Part 2 of 4:  Peace Comes When We Align Ourselves With God’s Will

All things come by God’s will, in God’s time, for God’s purpose.  Seek His will for your life, and you will receive what you seek 100% of the time.

So how do we know what God’s will is?

Romans 12:2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

God is diametrically opposed to the sinful nature of man.  Many of our world leaders, the politicians, media outlets, scientists, doctors, and so-called experts constantly advise us as to what they believe is proper.   Being that God is holy, sinless, and perfect His will remains counter-intuitive to the instruction of people who have their sight set on the things of this world.  We must understand that as Christians we are not to conform to these ideas but to be transformed by the Word of God.  The renewing of our minds comes from replacing the fallible knowledge of man with the truth of God. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding. (Psalm 111:10).  We know what is the will of God by holding all things against His Word.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

To know the Word is to know God.  To know God is to know His will.  The biggest problem we have as Christians today is that we don’t know the Word.  We don’t read our Bibles.  We are expected to be able to recall the truths contained within scripture in all circumstances, but we can’t possibly do this if we don’t even know what is in the Bible.  If God is the Word, and we don’t read the Word, how then do we know God?  Perhaps we don’t.  Six times in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus asks,“Have you not read?”  The expectation expressed here is that we should read the scripture. The expectation is not that we will depend on preachers to teach us, or that we will depend on the teaching of our worldly society.  The Word of God is the measure by which we determine all that is right and good.  This is how we test our actions and the actions of others.  This is even how we test good preaching and good teaching.  We are to hold on to preaching that is good, and discard what is not biblically sound (1 Thessalonians 5:21).  The Bible says many false teachers will attempt to lead Christians astray.  Do you have the peace of knowing that the teaching you’re listening to is biblically sound? Do you have the peace of knowing the God of the Word?

So what does Christ say is His will for our lives?  In John 14:15 (Jesus says), “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  As believers in Christ we would be well advised to know what those commandments are.  Jesus’ commandments are not the 10 Commandments that God gave to Moses…Jesus fulfilled that covenant in living a sinless life, and that covenant is finished and paid in full by the blood of the cross.  The 10 commandments remain as a general principle for our behavior, but Christ, in His preaching, gave new, more pointed commands. In Matthew 22 Jesus simplifies the entire law in 2 commands:

Matthew 22:37 (Jesus said), “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend all the Law…”

Jesus uses the phrase “If you love me…” a very small number of times in the gospels.  These “if…then” statements are specifically indicative of whether or not we actually love Christ, and we should take them seriously.  Here are the things He said we will do if we love Him.  “If you love me you will obey my teaching (John 14:23), you will keep my commandments (John 14:15), and you will feed my lambs, tend my sheep, and feed my sheep (John 21:15-17).”  In other words, if you love Jesus you will know His commands, you will live by those commands in order that your life will honor Him, and you will share His word with others.  Jesus is the great shepherd and the bread of life.  His sheep (children) must be fed (taught).  When you hold yourself against the Word of God can you say that you love Jesus Christ, and that you have submitted your life to Him?  If not, then prayerfully get into the Word of God and get the Word of God in you!

Many of us fill our lives with desires that have very little to do with God’s will for our lives as outlined above.  Where do these desires come from?  It would seem they come from a desire to be like the world.  The best way to know whether or not what you are desiring is of God is to ask yourself the question, “Does this glorify God?  Does what I desire bring glory to His name and further the advancement of His Kingdom?”  If what you are desiring or praying for doesn’t honor God, then it probably isn’t God’s will for your life.  God’s desire is that we would serve Him and praise Him.  These desires that are not of God become dangerous for our lives because they eventually overtake us, drive us far from what is good, and lead us to final destruction.  God is a loving God, and being the good Father that He is, He may use hardship as discipline to teach us as His children. (Hebrews 12:7) All good fathers discipline their children, and no good parent will allow an unruly, spoiled, or lost child to go unchecked. Some children do not grow up the way a parent would prefer, but many times it is not for lack of the parent’s disciplining and guiding them.  Let us make the effort to be good children of the LORD, to follow His commands, to be good stewards of our resources, and to make the concerted effort to live by His will.  Why invite opportunities for His discipline?  This will only become hardship in our lives.  At some point most of us have felt the LORD’s discipline, and all strong Christians, while we recognize we are infinitely better for it, would prefer to avoid discipline.  To use the cliché, the circumstances of our lives good and bad “have made us who we are today.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18 God’s discipline, while it seems severe, is designed to intensify our joy in that it destroys the origins of our worst sorrows.

1 Peter 1:7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

When we place ourselves in alignment with God’s will for our lives, and we understand that struggles we face are a means by which God purifies us, refines us, and strengthens us…and we trust that…we can find contentment in any situation.  Everything we endure is for our good, and for our growth.  God is sanctifying His believers.  God desires that you will seek Him. He desires that you will honor and glorify Him by seeking His will.  When he turns you from your wicked ways back towards Him, though it may be painful, he is truly saving you from destruction.  We should let all circumstances of our lives point us toward the cross.  When we seek God’s will for our lives, we will receive what we seek 100% of the time.  In being in right step with the LORD and submitting to His will there is found peace that surpasses all understanding.

Read Part 3 Here