You want to know and do God\u2019s will? What is God\u2019s will and what would it look like to do it? Usually the questions arise over something specific: Should I marry this person or that person? Should I become a pastor or a plumber? Things like that. But to know those things we need to approach the will of God first in a more foundational way. Instead of asking immediately should I live in Dallas or Denver, we need to ask if there a basic pattern to God\u2019s will and how He reveals it. Is there something consistent we can look for whether we\u2019re talking about choosing a marriage partner, an occupation, or a city to call home?<\/p>\n
Yes, there is a basic pattern to how God\u2019s will looks in all the decisions of our lives and in how He reveals His will to us. Jesus walked this journey on our behalf and in order to show us the way. He said, \u201cI have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me\u201d (John 6:38) and He confessed, \u201cMy food . . . is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work\u201d (John 6:34). The most fundamental step toward discovering and doing God\u2019s will is to settle that you were created for His will. You exist is to do what He has planned for you. Have you settled that? Is the most necessary thing for your continuance (your \u201cfood\u201d) to know and do His will? Are all things subservient to that discovery and purpose? Isaiah said in describing Jesus before He ever took a step on this earth:<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/span>It was the LORD\u2019s will to crush him . . .and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> –Isaiah 53:10<\/p>\n God willed that Jesus would suffer for our sins (\u201cto crush him\u201d) and only then would the fullness of His will find fulfillment through Him (\u201cprosper in his hand\u201d). Jesus died for us once for all, making the only atonement possible for our sins. We can\u2019t duplicate that, and shouldn\u2019t try. But there is something about the pattern of God\u2019s dealings with Jesus that He wishes to reproduce in us as well. Notice this order: the cross (\u201ccrush him\u201d), then a crown (\u201cprosper\u201d). Death, then resurrection. Suffering, then reward. Crushed, then crowned. Battered, then blessed.<\/p>\n Why this pattern? Why did Jesus travel this road for us? Not because of something in Him<\/em>, but because of something in us<\/em>. He died for our sins on the cross. But, even though we are forgiven and free of the debt of our sins, our sin nature continues to exist while in this world. To deal with the indwelling nature of sin, God takes us down the same path He led His Son along. We can\u2019t pay the debt of our sins, but we must die to sin\u2014the inward nature that resists God.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t truly enter into the enjoyable part of God\u2019s will (\u201cprosper in his hand\u201d) until God deals with our sin nature (\u201ccrush him\u201d), for it repeatedly blocks our way. Thus, at this present moment, God is orchestrating some of the events of your life in a way that is unpleasant. One (perhaps among many) purpose for this is that He is wooing you to choose His will rather than your own will.<\/p>\n What is God\u2019s will? That in everything and at every moment you choose His will over your own. Didn\u2019t Jesus say, \u201cNot my will, but your will be done\u201d? Could it be that what you are facing presently is in some respect designed to bring you to that same posture of heart? The cross hurts. The crushing of self is never pleasant. But it is God\u2019s will. Are you wondering why things have to be so hard? At least in part, things are hard because your self-will is hard. You want your way! So do I! That is the problem. Remember, the required heart-posture for discovering the God\u2019s will is this: I want His will more than I want my own. Jesus willingly walked this road for us. He didn\u2019t have to\u2014for He had been in harmony with the will of the Father from all eternity. But He stepped into time and space and followed His Father\u2019s will. And it led Him to a garden where He prayed in agony to choose the Father\u2019s will over His own will. The result was resurrection from the dead and elevation to a place He could not and did not even enjoy prior to His earthly ministry\u2014for now it was His not simply by divine right<\/em> as the Son of God, but now by redemptive right<\/em> as the Savior of the world!<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 taking the very nature of a servant \u2026 he humbled himself and became obedient to death \u2013 even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name \u2026\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong> –Ph<\/span>ilippians 2:7, 8, 9<\/p>\n We must travel the same path to find and do His will. Though initially the path is painful, in the end we will find it to be \u201chis good, pleasing and perfect will\u201d (Rom. 12:2b). So we are commanded: \u201cDo not conform any longer to the pattern of this world\u201d (Rom. 12:2a). This is the crushing. We have all allowed the world to \u201csqueeze [us] into its own mould\u201d (Phillips). Breaking that pattern is painful, but we can never know and do the will of God until it is accomplished. This is not accomplished in a moment of time (though it begins there), but is a life-long process. Yet we need not wait a lifetime to \u201cbe transformed by the renewing of your mind\u201d (knowing the will of God). And the promise is \u201cThen you will be able to test [identify] and approve [rejoice in] what God\u2019s will is\u2014his good pleasing and perfect will\u201d (Rom. 12:2b).<\/p>\n God wants you to know who to marry, what occupation to take up, and what city to live in\u2014but more than that He wants to own you, from the heart. Then you will know and rejoice to do \u2026 whatever His will is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You want to know and do God\u2019s will? What is God\u2019s will and what would it look like to do it? Usually the questions arise over something specific: Should I marry this person or that person? Should I become a pastor or a plumber? Things like that. But to know those things we need to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-isaiah","category-philippians","post-preview"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-4P","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=299"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1626,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions\/1626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}