I know I've struggled with these questions from time to time. I really do want to know where God wants me to be and what he wants me to be doing. Can't He just mapquest my life for me so I can follow the blue line and get to where I'm supposed to be!
We (this includes "I") tend to misuse the idea of God's will. Often I hear it as an attempt to spiritualize a decision that just happens to coincide with what you wanted to do anyway. And it can be used to validate choices that range from what clothes to wear to career paths to marriage. And it was clearly God's will that allowed two-time Super Bowl MVP, Eli Manning, to take down the evil Patriots once again. Right? Does God micro-manage our lives like this?
We know we have free will. We can choose. God can't make us put our trust in Jesus. We can choose to follow Him or not. Even after we believe, we can choose to obey Him or not. But the question remains, if we want to obey, how do we discover His will for our lives?
Feel free to disagree with me, but I've come to the point where I don't think it's that difficult of a question to answer.
Love the Lord Your God
The teachers of the Law came to Jesus and asked him what was the greatest of all the commandments. Jesus replied:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:29-31)
What is God's will? To love Him with everything you have and, after that, love your neighbor.
Instead of figuring out how God fits in YOUR plan for YOUR life, which is what many really mean when they say they want to discover God's will, you should be learning what God expects from you according to HIS plan for the Christian life. It really is simple in theory and difficult in application because of our still-present sinful nature.
Love Him with all your:
HEART - Love Him emotionally for who He is in all His majesty, beauty, holiness, perfection. Love him as your father in Heaven.
SOUL - Love Him with your innermost being. Praise Him for saving your soul even though you did nothing to deserve it.
MIND - Love Him by knowing Him. Read His Word - don't seek some mindless mystical revelation! Discover who He really is and what He has done. You can't love someone that you don't know.
STRENGTH - Love Him with your effort and good works. Follow His commands. Never tire in performing the tasks He sets before you.
But What am I Supposed to DO?
Am I supposed to take this job or that job? Am I supposed to marry this person? Should I go into full time mission work?
I have the answer! Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. God knows you need things - a job, a mate, a path for your life. Then use the gifts He has given you to bless those around you.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)
Are we really loving Him with everything we have? I know I fall short. If we truly put Him first, not just say we do, then amazingly He will put it all in place for us.
Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
Remember though, you can't trick Him. You can't pretend to put Him first and delight yourself in Him and then get all the good stuff you wanted. That's the Prosperity (false) Gospel. When you love Him with everything and truly put Him first, His desires will become your desires. We conform to Him. Becoming like Jesus.....sound familiar?
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
To those who love God. HIS purpose. If we love Him first and make decisions that don't contradict biblical principles and commandments, we can hardly go wrong. When we let our own desires trump God's, we stumble. We weren't promised a life of luxury or one free of hardship, trouble or attacks from the enemy, but if we follow His lead, He will be faithful to finish the work He started in our lives.
Please, all three of you who may read this, discuss in the comment section below.
Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!
Good points, Dave. I like the "mind" advice above: don't wait for the mystical revelation.
ReplyDeleteOnce in a long while they happen, but if you're in the Word, studying, you start to see what God cares about. Moses' prayer in Exodus 33 models this need to know God: "...teach my Your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor with You."
Thanks Sam. I'm on this crusade lately to fight against the encroachment of contemplative spirituality/mysticism into the evangelical churches. If you seek "messages from God" without knowing the rock-solid Word of God, you open yourself up to all sorts of error and danger. People are all too willing to accept teaching these days as long as it sounds Christian-y enough. Something about itching ears.......
ReplyDeleteHopefully your crusade will only be against the improper practices of it. :)
ReplyDeleteSitting with God in silence can be a powerful act of submission and respect, like going before a King and waiting for him to speak. If he doesn't, you keep doing what you know to do based on what the King has said in the past and based on the kind of kingdom he normally runs.
But without the stillness, there can be no real listening, even to the Word because then it is diffused by the rest of the noise around us and within us. You probably know this from your long runs. When your mind is busy with thoughts or frustrations from work or the stress of whatever, it is next to impossible to find quiet of any kind, even the kind that we might fill with straight up prayer.
Okay, at least that's the way it is with me. It might take me an hour on a long drive before any semblance of quality time with the Lord emerges.
Oh, there is certainly merit in clearing your mind of work, kids, sports, schedules....and focusing on God in prayer, reading His Word. I love talking to Him when I'm running.
ReplyDeleteI think the trend in the Church today, though, is to elevate the "experience" with God above His Word, solid biblical teaching, prayer. I'm still trying to find support for "Holy Listening" for the Church in the Bible.
It's curious to me that people are so eager to get special messages from God without checking them against scripture. You can see this in these Emergent mega-churches. It's all about the emotional experience and each person's "journey." That's why they are so willing to compromise so-called beliefs and allow for other paths to God.
A friend of mine said it well, I thought......Comtemplative spirituality is the gateway drug to this Emergent mess. I'm a watchman on the wall seeing these things knocking at our gates and "check it against scripture" is my warning call.
So the challenge, it seems, is to find a healthy way to do it. If you throw it out completely, you lose a significant practice for deepening our relationship with God. If you keep it completely, you adopt all sorts of bad ideas, just like you said.
ReplyDeleteIt is helpful for me to step back from the places in Church culture where contemplation is being accepted willy-nilly in order to see it for what it can be. Wisdom helps us distinguish the two categories.
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On the running point--and you don't have to answer this if it feels like I'm prying--do you talk the whole time or balance it with listening? I know that you listen well so I guess I'm trying to see what kind of listening is good in our prayer times.
Sam - when I'm running (or really any other time) and I'm spending time with God, I'm talking to Him, thinking about a Bible passage I read or thinking about an article I found compelling. The Holy Spirit will definitely brings things into my mind to think about, meditate on, ponder, pray about. Sometimes I run near the prison which promps me to pray for some of the inmates that I know from playing softball there. Things like that.....
DeleteI can't say I've ever heard a direct proclamation or command from God during those times. I think that's a different animal than promptings from the Holy Spirit.
Excellent article, Dave. Thanks for writing it. I've been enjoying the back-and-forth between you and Sam. The discussion has reminded me of a few posts from another blog I recently read that I think apply.
ReplyDeletehe first two are about the claim of any word from God. When people say God told them something there are MAJOR implications that I don't think they truly consider.
http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2012/01/about-any-word-from-god-basic.html
http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2012/02/about-any-claim-of-word-from-god.html
The two biggest points from the posts are these:
"There is no such thing as a word from God that is erroneous. If a word affirms error, it is not God who is speaking (Num. 23:19; Jn. 17:17; Tit. 1:2; Heb. 6: 18)."
"There is no such thing as a word from God that is not absolutely morally-binding (Deut. 18:19; Jn. 15:22). This absolute obligation is all-encompassing: if God tells us to act or refrain from acting, we must comply; if God tells us to think or believe, we must agree. I sin equally if I fail to love my wife (Eph. 5:25), and if I fail to refrain from committing adultery (Rom. 13:9) — but I also sin if I do not believe that Christ is God (Jn. 1:1) and that He became flesh (v. 14)."
Those are powerful and true statements. A word from God is not a small thing. It is universe-shaking. It wasn't even normative during the centuries when the Bible was being written. People seems to think if you're earnest enough, if you try hard enough, if you work enough, it can happen to anyone today.
The third post is about taking human paradigms and forcing the Bible to fit within them.
http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2012/02/asking-and-answering-wrong-question.html
I'll quote a couple paragraphs.
"Let me try to be even pointeder. You said, in effect, "I know what a relationship is: one person talks straight into the other person's ear, then the other person responds straight into the first person's ear. The other person doesn't just write stuff down and say 'There, look at that, it'll tell you what you need to know.' I know that is what a relationship is. Therefore, that must be what it's like to have a relationship with God!"
"And there you went. No matter what the Bible teaches about having a relationship with God."
Prayer is us talking to God. The Bible does not teach that prayer is two-way communication.
I know people crave a warm, human-like relationship with God. They'll try just about anything to achieve it.
Praise Him that he gave us Scripture.
Matt -
DeleteI agree that Christians (and other people) don't realize what they are saying when they claim "a Word from God." Are they claiming to be prophets? I know I don't want to be a prophet....that was a thankless job in the OT. Plus, your prophecies have to be right 100% of the time or you are a false prophet. You better know what you're talking about.
And the point about our relationship with God really makes you think. Is it supposed to be a relationship like our human relationships? What are the differences? What does the Bible say about this?
It makes me think of other areas where we impose our human beliefs on the Bible rather than the other way around. Such as trying to cram evolution into the beginning of Genesis so as not to invalidate "scientific" evidence. Or explaining away miracles because things like that just don't happen.
Good stuff!
@Dave - "I can't say I've ever heard a direct proclamation or command from God during those times. I think that's a different animal than promptings from the Holy Spirit."
ReplyDeleteSame here. No direct proclamations.