Complete in Thee: To Know God's Will

Monday, January 18, 2010

To Know God's Will

Lately I have been thinking very much about what I am going to do when I graduate. I am so full of so many plans, but they are all different, and I want to know what God's plans for me are so that I can follow them! Then there is the question: How do I even know God's will? How can I see what are the desires of my heart and flesh or the desires He has put in my heart?

"The desires of your heart" is a phrase from Psalm 37. Remembering that the other night, I decided to turn to that psalm. Then I realized that God tells us how there. He tells us in very distinct steps.

Trust in the Lord-- Take your hands off the steering wheel and let Him drive.
Do good-- Don't worry about what you don't know; obey what you do know.
Delight thyself in the Lord-- Don't look for contentment in anything/anyone else.
Commit thy way unto the Lord-- Let Him direct your path; give it to Him and let Him lead.
Trust also in Him-- Again, take your hands off the steering wheel and let Him drive. How many times does He need to tell us before we actually believe it enough to obey it??
Rest in the Lord-- Don't be agitated and fretful; rest!
Wait patiently for Him-- Know that God will work out His will in His perfect timing!
Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way-- Stop worrying about other people. Keep moving forward with God.

Not surprisingly, we read only a few verses later, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighted in his way (or, 'when he delights in His way')." We need to continue to look to God, search His word, and keep open ears and willing hearts. It's not our business to know all that God has planned for us, but to obey His will in each incident as it comes and to trust Him that He knows what He's doing.

So what is God's plan for me? Working overseas with a children's ministry? Staying at home and serving wherever the opportun

ity arises, such as staying with Hadleys for a week here and there, or helping teach the Byers kids? Getting married? (Please, Lord, not yet! :-P ) Launching into full-time writing? I may not need to know just now; but I do need to continue to trust, do good, delight, commit, rest, and wait... God will lead! And if I keep my eyes on Him and keep following Him, He will lead me to the right place and situation! Thank you, Lord!

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PRAYER REQUESTS

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:18)

PLEASE PRAY...

* That I would draw nearer to God every day and never allow my relationship to become stagnant ritual; particularly that I would grow in the area of submission, patience, 1 Corinthians 13 love, and wholehearted devotion

* That I might have wisdom as I edit "The Marquis' Daughter"; that the Lord would bless and work through it; and that I might find just the right publisher for it.

* That I would submit to the Lord's work in my life, whatever it may be; that I would take each opportunity He brings me (even the seemingly hard ones) to draw closer to Him and point others to Him

*That our Etsy shop might be successful and that it would be a means by which we can glorify God and share the Gospel

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

"The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?"

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

"If God, like a father, denies us what we want now it is in order to give us some far better thing later on. The will of God, we can rest assured, is invariably a better thing."

"Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty."

"Victory over all the circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts and control our actions and emotions. Learn in the days of ease and comfort, to think in terms of the prayer that follows, so that when the days of hardship come you will be fully prepared and equipped to meet them."

"And shall I pray, Oh, change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
Ah no, Lord, no, that never could be, rather
I pray Thee, Blend my human will with Thine."

"A crucified life cannot be self-assertive. It cannot protect itself. It cannot be startled into resentful words. The cup that is full of sweet water cannot spill bitter-tasting drops, however sharply it is knocked."

"And as we rest our hearts upon what we know (the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good), leaving what we do not know to the Love that has led us all our life long, the peace of God enters into us and abides. And then we see our light."

[A Practicing Christian]...it means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God. It means looking at everything as something that comes from Him, and always looking to Him and asking His will first, and saying, "How would he wish me to deal with this?"

Christ says: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you."

"I was not born to be free. I was born to adore and to obey."

"What is saving but taking us out of the dark into the light? There is no salvation but to know God and grow like Him."

"I will not try to convince you of anything about God. I cannot. You must know Him. I only tell you I believe in Him with all my heart. You must ask Him to explain Himself to you, and not take it for granted that He has done you a wrong because He has done what you do not like. Whether you seek Him or not, He will do you justice. But He cannot explain Himself unless you seek Him."

"Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything is changed. That life is no more what it was. Better it ought to be, worse it may be. The result depends on the life itself and it's response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, it's spiritual weather is altered. But for the one who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophies never come but where they are turned around for good in his own life and in other lives he touches."