Trusting in God's Will for us

  

"Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done, 

on earth as it is in heaven.." 

Matthew 6:9-10

Many Christians have a desire to seek God's will. While some don't know how to, there are those who know and yet may not accept His will finally.

Why wouldn't they? Interesting question.

In reflection, I realize that there were many times in my Christian life that I wanted something from God. Most of those were noble prayers, usually asking for the good of my loved ones, my wife, children, fellow Christians, the church and the like.

I would find a verse to support my asking. After all, I was taught to pray according to God's word, which is fundamentally right. However, many times I would "twist" God's word so that my requests would seem right, at least from a human perspective.

For example, I would pray earnestly for either myself or someone against sickness. Nothing wrong with that. But in my heart, I neglected the will of God in my prayer. I asked what I wanted and did not ask the Holy Spirit to help me to ask appropriately.

Paul had asked God three times to remove a thorn in his flesh. God didn't and Paul learned that God's grace is sufficient for him (2 Cor 12:8-10).

God is always good. Some point in time of my walk, the Holy Spirit instructed me that I must always consider God's will when I pray. Only then, He said, will my prayers be answered.

He is a Sovereign God after all. His thoughts are not my thoughts and His ways are always higher then my ways (Isa 59:8-10). I learned that as sincere and with as much faith as I could possibly have, if I did not ask according to God's Holy Purpose, that is, according to His perfect will, then I asked in vain. At most, I will get a second best from Him (His permissive will).

I was led to see how our Lord Jesus prayed.

In teaching His disciples (us!) to pray, the first phrase after exalting Abba Father, is "may Your Kingdom come and Your will be done ...."

Then in the Garden of Gethsemane,  Jesus cried out in agony knowing what He would be facing in a short time. But His cry was, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt 26:39).

The Lord desired to be spared of the impending separation from God at His crucifixion. He knew that God would turn His face away from Him at that point in time. He asked God to spare Him. But being obedient, Jesus trusted His Father completely and subjected His desire to God's will instead.

In similar vein, Abraham, when asked to sacrifice Isaac could have questioned God. The conversation could have gone this way.

God: "Abraham, I want you to sacrifice Isaac to me."

Abraham: "God, are you sure? How can a loving God like You, who promised me that I will be the father of all nations, will not spare my one and only son? If he died, then how can You fulfill Your promise to me? This is not according to Your word. It cannot be You!"

But Abraham did not do that. He did not question God at all and completely obeyed Him. He knew that if God had promised Him, He will fulfill and so even if Isaac was killed, God would resurrect him so that His perfect will would be fulfilled. 

No wonder Abraham was deemed as a hero of faith!

So, I learned that to want to seek His will for me is not good enough. I need to dare to trust Him, that His ways are higher than my ways. This means that if He asked me to do something that I am uncomfortable to do, I will still obey so that His Holy purpose is fulfilled through my obedience.

Easier said than done!

For me, I am pushing myself to grow more intimate with Abba Father so that I can absolutely trust Him and obey even when the circumstances seem unfavorable in my human mind.

I want to learn to be more sensitive to the prompting and direction of the Holy Spirit. I want to ask God for courage and boldness to obey the Holy Spirit. Only then can I be in His perfect will. And His perfect will for me is always good - hallelujah!

For a start, I must pray, "Abba Father, teach me to pray according to Your will, not mine."

God bless.

Steven