressed.