By Marvin Curry August 28, 2000
Have you ever tried finding the "will of God" for your life and felt you almost had it within your grasp, only to see it slip away like wet soap in the shower?
Then there are always those nagging questions that keep replaying in your mind. How could this happen to me? I dedicated my life to God, what more does He expect? These questions and more revolve around the real, unstated center concern¾is there ever anything more frustrating than searching for the "will of God?"
Frustrated, we look in the Bible and find that old favorite: "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) We search it out. Then we pray over it asking God for new insight, especially the portion about "that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." It is natural to want to be in the will of God, for we think that if we are in harmony with His will, we will be happy and everything will be perfect. He knows the end from the beginning, and we are His children, so it stands to reason that things will go well for us. Then, when things don't go exactly as we thought they should and problems arise (they always do), we know God hasn't changed, so we automatically assume that we must be out of God's perfect will. Maybe we have unknowingly wandered from "perfect" over into "that good or acceptable will of God." Not what He wants, but will accept for now.
I know this is a problem, for I have struggled with it many times in my life. I wanted to make the perfect decision and I couldn't seem to feel a clear direction, so I agonized before God and my wife. Finally one day when she was tired of hearing me whine and complain because I couldn't find the answer I wanted, she said: "God wants you to be in His will, so why would he make it so hard for you to find it?" That made sense. Maybe I was missing something. So I started searching again. What I saw is that I wasn't out of God's will nearly as much as I didn't understand God's timing. Looking into scripture, we see many times when God spoke something, or revealed His plans to someone, but they, like us, didn't understand the time element God used to develop the individual and unfold His plan.
Abraham was a great man of God. In fact, he was called the friend of God. The New Testament even says that he believed God so much that it was counted unto him for righteousness. (James 2:23) That is incredible faith. When God said that He would make Abraham's seed as the sand of the sea and the stars in the sky, Abraham was confident it would happen. That was proof that he would have a son. Yet Abraham didn't understand God's method or timetable. He realized that he and Sarah were too old to have a son naturally, so he decided to help God fulfill His promise. He took Hagar, his servant, and had a son by her. That certainly fulfilled God's promise. But God didn't need Abraham's help in fulfilling His promise. He will always do it in His time and on His terms. Sure enough, Sarah did have a son named Isaac. Today, Abraham's seed is a multitude, just as God promised.
But God doesn't just deal with adults, but with the youth. God gave Joseph two dreams when he was a teenager, letting him know that someday his family would bow down before him. These dreams were the perfect "will of God" for Joseph, but Joseph wasn't mature enough to handle them. While it was God's will, it was not God's time. God had to send Joseph off to Egypt to develop him so that he could be trusted with the responsibility of ruling the country. Naturally, Joseph didn't mature overnight. It took at least thirteen years and a myriad of experiences before he came into a leadership position, and another seven or eight before he confronted his brothers. Yet in all of his experiences, Joseph was never out of God's will. He knew a little about how God would use him, but none of the details before they developed. God's will is never a destination, but always a journey.
Moses is another example of God's will being implemented at a special moment in time. Circumstances around his birth were special, and then he was taken to Pharaoh's house for training. He was burdened for his own people, but he was limited in what he could do. That is, until he took it upon himself to deliver Israel one at a time and committed murder. He was forced to flee Egypt for Midian. There, in Midian, he spent forty years on the backside of the desert tending sheep, being trained in situations that he would never learn in Egypt. Moses must have wondered why God let him waste his ability on the hills of Midian when his talent was so great. I imagine he felt like he had missed God's will and this was his punishment. But when the time was right, God used him to deliver the Israelites.
Contrary to the previous examples, I believe Paul understood something about God's will and God's timing. In Acts 16:7, Paul and his companions were traveling on a missionary journey. They were planning to go one way, but the Spirit of God stopped them. Then Paul had a vision where a man stood and said; "Come over into Macedonia, and help us." He felt it was of God, so they left immediately.
When they arrived in Macedonia, no one was there to meet them. This is the point where most of us would sit down and wait for the man to show up. Since Paul knew something about God's will and timing, he didn't worry. Instead he did everything he could for the kingdom while he waited to meet the man. He went down by the river to minister to some ladies. (No men were around.) Then he kept going to prayer and ended up casting out the evil spirits from a damsel. It wasn't until after he went to prison that he even met a man who was interested in the gospel, and that was after he was beaten and survived an earthquake. This must have been the man in the vision, for after this experience, he left town.
In his later years, Paul was cast into prison. Imagine what he must have thought as he looked out of those prison bars¾how could this be God's will? Why would God send him, the world's greatest evangelist, to waste away in prison? Actually, he didn't waste away in prison. He knew that wherever God placed him, there was always a work he could do. So, while he was stuck there, he wrote many letters. Today we call them the "Epistles," and God has used those letters to minister to literally millions of people throughout the centuries. If Paul had continued to evangelize, there is no way he could have reached even a fraction of those blessed, encouraged and challenged by the Epistles.
Though we often feel like Abraham, Joseph or Moses, we must act like Paul. We must believe that what God has impressed upon us will happen, and then do everything we can to develop our talents and use every opportunity available to build His kingdom today. God's will is often seen after we travel through the miserable now. At the end of the anguish, God's timing has perfected us for even greater opportunities than we could ever imagine.
ninetyandnine.com
© 2000, Marvin Curry
I want to share this:
When we say God's will, it seem to be perfect and we're really happy to achieve it. And to some people, God already reveals His will ahead of time. But sometimes we dont understand. I came up to this situation. God revealed to me His plan, and according to the revelations given, it's perfect because it's His will. And in reality, I can see that I'm really close to His said will, but it seem so difficult to achieve it. Until I thought I was out of His will.....
Here are the three verses that God reveals to me whenever I'm giving up to trust Him about His will:
Jeremiah 29:11For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
(God revealed to me His will)
Proverbs 3:5(New International Version)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
( I have to trust Him about His will. Trust Him that He can do things without my help. I will go thru pains, but still I have to trust Him because thru these hurts, He's preparing me for His will)
Psalm 37:4Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
(As I wait for His will to happen, I have to put Him at the center of my life. Focus on Him. Use my talents and abilities for Him and He will prepare me for the said will)
Have you ever tried finding the "will of God" for your life and felt you almost had it within your grasp, only to see it slip away like wet soap in the shower?
Then there are always those nagging questions that keep replaying in your mind. How could this happen to me? I dedicated my life to God, what more does He expect? These questions and more revolve around the real, unstated center concern¾is there ever anything more frustrating than searching for the "will of God?"
Frustrated, we look in the Bible and find that old favorite: "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) We search it out. Then we pray over it asking God for new insight, especially the portion about "that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." It is natural to want to be in the will of God, for we think that if we are in harmony with His will, we will be happy and everything will be perfect. He knows the end from the beginning, and we are His children, so it stands to reason that things will go well for us. Then, when things don't go exactly as we thought they should and problems arise (they always do), we know God hasn't changed, so we automatically assume that we must be out of God's perfect will. Maybe we have unknowingly wandered from "perfect" over into "that good or acceptable will of God." Not what He wants, but will accept for now.
I know this is a problem, for I have struggled with it many times in my life. I wanted to make the perfect decision and I couldn't seem to feel a clear direction, so I agonized before God and my wife. Finally one day when she was tired of hearing me whine and complain because I couldn't find the answer I wanted, she said: "God wants you to be in His will, so why would he make it so hard for you to find it?" That made sense. Maybe I was missing something. So I started searching again. What I saw is that I wasn't out of God's will nearly as much as I didn't understand God's timing. Looking into scripture, we see many times when God spoke something, or revealed His plans to someone, but they, like us, didn't understand the time element God used to develop the individual and unfold His plan.
Abraham was a great man of God. In fact, he was called the friend of God. The New Testament even says that he believed God so much that it was counted unto him for righteousness. (James 2:23) That is incredible faith. When God said that He would make Abraham's seed as the sand of the sea and the stars in the sky, Abraham was confident it would happen. That was proof that he would have a son. Yet Abraham didn't understand God's method or timetable. He realized that he and Sarah were too old to have a son naturally, so he decided to help God fulfill His promise. He took Hagar, his servant, and had a son by her. That certainly fulfilled God's promise. But God didn't need Abraham's help in fulfilling His promise. He will always do it in His time and on His terms. Sure enough, Sarah did have a son named Isaac. Today, Abraham's seed is a multitude, just as God promised.
But God doesn't just deal with adults, but with the youth. God gave Joseph two dreams when he was a teenager, letting him know that someday his family would bow down before him. These dreams were the perfect "will of God" for Joseph, but Joseph wasn't mature enough to handle them. While it was God's will, it was not God's time. God had to send Joseph off to Egypt to develop him so that he could be trusted with the responsibility of ruling the country. Naturally, Joseph didn't mature overnight. It took at least thirteen years and a myriad of experiences before he came into a leadership position, and another seven or eight before he confronted his brothers. Yet in all of his experiences, Joseph was never out of God's will. He knew a little about how God would use him, but none of the details before they developed. God's will is never a destination, but always a journey.
Moses is another example of God's will being implemented at a special moment in time. Circumstances around his birth were special, and then he was taken to Pharaoh's house for training. He was burdened for his own people, but he was limited in what he could do. That is, until he took it upon himself to deliver Israel one at a time and committed murder. He was forced to flee Egypt for Midian. There, in Midian, he spent forty years on the backside of the desert tending sheep, being trained in situations that he would never learn in Egypt. Moses must have wondered why God let him waste his ability on the hills of Midian when his talent was so great. I imagine he felt like he had missed God's will and this was his punishment. But when the time was right, God used him to deliver the Israelites.
Contrary to the previous examples, I believe Paul understood something about God's will and God's timing. In Acts 16:7, Paul and his companions were traveling on a missionary journey. They were planning to go one way, but the Spirit of God stopped them. Then Paul had a vision where a man stood and said; "Come over into Macedonia, and help us." He felt it was of God, so they left immediately.
When they arrived in Macedonia, no one was there to meet them. This is the point where most of us would sit down and wait for the man to show up. Since Paul knew something about God's will and timing, he didn't worry. Instead he did everything he could for the kingdom while he waited to meet the man. He went down by the river to minister to some ladies. (No men were around.) Then he kept going to prayer and ended up casting out the evil spirits from a damsel. It wasn't until after he went to prison that he even met a man who was interested in the gospel, and that was after he was beaten and survived an earthquake. This must have been the man in the vision, for after this experience, he left town.
In his later years, Paul was cast into prison. Imagine what he must have thought as he looked out of those prison bars¾how could this be God's will? Why would God send him, the world's greatest evangelist, to waste away in prison? Actually, he didn't waste away in prison. He knew that wherever God placed him, there was always a work he could do. So, while he was stuck there, he wrote many letters. Today we call them the "Epistles," and God has used those letters to minister to literally millions of people throughout the centuries. If Paul had continued to evangelize, there is no way he could have reached even a fraction of those blessed, encouraged and challenged by the Epistles.
Though we often feel like Abraham, Joseph or Moses, we must act like Paul. We must believe that what God has impressed upon us will happen, and then do everything we can to develop our talents and use every opportunity available to build His kingdom today. God's will is often seen after we travel through the miserable now. At the end of the anguish, God's timing has perfected us for even greater opportunities than we could ever imagine.
ninetyandnine.com
© 2000, Marvin Curry
I want to share this:
When we say God's will, it seem to be perfect and we're really happy to achieve it. And to some people, God already reveals His will ahead of time. But sometimes we dont understand. I came up to this situation. God revealed to me His plan, and according to the revelations given, it's perfect because it's His will. And in reality, I can see that I'm really close to His said will, but it seem so difficult to achieve it. Until I thought I was out of His will.....
Here are the three verses that God reveals to me whenever I'm giving up to trust Him about His will:
Jeremiah 29:11For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
(God revealed to me His will)
Proverbs 3:5(New International Version)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
( I have to trust Him about His will. Trust Him that He can do things without my help. I will go thru pains, but still I have to trust Him because thru these hurts, He's preparing me for His will)
Psalm 37:4Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
(As I wait for His will to happen, I have to put Him at the center of my life. Focus on Him. Use my talents and abilities for Him and He will prepare me for the said will)
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