The Will of God
By
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - There comes a point or there should come a point in every person’s spiritual walk and their ultimate relationship with God that they get tired of religion at least it has for me. Now that doesn’t mean we get tired of God or serving Him, it just means we can’t take religious church as usual anymore. I am talking about tired of the isms and schisms of the religious system, tired of the superficial fluff or propaganda and entertainment. Let me inject this here what I mean by religion is means man’s attempts, traditions, practices, ideas, customs, habits, and rituals used to so-call serve God and because of that I am all churched out .
I believe I can stand on the Word of God and say He is tired of it as well. Amos 5:21-24 says, “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream”.
I feel the problem with church today is we have become so familiar with how to do church and how to excite people by looking a certain way, acting a certain way, sounding a certain way and being so seeker sensitive that we have become powerfully impotent. Sure, we have people who can memorize scripture, who can shout like no bodies business and there are those who can preach and have people sitting on the edge of their seats. We have access to the internet and can study on every topic the Bible has and therefore that has produced a fatal five-fold ministry of armchair apostles, pathetic prophets, empty evangelist, pitiful preachers, and treacherous teachers that believe they are experts on all things holy because they can memorize a scripture or two and do church they are nothing more than sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal because they do not understand the Will of God.
It should be the desire of every Christian – every Child of God to seek to understand the will of the God. Ephesians 5:17 says, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is”. But the questions are What is God’s will, and how can we go about understanding it? Is His will something hidden that we need to seek out, or is it something obvious? Can we miss out on God’s will, or can we somehow mess things up by making the wrong decisions?
So often we treat the will of God like some kind of good luck charm, lucky penny, or rabbits’ foot. We will say God if it is your will let me find the right spouse, let us get the right house, let me choose the right college and career path. Although we have been taught that and I have even done it myself that is not what the will of God for our lives is about. To truly be honest the college you chose, the house you buy, the spouse you marry are literally your free will choices. I believe the steps of the righteous man are ordered by the Lord and He will lead and guide you in a certain direction but the choice, the free will still lies within us.
I believe one problems is due to the multiple way in which the term “will” functions in biblical expressions. The Bible uses the expression “will of God” in various ways. We encounter two different Greek words in the New Testament boule and thelema, both of which are capable of several distinctions. They encompass such ideas as the counsel of God, the plan of God, the decrees of God, the disposition or attitude of God, as well as other distinctions. Further distinctions in historical theology add to the abundance of meanings attached to the statement “the will of God.”
Let’s look at scripture.
PRAYER: -
SCRIPTURE: - Ephesians 5:17 says, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is”.
Romans 12: 1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service 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.”.
Psalm 143:10 says, “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness”.
Colossians 4:12 says, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”. I want like Paul said in Philippians 1 “That I may know Him…”.
The phrase God’s will is mentioned 52 times in the KJV of the Bible. Now the number 52 in and of itself really doesn’t have a meaning Biblically but the combinations of the numbers 5=2 do - 5+2=7 Perfection. The number 7 is the foundation of God's word. It derives much of its meaning from being tied directly to creation. Used 735 times (54 times in Revelation alone), it symbolizes completeness and perfection both physically and spiritually. There are 7 days in a week and God's Sabbath is on the seventh day. The Bible was originally divided into seven major divisions. 1) the Law; 2) the Prophets; 3) the Writings, or Psalms; 4) the Gospels and Acts; 5) the General Epistles; 6) the Epistles of Paul; and 7) the book of Revelation.
How most of us think about the Will of God!
As I stated earlier often, we treat the will of God like some kind of good luck charm, lucky penny, or rabbits’ foot. We will say God if it is your will let me find the right spouse, let us get the right house, let me choose the right college and career path because we are so worried that if we make the wrong choice we will be out of the will of God.
There are some people who think that the will of God is an undesirable thing they have the idea that the will of God is everything that is negative against our own desires. God doesn’t want me to enjoy life, God is just some kind of mean dictator that demands we follow a strict sets of rules and if we have any enjoyment in life will look down from heaven and say OH ME they are having to much fun I better put a stop to this right now - which goes totally against the Bible John 10:10 says “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. So just those two scriptures negate the concept that God’s will is against our desires.
Then there are some who believe the will of God is like the wheel of fortune where you spin the wheel and if you are lucky you land on God’s will and are blessed and life is forever good and happy or you don’t and you land on bankrupt which is out of the will of God and now you are doomed to Hell.
Then there are those that think the will of God is like a connect the dots picture book you must connect this dot to that dot and if you don’t then you have messed up and are out of the will of God and the picture of your life won’t make sense. This is the place most people dwell, these are the one that say God if it is your will let me find the right spouse, let us get the right house, let me choose the right college and career path because we are so worried that if we make the wrong choice we will be out of the will of God.
So, it is my desire to give understanding to the Will of God.
Understand, God does not want us to spend our lives trying to figure Him out instead He reveals Himself to us when we seek Him through His Word. God has given us the Word of God to tell us who He is and His will. We may never fully understand all there is to understand about the will of God because it is beyond our comprehension Job 11:7 says, “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection”. Yet God doesn’t leave us wondering how to please Him, and He has given us ways to ensure that we are in His will.
What Does the Will of God Mean?
Scripture gives us many clear examples of God revealing His will to people such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, and many others. Matthew 6:10 says, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. Jesus taught the disciples to pray for God’s will to be done and teaching us the same thing. The will of God consists of things that are in line with God’s plan and purpose.
The term the will of God has two biblical meanings. First, there is the Sovereign Will of God, that always comes to pass without fail. Sovereign or Sovereignty of God means that as creator ruler of the Universe, God is free and has the right to do whatever He wants. He is not bound or limited by the dictates of His created beings. He is in complete control over everything that happens here on Earth. God's will is the final cause of all things.
Second, there is the Permissive Will of God. This lines up with His Sovereign will and there is a consequence to not doing it but the choice of doing it is up to you. For example, “Thou shalt not steal” “Thou shalt not covet” we have the choice to obey or not but there are consequences that must be paid for not obeying as well as rewards for obeying.
The Two Wills of God - Sovereign Will and Permissive Will.
Knowing the difference between the two meanings of the Will of God is crucial to understanding one of the biggest and most perplexing things in all the Bible, namely, that God is sovereign over all things and yet disapproves of many things. This simply means that God disapproves of some of what he ordains to happen.
1. Sovereign Will – is summed up in 2 Words “Obey Me”
Let’s go to the book of Genesis when God looked at darkness and said let there be light because the Sovereign will of God was for there to be light - the light had to obey Him and shine for it is the sovereign will of God. As a matter of fact, in Genesis 1 there are 14 times God said and it is followed by, and it was so. God said and it was so that is the Sovereign Will of God – Obey Me!
Now I said 14 times God said is followed by and it was so. 14 is 7x2 a double measure of perfection or Divine Perfect. The 14 represents deliverance or salvation. There are 3 sets of 14 generations from Abraham to Mary (Joseph) Matthew 1. The fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover, when God delivered the firstborn of Israel from death in Egypt. Some 430 years earlier, on the night of day 14 of the first month (Nisan), God made two covenant promises to Abraham. The first covenant promise concerned his physical seed, Isaac, and his descendants. The second promise concerned Jesus Christ, and the sons of God who would come through Him, who would shine like the stars of heaven Matthew 13:43. On day 14 of the first month (Nisan) in 30 A.D. Jesus Christ, God manifested in the flesh, the only begotten Son of God the Father, and the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, was crucified as the perfect sacrifice to save mankind from sin. Seven represents completion. Thus, 7 + 7 = 14 indicates a double completion. The first completion was that Jesus' ministry in the flesh was completed. The second completion was that Jesus' sacrifice ended (fulfilled) the need for animal sacrifices. The Sovereign will of God.
Turn to another beautiful scripture that expresses the Sovereign will of God Psalm 33:6-9 says, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast”.
One of the clearest ways Jesus spoke of the Sovereign will of God is in the Garden of Gethsemane when he was praying. He said, in Matthew 26:39, “And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” This deals with the sovereign plan of God that will happen soon.
Acts 4:27-28 says, “For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done”. It was the Sovereign will of God for Jesus to die this was his plan, His decree, His Sovereign will. There was no changing it, and Jesus bowed and said, “Not my will but thy will be done.” That’s the sovereign will of God it cannot be broken. It always comes to pass. Daniel 4:35 says, “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou”.
2. Permissive Will of God – Longsuffering.
The permissive will in our ordinary language suggests some sort of positive sanction or allowance. To say that God “allows” or “permits” evil does not mean that He sanctions it in the sense that He grants approval to it. It is easy to discern that God never permits sin in the sense that He sanctions it in His creatures; however, He is longsuffering.
What is usually meant by permissive will is that God simply lets it happen. That is, He does not directly intervene to prevent its happening. This is dangerous ground. Some theologies believe as if God were impotent to do anything about human sin. This view makes man sovereign, not God. God is reduced to the roll of spectator or cheerleader, by which God’s exercise in providence is that of a helpless Father who having done all He can do, must now sit back and simply hope for the best. He permits what He cannot help but permit because He has no sovereign power over it. This demonic view is not merely a defective view of theism; it is borderline atheism
Longsuffering is not simply suffering for a long time, but is a specific word used in the Bible. That word, combining the Greek words for "long" and "temper," more fully means to be slow to anger, to suffer anger with restraint, or to forbear.
God is longsuffering. His holiness demands that everything associated with Him also be holy. However, all people are sinners and deserve His judgement and wrath. At the same time, God is longsuffering, waiting in loving patience for each person to come to Him for salvation.
Understand the phrase Permissive will of God is not used in the Bible; however, to be able to understand it and to capture the nature of the God’s will in relating with Man and that He has given man a freewill the word permissive is used but the best definition is I believe Longsuffering. God is a perfect God and has a perfect/sovereign will designed for all that He has created from the point of their creation and never a permissive will. It’s not that He allows or permits His will to be disobeyed, but He in His Loving Grace prolongs the consequences of the disobedience.
According to the Merriam Websters dictionary Permissive will is defined as “Giving or predisposed to give permission to be tolerant of deviation”. The permissive will of God is that which is tolerated for a time by Him letting our free will to be exercised and function for a determined period before it is eventually ended, dealt with and the consequences of that time are dealt with by the judgment of God that is final and conclusive.
This is the will of God that we are given the free will to make a choice, we can disobey and fail to do His commands, but there are consequences that come with this. The Sovereign will is done regardless, the sun will shine again in the morning because that is the sovereign will of God.
The Permissive will is what God gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:15-17 says, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. Now someone may say but Adam didn’t die physically when he ate of the tree because he lived to be 930 years old. WATCH THIS: - 2 Peter 3:8 says, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”. Although Adam was 930 years old a thousand years is as a day to the Lord, so Adam died in that day. He was allowed to have free will and because God is longsuffering Adam lived 930 years yet he had to pay the consequences of his choice.
Part #2
Last week I taught on what we commonly call the two wills of God, the sovereign will and the permissive will. I tried to bring out how the Sovereign Will of God, always comes to pass without fail. Sovereign or Sovereignty of God means that as creator ruler of the Universe, God is free and has the right to do whatever He wants. He is not bound or limited by the dictates of His created beings. He is in complete control over everything that happens here on Earth. God's will is the final cause of all things.
Then in the Permissive Will of God. I stated how this lines up with His Sovereign will and there is a consequence to not doing it but the choice of doing it is up to you. For example, “Thou shalt not steal” “Thou shalt not covet” we have the choice to obey or not but there are consequences that must be paid for not obeying as well as rewards for obeying.
Today my desire is to expound upon a few other points – Understanding God’s Will and Our Ultimate Responsibility to Do God’s Will. I want to briefly mention as well the statement “If it is God’s will” and then end with the chapter in the Bible that is a beautiful prayer of doing God’s will.
Understanding God’s Will.
Ephesians 5:17 says, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is”.
I want to give you 5 spiritual truths to help you understand the Will of God. The number 5 symbolizes God's grace, goodness and favor toward mankind. It is mentioned 318 times in Scripture, 3+1+8-12 which is Divine Government. Five is the number of grace, and multiplied by itself, which is 25, is 'grace upon grace' John 1:16. The Ten Commandments contains two sets of 5 commandments. The first five commandments are related to our treatment and relationship with God with the remaining one concerned with our relationship with other people. There are 5 primary types of offerings God commanded Israel to bring to him. 1.) Burnt Offering (Leviticus 1; 8:18 - 21; 16:24), 2.) Sin (Leviticus 4; 16:3 - 22), 3.) Trespass (Leviticus 5:14 - 19; 6:1 - 7; 7:1 - 6), 4.) Grain (Leviticus 2) and 5.) Peace Offering (Leviticus 3; 7:11- 34). The Book of Psalms is divided into 5 major sections. Section 1 (Psalm 1 to 41) refers to the Passover, Israel's beginning, and the start of the God's plan of salvation that centers on Christ. Section 2 (42 to 72) sings about a unified Israel in the land and pictures the creation of the New Testament Church. Section 3 (73 to 89) bemoans the destruction of both God's Temple and Jerusalem. This section also hints at prophecies regarding the End Time Great Tribulation. Section 4 (90 to 106) rejoices over the 1,000 reign of Jesus and shows Israel gathered again. Section 5 (107 to 150) pictures a time when Judah (representing all Israel) shall again be delivered. There are five books of God's Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) commonly referred to as the Pentateuch ('Penta' means five). The 4 Gospels plus Acts equals five books that, as a set, can be designated as "the New Testament Pentateuch." They reveal Jesus' teachings concerning the Law and the Prophets. The apostle John wrote 5 books centered on the grace of God and eternal life (the gospel of John, 1John, 2John, 3John and Revelation).
5 spiritual truths to help you understand the Will of God.
1. IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT EVERYONE SHOULD BE SAVED
2 Peter 3: 9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. Revelation 22: 17 says “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”. God provided salvation for everyone through Jesus Christ. This doesn’t mean that everybody will accept God’s provision and be saved. The Word of God never leads us to believe that all will be saved, but it does teach that all can be saved.
2. IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT THOSE WHOM HE SAVES SHOULD BE SANCTIFIED
1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication”. God’s will for His children is that they should be holy Ephesians 1: 4 says, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love”. God’s will for you is that you should be holy; that is, whole John 5:6 “When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole”; clean 1 John 1: 7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”., and constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit Ephesians 5: 18 says, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit”.
3. IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT THOSE WHOM HE SAVES AND SANCTIFIES SHOULD SERVE HIM
We are saved to serve. But what is Christian service it’s more than just going to service on Sunday morning? The fundamental meaning of service for God is that we present ourselves wholly and holy to God and place ourselves absolutely at His disposal for Him to do His work in and through us; this is His will for every one of His children. Romans 12: 1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service”.
4. IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT THOSE WHOM HE SAVES AND SANCTIFIES AND WHO SERVE HIM SHOULD ALSO SUFFER FOR (AND WITH) HIM
Now let me explain this quickly. This doesn’t mean to suffer with sickness or poverty and lack as some teach. It means if we have to suffer for Him – persecution. 1 Peter 3: 17 says, “For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing”.
5. IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT THOSE WHOM HE SAVES AND SANCTIFIES, AND WHO SERVE HIM AND SUFFER FOR/WITH HIM, SHOULD ALWAYS UNDERSTAND HIS WILL FOR THEM.
We understand His Will by His WORD 2 Timothy 2: 15 says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”.
We understand His Will by His PROVIDENCES (Divine Superintendence), in response to our surrender Romans 12: 1-2 says “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 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”.
We understand His Will by His HOLY SPIRIT, in response to our earnest prayer Romans 8:26-7 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”.
OUR ULTIMATE RESPONSIBILITY
Do the Will of God.
This should surely be the ultimate desire and goal of every Child of God.
Psalm 143:10 says, “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness”.
WATCH THIS: - David didn’t say, teach me to understand Your will because he understood the will of God, because he meditated on His Word (will) day and night. He didn’t say, teach me to know Your will because he already knew the will of God. He didn’t say, help me find Your will because he hid God’s word which is His will in his heart. However, he said, Lord, teach me to do Your will.
The word DO is a verb an action word that means to perform or carry out a specified thing. To do your will carries the meaning that it is not a matter of information, but it was a matter of obedience. Adam knew the Will of God was not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He had all the information he needed; his problem was obedience in doing the will of God. Paul says in Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not”. It wasn’t a matter of knowing His will, it was a matter of doing it, applying it, and living by it.
Jesus is the perfect example of a life devoted to doing the will of God when even facing the horrors of the cross and the wrath of His own Father in divine judgment heaped up Him as He bore the sins of all who would ever believe. He said Luke 22:42 “Not my will, but Your will be done,” Jesus was devoted to doing the will of the Father John 4:34 says, “ Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work”. In John5:39 Jesus said, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me”.
Jesus lived his life in the pursuit of the will of God. We are told to pray that God’s will be done in our lives and live our lives accordingly 1 Peter 4:2 says, “That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God”.
CLOSING: - In the beginning of this lesson I mentioned how most people will consider the will of God like a lucky charm or rabbit’s foot. We will say and I have done it myself if it is God’s will or the Lord willing or some cliché of that nature when we are talking about something. There are some who believe you should always say if it is God’s will and others that will say you don’t have to say it at all. I have tried to explain through this lesson What God’s will is, how we should strive to Understand God’s will, and the Ultimate responsibility is for us to Do the Will of God. Now in my closing let me just touch on this saying for a minute.
The exact phrase “if it’s God’s will” is not found in the Bible at all. So just based on that alone if you say it, you are not being super biblical and if you don’t say it, you are not unbiblical. So, then Bishop where do we get the phrase from? Well let’s look at the book of James 4:13-17. The Bible says, “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin”.
Now we must understand what was being said and the reason it was said before we become so dogmatic and say see you must say it.
This scripture sounds a bit hard and demanding making many feeling like that can’t do anything without first saying “if it’s God’s will” or they’re being arrogant and evil; however, this is not the case. There’s a reason for James to write this the way he did and we need to understand it.
James 4:1-10 says, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain,
The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up”.
James was dealing with ritualistic religious people who were living and acting as the will of God was irrelevant. These people had a problem with contention among themselves, there was a lot of self-centeredness, lust for things positions titles and an attitude of pride and arrogance. They were more concerned about stuff and superficial fluff that they didn’t even mind being out of the will of God as long as they accomplished their desires. James’s desire was to cause humility in the hearts of the people and warn them not to be arrogant and prideful and strive for vain glory working to satisfy their own lustful desires and say if it is the Lord’s will we will accomplish this or that and not to give a formula for prayer.
My desire in this message is like James to create a heart of humility and for all people of God to stand perfect and complete in the will of God. Colossians 4:12 says, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”.
I want like Paul said in Philippians 1 “That I may know Him…”. When you truly desire to know Christ, you find yourself tired of church as usual, you turn from ritualistic habits and superficial fluff and begin to dig deep into the word of God. You begin to immerse yourself in His will and you will saturate yourself in His Word, then knowing God’s will follow and then you will find yourself not just being a hearer of His will but a doer of His will.
So, understand there are two ways of talking about the will of God. Both are true, and both are important to understand and believe in. One we can call God’s Sovereign Will and the other we call God’s Permissive will. His Sovereign will always come to pass whether we believe in it or not. His Permissive will can be broken and is every day and there is a consequence that will eventually be settled. But as for me I want to DO THE WILL OF GOD – FOR THAT IS THE WILL OF GOD.
In the start of part 2 I stated I wanted to end with the chapter in the Bible that is a beautiful prayer of doing God’s will. Psalms 119 is the chapter of the Bible that celebrates the beauties and excellency of God’s Will found literally in no other place like this in the Bible. God’s will (word) is categorized in (8) eight designations. 8 is the number of new beginnings.
The 8 designations are:- 1. Law 2. Word(s) 3. Ordinances 4. Commandments 5. Precepts 6. Testimonies 7. Statutes 8. Judgments.
These 8 things are the Will of God. Just listen to a few I am not going to read them all because there are 176 of them but for example:-
Vs#1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.
Vs#10- With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
Vs#55- I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law.
Vs#159- Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness.
Vs#175- Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.
Walk in the Law and wander not from His judgments according to His lovingkindness - THAT IS THE WILL OF GOD.
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
