Seeking God's Wisdom

Jesus is more interested in your holiness than your happiness. Your consecration to Him not your relevance in the world. His desire to reveal His will exceeds your desire to know it. He is not so much concerned with your performance, your bottom line, your grades, your accomplishments, your net worth. He is less concerned than we are about us getting everything done and succeeding. His timetable is not the same as ours. He wants you to thrive and survive in life so that He gets maximum glory. He is most concerned with your heart. He is most concerned with where you are at with your worship of Him. Jesus declared war on sin at the cross, and He doesn't want you to be a casualty of war. The victory is won. No need to cave under the pressure of a godless society or others expectations. Make sure your heart is right with Him.

Jesus cares supremely about His glory. He has a plan and it is in process. He wants you to be like Him. If you are a Jesus-loving, gospel-changed, God's Word-obeying, Spirit-filled person, aka a Christian, He is making you like Him. We are so worried about what is next for us. We are focused on whatever catches our eyes, like a little baby learning to focus and see. Stimulated by anything that moves. Jesus wants your supreme worship. To be the delight of your heart. He wants you to cherish what is true and right and good. He wants you to choose to love Him above all and reject the magnet pull of the world, the flesh and the devil.

He is coming back, in glory. Ask Him for wisdom and knowledge and understanding, but know that it's intent is not to make you more of whatever you want to be, it is for God to receive more glory. Knowing God's will is about being content in Christ. It is about being the person God wants you to be, not doing all the things we want to do. We need some perspective building. There was a massive earthquake in Japan last week. Tsunamis, floods carrying people away to a Christless eternity. Storms threaten our shores. Every minute people are dying and going to hell and we are looking at our belly buttons. We need to get a life. Get some perspective. Eph. 5:17 Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

God Is Still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of “Love Wins”

God Is Still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of “Love Wins”

Knowing God's Will: The Bottom Line

Are you sincerely seeking to know God's will in some area of your life?

Are you a Jesus-loving, gospel-changed, Bible-obeying, Spirit-filled person, aka a Christian?

Are you following and obeying what God has clearly said and shown you?

Are you fervently praying for God to reveal His will?

Are you seeking godly counsel and willing to accept it, whether you asked for it or not?

Are you seeking God's wisdom and trying to discern what is right and wrong?

Are you busy in the work of the Lord? Have you found something good to do and are doing it. (God moves the moving, He guides those who are moving in His direction, who are confessing sin, repenting, loving, serving.)

If these things are true about you, then you are ready to hear the bottom line on knowing the will of God. If not, don't even think about it, you can't handle the truth. You will use it for your own benefit and not the glory of God. But if these things are true and real in your life, you can't go wrong, you will be so free in the Spirit of God, your life will be changed forever. So what is the bottom line on knowing the will of God?

I'll tell you tomorrow.:)

Knowing God's Will: How to View it

Jesus cares supremely about His glory. He has a plan and it is in process. Nothing surprises Him. He wants you to be like Him. If you are a Jesus-loving, gospel-changed, God's Word-obeying, Spirit-filled person, aka a Christian, then He is making you like Him. Through many tribulations we shall enter the kingdom of God. Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life, He says. He rules, He reigns, absolute authority is His. The owner of the house is coming back and He has an appointment to keep. We are so worried about what is next for us. It is like we are so focused on whatever catches our eyes, like a little baby just learning to focus and see. Stimulated by almost anything that moves. Jesus wants your supreme worship. To be the delight of your heart. He wants you to cherish what is true and right and good. He wants you to choose to love Him above all and reject the magnet pull of the world, the flesh and the devil. Because He is coming back, in glory.

Ask Him for wisdom and knowledge and understanding, but know that it's intent is not to make you more of whatever you want to be, it is for God to receive more glory. It is not for our sole benefit, it is for His magnification. Chaos reigns on earth, evil rules many realms, but Jesus is on the throne, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. If you truly want to love Jesus above all, you want to worship Him alone, then love God and do as you please. Don't be so worried you might make a life-altering mistake. Walk by faith.

I want you to view the will of God like God views His will...not as a commodity to pursue and attain, but a state of being in conformity to His desires, dwelling in Him, as God draws us in to a deeper relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verdict...we need to know God's will, we need to know, so that we can please and glorify God.

Knowing God's Will: Jesus' Concern

God wants us to know His will so that we might do His will and glorify Him. He is more interested in your holiness than your happiness. Check your moive for seeking your consecration to Him not your relevance in the world. His desire to reveal His will exceeds your desire to know it. He is not so much concerned with your performance, your bottom line, your grades, your accomplishments, your net worth, even your relationships with others. He wants you to glorify Him through it all, but many things wither and become rotten to the core. He is not so much wrapped up in you getting everything done and succeeding. His timetable is not the same as ours. He wants you to thrive and survive in life so that He gets maximum glory.

He is most concerned with your heart. He is most concerned with where you are at with your worship of Him. Jesus declared war on sin at the cross, and He doesn't want you to be a casualty of war. The victory is won. There is no need for us to cave in under the pressure of a godless society. Things are not getting better. They will proceed from bad to worse. Deceivers will even be decieved. So make sure your heart is right with Him.

Doing the Will of God

Matthew 12:46-50 is not about knowing the will of God but doing it. It bluntly says that doing the will of the Father shows that you are related Jesus the Son. God's family does what God wants.

Jesus was speaking to the crowds and His mother and brothers wanted to speak to Him. Jesus answered the person who told him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers ?” It seems kind of odd or even harsh for Jesus to respond with this question. He was not undermining or rejecting His family, but putting things in proper perspective, making a big point about the nature of the spiritual family of God in the world, characterized, as he was, by doing the will of God.

With a dramatic wave of the hand towards his disciples He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers!" Jesus loved his mother and brothers, but they were not to interfere in his Messianic work. The real spiritual family of Jesus included all who follow him. How hard for Mary to go back to Nazareth and leave Jesus with the excited crowds with needs so great He was not even stopping to eat. Then Jesus said, "For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

This leads us to ask some crucial questions.

1. What is "the will of the Father"?
The Bible speaks of the will of God in more than one way. There are two words translated will, and each has different usages. The first is boule, a rational, conscious desire. A plan based on careful deliberation. Indicates a predetermined, unchanging plan, Acts 2:23 Jesus was delivered up according to the predetermined plan, boulevard, the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, and was crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Boule refers to the resolute plan of God that no human can stop. It is God's unalterable will. The other word is thelema, which can refer to what is agreeable, desired, intended, chosen, or commanded. The meaning of thelema is determined by the context in which it appears.

The will of the Father is what God does and desires. It has 2 primary aspects. It is hidden and revealed. Some things are hidden until God chooses to reveal it in His time, and some are revealed clearly, and it is what He wants us to do. What God does is the ultimate, hidden, unchangeable reason some things happen and what God desires is the perfect, revealed basis for everything we do that pleases God. God's hidden will points to God determining to have happen what He wants to have happen in exactly the timeframe He orders it. All the stuff God does that we don't know until it happens. Things God sovereignly decides will happen and nothing can prevent from happening. When we speak of His revealed will we mean it is what God desires but knows that some will not do. Stuff He wants us to participate in. We have a will and we act, choose and respond. Still there is a God who is sovereign, whose will is greater than ours. His will restricts ours. My will cannot restrict His. When He wills a thing sovereignly, although hidden to me, it will come to pass and become evident. He is sovereign, we are accountable to Him. But when the Bible speaks of the will of God it is not always His unbreakable will that is being referred to.

2. What does it mean to "do" His will?
Doing God's will means to do what you know God wants or desires. To act in accord with what you know pleases Him. Many people go around seeking the will of God for their life as if it is only this mysterious unknown secret that only God knows. Many Christians are fixated only on trying to figure out His secret, hidden will and as a result they forget about His revealed will. Doing the will of God has to do with what He has already made clear. God's objective Word must rule in our hearts, not our subjective feelings or assumptions.

3. What has God specifically revealed in His Word that He wants us to do? The will of God is for all He has chosen to...

Be Saved. Saving relationship to Jesus comes by believing in Him and receiving the free gift of eternal life. Acts 4:12.

Be Strong. Sound. Solid in the faith. Growing in Christlikeness, becoming like Jesus, transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Be Serving. Ps. 100:2 serve the Lord with gladness. Sometimes it's hardest to do with those you are related to by blood, as well as God's family, those you are related to by the blood of Christ. Interacting in a godly way with the family of God. Speaking the truth in love. Confessing. Forgiving. Coooperating. Being like-minded. Intent on one purpose...glorifying God.

Be Sent. Not on our agenda but on the mission of Christ. See Matthew 10.

Be Secure. Certainty, assurance, security, forever. Eternal security. John 10:27-29. Glorification...Eternal blessedness in Christ, being with Christ, entering into the joy of the Father.

The response of all who believe needs to be to TRUST the sovereign, hidden aspect of God's will and OBEY the revealed will as found in His Word. Trust God's sovereign orchestrating and obey His specific directing. All who are related to Jesus by faith do the will of God, empowered and enabled by God, so that He would get maximum glory. While we tend to focus most on His hidden will, it is His revealed will that He is most concerned about us following. He has given us marching orders and wants us to be dialed in, leaving the hidden things to Him, revealed when He chooses.

Soli Deo Gloria

Stay in Your Position!

I have been coaching my five kids in soccer since my eldest was five. That's almost 14 years of coaching, often two teams per season. A funny thing to me, seeing that I did not grow up playing the sport. I like to say that while I may not be able to give them all the skills more knowledgable coaches can, I can encourage them well.

I don't know how many times I have told a player to stay in their position. When they don't they miss a chance to defend, or to receive a pass, or to score. It is somewhat counterintuitive, to not chase the ball but let it come to you. It is kind of like the way we often seek the will of God. We want to know what we do not know so we fixate on finding out the mysterious, and all the while God's revealed will is waiting for us, undone. We miss what He has for us now because we are looking too much to the future.

The idea is this: Do His revealed will found in His Word, stay where God has you and obey what He has already shown you, engage with Him there, and it will put you in the right place to receive His hidden will, to be revealed in His perfect time.