Romans 12:12
It’s tempting to always be waiting for new insight from the Lord. We often find peace once we hear God say “Wait” or “Go,” but then that peace starts to fade because the next day we start to doubt what we heard.
Of course we should always be listening for God leading us to try something different. But oftentimes God will keep us on one path for longer than we want or expected.
So here are 3 ways God will say to you, “Keep doing what you’re doing.”
1. If You’ve Made a Change in Your Life but the Reason for that Change Has Yet to Be Accomplished
Maybe you went through a really painful breakup and you clearly heard God tell you to pause all dating for a while. You sensed God was leading you to take a break because your heart needed time to just refocus on God and regain that connection with him that you lost because of this unhealthy relationship you just got out of. You make the change, stop dating, but now you are wondering when you should start dating again.
In times like these it’s helpful to remember why you felt God led you down that path to begin with. It wasn’t about dating or not dating. It was about reconnecting with God. Thus, if you’ve been reconnected with God and you are healthy enough again to start dating, then perhaps God is telling you to change your path and start dating again. But if the goal of this dating fast has not been accomplished yet, God is probably telling you to just keep doing what you are doing.
So whether you are on a career development path, a personal healing path, or some other path that was taken for a specific purpose, God will probably lead you to stay on that path until the goal for that path has been accomplished.
As Romans 12:12 explains, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
2. If You Are in the Middle of Building Something Good but It’s Just Harder than You Thought It Would Be, Oftentimes God Will Say, “Just keep doing what you are doing.”
Maybe you were a part of starting a church. It’s going well but it’s also a lot harder than you thought it would be. Or maybe you are trying to become a doctor. You have years of schooling under your belt but the workload is even more than you thought it would be. Or maybe you are in the process of going through counseling and working on childhood trauma. But it’s much more painful than you expected and bringing up things you didn’t even know were there.
Anything worth building is usually difficult to build. Whether it be a house, a relationship, a career, or a ministry, blood and sweat and tears are usually mixed into the foundations you are trying to build. This is good. You just have to be patient.
Certainly there are times when projects should be abandoned. Sometimes you should turn around if this path is unfruitful and not going to pan out like you had hoped. But if it’s just taking longer than you wanted, oftentimes God is saying, “Just keep doing what you are doing.”
As Proverbs 13:4 states, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” Be diligent.
3. If You’re Doing the Right Thing Even Though There Is Not an Immediate Personal Benefit for Yourself, Oftentimes God Is Saying, “Just keep doing what you are doing.”
There’s nothing unbiblical about doing something good and hoping that God rewards you for it (Matthew 6:1, Hebrews 12:2). However, we will be easily misled if we think God will always immediately reward us with what we want if we do what we sense God telling us to do.
If you say no to an unbeliever even though you want to date this person, this doesn’t mean God is going to bless you with a godly spouse next week. If you tithe to your church even though money is tight, this doesn’t mean God is going to give you a huge raise at work soon. If you avoid living a worldly lifestyle, this doesn’t mean God is going to give you three wishes like a magic genie.
Sometimes God will bless your obedience right away, but sometimes God will require you to do the right thing and you will have to wait to receive that reward in heaven. No matter what happens though, always be faithful because God will always reward you one way or the other for the obedience you give to him.
As 2 Corinthians 5:10 explains, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
Here are 4 signs God is telling you to fast and pray for a spouse.