I'm blessed to have pastors that have taken time and continue to take time to answer my Biblical or spiritual questions. One of them recently told me 'You like to talk about what is or isn't God's will for you, may I suggest that you simply rest on what His Word says is His will for you?' I responded with 'love others and share His Gospel, right?" He then said "There are a lot more promises and statements than just that! Perhaps you should search and study!" I am following his advice by searching and studying while writing this blog.
I don't know if you're like me and find yourself saying 'this must not be God's will for me' but that's what I kept saying to this particular pastor whenever my attempts to serve Jesus Christ or minister in His name didn't prove to be fruitful or beneficial for the cause of Christ. I know several of you are thinking, that's my whole problem. I'm viewing this from my perspective and not God's perspective. I will admit that is part of it.
I'm reading the first article I was given from Christianity.com which is entitled "How Do We Know God's Will for Our Lives" https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-life/how-do-we-know-god-s-will-for-our-lives.html. I highly recommend this article if you are like me and constantly trying to either find your place with God or trying to figure out what His will is for you.
I'm an accountant so I have a very analytical mind. It's my nature to try and figure things out. I didn't realize that my trying to figure out God's will for me was taking up more time than my developing a relationship with Him. So, I have done just what the beginning of the article says. I let trying to figure out His Will become an idol. (a distraction from growing closer and getting to know God better) I’m spending more time gauging what I'm doing for Him and whether or not it's enough or if it's even what He wants me to do. Which is putting the focus more on me than God. I do want God to be proud of me. I do want to serve and obey him. Notice how many ‘I' statements are in that. Do you catch yourself saying "I want" or "I need" when it comes to the will of God? All God wants is outlined rather simply in the article I shared above and below are the topics discussed in that article.
1. Pursue knowing God. Seek God first.
2. Trust that God is working and guiding you. Do everything with faith.
3. Ask God for His wisdom
4. Be Saved
5. Be Loving
6. Be Transformed
7. Be Sanctified (set apart)
8. Be Thankful
9. Do everything as for Jesus
10. Repent and Go (ask for salvation and then share Christ with all those you meet)
I know I now need to work on taking the 'I' statements out of what I'm doing for God and check my motivation to see if it's more about fulfilling what I want and desire or is it more about what God wants. Very simply, all God wants is a relationship with us. This is His will for all of us. 'Us' being defined as all people which is the reason once we come to know Him as our personal savior, He wants to grow His family/ His family grows by our sharing Him with those that don't yet know Him. If you have not yet come to know Christ, I hope you will consider doing so.
“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things [the other things you need in life]will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)
My prayer for writing these short blogs on my website, christianfaithplace.com, is that they will either bring others to Christ or help Christians develop a more intimate (close relationship) with Jesus Christ. If you like this blog, check out the other blogs on my website. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. May God bless you.