Stop Fighting Against God

If we go to the book of Acts, Chapter 9 and I’m going to read two verses:

”And he said, “Who are you Lord?” Then the Lord said, ”I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. “

So he, trembling and astonished said,” Lord, what do you want me to do?”

This is the story of Saul of Tarsus when he was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians.

He was knocked off his horse, and the Holy Spirit spoke to him and Jesus said,” Why are you persecuting Me?”

He was resisting the Lord.

Maybe some of us today are doing the very same thing.

We are blaming the Lord Jesus for everything that is happening, and the Lord is saying,” Why are you kicking against the goads?”

Now that word,” goads” is not a familiar word to us.

According to the dictionary, it is a spiked stick used for driving cattle.

When a cow does not want to go forward you use the goad.

I don’t, by the way, and I don’t allow any of my people to do that, but it has been done.

There is nothing worse when you are trying to drive a herd of cattle in one direction and one of them normally at the top, resists and turns the other way.

It is painful for that animal and it also slows the work down.

The Lord is asking us today to stop kicking against the goad.

Stop fighting against God.

That’s what verse 5 says:

”I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Let’s stop doing that.

Let’s start working with God.

Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 13:

”Although I was formally a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man,” he says,” but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”

You see when you don’t know any better, then the Lord says He gives you grace, but once you know the way, stop working against God and start working with God.

You know, we are in the fire season here in South Africa, and even on the farm Shalom we are tinder box dry, and we have to be so careful about bushfires.

Now when a fire gets away and it becomes a blazing inferno, it is a fearful thing to see sometimes, because the sun literally gets blocked out by the smoke.

Now what you do if you’re an experienced old farmer, you work with the fire and you don’t try and work against the fire.

If you try and put that fire out with your water cart you will probably get burnt - and your water cart.

What you do is, you use fire to fight fire.

So you put another fire against the fire that’s burning towards you and eventually the fire puts the other fire out.

Jesus says,” Stop fighting against me and start working with me.”

And then you will see a difference in your life.

The farmer makes a plan! Well, I want to tell you, not one of my plans has ever worked!

We need to work with God’s plan.

That’s what Saul of Tarsus did and he became the greatest apostle in the Bible.

Have a wonderful day and just ask the Lord a simple question like Saul did,” What do you want me to do?” and then do it.