Tag: will of God

Realizing That God is in Sovereign Control

Luke 18:34
But they understood none of these things.

In the Gospel of Luke, we read how the apostles were told in advance about all the suffering that their Master was about to endure. They were told the details concerning His coming crucifixion and they were told about His glorious rising from the grave on the third day. Yet they understood none of these things.

The apostles did not understand because they could only see failure in Jesus’ destiny. They could only feel the heartbreak of losing their teacher. They could only visualize their promised King. They could not visualize their suffering Savior. They could not see that God considered it all a tremendous triumph. They could not see that they would soon show the world the way, the truth and the life that Jesus had come to show them.

The most difficult thing about understanding the purpose that God has for our lives is that we are quick to seek God’s blessings, but we are slow to realize that God is in sovereign control. We are baffled by our trials. We allow them to hold off our calling in Christ, because we only see our own pain in our trials and we do not see Almighty God who is working out all things for His purposes.

Let us come into communion with Our Savior and recognize the He is preparing us for a life according to His will and His purposes. Let us find the understanding that we need through the things that He reveals to us. Let us move forward in our calling by building on what we learn.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have a perfect plan for our lives. We bless the name of Jesus Christ, who made it possible for us to fulfill the plans that You have set aside for us. We pray, Lord, that You will open our eyes so that we may see past the sorrows in our lives. We pray that You will open our hearts in communion with You so that we may see the triumph that You have planned for us. May we live our lives without fear, knowing that we are in Your hands, living according to Your purposes. May it all be for Your glory, the glory of Jesus and the glory of the Holy Spirit. We ask all these things in the name of the Strength of Our Lives, Jesus Christ.

Choosing a Supernatural Path When Troubles Arise

2 Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Whenever the trials arise in our lives, the natural response is for us to focus on the problems or the pain they cause. In doing so, we are taken down a path of looking to our own capabilities to resolve the difficulties of our circumstances. In many cases, we are woefully incapable of handling or resolving our issues alone. Often times our efforts even make matters worse.

As children of God and disciples of Jesus Christ, we have an alternative available to us which is completely different and produces dramatically different results. When we choose to respond in our spirit instead of in our flesh, we focus on the solution, Jesus Christ, instead of our problems. We avail ourselves to a supernatural solution. We avail ourselves to the power and grace of the One who sees the beginning and the end as we surrender ourselves to His will and plan for our lives.

When we recognize that the success that we have is due to the excellency and power of Almighty God, we bring honor and praise to His throne. When others see us testify that our success is not due to our natural abilities, our diligence or the aid that we receive from others, but from the hand of the One who created us, they are drawn to the treasure that we hold within us. And ultimately, we not only bring honor and glory to Almighty God but we also become vessels of His treasures.

Let us seek the supernatural power of Jesus Christ when our troubles arise. Let us turn away from our tendency to solve our troubles through our own capabilities and the capabilities of others around us. Let us honor the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit by the choosing the supernatural path versus the natural path.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the will and plan that You have for our lives. We rejoice in knowing that You delight in using Your power to work out all of the things in our lives that trouble us. We praise You for using each of our trials to shape us into the unique individuals that You created each of us to be. May all the honor and glory be Yours, Father, as we turn to Your Son for all of our needs. We pray that the world around us will be drawn to Your Son, Jesus, as we testify to the power and excellency of His presence in our lives. We ask all these things in the name of Our Strength and Our Power, Jesus Christ.

Every Moment in Life is an Opportunity to Surrender to God’s Plan for Our Lives

Mark 6:45
Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

The directive was clear to the disciples. “Get in the boat. Go to the other side of the lake. Wait on Me.” So off they went, obedient to the directive given them. They probably assumed this would be a relatively easy trip. Little did they know that their journey would be difficult. In fact, their journey was described as painful for the wind was strongly against them. But in the midst of their struggles, Jesus showed up and the winds ceased. Once again they were reminded of the power and ever presence of the Lord in their lives. Once again God received the glory.

This passage reminds us that life is not about achievements, not even achievements in the areas that God is leading us. We may have the feeling that God is leading us to a particular end. He is, but not how we are thinking about it. The goal of getting to a particular end is simply a by product of the process that God is taking us through. With God, the process is the end.

All the trials that we encounter in life become part of the process of preparing us for our eternal place with the Father. The process is complete when we seek the will of the Father in every circumstance in our lives. His purpose is that we call on Him and His power in each moment that we live, regardless of the end that we may be working toward.

Let us be alert to each precious moment in our lives. Let us recognize that each moment is an opportunity to surrender to Our Savior and to obey the calling of Almighty God. Let us understand that it is our growth that is important to God, not the end result.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for being ever present with us during the chaos of our lives. We thank You that we can call on You every single moment of our lives to be our strength when the trials of life come against us. We pray that You teach us how to live every moment of our lives aware of the sanctifying process that You are taking us through. May our relationships with You mature beyond our expectations as we experience the fullness of Jesus Christ in our lives. May we savor each moment, knowing that it brings glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord over all, Jesus Christ.

The Awesome Convergence of Salvation and Sanctification

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Every born again believer stands in the same place. We are not what we ought to be, but we are not what we use to be either. This is the awesome convergence of salvation and sanctification. We are at once saved when we accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior. From that moment on, we enter into the process of letting go of who we used to be in order to become who we will be in Christ.

Jesus loves us just as we are, but He loves us so much that He cannot allow us to stay where we are. With His indwelling, we find ourselves in the constant battle of our flesh and our new spirit in Christ. We must let go of everything old – guilt, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, addiction, depression, despair, fear. These are the things of the flesh. These are the things that hinder us in our process of sanctification. These are the things that Jesus Christ freed us from when He died on the Cross.

The progress of sanctification, dying to sin more and more, and living to righteousness more and more, is the work of the renewal of our minds. This work will continue until the day we stand before Almighty God as He sees us in the image of His Son.

Let us discern the will of God in our lives and learn to live the good and acceptable and perfect lifestyles that Jesus Christ won for us on the Cross. Let us renew our minds and free ourselves from the chains of the flesh. Let us claim the victorious spirit-filled lives that Jesus has secured for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son to die for our sins so that we may be free from the corruption of our flesh. We praise You for giving us the Holy Spirit to help us live as new men in Christ instead of men and women of the world. Help us, Lord, to let go of everything in the old man that is hindering our relationship with You. We pray that You strengthen us so that we may cling to Your grace as we continue in our journey of sanctification. We ask all these things in the name of Our Refiner and Our Purifier, Jesus Christ.

The Fruitfulness of Aligning Our Visions with God’s Will and Plan for Our Lives

Isaiah 6:1
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.

As we read in this scripture, Isaiah had a vision of the Lord after the death of a major figure in his life, King Uzziah. We, too, may sense a new vision for our lives when we are faced with a life changing moment such as the loss of a family member or a close friend, the breakup in a personal relationship, the collapse of financial means or the onslaught of a significant injury or illness. At these challenging and life altering times, it is natural for us to question our direction and seek a new course.

Too often, however, we try to rebuild our lives based on our earthly vision of our work, our family or some particular passion (maybe even a ministerial one) that we have for this world. All is for naught until we realize that there is only one vision of substance and value – the unique vision created by Almighty God that aligns with His will and purpose for our lives.

Only when we cast our visions through His focus, can we become truly fruitful. We must go to the Throne Room and seek to learn God’s perfect plan for our lives. Until then we are building stacks of stubble and hay.

Let us humbly go before Our Father in heaven and ask Him to reveal His plan for our lives to us. Let us seek the counsel of the Holy Spirit in directing our steps toward the path of our manifest destiny in Christ. Let us shape our lives around the vision that we receive from the Lord.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing events in our lives that force us to seek You first. Help us, Father, to keep our eyes on Your Throne and Your Glory. May the trappings of the world never again form the foundations of our visions. May You alone be our blessed hope and assurance. We ask all these things in the name of the Strength of Our Lives, Jesus Christ.

The Good and Perfect Purposes That God Has for Each of Us

1 Thessalonians 3:12
And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, the word increase means to become or make greater in size, amount, intensity or degree. It can be assumed that Paul was speaking to all these nuances held in the definition of the word increase when He was writing to the Thessalonians.

It is certain that Paul was encouraging the Thessalonians to continue to increase in numbers just as all the other early Christian churches were doing. It was his prayer that the Lord would cause them to increase through the abounding love that they would have for one another and for the world around them.

It is just as certain that Paul was also teaching that as the Lord provided for their increase in numbers that He would necessarily provide them with an increase in the intensity and fullness of His love. Thus these early Christians would have the increase in the amount of love that they would need to win the world for Jesus Christ. It would, in fact, be their cup spilling over with His perfect love that would draw others to their church and to Christ Himself.

And it would also be in accordance with all of Paul’s other teachings for him to be praying that the Lord would increase the Thessalonians in one other area. Paul was surely praying that there would be an increase in the degree of holiness, humility, knowledge and spiritual joy that would be poured out upon the Thessalonians in the form of the grace of God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Their increase as individuals was critical to the growth of the Body of Christ.

And so it is with us. God calls us to serve Him. He calls each of us to pour out His perfect love to the world around us so that the Body of Christ may increase. Subsequent to our obedience, He adds to us and grows us according to His good and perfect will and purpose for our lives. This process of individual and corporate increase is continuous throughout our lifetimes.

Let us abound in love for one another. Let us share our love for Christ so that others may be drawn to Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the good and perfect purposes that You have for our lives. We rejoice in knowing that we will be able to continually serve You, not only on this earth, but also on into eternity. We pray that You will show us where You are calling us to pour out Your perfect love. Father, we ask that we never tire of the service that is at hand. May we always increase in our service to Your kingdom. We pray, Lord, that we may also increase in our holiness as we serve You. We ask all these things in the name of our holy and awesome Savior, Jesus Christ.

Choosing to Serve God According to His Will and Purposes for Our Lives

Psalm 101:2
I will be careful to lead a blameless life– when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart.

In Psalm 101, David is proclaiming his desire to lead a blameless life and to lead his family in a blameless lifestyle. As Christians, we all try to do what David proclaimed. We plan to be in church whenever the doors are open, we plan to study the Bible daily, we plan to pray more often and we plan to love our neighbors, co-workers, strangers and even our enemies. We plan to have our families follow our good example. Yet we fail just as David failed. At best, we can usually claim limited success.

David sought God passionately, yet he often failed. Because of His love for David, God stood by David and saw to it that His perfect will and plan for David’s life was fulfilled. God loves us with the same perfect love that He had for David. If we seek Him passionately as David did, Our Father in heaven will see to it that His perfect will and plan for our lives is fulfilled just as David’s was. In accordance with His Word in 2 Corinthians 12, He promises to provide us with a way to overcome the frailty and sinfulness of our flesh. “My grace is sufficient. My strength is perfected in your weakness.” When we accept Jesus as Our Savior, the promises of the Father are assured.

Unfortunately, our flesh will continually torment us. Moment by moment as our flesh confronts us, we will also be attacked by the enemy. To maintain a blameless heart, we will have to seek and rely on our promised shelter.

Let us choose to submit to the will of Jesus in our lives. Let us learn to ignore the desires of our flesh. Let us strive to have a blameless heart. Let us be determined to seek and receive the perfect gift of grace that has been promised to provide our victory.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of grace that allows us to overcome the torments of our flesh. We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit remains with us always to provide the strength we need to overcome the attacks of the enemy. As we make our choices in life, Father, we pray that our allegiance is always to You. We pray that we do not waver a moment as we choose to serve You in accordance with Your will and purpose for our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the Great Rock in a Weary Land, Jesus Christ.

The Pathway to Hope

Isaiah 35:8
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.

Each day’s news and headlines confirm that from a spiritual perspective the earth is a den of iniquity, a vast barren desert. It is a rare case indeed when holiness can be found in the news. Looking forward, the content of the news is not likely to improve but to get worse and more hopeless. The social and political systems of mankind are offering nothing that will change things. As time moves forward, the barren desert is converting to a total wasteland through the ongoing deterioration of the morals of mankind.

There is a way of escape, however. There is a pathway that offers hope for anyone and everyone who takes it. The way out of the barren desert is through Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer. He is the way, the truth and the life. Because Jesus took His place on the Cross as part of the Father’s will for His life, we as the redeemed children of God can stand up and find victory in the most difficult of circumstances.

Although our flesh will fight us, by the Word and Spirit of Christ, we that are spiritually blinded by the world can be enlightened. We that are spiritually deaf to the calls of God can be made to hear them readily. We that are struggling in service can be made active and joyfully productive. We that find it difficult to speak of God or to God can have our lips opened to bring forth His praise. We that find it hard to love one another can have our hearts filled with the perfect, loving forgiveness of Our Father in heaven. Most importantly, we that stand alone against the world can find victory in all things of this earth, no matter how trying, if we all stand together in Jesus Christ.

Let us seek the way of holiness that is found in Jesus Christ. Let us learn to live in the light of Christ even though the world around us lives in darkness. Let us become beacons of His light.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the way, the truth and the life that is in Jesus Christ. We thank You for loving us first, so that we may love You and abide in Your will for our lives. We pray that You enlighten us and strengthen us so that we may see and follow the way that You have set aside for us as individuals and as a worldwide community. May Your grace be upon us so that we may be living founts of Your love and holiness to be shared with the world around us. May the world be changed as we all stand together united with Our Savior. We ask all these things in the name of Our Refuge from the Storm, Jesus Christ.

May the Fruits of Our Obedience Delight the Lord

2 Chronicles 27:6
King Jotham became powerful because he was careful to live in obedience to the LORD his God.

Jotham became king at the age of 28. He was obedient in all things. Because of his faithfulness, he was given victory in all of his battles and a resting place of honor when he died.

God does not overlook a single thing in our lives. Everything that we do is examined by Him. He delights in our obedience in even the simplest of acts.

On the other hand, we can miss out on the promises of God in our lives simply by not complying to the small things of life that the Holy Spirit may place on our hearts. How many times have we passed up the opportunity to assist a grouchy neighbor, lend a helping hand to a needy stranger or respond politely and with love when receiving poor service? Each time we passed on one of these or numerous other Holy Spirit led opportunities, we deprived God of His delight in us. It is quite possible that we also limited the release of His power in our lives. It is important that we seek and give full consideration to the will of God concerning all elements of our daily lives.

Let us listen to the urgings of the Holy Spirit as we go through our daily activities. Let us surrender ourselves to being vessels of the perfect love and forgiveness that we have received from Our Heavenly Father. May the fruits of our obedience delight the Lord.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the opportunity to bring honor and glory to Your Name when we allow the marvel of Your grace to be exhibited in our lives. Teach us, Father, to recognize You and Your love in the simplest of tasks that are performed in service to others. Lord, we pray that You release the fullness of Your power in our lives as we learn to share Your perfect love and forgiveness with the world around us. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord of Our Lives, Jesus Christ.

Learning to Pray Properly for the Things that We Need

Luke 11:10
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Whether we lack food, shelter, finances or wisdom, the Lord promises to provide us with our needs. He also promises to provide us with the desires of our hearts. But in all these things, He provides according to His perfect timing and His will for our lives.

God in His love promises that He will provide ample supply for all of our needs. Quite often, however, we experience a delay between our prayers and the answers to our prayers. In His infinite wisdom, Our Heavenly Father uses the experience of the delay for the express purpose of our edification.

If there were never any delays between our prayers and God’s provision, we would lose sight of the fact that God is controlling the process and not us. We would also lose the perspective that God wants us to rely on His grace for all things. We would lose the fervency of our prayers.

Because of the delay experience, we learn to go to the Holy Spirit to get help with our prayers. We learn that our prayers are too often coming from the desires of our flesh and not the desires of our spirit. By turning to the Holy Spirit, we learn to put our prayers in line with God’s will for our lives.

Let us turn to the Holy Spirit for the inspiration of our prayer content. Let us learn to rely on the Holy Spirit to align our prayers with the will and plan that Almighty God has for our lives. Let us rejoice in knowing that every need in our lives will be faithfully met through this powerful supernatural process.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace that is the source of all of our provision. We thank You for the perfect timing of Your answers for our prayers. We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to help us pray properly for the things that we need. We pray that You show us Your will for our lives so that our prayers will be in accordance with Your plans for our lives. May our Holy Spirit inspired prayers touch Your heart so that You release from Your hands all that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of the Power of God, Jesus Christ.