Finding and Doing the Will of God, pt. 2
Prov. 3:5, 6
The question I am most often asked above all others is: How do I know God’s will?
Let’s look at what the world’s wisest man said, under inspiration…(read)
How many want to succeed, say amen? How many know that true success is finding and doing God’s will?
How many want your steps to be ordered by the Lord? How many want God to direct your paths?
In order to be in the will of God, I have to find and know the will of God…and the only way to find and know it is God’s way…which is:
1. Trust in the Lord with all your heart (entire)
2. Lean not unto your own understanding (exclusive)
3. In all your ways, acknowledge Him (inquire)
#1—What does it mean to trust God entirely?
--to acknowledge His Lordship in every area of my life
We can divide God’s will into 2 parts:
God’s personal will for my life
God’s moral will for my life
It is impossible to zero in on God’s personal will for your life if you are living in rebellion to His moral will for you!
In other words, it’s more important what you are than what you do…and what we are is much more important than where we are (physical location)
God’s moral will for us is oftentimes spelled out for us in His Word:
I Thess. 4:3
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification…
After salvation comes sanctification…it is God’s will that we live holy lives!
God’s personal will for your life will allude you until you get that nailed down…and some Christians will go to the grave, never having let God do spiritual surgery on their life after salvation: “well, that’s just how I am/like it or lump it/I ain’t changin’!”
You will never be able to zero in on God’s personal will for your life as long as you are harboring sin, and living in rebellion in a certain area of your life.
This means we must acknowledge His Lordship over every area of our lives…not talking about sinless perfection/not saying we’ll never stumble and fall…but that we have no sin we’ve grown comfortable with/nurturing/harboring/no habitual sin/too familiar with.
And one of the biggest mistakes a Christian can make is to try to make a decision regarding God’s personal will for your life, while you knowingly and willfully have sin in your life.
Here’s why: because the channel of communication has been short-circuited (sin does that).
You see, God does not reveal His will to us that we might consider it (tho’ that’s what we want…freedom to consider if we like His way)…but no, it doesn’t work that way.
God reveals His will for us when He knows that we are ready and willing to obey!
And why in the world would God reveal His personal will to you, when you are blatantly and repeatedly violating His moral will?
Why should God direct your paths when you’ve purposefully avoided doing what He’s told you to already…maybe when you cross the first bridge He’ll show you where the next one is!
Are you rebelling against God in some area of His moral will?
Tithing/morality/fornication/faithfulness/unforgiveness/
Priorities/pride/dedication/service/attitude/bitterness/gossip/prejudice/s.s./daily devotions/lust/bad friends/wrong associations?
If you want to know His personal will, you must first obey Him in His moral will.
“Trust in the Lord with ALL thine heart.” That’s the 1st step in finding the will of God.
Ill.—picture a wheel (hub/spokes/tire)
There’s 2 kinds of Christians in this room:
1st kind: genuinely saved, but in the hub you could write the word “me”…for their life still revolves around themselves. The spokes are the many facets of their life: social life/work/recreation/family/hobbies/…and church life or “Jesus”. And when at church, you think about Jesus, but when at work, it all revolves around you/playing/home/eating out/with friends…
Well, Jesus doesn’t want to just be one of the spokes in your life…He wants to be the hub in the center.
That’s the 2nd kind of Christian…you can write “Jesus” in the hub of the wheel, and all the many spokes of your life are centered in Him, and revolve around Him!
You’re watching TV and you ask, “what would Jesus do?”
At work/on softball field/with friends/in long line and clerk calls for price check/spouse picks a fight w/ you…but your family life doesn’t revolve around you, it’s just a spoke in the wheel revolving around Christ!/not just a compartment of your life, but He’s preeminent in every area!
So to trust in the Lord will all your heart means to acknowledge Him as Lord of every area of your life. What else does it mean?
--acknowledging that God’s will is the best way.
We have bought a lie from the pit of hell, namely, that God’s will makes miserable! No, it will be filled w/ joy, contentment, and fulfillment!
When you’re in God’s will, He changes your “wanter”!
Since I was a little kid, I’ve wanted to be a pastor. And if you asked me then where I want to pastor, I would have said something like Albuquerque, Santa Fe, or maybe Honolulu! I’d never have thought of Decatur, IL! But now that we’re here, we can’t imagine why everyone doesn’t want to be here! (“I can think of some reasons!”)
Why? Because it’s God’s will for our life…He’s put it into our hearts!
(you’ll meet some missionaries on furlough in October, and you’ll notice that they can’t wait to get back!)
God’s will is best!
We talked about Moses this morning: created for a purpose, his very calling and destiny was to free the Hebrew people from slavery.
But go back to Ex. 3 and study…when God called him to do it, he didn’t want to. He gave God 5 excuses why not:
1. I have no ability (Lord: “that’s great. I delight in using men of limited ability, ‘cuz then I’ll get the glory)
2. I have no authority, Pharaoh won’t listen to me (Lord: Fine. I’ll stand beside you)
3. I have no eloquence…I can’t talk plain (Lord: that’s ok, I created your tongue, and I can put on it the words which need to be spoken)
4. I have no message…what can I say to Pharaoh? (Lord: no prob. I’ll give you the message)
5. I have no inclination…I don’t even want to go! (and the Lord changed his “wanter”)
And so Moses entered into the most exciting time of his life, and fulfilled his very destiny! And his last words he spoke before he died were quite eloquent:
“Happy art thou, O Israel. Who is like unto thee!”
And the Bible says, “and Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” That means that after 40 years of doing God’s will, he hadn’t aged a single day/just as strong and energetic as he was 40 years earlier.
Sound like a guy that’s been sucking on sour pickles?/miserable?
No, Moses realized that there’s nothing more exciting and fulfilling than knowing and doing the will of God!
To trust in the Lord w/ all your heart means to acknowledge Him as Lord of every area of your life, and to acknowledge that His way is best!
99% done, so focus on rest of the verse…
“Lean not unto thine own understanding”
This is not just another consideration…don’t compare what God says to what you think or what others say you should do.
Proverbs: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
“In all Thy ways acknowledge Him (ask Him to reveal His will to you…seek His face…fast if you have to) and He shall direct thy paths.”
