Relax INTO His will!

"God has a wonderful plan for your life!" Bill Bright, the late founder of Campus Crusade and gifted evangelist, made that line famous. Comedians love to mock it. Believers sometimes doubt it. But, it is true. We were made for the purpose of serving God and we find our greatest satisfaction when we live in the center of the will of God. Perhaps your thought is - "Jerry, I believe that, but how do I KNOW what His plan is?" It is one of the most common questions I am asked!

The first step to living in the center of God's will is surrender; not apathy, not desperate resignation, but actively presenting our will and intentions to God. A self-willed Christian cannot do God's will. If a Believer is rejecting the clear Word in some area of his life, his spiritual sensitivity will be so dulled that he will not see or hear the guiding voice and hand of God's Holy Spirit. Assuming that a person has dealt with self-will and/or sin, not by achieving perfection, but with humility and repentance, what then?

RELAX! The Word expresses the confidence that is ours if we are walking in the Spirit. "There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears." (Philippians 1:6, The Message) Impatience is the great enemy of God's work and will in our lives. God has planted the seed of His will in us and it is germinating. We can care for it by prayer, by meditation, by worship, and by Scripture intake. But we cannot make it grow. Imagine planting a row of beans and then each morning digging them up to see if they were growing! You would not harvest many beans from that garden, would you? Even when it seems like life is going backwards for you, when there is no discernable path in front of you, walk on; in faith.

God is at work, 'finishing in you what He has started.' David's life story is an example. He was called to be God's anointed king while still a young teenager in his father's household. A short while after his encounter with the prophet, Samuel, he went off to take supplies to his brothers who were at war. There he was deeply offended by the faithlessness of the Israeli army. Stirred by the Spirit, he took on the giant, Goliath, killing him on the field of battle with a simple shepherd's sling. King Saul summonsed David to the royal court. Looks like the young farm boy just got his big break, doesn't it? It wasn't! For the next two decades, David was a fugitive, running from the insane jealousy of Saul.

So, was he, David that is, in the will of God? Every indication in the Bible is that he was! Finally, Saul was killed in battle and David took the throne. Even then, several years passed before he consolidated his power and moved forward to lead the nation to greatness for the glory of his God.Did David like waiting through the hard times? I don't think so. During that time, he wrote Psalm 57, where you can sense his questioning of his pathway, even as he bravely declares his faith in God.

"Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection.I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until this violent storm is past.I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill his purpose forme. He will send help from heaven to save me, rescuing me from those who are out to get me.
...My enemies have set a trap for me. I am weary from distress. Theyhave dug a deep pit in my path, but they themselves have fallen intoit. My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises!" (Psalm 57, NLT)

God is with you today! Present yourself to Him. He is working out His plans and purposes in your life. Stay steady. Keep on doing the right things even when nothing is making sense. And this is the promise you can take with you:

To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to those with integrity you show integrity.
To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the wicked you show yourself hostile.
You rescue those who are humble, but you humiliate the proud.

Lord, you have brought light to my life;
my God, you light up my darkness.
In your strength I can crush an army;with my God I can scale any wall.
As for God, his way is perfect.
All the Lord's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. -- Psalm 18:25-30 NLT
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My stubborn will at last hath yielded;
I would be Thine, and Thine alone;
And this the prayer my lips are bringing,
"Lord, let in me Thy will be done."

Sweet will of God, still fold me closer,
Till I am wholly lost in Thee;
Sweet will of God, still fold me closer,
Till I am wholly lost in Thee.

Sweet Will Of God- Morris, Lelia N. © 1968 Lillenas Publishing Company
(Admin. by The Copyright Company) CCLI License No. 810055