Dear God,
We
proclaim Your goodness throughout the Earth. You are our only need and the
desires of our hearts are fulfilled in You alone. In the midst of the unknown,
we must surrender to You daily. We release what we cannot control, and we
steward well the life, the calling, and the commands You have already given to
us. Fill us with the Holy Spirit, Lord, and give us Your strength for this day.
Sustain us to be obedient in our thoughts, words, and actions. We need You,
Lord, and in Your mighty hands we hand over what belongs to You. Lord, we
belong to You.
In
Jesus name we pray,
Amen
Should
we seek out God’s will for our lives? Something we think about a lot is what God
wants for us. We pray prayers like “God reveal Your will for my life.” I think
we’re praying wrong. God has convicted me of how we seek God’s will.
Let’s clear the air!
The Bible is full of God’s will (His desire for how we should live/how things
should go according to His perfect ways). You don’t have to look that hard
honestly.
We know that we should not live life by our
own wisdom or thoughts.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my
ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than
your ways
and my thoughts than your
thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9
Thank goodness God’s ways are higher than our ways. I want you to think about some of the dumbest decisions you made in complete or even incomplete confidence at the time. Regrets. Chaos. Scars.
Let God’s thinking rule over ours.
Some of God’s will looks like:
1. God wants us to love Him.
God is jealous for you.
“Wait, isn’t jealousy a sin?”
1 Corinthians 13
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It does not dishonour others,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
and it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
and always perseveres.
Love never fails.
Envy vs Jealousy
Envy is when you want what doesn't belong
to you. The flashy car. The nicest house on the block. Someone else’s life.
Jealousy is when you want what belongs to
you.
If you get married one day, and your spouse
puts all their time, energy, and love into another person outside of your
relationship -- you should rightfully be jealous -- and if not, why did you
marry them if not to belong to each other?
God wants you all to Himself. It’s not
selfish or crazy or #toxic. You were made by God for God to enjoy God. If God
gave you to something or someone else, that wouldn't be love because you
would suffer. God doesn’t suffer when you don’t love Him as in His life
isn’t better with you. No offense. I’m sure you’re cool, but God doesn’t need
anyone to be whole, complete, or have fullness of love experienced. Yet, we
are the ones who are wretched without Him.
God loves you too much to share you with
what would be superficial, unfulfilling, and ultimately harmful to you and
others. God doesn’t want you to miss out on the best relationship you could
have! God’s will is for you to love him so wholly and fully that your life
would revolve on Him. You might even start asking Him what to eat for lunch
today!
God doesn’t want you to just love Him like
you love the beach or hot chocolate on a cold day. God wants you to be
consumed with love for Him.
Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the
second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the
Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
In a worldly sense, we can almost say God
wants you to be obsessed with Him. If you’ve ever fallen in love, you’re
consumed with the person of your affections. You think of them throughout the
day. You can’t wait to text them or talk to them. You want to share everything:
the good and the bad with them. You do things that would make them happy and
you stop doing things that would upset them. You spend time with them. You care
for the people they care about. You take interest in their passion and goals.
You love them more than yourself.
God’s will is for you to love Him.
2. God wants us to love other people/be in
community.
As we just read in the previous verses,
God’s second most important will is to love others.
In C.S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity (one
of my all time favorites), it talks about love in such a beautifully articulate
way. Love can be such an abstract concept. In the world, it can be shown in
families, friendships, relationships, and whatever our heart desires.
“You are told to love your neighbour as
yourself. How do you love yourself? When
I look into my own mind, I find that I do not love myself by thinking of myself
a dear old chap or having affectionate feelings. I do not think that I love
myself because I am particularly good, but just because I am myself and
quite apart from my character. I might detest something which I have done.
Nevertheless, I do not cease to love myself. In other words, that definite
distinction that Christians make between hating sin and loving the sinner is
one that you have been making in your own case since you were born. You dislike
what you have done, but you don't cease to love yourself. You may even think
that you ought to be hanged. You may even think that you ought to go to the
Police and own up and be hanged. Love is not
affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as
far as it can be obtained.”
Love is not only a choice. Love is also not
based on any character quality or doing (call out for anyone (me) who thinks
good work is the only way people love us). It is based on this sense of self we
have (as we have been made in the image of God), and it is a desire for the
best for ourselves.
When we love someone, we desire the best for them even at the cost of ourselves. Putting them in the place we usually put ourselves. However, in order to do that we need to have an “us” or sense
of self in the first place. People may think that this sounds like spineless
(perhaps simp) behavior, but if anything it is an act of strength because we do
have our own desires and will in the first place.
It is not love to let someone do whatever
they want to you because you think you don’t deserve love or compassion. It’s
not tearing yourself down to build someone else up. It is not letting someone be abusive or hurtful to you because it's easier for them to have their way than stand up to them. It is actually acknowledging the greatness and glory of who you
are, yet not using it as a way to lord over others even if you have the
full rights/power/privilege to do so. It is knowing that you have the
capability and opportunity to do whatever you want for your own good, but in an
act of amazing love to give it up for someone else to have instead.
Philippians 2: 1-8
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,
if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any
tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded,
having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of
selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above
yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests
of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ
Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality
with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature
of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to
death—
even death on a cross!
When
I read Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero, I realized (1) how I
didn’t know myself that well and (2) how little I valued myself, therefore (3)
how little I valued others. Guys, if you don’t want the best for yourself -- which is God’s best -- then how can you want good things for
others?
If
you are not desperate for God’s goodness in your life first, you will not be
able to pour into others with a half-empty cup. Let yourself be overwhelmed and
full to the brim before you spill into the lives of others.
Have dreams. Have desires. Have passions. Have goals. Yet, have them for the glory of God, not to further your own life, and to be able to pour into others.
Know yourself. Know the God-given interests you have. The ways you serve best in church (welcoming others, serving food, cleaning up after ministry events, prayer teams, inviting people to lunch, offering words of encouragement, inviting friends to service, etc).
If
you want to read about how I love myself (yes, it’s a whole blog post on it’s own
LOL) know that the more I have loved God then loved myself, the more and more I
love others. When you see how ridiculously amazing God made you to be, you will
see other people in the same light. You will see their brokenness for sure, but
you will look beyond that -- beyond their current character, appearances, and
their past -- to see them as fellow image bearers of God. Fearfully and
wonderfully made.
When you know how loved you are by God, you no longer look at how to take from others. You value them for their full worth. You don't need them to give you identity, purpose, joy, or love. You look to God for all your needs, and you look to them in a way to add to their lives.
You stop coming into places with a consumerist mentality. You don't look at a church with critical eyes on how they do worship or prayer or ask for tithes. You look at how you can give to the body of Christ as Jesus gave and continues to give to us.
3. God wants us to ask Him for
things!
Before
you ask for the newest iPhone (as of now the 13), let’s clarify the heart God requires of you before you ask Him for
things. Many times we can focus on partial truth like "God wants to give you
what you want"! "You don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God." Are
these statements completely false? No, but we have to consider the fullness of
scripture as to not deceive ourselves. Even Satan can quote and use scripture
for his own purposes.
Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the
desires of your heart.
James 4: 2-3: You desire but do not have,
so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and
fight. You do not have because you do
not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong
motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and
all these things will be added to you.
Psalm
37 is a great example of how the right desire leads to response from God. It’s
a cocktail mix of our free will and God’s will. When we decide to find our
ultimate delight in God (not in people, your career, your relationship, your
bank account, your follower count, your talents, your own will for your life),
God will give us the desires of our heart which is...Himself!
If
you think that is a bad deal, I would ask you how valuable it would be if Bill
Gates or Jeff Bezos adopted you but like a million times better. The truth is
we are so numbed and blinded to the goodness of God because we delight in the
gifts He gives us (and everything good is from God), but we don’t delight in
the Giver. We want God just enough to get into heaven, yet we fight to live in
hell on Earth by denying His presence, His will, and His commands in our life.
What’s
up with that?
So,
you should definitely pray for things you want, but before you even close your
eyes or bow your head -- ask yourself if
you want what God wants first. Does what you want align with the Word? Does
what you want come from discernment through prayer and community? Does what you
want come with peace and joy from the Holy Spirit?
What
you want also may be good, but it also may be in the wrong season. It might be
fruit that’s for the spring that you are craving in the summer, yet planting
the seeds will not yield any fruit and waste the seeds, your time, your energy,
and leave you with nothing. Focus on your field for this season. Yield the best
crops of your life with the seeds God has already given to you.
Spend
time with God. Love others. Pray. Read the Bible. Listen to worship music. Go
to church. Find a close community of a few people to really walk through life
with. Serve in ministry. Take care of yourself.
The
cool thing about how you spend this season of your life and the fruit you’ll
produce is that it’s going to overflow and feed others. It’s going to multiply.
It’s going to be so abundant that people will look at your life (metaphorical
farm) and ask you what you did to cultivate this life. That’s my goal. I live a
life with God so fruitful and abundant, not in worldly materials or external
appearances, but in hope, faith, and love that people are drawn. They are
loved. They are seen. They are comforted. They want what I have -- and the best
part is that it’s all theirs for the taking in the open hands of Jesus.
Another
cool thing is that the work and effort God trains you in one season will make
it easier and even more fruitful for the next season. As you practice
obedience, it becomes easier to obey God in more difficult situations. As you
practice faith, obstacles that you would’ve once avoided or felt defeated by
are overcome with prayer and hope instead. As you stay committed to your
season, God gives you the ability to not be shaken when the troubles of life
come your way.
God is training you because to give you
what’s good when the timing is not right, when you are not equipped with the
skills and ability to carry out that season for His full glory to be shown, and
when others are not yet ready to receive is an act of evil. God is not evil.
God is good. God is the giver of all good things.
James 1:17: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows.
When
the season you are waiting for comes, it will be better than you could’ve
imagined. That’s the story of my life. Better than I knew it could be. Better
than I hoped for. Better than my prayers could ever have the faith to reach.
So,
ask God for things you know He would want.
You
know God wants His glory. You know God wants you to love Him more and others
more. You know God wants you to build in your hope, faith, and love. You
know...so much actually! It’s not some mystery what God wants, He’s so clear He
wrote a whole book about it.
“What about my life specifically, Grace?”
Okay, yeah - this isn’t going to tell you
what church is right for you or if you should take this job offer or if you should pursue this person romantically.
That’s so valid. I don’t know though that’s why I’m telling you to ask God. He
knows! Some advice I gave in my last
post is to make a choice (that’s not a sin/wrong in your heart), that
cultivates faith, hope, and love. I will stick by it!
God will also honor the choices you made
from faithfully seeking Him out. Maybe the choice itself is AS important as how
much you asked God for help and clarity in this season. Maybe God would change
your heart so much that whether you decided choice A or choice B, either option
would have you be so abundantly blessed OR that if choice A was better that He
would take you back to that option anyways.
That is the awesomeness of God we can trust
in.
He accounts for our heart in choices.
He is fully able to course correct you if
needed.
You
know why you’re not wasting your time, energy, or efforts? Because it’s not
yours to waste. You belong to God, and what belongs to God will never be
wasted. What belongs to you - sure, you can date someone for years and never
get married, you can pick a dead-end job, you can study and fail your test, and
yet, when we decide on a choice by God for God - we can be fully assured of all
the promises that God has in store for those who love Him.
Romans 8:28: And we know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose.
4. God wants us to obey Him.
1 John 5:2: By this we know that we love the
children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
I’m
assuming you’ve read point 1: God wants us to love Him by now, so how do you
know you love God? It’s like if someone you were dating asked you, how do I
know you love me?
Again
- God is so clear. It’s honestly amazing.
If
you love God, you will obey His commandments.
We
have the classic 10 commandments, but Jesus expands on all of those. If you
hate someone in your heart, it’s akin to murder. If you harbor lust towards
someone, it’s akin to adultery.
You
will obey God not only in action but in heart.
Obedience
produces maturity because it asks something of you that you are not able to do
on your own. It asks you for faith you don’t have. It asks you for the love you
lack. It asks you for forgiveness that has run empty and dry.
So, is God cruel to ask you to obey Him when He knows you can’t do what He asked? Nope. God supplies you with His patience, love, endurance, faith, and hope.
Galatians 5: 22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no such law.
The
central arc of the Gospel is that we are NOT enough, yet that God’s grace is
the reason we are children of God. It is by God we have come to salvation alone.
So, when you do anything - you will have no pride about how great you are -
because it will all be done by God.
Ephesians
2:8-9: For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift
of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
God
asks you to obey Him in difficult circumstances, in the unknown, so that He can
give you what you need to endure.
Why
not just give you the gift?
Let
me ask you this!
Someone gives you a #2 pencil as a gift. How happy are you? uhm
Now, how grateful are you when you’re taking a test and it’s
scantron only but you forgot to bring a pencil?
The relief, joy, and thankfulness I feel -
almost as if I have been ripped from the jaws of death - is immense in that
moment. LOL. Not even kidding. So, the gift hasn’t changed, yet you realize
your need for the gift that only someone else can give you.
Let God give you what you need when you
need it so that He can be further glorified. Obey God not because it’s easy,
but because God enables you to obey Him and gives you what you need for this
obstacle and the next.
Also! Let your life be rich in the fruit of the Spirit. Don't be cheap on kindness, love, and goodness. Be extraordinarily lavish. Waste your life on love.
Summary:
You
should still ask for God’s will, but make it less about “for your life” and
keep it more focused on “God, I want to live out the Will that You already have
for me”. God will reveal more in His own timing. Do you think God, Father of
heavenly lights, will leave you in the dark to stumble?
God
wants to give you as much as He knows He can handle.
If
He told you that in the future you would get the career, the ministry life, the
community, the guy/girl, and the relationship with Him for sure -- how many of
us would just call it quits and chill until it happens?
He
reveals His will as you obey not before you obey.
You
don’t get to “conditional” God, it doesn’t work.
God
doesn’t need you to do anything. You have nothing to offer. It’s like a toddler
telling you if you don’t give them ice cream for breakfast,
they’ll...what...what could they do to you? Yet, God is so patient with us. You
could be that toddler. I am that toddler LOL. I am learning obedience in the
unknown with you, fussing and crying, yet God scoops me into His arms and holds
me close. He waits until I’m ready to finally listen then He doesn’t just walk
with me, but He carries me through the season too. God’s will is already here -
live it out!
Dear God,
You
have supplied us with all we need to do all we will do yesterday, today, and
tomorrow. As we walk with You, give us the assurance of peace and hope to trust
where You are leading us. Let each step be an act of faith and surrender. Let
our lives be abounding in love for You and others. Let us be the people You
created us to be before we were even formed. We love You, God, because You
first loved us. We offer to You our lives. We belong to You. Thank You for all
that You’ve done and all that You will do.
In
Jesus name we pray,
Amen
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