Thursday, June 10, 2010

God's will, and our plans.

"If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your future plans."


I recently read a book on God's will. I really loved it, and it showed
my some amazing things about Gods will. Many of us think of God's will as
something mysterious, or almost a myth. We think that God is going to force
us into this really tight, cramped life were we will be miserable. We all want to be used by God, but how can He use us with this warped image of His will?

One thing that I learned was that God's plans become reality in our life, parallel to our relationship with Him. When we come to a point in our friendship with God that we want to be used by God, that's when He will use us. If we are truly in the Spirit, and in the Word, and in fellowship, then any decision we make is in God's will. Proverbs 11:20 says

"Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the Lord, but the blameless in their ways are His delight."

If we are blameless, and live blameless, dedicated lives, then we are in God's will. When we are truly dedicated to God's will, we won't mind if He sends us to Nigeria, it will be our joy to succumb to His will.

Look at what Jeremiah cries out.

Jeremiah 10:23
I know, Oh Lord, that a mans life is not his own; it is not for a man to direct
his steps.

As we know, Jeremiah was a great man! He knew that God's will in our lives was the only thing that really matters.

Proverbs 16:9

In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

Verses like Jeremiah 10:23 sometimes confuse people. They think that God is going to somehow show them a sign, and that will be His will. God's will unfolds in our life as we live it, and again, God's word shows us His general will for our lives. Many times the plans for our lives are very evident.

We see the life of David as a young boy. He was a very dedicated young man, and a great example to all of us. One day his father sent him on an errand: to take food to his brothers in battle. When David arrived he saw that the children of Israel were being harassed by a giant! David knew that he was no soldier, but he choose to challenge Goliath. David did not wait for a sign from heaven, or a "GO GET HIM" written in the clouds. He took action, and asked God for help. We all know the end of the story, but how did David know the will of God in such a short time? If anything everything was screaming for him not to go. His brothers, the king, and himself. But he did it anyways, and it was definitely God's will. My point is that when we are sitting around, doing nothing, God cannot show us His will, only when we have a fervent relationship with Him, like David did.


We see later on in the life of this great man that he steps out of God's will. He committed adultery. This is clearly out of God's will, but it didn't just happen. Davids relationship with God must have been deteriorating, and his flesh finally became more powerful than God in his life. It was obvious that David stepped out of God's will. When we go our own way, sin is always involved. Every time we do something out of God's plan for our lives, we are sinning. David committed adultery, Peter denied Jesus, Judas betrayed Him. These are all things that are sin, and are clearly out of God's plan.

In life we are faced with decisions that both seem right, but only one will be chosen. Like which college to go to, or what to study. These choices are no doubt critical, but God will make is obvious which choice is right, in His time. Asking questions like "How will this benefit the kingdom of heaven?" Are questions that can help us see what is the right path. God puts older people in our life for us to learn from them. When in a hard situation, their wisdom can be very valuable in our lives.

I hope I expressed my self clearly, and that I didn't ramble. Tell me what you think about God's will. Any thoughts?

-Jerry

2 comments:

  1. Great topic, Jerry! You did not ramble, you spoke (or wrote) the truth. :) This is a really difficult time for all of us since we're young and deciding what we want to do with our lives. We're trying to find God's will for our lives and to be honest, it's usually hard to determine what is our desire and what is God's plan. It takes alot of prayer to be able to determine that. And most of the time it's not only prayer, but the wise counsel of our parents, pastors, and other people we trust.

    I actually just started reading a book on God's Will today. It's called "In the Meantime: The Practice of Proactive Waiting". I've already learned so much in the first three chapters! It talks about how people want to be used by God. We pray "Lord, use us" but we don't realize that we don't need to ask Him to use us. It's in His very nature to use us to advance His Kingdom, therefore, we don't have to ask. Instead, I believe we should be praying for moments to be used by Him. We should pray for the hearts of the people we're going to help or witness to. We need to pray that God would fill us with the Holy Spirit to be used by Him. I know this may seem like off topic, but really, it's not. Our passion should be to witness. That is definitely part of God's will for every one of our lives. We need to be preparing for that.

    The book also talks about the people who manhandle the situation and the ones who over-spiritualize things. The man-handlers are the impatient ones who think that if God tells them something, they should take action right away. Why wait? Why pray? God already revealed to them what they have to do, right? Wrong. You may have a vision from God, but there needs to be a balance on how you go about things. You still need to pray and you still need to ask for guidance from the people you trust. You still need to determine "when" it's Gods will for you to accomplish His plan for you. It may be tomorrow, next week, next year, or in five years, but you need to pray to see when Gods will should be fulfilled in your life. The over-spiritualistic makes too much out of nothing. He thinks that the minimal thing that happened last night it a sign from God for him to do something. He prays, prays, prays, prays, and prays but never seeks guidance or takes action because he still needs to pray more and find out what is Gods will when it's already absolutely clear to him what he has to do; he just needs guidance to determine how to go about it! Again, it goes back to what I said above. We need to pray and seek guidance, not just one or the other. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to.

    Also, we should keep in mind that our parents' and pastors' opinions play a big role in deciding God's will. There are exceptions, but usually, God will use them to lead us to His will. So, we really should pay attention to what our leaders tell us as they usually are much wiser. :) well, I hope I didn't ramble here ;) I'm excited to read what the rest think about this...

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  2. "The lord determines his steps..."
    I'll keep that in mind.

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