"All the Law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself" (Gal. 5:14, CEB).
"Because of this, don't be ignorant, but understand the Lord's will" (Eph. 5:17, CEB).
"[B]ut act like slaves of Christ carrying out God's will from the heart" (Eph. 6:6, CEB).
"[He will] equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight..." (Heb. 13:21, ESV).
God promises to make His will known in Scripture as the privilege of children of God; it's our responsibility to inquire and to search it out. No one can claim a lack of revelation! We have no excuses because we have both the resident Spirit and the complete will of God in the living Word (cf. Acts 20:27), as well as spiritual overseers who have a word of wisdom or knowledge to discern. Wisdom is merely knowing the best means to the best ends, and God's will is always the wise choice. We never sacrifice anything for God's will but are always in a win-win situation. Therefore, in exchange for the awesome privilege of knowing God's will as individual priests, comes the duty to carry it out.
We must no longer insist on being in charge of our lives, but must surrender once and for all time, (cf. Rom. 12:1-2) and be constantly or daily renewed to a willingness to do His will once known. Jesus did say that anyone willing to do His will would know it (cf. John 7:17). This surrender to God's will is what is meant by accepting His lordship as an unconditional surrender, and another way of saying it is to follow Jesus through thick and thin, come whatever may, and let the chips fall where they may. Our motto ought to be to do God's will, as indeed was Jesus' own philosophy of life, as He always interposed the Father's will on His own.
The Lord directs our steps and delights in us doing His will. We exchange our life for His and substitute His will for ours, as we don't so much as an imitation, as an inhabitation. This is also known as relinquishment. We are not called to be stoics though, and to grin and bear it, no matter what, and just accept our "fate." Ours is not a philosophy of the "stiff upper lip." We make voluntary choices and are responsible for them--life is about making choices. The biggest problem we have is stubbornness and God is able to give us a change of heart and make us willing to do His will (cf. Ezek. 36:26; Phil. 2:13). This is when we die to ourselves and put Jesus in charge of our life as our autopilot.
The problem with Christians, though, is not finding God's will, but doing it; we are blessed by doing it, not just knowing it. As they say: "Good intentions, poor follow-through." There is a constant struggle to say "Yes" to Jesus' will, but we must first say "No" to ourselves. The more surrendered we become, the freer we are the less enslaved to sin. We must always subordinate our wills to God's and forget about Number One as being the chief care in our life. We will find that it is hard to kick against the goads, as Paul found out, and this means fighting God's will. Because the essence of doing God's will is a life of obedience, sacrifice, discipline, and commitment.
"Because of this, don't be ignorant, but understand the Lord's will" (Eph. 5:17, CEB).
"[B]ut act like slaves of Christ carrying out God's will from the heart" (Eph. 6:6, CEB).
"[He will] equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight..." (Heb. 13:21, ESV).
God promises to make His will known in Scripture as the privilege of children of God; it's our responsibility to inquire and to search it out. No one can claim a lack of revelation! We have no excuses because we have both the resident Spirit and the complete will of God in the living Word (cf. Acts 20:27), as well as spiritual overseers who have a word of wisdom or knowledge to discern. Wisdom is merely knowing the best means to the best ends, and God's will is always the wise choice. We never sacrifice anything for God's will but are always in a win-win situation. Therefore, in exchange for the awesome privilege of knowing God's will as individual priests, comes the duty to carry it out.
We must no longer insist on being in charge of our lives, but must surrender once and for all time, (cf. Rom. 12:1-2) and be constantly or daily renewed to a willingness to do His will once known. Jesus did say that anyone willing to do His will would know it (cf. John 7:17). This surrender to God's will is what is meant by accepting His lordship as an unconditional surrender, and another way of saying it is to follow Jesus through thick and thin, come whatever may, and let the chips fall where they may. Our motto ought to be to do God's will, as indeed was Jesus' own philosophy of life, as He always interposed the Father's will on His own.
The Lord directs our steps and delights in us doing His will. We exchange our life for His and substitute His will for ours, as we don't so much as an imitation, as an inhabitation. This is also known as relinquishment. We are not called to be stoics though, and to grin and bear it, no matter what, and just accept our "fate." Ours is not a philosophy of the "stiff upper lip." We make voluntary choices and are responsible for them--life is about making choices. The biggest problem we have is stubbornness and God is able to give us a change of heart and make us willing to do His will (cf. Ezek. 36:26; Phil. 2:13). This is when we die to ourselves and put Jesus in charge of our life as our autopilot.
The problem with Christians, though, is not finding God's will, but doing it; we are blessed by doing it, not just knowing it. As they say: "Good intentions, poor follow-through." There is a constant struggle to say "Yes" to Jesus' will, but we must first say "No" to ourselves. The more surrendered we become, the freer we are the less enslaved to sin. We must always subordinate our wills to God's and forget about Number One as being the chief care in our life. We will find that it is hard to kick against the goads, as Paul found out, and this means fighting God's will. Because the essence of doing God's will is a life of obedience, sacrifice, discipline, and commitment.
We don't try to fit God into our plans, but make no plans without His guidance. Christians have a lighter yoke to bear than the Jews (cf. Matt. 11:29), who were under the Mosaic Law; the yoke of following God's will is light when Jesus is in control and guides us, never forsaking us. Some Christians ignore God's will, and these believers are actually practical atheists because their lives show no difference from those of the world. We don't want God to consign us to our way and say to us: "Okay, have it according to your will!" As is the case with everyone, our problem is not in knowing God's will, but in doing it--we don't have guidance issues, but submission ones. Christianity, according to Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1979 and now canonized, is doing the will of God with a smile--[all else is commentary].
We must know God and His will if we want to know how to live, the infidel doesn't know these things. We don't want God to say to us that we can have our own will, because God is wiser and His plan for us is best. So get on board with God and get with the program! David was a man after God's own heart because he fulfilled all God's will. In the final analysis, we must ask ourselves if we are the master of our fate and the captain of our soul, or does the Lord own us? "He will do unto me whatever he has planned, he controls my destiny" (Job 23:14, NLT). Soli Deo Gloria!
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