Thy Will Be Done

Good morning,

I woke up this morning, earlier than I should've, due to what is best described as a crazy dream, no doubt fueled by some degree of anxiety.  Then, that was it for sleep.  smh...

Yesterday afternoon I got to meet with a Christian sister, a member of our church, who is bilingual, for the purpose of setting two, newly-translated songs to their melodies.  The plan is to sing these two beautiful songs in Spanish, in Peru.  Our team leaves a week from today.  Just typing that makes my heart beat faster.

The problem is that I've got about 10 days worth of living to pack into about 6, at this point.  Unless I put in 18-hour days, full-tilt, it won't "all get done."

All of this is a great back-drop to today's devotional verse:

"Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."

Matthew 6:10

Yesterday we looked at the preceding declaration:  "Thy kingdom come."  In doing so, we talked about the will of God, because it is His purpose, His will that His kingdom will come on this Earth.

But, what is God's will, and how do we, how CAN we, know it?
First of all, you must be God's child, a believer/disciple of Jesus Christ.  God does not reveal His will to unbelievers other than His revealed will recorded in His Word, for all people.

Frankly, most of the time, even we, Christ-followers, don't even ask to know God's will.  What we do instead is furtively, frantically go through life like a hamster on it's exercise wheel, hoping we are making the right choices, sometimes not feeling like we are "getting anywhere".  By acting as the captain of our own ship, by exerting our own will in any given situation, we often find ourselves floundering.  Christian, go read Romans 12:1-8.  So much of our Lord's will for us is revealed in those 8 short verses.  Hallelujah!

1.  The Bible is our most certain, dependable source for determining God's will.  It is right there in front of us.  You can be sure that God's will will never contradict what He reveals in Scripture. Here's an example:  "God is leading me to divorce my husband because I'm not attracted to him anymore."   Well, that is most certainly NOT God's will.  Such an attitude/belief is repudiated in scripture!  The same goes for taking God's word out of it's intended context and twisting it for our own purposes. That's not God's will; it's our desire to justify our own sinful behavior.

2.  God reveals His will to us, His children, through prayer.  This is the second source for finding God's will.  His desires are revealed through our relationship with Him.  Often, this is called "walking by faith".  If you want to know God's will about a specific situation, and the Scriptures do not specifically address that, first look to any related, guiding principles revealed in the Bible.  Then, ask God to reveal His specific will to you.  If we first pray, "thy will be done" in an attitude of true submission, He will reveal His will to us.  Exercise your faith!  God wants to take you beyond what you believe to be your "capacity".  He wants to "grow" your faith in Him.  You'll may never "feel" entirely certain about your interpretation of His will, or you would not be walking by faith.
ACT on what you believe His revealed will to be.  My pastor, who grew up on the ocean, likes to put it like this:  "it is easier to steer a vessel that is moving."

3.  Look for confirmation from trusted Christian advisors.  Make sure not to seek counsel from those who are carnal - - not living their lives in accordance with God's word, not seeking God's will in their own lives.  God's Spirit will speak to other godly men or women who can advise you/confirm God's message to you.  Sometimes this confirmation does not come "in person", "face-to-face"; it sometimes comes in the form of books that spiritual giants of the past have been led of the Holy Spirit to write.

Watch out for these pitfalls/mistakes!
1.  Be obedient to what you already know.  God reveals His will to you increasingly, based on your obedience.  If you are walking in disobedience, turn that around (confess, repent, obey).
2.  Don't look to your "feelings" to confirm God's will.  Often our feelings are extremely deceptive.  One of my college profs used to say this:  "Right actions follow right decisions, and right feelings follow right actions."  (Dr. Walter Fremont)
3.  "If I want to do it, it can't be God's will."  (This wrong attitude is the complete opposite of #4 below.)  Look, God gives us talents and spiritual gifts.  He delights in us using them for the furtherance of His kingdom. ("Thy kingdom come!") Yes, we must be on guard to prevent sinful pride from creeping in.  But, God created you with certain abilities; use them joyfully for His glory!
4.  "If it is difficult, it can't possibly be God's will."  Well, no....God frequently asks us to do difficult things.  Look at church history, at the "giants" of the faith.  Were their paths easy?  Almost without exception the answer is "no".  God loves to be "the God of the impossible".  :)
5.  Don't be afraid of God's will.  Sometimes, we get the crazy idea that God does not want what's best for us.  But, He always does, even if it seems doubtful at times.  Revelation 4:11 - - -

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

It takes a great deal of courage to embrace God's will when doing so is "scary", to say to Him "whatever You want".  But, just remember 1 Thessalonians 5:24 - - -

"Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it."  

Who will perform it?  He will.  It can actually bring relief when we come to a place of such total surrender, remembering that our omnipotent, loving Father will never fail us.

Again, the most important thing is for us to bring our will in line with His.  If this is our starting point, praying this simple prayer in submission and reverence, discovering God's will for a specific situation will be much easier.

Father, I thank You for not letting me have my own way all the time.  I am grateful for free will, yet terrified of it too.  Surely, I have no idea how many times you have rescued me from my own foolish desires.  Thank you SO much!  Empower me to choose well, to use my resources wisely in the furtherance of Your kingdom.  I know that the best place to be is in the center of Your will.  I earnestly desire my will to be engulfed by Yours.  May Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. In Jesus' name, amen.

Sources:
Dr. George F. Anderson, sermon, 1/2014
Prince, Derek. Secrets of a Prayer Warrior. Grand Rapids: Chosen, 2009. Print.

What God Wants

Good morning,

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

Psalm 46:10

A member of my church is facilitating a 13-week Bible study, starting this Sunday.  It's called, "Experiencing God", and it's an expanded/revised study based on the very famous book by Henry Blackaby.  The subtitle of the study is "knowing and doing God's will".  As I said yesterday, there are no coincidences with God.  So, I am thinking of doing this study with that group....just when I got my Sunday afternoons back, after practicing for that play for 8 months.  I haven't told the Hubster yet; he'll say that I'm crazy...again.

Let's move on in our study of The Lord's Prayer by examining the next phrase.  Here it is:

"Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."

Matthew 6:10

Remember, this is from Jesus, who was modeling for His disciples how to pray.  These sentences are the first two petitions in The Lord's Prayer.  They aren't requests for any of our personal individual needs.  These are requests/petitions designed to bring our desires in line with those of God.

What does God want?  What are His purposes?  What is important to Him, on a global level?

God has declared many times in the Bible that He will one day establish His Kingdom here on earth. He will do that in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, a biological descendant of David, who was promised that his descendant would rule and reign "forever" (1 Chronicles 17:11-14). That reign will commence after the great battle of Armageddon and will last for 1000 years, on this physical planet we call Earth.  It will be a physical kingdom.  

We are also praying, in that declarative sentence (6:10), for His spiritual kingdom to be expanded, established in the hearts of people who do not yet know Him.  We are praying for the Holy Spirit to be unleashed, asking that more and more people will come to a heart knowledge of the Truth, that more and more will accept Jesus as Lord and be snatched from a certain eternity in Hell.

At this moment, where is the kingdom of God?  It is most surely in Heaven, while simultaneously being here on Earth in the hearts of Believers.  Jesus said to His followers, 

"The kingdom of God is within you."

Luke 17:21

It is through His lordship in each believer's heart that His kingdom is expanded, one-by-one.

So, when we pray The Lord's Prayer, we are asking God to do what He has already said that He will ultimately do.  We are praying for the ONLY solution to the problems that plague our fallen race of beings.  

Romans 14:17 - - 

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Righteousness - - - the only holiness acceptable to God is that provided through the finished work of His Son, and given to us for our salvation.  In and of ourselves, we possess absolutely NO righteousness.  Righteousness is listed first because it is the indispensable "first characteristic" of being part of God's kingdom.

Peace  - - - peace is not listed first, because you cannot have peace without righteousness.  Some Christians go all around the world "working for peace" by meeting the humanitarian needs of people. That is wonderful and necessary to "be Christ's hands and feet".  But, what good does this if we do not simultaneously share with them the gospel of Jesus Christ?  What good does it do if we meet their physical needs, yet leave them bound for Hell?  None.  So, let's not be fooled by this world's version of "righteousness".  There is only one kind of righteous that brings true peace and that changes lives for all eternity.  You wonder why peace has fled America?  It is because God's righteousness, manifested in the hearts of men and women, is largely absent.

Joy - - - true joy comes from only one Source, and that is the Holy Spirit of God.  It transcends circumstances, even the worst that this sin-stained world serves up to us, because it is supernatural.  It is God's gift to those of us in His kingdom. This joy is grounded in our certainty that He is with us through thick-and-thin, forever.

The greatest blessing of this life - - to be God's child, to be part of His kingdom.

Tomorrow:  we'll drill down on "His will".

Almighty One, in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah had a vision of You.  He saw You seated upon a throne, high and lifted up, with Your glory filling that celestial Temple.  Your throne was surrounded by seraphs, those angelic beings with six wings, who continually call out, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, the God of Angel Armies! The whole earth is full of His glory!" (Isaiah 6:1-3) Father, may Your kingdom come, in billions of human hearts and one day, physically on this Earth. In Jesus' name, amen.