God’s Will

Let's talk about God's will. But in doing so, we'll have to address the big question of God and His sovereignty. Is He in control? Why does He allow bad to happen in this world? I hear these questions on a pretty regular basis.

First of all, can we even really know God's will? The word "will" refers to a desire, an agenda, or something that someone wants to see happen. It can also refer to a legal document drawn up that communicates a person's final wishes, usually pertaining to possessions or dependents. Both of these types of "wills" are absolutely knowable! In fact, it says that we are not to be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is (Ephesians 5:17).

That seems pretty blunt. In praying for the Colossians, Paul prayed and desired that they might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding (Colossians 1:9). Knowing God's will is possible. And we aren't to be ignorant of it. But where do we go from here?

At one point, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. He instructed them how. He told them to say, "Our Father which is in Heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, as in Heaven, so in Earth" (Luke 11:1-2). I can tell you that I'd prayed that prayer a thousand times as a catholic and never thought twice. But now that I'm not just going through the motions, but really thinking properly on this, it began to make real sense.

He was saying that we are to come to our Father in the Heavenly country, which is a real place, and begin by giving Him honor and praise. Then, we pray for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done right here in our current situation on planet Earth as it currently and officially already is in Heaven. This implies that His will doesn't automatically happen. You see, in Heaven, there is no lack, no doubt, no deficiencies whatsoever. If you're sick in your body, that means there is a lack of health somewhere. That health was meant for you and me. That's the way it was supposed to be. You can trace that all the way back to the Garden of Eden before the fall. There was total peace and harmony everywhere, especially between God and man. Sickness would have been a hard concept for Adam to grasp.  Sadly, healing has become a harder concept for us to grasp these days.  My, how far we have fallen!

Since the fall of man and the sin of man, the door was opened wide for the enemy to come in and wreak havoc. Let it be clear that it is the devil desires to deceive. Not God. Healing is the children's bread. It belongs to His children (Mark 7:27). When that leper came to Jesus in Matthew 8, he didn't have a problem with the ability of Jesus to heal him. However, he wasn't fully convinced of His willingness. But the answer from Jesus was simple and direct. He said, "I will" or "I am willing" or "It is my will for you to be whole". Now when Jesus said that, He meant it for all men for all time. How can I say such a strong thing like that? Because Jesus is the perfect revelation of the Father (John 1:18).

Jesus is the brightness of God's glory (Hebrews 1:1-3) and the exact representation and express image of the person of God. He told Philip that whosoever has seen Him had seen the Father (John 14:9). He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). Jesus put a face on God! If we ever truly want to know who God is and how God is, we should look at Jesus. Do we ever see Jesus in the Scriptures turning away people from getting healed? No. Therefore, God would never do such a thing. Jesus said that He only does what He sees the Father do (John 5:19), nothing more or less. Hey, I hope you are seeing that He removed the guesswork. What wonderful news! We can look at Jesus and see the heart and desire of God...the way He wants it in the earth. His will is on full display through Jesus. Now that we can see His will carried out in the verses we read, we can approach God in a new light and new way (Hebrews 10:19-20).

Let's go back to how Jesus taught them to pray. He told them to pray His will on Earth as it is in Heaven. He also told us to pray that His Kingdom come here, too. What in the world does that mean? The Kingdom of God is the main message of Jesus. It really is everything. He talked and taught more about the Kingdom than any other subject. In a nutshell, it is the domain or territory over which the Lord reigns as King. And let me tell you that wherever He reigns as Lord, you can trust that that place will be affected for good. Check out my article on the Kingdom of God for further study.

So, God is not in control. There are certain things that He has kept in His complete control (Acts 1:6-8), but when it comes to His will being done here on our planet in this present day, He has given us freewill. We, as believers, have authority here. He also promised that Heaven backs us up, as well (Matthew 18:18).  An illustration for this is when my jumpseat was broken and per my company instruction, I needed to sit in a regular passenger seat on the plane. There was even a huge sticker on the seat placed there by a mechanic that read "SEAT RESERVED FOR CREW". Now, it was a nice aisle seat and once we began boarding, a gentleman sat in it, got comfortable, and got out all his food, etc. When I approached him, I politely but firmly informed him that he cannot sit there. He didn't like it. He gave me excuse after excuse as to why it would be too much trouble for him to leave now. After all, he was lodged in there with all of his "junk". I told him he needed to move, and now. I was very calm. I had all the confidence in the world that he wasn't going to sit there. He didn't belong there. But where did my confidence come from? I'm not the toughest guy you'd ever meet. My confidence came from the very fact that if he would've stayed there for another minute, he would've been removed. You see, I was given authority to sit in that seat. It had my name on it. It was my right. If I needed to, I could've had my company come and physically remove him. Of course, it never came to that. This is the same thing with sickness in your life. It will come and try to get all comfortable. It will bring its junk with it and all of the problems associated with it. But it has no right to remain there. Our body is the temple of the living God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We can approach it with a calm confidence and tell it to go (Isaiah 32:17-18). It must obey (Mark 11:22-26). It just doesn't stand a chance because we have our authority from Heaven. Heaven backs us. And Heaven's authority is much more powerful and thorough than my company would ever be to remove that man, if necessary.

You need to know what God's will is concerning sickness. If God's will is for you to be sick, then why take medicine to fight it? You may be going against God's will. You need to know God's will if you want babies. You need to know God's will regarding your finances. It is not God's will to be poor. If it was, then how would you be able to give to the poor? That is something we regularly do as Christians. If you don't know His will, how could you pray that it be done in your life? You simply wouldn't be able to. God says it best that "My people perish for a lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). If you live your whole life and continue to say things like, "You just never know what His will is" or "God must work in mysterious ways" or "Who can really know?", I would chalk it up to spiritual laziness. And today, most people are biblically illiterate.  I'm trying to help you and tell you that you can not only know it, but pray it and speak it out and see it come to pass. God loves you more than you could possibly ever know. Some folks treat their dog better than they think God wants to treat us! As a matter of fact, this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us: and if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him (1 John 5:14-15). God's will doesn't automatically come to pass. The word "sovereign" isn't even used in the King James Bible. When it is used in other translations, it just means "The Lord God". But if you mean that God is supreme, just, ruler, or king possessing power or authority, well of course. But it didn't say that He controls everything.

That's why Jesus told us to pray this way. God is all powerful, yet He has chosen to partner with us (2 Corinthians 6:1, 2 Corinthians 5:19-20). God is not the author of sickness or bad things in your life (James 1:17).  Neither is He holding out on us (Psalm 84:11). He has given us authority but oftentimes, we don't know what to do with it. Bad things happen because of the fall, our wrong choices, or because of the enemy.

Now what about if something regarding His will for us personally is not clearly spelled out in the Scriptures? What then? What I do is begin spending time with the Lord. I just delight in Him and His Word. I come to Him and see where He stands on a subject or direction for me and my life. As I do, He just gives me a general desire to go a certain direction. As I commit my way to Him and trust in His provision, He always brings it to pass and seems to clear up my uncertainty. That is exactly what it says in Psalm 37:3-5. You can be certain that God will perfect that which concerns you (Psalm 138:8).

No more defeatedness or confusion. Come to the Word, and to Jesus for clarity on your problem, concern, or desire. Getting convinced that His will for you is good is half the battle. Then walk like you have some faith without wavering back and forth. Be absolutely certain, yet humbly sure that it is His will. Then come in and pray that thing out. Believe you received it right then, not once you see it. That's how the Master prayed.  He never equivocated. That wouldn't be faith. And every time you might be tempted to doubt, just offer up the prayer of thanksgiving. Expect great things. His Word is forever settled in the Heavens (Psalm 119:89), now just get it settled for good in your heart and mind.

I earnestly believe that getting over the hump of "Is it really God's will?" is the most important part. Once you come to seeing it and becoming convinced of it, there is a peace and a rest that you'll have. I can't explain it. It is now only a matter of time before that thing shows up on the scene because this physical realm always plays catch up to the spiritual realm. This isn't blind faith...this is faith based on the Word and character of a real and faithful Creator. God's Word and way isn't only meant to be in frames or screensavers, but believed and utilized by us to see His desired result. His will is not only knowable, but it is good (Luke 2:14)!

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