The burning question!

Everyone's question: What is God's will for me?

In this week alone I've spoken to no less than 6 people who have shared with me the same question - what is God's will for me?? How will I know what is God's will? What if I don't like His will? Are my desires in line with God's? Or, I have a bf/gf back home, but I might have the choice to stay here, will God's will for my life coincide the two?

I tried my best to share what I've been learning from my devotions, referring us back to Scripture. Today, in church, the pastor blew my mind yet again. The thing is so simple, yet, we time and again fail to grasp it. I really intend to get hold of a copy of this Sunday's sermon. It is really empowering. It is a tad long, but if you have the time, do read it. Alot of truths from the Word of God.

The main gist of it all is - Live a life of "permission" - to live out our purpose, connect with our destiny, to fulfil our potential. All these sound like 'business' talk ie. generalized terms.. but let me break it down for you.

Genesis 2:15-17
15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden YOU MAY FREELY eat; 17 "BUT of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

From this passage, we see, God has given us permission, not only to eat in this context, but to also rule the world (re: Genesis 1:26-27 - 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.) Thus, there is a larger principle of permission over life.

3 things:
A life of permission
1. Is based on the Word,
2. Is Broad,
3. And it is before God's restriction.

Based on the Word.

- God has already given us His permission through His command, which is the Word of God. Thus, we have already receive whatever that is in the Word. So, if it is in the Word of God, we are able to do it, cos we have permission to - simple?

- If it is in the Word, you merely need to receive it!

- Many times we want God to re-confirm the blessing when He has already given to us in His Word, and we pray umpteen prayers of "what is God's will for me" that actually only serves to hide the true unbelief in our hearts and causes us to do NOTHING and leave the blessing wanting. And in the whole process of clarifying and Re-clarifying the answer to our question, we go into confusion and allow the devil to take our blessing. This point really hit home for me. Re-read it and let it speak to you profoundly.

- God's pain is to be doubted and God's pleasure is to be believed.

- What is in the Word, according to what you(and I) believe, it will be done to us. Thus, if we do not believe, we don't receive.

It's BROAD.

- God said we can eat ANY TREE!! It's like we can do everything except one thing. However, the world has reversed everything! It says we can only do ONE thing (which is God's will) and not everything else. So we start to have a narrow concept and makes us inactive people. Only sitting down on our hands, waiting and waiting for confirmation after confirmation.

- Remember the devil in the Garden of Eden? he came in a form of a serpent and questioned Eve, "Did God really say you can eat everything???" Trying to twist and confuse us to think in a narrow perspective.

- Then you ask, "what does God want for me?" The answer might not sit well with you - "Whatever YOU WANT!" Bizarre? Well, it's explained like that.
God has already told us what He wants in the Bible. So as long as you want whatever is in the Bible, then God wants whatever you want right? He has already influence you in the thinking to think of His desires.

Philippians 2:13
For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work.

Psalm 37:4-5
4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.

So basically, the answer is, if what you are desiring is in the word of God, then it is what God wants for you!

- Life is like a game of chess. Only one person makes a move at a time. So, God has already made His move when He gave us permission in the Bible, so now it's our turn to move. He will not move out of turn, so instead of us waiting on God, God's actually waiting for us to move!.

- If we do not move, how can we be led? But if you begin to move, He's able to lead you by His spirit. You see, cos' it says in the Bible also that ALL things are permissible, but not all are beneficial. And this is when His leading comes, to lead us in the way that will prosper us as that is what His plan is (Jeremial 23:11). You need to walk in the Word and then you will be led by the Spirit!

- God is telling us to use what He has already given us. The blessing is already with us so there's no need to reconfirm whether we have it. Just use it! It's already with you.

Finally, permission comes before God's restriction.

- "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us."
2 Corinthians 1:20

- We have to stop praying in this way "God, maybe You will say no.. but, if it is Your will....."
It's like we have already made up our mind to be negative! God's way is Yes.. but.. and His restriction is simple - whatever that is NOT in the Word of God - don't do. It's really changing our perspective.

The pastor gave a simple illustration of his daughter, who comes up to him "daddy, perhaps you will say no, but can I do this?" He said, the first thing she's already done is to put it in a negative light and secondly made him more inclined to say No. It really needs a change in our perspective and our prayer.

In conclusion, it's this - don't keep sitting on your hands and bums and keep pondering "what's God's will for me". Start checking your desires with His word (God searches our intent as I wrote about 2 days ago) and if it is in accordance with His word, act on it and as you move, God will lead you in the best way possible that will be beneficial for Your life. He has our best interests at heart and all desires that can be found in the Word of God is from Him because He has already placed it there, before you had even thought about it in the first place. (re: above verses).

-Laurachang-