Psalms 6
1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
3 My soul is in anguish.
How long, O LORD, how long?
4 Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.
5 No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?
6 I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.
8 Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the LORD has heard my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
Psalms 6
God Hears
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
1 John 5:14
Sometimes when we are talking to God it feels a little like shouting into the wind at a person on the other side of a lake – it takes a whole lot of energy and nothing happens. No matter how hard you yell – the person on the other side just goes on doing what they are doing and never even look up. It’s not that they turn down your request – they don’t even hear you.
We’re going to talk about what it takes to get God to hear us this morning.
John says that our confidence in approaching God comes from knowing that God only gives us what is in His will for us.
This being true – it is very important that you and I learn what God’s will for our lives.
So what is God’s will? There are two myths concerning God’s will we need to explode today.
First, many people think that God’s will for their life is super specific. They believe that God has a plan for their life that encompasses every detail including where they go to school, what they do on a specific day, and what car they drive.
They wonder if God wants them to purchase a Chevy or a Ford. Are they supposed to go to Penny’s or Sears. Should they shop at Meijers or Krogers. Walmart or Sam’s – no wait, I don’t think that matters much!
A lot of people really think that God has every footstep laid out on graph paper and that he wants to guide you into each step along the way. If that’s your idea of God’s will for your life – I’m going to rock your world this morning.
The second myth is that discovering God’s will requires a life long crusade of earnest searching. They see God’s will as a something that only the most dedicated monk can find. God’s will becomes a sort of “Holy Grail” that is hidden away in some cave somewhere and is guarded by either the Knights Templar or maybe the Cosa Nostra.
If you think of God’s will is being hard to discover for your life – hard enough that you’ve given up the search – I’m going to do my best to bring the will of God out of the hidden places and put it in the center of your living room coffee table.
The will of God is simply not that hard to figure out. And that is a good thing for John tells us that God’s hearing of our prayers, hopes, dreams, praises, and cries depends on our understanding of his will!
Do I have good news for you today! God’s will is not hard to find if you are looking at his word. When you go to his word you’ll find out that his will is pretty straightforward. I used my trusty Bible Study software and came up with 60 references to God’s will for our life.
After you filter out the ones that talk about God’s will without being all that specific about what it is we are left with five very concrete teachings that tell us with absolute clarity what God’s will is for your life…
Are you ready? Are you ready to know God’s will for you life?
We’re going to go pretty fast so hang on…
Here we Go…
It is God’s Will that you be Saved
3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:3-4
It is God’s will that you are saved. God wants to make a way for you to come home and to have fellowship with him for all of time and eternity. If there is one thing that is absolutely God’s will for your life it is that he wants you to follow Jesus, God’s Son, whom the father sent to show you the way back to him.
Jesus paid the price and it is complete. You cannot add to it and you cannot take away from it. God’s Son on a cross for you paid for your sin. That is how much God loves you.
In other words: Jesus is Savior!
First, It is God’s will that you be Saved. Second, It is God’s will that you be changed by the transforming presence of his Holy Spirit.
It is God’s Will that you be Spirit Filled
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:17
Do not be… what… foolish! Understand the Lord’s will. It is God’s will that you not be transformed by drugs, beer, whisky, or pills. It is not God’s will that you live a life of hedonistic pleasure seeking. It IS God’s will that you be filled with the Spirit of God!
How does that happen? It happens when you turn yourself over to Jesus and turn away from your sin. When you finally break down and acknowledge your rebel ways, when you turn away from the sin in your life, when you are baptized into Jesus and cloth yourself with his sacrificial garments of his crucifixion God sends his Spirit to rebirth your soul and to give you a whole new life. When God saves you – he transforms you from the inside out.
The change is on the inside and it shows on the outside… Look at the verses following the seventeenth… See the changes… grateful life, loving husband, respectful wife, obedient children, nurturing fathers, hard working employees, understanding bosses… The spirit filled life is not about an overtly religious experience – it’s about a radically transformed person. From self centered to other people focused.
Colossians 3:15 defines this act of being filled with the Spirit as “letting the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” In other words you live your life in such a way that Jesus is your Lord – every day and in every way.
In other words: Jesus is Lord!
This is God’s will for your life. That you are Saved, Spirit filled and that you are sanctified…
It is God’s Will that you be Sanctified
3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own bodya in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God;
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
What is sanctification? The word means “holy” or “pure.” When we use this word we usually conjure up an image of a person that is super spiritual and squeaky clean. They carry a big zippered Bible with lot’s of notes in it and they speak Church talk very well. They say hallelujah, Praise the Lord, and Bless you with the same frequency that the leader of a motorcycle gang curses and cusses.
This is not sanctification according to the word of God. To be sanctified according to the word of God is to be a moral man or woman. It is to be a person who controls their own body in a way that is pure and upright – holy and honorable. They don’t let sexual desire rule them – they rule their own bodies with the power of God and use their bodies to care for others and not simply to please themselves.
In God’s will sex is the gift of physical and emotional intimacy that is designed for a man and woman to enjoy the closest of human relationships. The immoral use of sex is the taking of pleasure by using others – it has nothing to do with loving them and everything to do with selfish gratification. This is not God’s will.
In other words: Your body belongs to God!
It is God’s will that you are saved, spirit filled, sanctified – and that you become a giving servant.
It is God’s Will that you be a giving Servant
4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 5 And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.
2 Corinthians 8:4-5
Jesus made it clear that be a good leader you must be a committed servant. He gave the example on his knees when he washed the feet of his disciples. He showed us when he went to the cross.
Here in this passage, Paul commends the church in Philippi to the people of Corinth as a good example of what happens when God’s people understand God’s will. They give themselves first to the Lord and then to the church. It’s evidenced in their tithes and their offerings. They gave beyond what anyone expected because they understood that they were God’s servants and focused on the needs of people around them.
In other words: Your live to serve others and God.
It is in keeping with God’s will that we are His servants… and sometimes… sometimes… it is God’s will that we suffer…
Sometimes, It is God’s Will that you Suffer
16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.
17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
18 And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
1 Peter 4:16-19
There are occasions that God has a greater purpose for his eternal kingdom than our comfort at a specific place in time and space. In such a time as this it may be his will that we suffer for him – and to do so is not a tragedy – it is a privilege. I’m not sure it is a privilege I want in my life. Who would?
The greater good is often the salvation of the very people who bring about our suffering!
Think about it. Jesus did not want to go to the cross – yet he prayed to the Father God of us all – not my will but yours. And he did if the very people who sent him to the cross.
If we are called upon to suffer for the sake of God’s eternal purposes and plans we are only following in the footsteps of Jesus.
Pray Expectantly
15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
1 John 5:15
Now what can we expect our God to hear when his saved, spirit filled, sanctified, serving and suffering people ask for? He will hear our every request.
Whether it is the loudest cry from the depths of our soul or the smallest whisper of a plea, God hears every syllable, each word, the briefest of hesitations, even the drawing in of a breath, and the cry of the heart. God hears it all – because we are his children. His precious, wonderful, kids.
But even so – sometimes God says no. There is a Danish proverb that says, "Give to a pig when it grunts and a child when he cries, and you will have a fine pig and a bad child."
A good father does not give everything a child asks for to him. Our heavenly Father doesn’t either because God is raising children, not pigs.
So many people have a great deal of misconceptions about prayer. God is not a celestial vending machine that gives what we ask, when we put money in the offering box. God is not a heavenly genie who grants us three wishes when we rub Him in the right direction. If we belong to God, we are His children, and He, our Heavenly Father.
Bill Hybels, in his book, Too Busy Not to Pray, wrote,
If the request is wrong, God says, “No.”
If the timing is wrong, God says, “Slow”
If you are wrong, God says, “Grow”
But if the request is right, the timing is right and you are right, God says, “Go!”
So one question remains… Are you living within the will of God?
If salvation is the issue you can come into God’s will for your life right now, today.
If it is being a spirit influenced person, a sanctified man or woman, a servant – you can begin today to live with God’s will for your life.
If God has called you to suffer as Jesus did then he can strengthen you today.
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