“In everything give thanks;
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18
It is important to live our
life in the will of God. Jesus said, “Those who do the will of my Father are my
brothers, sisters and mother” (Mark 3: 33-35; Matthew 12:50). Therefore, not everyone who claims to be a Christian
will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of God
(Matthew
7:21). The prerequisite for living in
the will of God is to have a personal relationship with Him (John
14:6; 1Timothy 2:4). The initial step of
living in the will of God is to look to Jesus and believe that He is God who
came in the flesh to give us eternal life (John 6:40). God desires that everyone will come to a saving
knowledge of His Truth and to live with Him for eternity (1 Timothy
2:4).
As a Believer, we are
gradually conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, in holiness and sanctification. We slowly receive
the heart of God, the obedience of Christ and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit (Romans
8:29; 1 Thessalonians 4: 2-4). It is
exciting to know that the Holy Spirit intercedes for God’s children according
to the will of God (Romans 8:27).
Paul exhorts us to give ourselves first to the Lord and then to the will of God
(2 Corinthians 8:5-6). Through
the discipline of attending weekly Bible studies and having daily personal
times in Bible reading and meditation, we see how Biblical characters learned
to walk in the will of God.
Jesus is our supreme
illustration of one who lived totally in the will of God. He also only acted and
spoke as the Father directed Him (John 5:19). He walked in obedience all the way to Calvary’s cross
(Hebrews 5:8). He gave us
examples of times of undistracted and concentrated fervent prayer, which will
open our ears to hear God’s direction for our day (Matthew
11:15). God wants us to pray with a
grateful heart as we intercede and make requests for all people, especially for
those in high governmental positions. This allows us to live peaceful, godly,
dignified and quiet lives in every way (1 Timothy 2:1-3).
We can request that other
Believers pray with us too for a particular decision or situation (Romans
15:30-33). There were many times when
the Apostle Paul desired with all of his heart to go visit his fellow
Believers, and he asked them to pray about it with him. God did not always open
this door for him, however (Romans 1; 9-11). Paul often suffered for doing good deeds, because he obeyed the will of
God (1 Peter 3:17), but this never
deterred him from obedience. Paul even tells us to obey our employers and
political leaders who have rule over us, because we are bondservants of Christ.
Through this, we do the will of God and render service to God, even though we
are obeying a person (Ephesians 6:5-7; 1 Peter 2:13-16).
As we live in the will of
God we learn to discern whether some teaching we hear or read is Biblically
based or derived from false doctrine (John 7:17). We have no desire to conform to the image of the
carnal world, but to be transformed by renewing our mind until we live in the
good, acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). God’s will for us is to rejoice always, to pray
without ceasing, to give thanks even in our negative circumstances as well as
for us not to quench the movement of the Holy Spirit within us by doing evil
deeds (1 Thessalonians 5 16-19).
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You only did
what You saw our Father do (John 5:19).
If You, being God, had to consult our Father in prayer, how can we do any less?
You did not make a move outside of the will of God, and neither should we.
Instead, we rush around life accomplishing our own will and heaping up for
ourselves treasures on earth instead of in Heaven (Matthew
6:19-21). Teach us to do only Your will
moment by moment throughout the day.
Thought for the Day:
If we abide in the will of
God, we will live forever with Him in eternity. - 1 John 2:17
