“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21)
As we take a closer look at eight aspects of God’s will and its constant resistance; it is my prayer that the Word of God will give you an even deeper revelation concerning this crucial and at times ignored and misunderstood topic.
1. The center of our prayers must be for God’s will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven.”
| “And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” (Luke 11:2)How can some preach that the Kingdom of God is already here; that we are in the millennium years when the will of God has not even been established among His own people? We still find ourselves arguing with God as our will continues to stand as rebellious monuments before God. I am not talking about God’s permissible will or any other kind of will, Jesus is telling us to pray for God’s will to be established on this planet exactly as it established in heaven. In heaven, even as the angels also have free will; no other will is acceptable, but the will of God; there is no arguments there. How I know, ask the devil and all the angels that believed his lie.2. Jesus is our example; we must do God’s will even if it costs us our own lives. |
“And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:39-42)
We must understand that the part of Jesus that did not wanted to die was his flesh. In Jesus’ case it was not only the fact that He was going to be killed and not only the way He was going to be kill (The cross), but all that was to take place before He even got on the cross; the beating, the crown of thorns, the mental abuse, etc. etc. etc. No flesh wants to volunteer to such death. It was not Jesus’ will to die that way, however; and this is where He gives us one of His greatest examples, Jesus surrendered to the will of the Father as he says: “…Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.” This is our problem; this is where we find ourselves arguing with God; we pick and choose what part of His will we will do and don’t do according to our feelings and wants. But Jesus trusted the Father and the Father’s will not only resurrected His Son, but many of us were resurrected with Him also. God’s will always serves a greater purpose, a purpose that goes beyond ourselves.
3. Our love for the world and our unchanging mind-set stands as obstacles to God’s will
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
The world has a way of sounding and looking so smart and attractive. It is almost like we believe the lie that following Jesus is having to “miss-out” on the fun. The world continues, just as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, to look very pleasing to the eye. So we go after the world; the worlds ideas of entertainment: Hollywood, the TV Shows, the Clubs, the music we sing, the music we dance, the fashion, the way we talk and the list goes on and on. The world teaches us what we should have and what we should do; so we get in debt to get and to do. As our mind and thought process’ dance with the world, the things of God seem less and less attractive; never mind that Jesus actually came to give us life in abundance (John 10:10). We are offered top quality Sea Food and Meats, but we glorify hotdogs and pork skin. We have trillions of dollars at our disposal, but we continue to insist that a hundred dollars a week is the life.
4. The great deception of the world; it is all and forever will be and unfinished Tower
“And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:17)
This is just like the devil; so deceptive! The world that we so much adore will pass away. Even the lust that many have for the world will also come to an end. Only the will of God is the ticket that we have been freely offered to stand when all have gone down all around us. The will of God is the victorious team, the winning side, the side of the champions, the more than over-comers, the ones that conquered where the fun really is and where the real party takes place. Believe when I tell you, the world has nothing on God; we do not miss out when we follow God, the world tragically does.
5. Run away from the fornication factor
“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3)
Here we can see that God is specifically telling us to abstain from fornication. The danger against fornication is mentioned almost in every book in the New Testament. Why so? Because fornication leads to relationships from hell! I don’t know about you, but I have been in some ungodly relationships and it is, without a doubt, one of the easiest ways of getting God’s people off track. An ungodly relationship is, in my opinion, one of, if not the greatest, weapon the devil uses to kill the will of God in us. Fornication will rob us of our relationship with God; our prayer life. Our meditation on the things of God will be quickly vanished from our minds. This is without counting the damage that it causes to the others involved and in many cases even the children born out of the sanctity of marriage. There is also a strong connection between fornication, drugs and alcohol addictions and domestic violence.
6. It is God’s will, no matter what we are going through, to be thankful to Him
“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Why it is that thanksgiving is so important? Psalm 100:4 gives us the answer: “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” Beloved, without thanksgiving, we will never be able to even enter the manifested presence of God. A thankful heart focuses on what God is doing and not in what is taking place in the world. A thankful heart focuses on God’s power and not in the challenges of this life. A thankful heart focuses on God’s blessings and not in the vanity of this world. So we are encouraged, in every “thing,” to give thanks to God. A thankful heart is full of love; full of faith; and it is the greatest weapon against the ministry of discouragement and the constant agitation for giving up.
7. In order for us to experience the promises of God we need to do the will of God; in order to do the will of God we need patience
“For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” (Hebrews 10:36)
No doubt that every person I know wants to enjoy the promises of God (The good stuff!) But many of us are dying every day without ever experiencing the promises that God had for them; why…because they live a life according to their own gospel and their own will and not according to the will of God. Many try to do God’s will and that is where they mess-up. They will of God is not to try like you try everything else; we must surrender to His will, blindly. That is why another ingredient is necessary in this journey of doing God’s will and that is: “Patience.” Patience is defined as: “The ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset. or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties.” The New King James Version uses the word “Endurance.” The word endurance also has a lovely definition: “The ability or power to bear prolonged exertion, pain, or hardship.” So, in order to do God’s will, we need both patience and endurance because all the darkness of hell will come against you. You may already be thinking that it is hard to do God’s will. It is not hard my friends, it is impossible without the power of God. However, as Elder Phil Hartland taught me, “Doing God’s will is hard, but the end-result is easy. Walking according to our will is easy, but the end-result is hard.” Yes! We must pray for patience as patience is the endurance needed to fight this fight and finish this race.
8. If you are going to fake something until you make it, fake doing His will, even as you don’t feel like it.
“For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” (1 Peter 2:15)
Our behavior or, what others see us doing, is important for God. God desires changes from the inside, out. However, we must strictly watch the way we behave in front of others as well as in our secret place. Our “well doing” is the greatest weapon to silence the ignorance of people that hate God and His ways. We must watch what we do beloved! The idea that we can walk around doing whatever we want and at the same time be careless for a lost humanity and young Christians is irresponsible and un-loving. There are things that at times I am sure many responsible Christians feel like doing, but for the sake of others, they don’t; that is love. In First Corinthians 8:13 the Apostle Paul tells us: “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.” I am afraid that many of us have acted as silent foolish men with our un-Godly behavior. May the Lord help us all to see the deception of the ways of the world and the vanity of our minds; may we welcome Jesus not only as our Savior, but also as our Lord. May all stop arguing against the ways of God!
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