"THE WILL OF GOD" - #3 IN "HOLY CONVERSATION" SERIES (August 10, 2008)

Over the past two weeks we have been looking at listening to God. We discovered that we need to prepare the way by:

• Reducing our “busy---ness”
• Reducing our cares of this world
• Not allowing the lure of wealth to pull us away from God
• Reducing our desire for other things
• Increasing our trust in God
• Praying
• Reading God’s word
• Fellowship
• Silence

Last Sunday we talked about God speaking to us through Prayer, His Word, His Holy Spirit, Dreams and Visions, and through other people.

But the question remains, how can we know when God is speaking to us, or when it is just our own thoughts? I often joke that God needs to throw a brick and hit me upside the head with a note attached!", or write it on the wall, or across the sky. Don’t you feel that way sometimes?

I once attended a Church of Christ in Richmond Virginia. I was nominated to the Diaconate one year. I was honored. There were only two active Elders there at that time and they called me to the church one Saturday to talk to me about the nomination. They told me that God had spoken to them and told them that I was not the right person for the service of Deacon and should withdraw my name. They offered a prayer asking for God to reveal the answer to me. After the prayer they asked for my decision. I felt it was hard to argue with two Elders and God, so I withdrew my name. I later found out that they had called in numerous other people who had been nominated to serve on the Diaconate and Eldership that year, and told them the same story.

I was nominated for the service of the Diaconate the next year, and guess what, the same thing happened. During our meeting they said that God had told them again that I still was not ready? This time, however I had talked with the Pastor, others from the congregation, as well as those from the Nominating Committee. I had also been in communication with God through prayer, reading God’s word, and trying to discern God’s will. I felt called, I felt at peace, and so I answered their objection. I told them: "God hasn't told me what He has told you yet, so we need to discuss the matter further?" Thy didn't like me very much after that! It was later discovered that they didn’t want a strong Diaconate or Eldership because they had power. Once the Diaconate and Eldership were increased and they lost some of their power they left the church.

God has never spoken to me in an audible voice but apparently he does to some people. I believe at least on one occasion God has "spoken" to me in a vivid dream. The dream was of Peter on the Beach with Jesus after His resurrection, and Jesus was asking Peter if he loved Him, and to feed his sheep. This dream continued for over a year and was one thing that led me to ministry.

When it came to knowing God's will, George Müller (1805-1898), an English evangelist and philanthropist, was remarkably and humbly gifted. A man of faith and prayer, Müller established orphanages in Bristol and founded the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad. The following are wonderful excerpts from one of his essays.

Here's how George Müller set out to ascertain the will of God on a daily basis:

• I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are over come when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.
• Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.
• I seek the Will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.
• Next I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God's Will in connection with His Word and Spirit.
• I ask God in prayer to reveal His Will to me aright.

“Thus, through prayer to God, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters, and in transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective.”

Christ taught us that knowing God's will and living in obedience to that will is the key to it all! God is the potter; we are the clay. God keeps us spinning on His potter's wheel, shaping and reshaping us as He bathes our lives in tears to make us more “Christ-like” so He can use us for His will. We need to surrender ourselves, our wills to God daily. We need to keep our clay moist through daily prayer and reading God’s word.

When people talk about God's will, they are often referring to a variety of different things. The disciples once asked Christ: "What must we do to do the works God requires?" In response, Jesus said, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:28-29).

Sometimes, God makes His will very obvious. It is clearly God's will that we need to work at loving and serving others, becoming more like Christ, telling others about God, and valuing the things that God values. Jesus said in Mark 3:35, "Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." In John 7:17, Jesus reiterated: "If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own."

We all know that sometimes God's will isn't always as clear. In these instances, God commands us to seek His wisdom regarding the direction He would have us to go. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

When we seek the Lord, the Holy Spirit will guide us and show us God's will for us. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Seeking God's will for specific situations and decisions requires practicing spiritual disciplines like:

• daily prayer and meditation,
• fasting, worship,
• and dedicated Bible study

Seeking God’s will also requires us to have:

• A pliable and willing heart. Are you willing to do what God wants you to do? Isaiah 45:9 says, "…Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?...'"
• A general understanding of how God works. Finding God's will is not a one-time feat. God may want us to accomplish and do different things throughout our lives.
• A willingness to leave your concerns with God and rely on Him. Matthew 6:34 says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
• A desire to learn, grow, and develop.
• A desire to serve God and others.
• The ability to take inventory of yourself, discovering your likes and dislikes, discovering your gifts and talents. You may be asked to try new things!
• A willingness to listen to wise counsel and take confirmation from others
• The desire to have the mindset of Christ. Jesus gave us many great examples of finding God's will and than doing it. He maintained a close relationship with His Father, stay faithful in prayer, fasted, and was led by the Spirit.
• Trust in God

This is not always easy or clear because God reveals Himself in many different ways as I mentioned earlier. These ways include:

• His Word,
• other people
• or circumstances
• and sometimes an inner prompting or voice for direction.

It takes practice and some discernment to hear God's voice.

Sometimes our own timetable, will, worries, and the lack of intimacy in our relationship with God can stand in the way of hearing from Him. When we seek God's direction for specific answers to particular situations, we need to ask ourselves if we are surrendered to God's will and if the answer lines up with His Word or if it seems more in line with our own desires.

God desires that we know His will and plan for our lives. As we earnestly seek Him, we find truth in Ephesians 1:9: "And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ."

Above all else, finding God’s will involves having a close relationship with God. A simple analogy is the child-parent relationship. A father communicates to his child what he desires the child do. This involves relationship. The child hears and understands the will of the parent.

Finding God's will is not just a list of do's and don'ts. It is placing faith and trust in God, giving your life over to Him and being conformed to His image.

In his book Listening to your Life, Frederick Buechner has issued an invitation to listen to God in this way:

Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.

What transforms this listening from self-indulgence into holy listening is that we do it intentionally in the presence of God, that we stop, and look for God's presence in our lives and listen for God's voice as it speaks to us in the events and emotions of our everyday living.

For example, we can listen through attentive reading of scripture or books of devotion or poetry or even science, mathematics or history. We can listen through prayer, through reflection on our hopes, our sorrows and anxieties, our loneliness and relationships, our work and leisure. We can listen by naming what we love and what we fear, by opening up both the heights and depths of our lives before the very heart of God. And always, in all these reflections, what we are really listening for is nothing less than an awareness and assurance of the presence of God, who has been listening to us and now takes this invitation of our attentiveness to respond. Again quoting Buechner:

(God's) message is not written out in starlight .. rather it is written out for each of us in the humdrum, helter-skelter events of each day ... Who knows what he will say to me today ... Not knowing is what makes today a holy mystery as every day is a holy mystery.

What we need to be certain of, when we think God is talking to us, is to test the message to see if it is from God or from ourselves or any other source. How do we do this?

First, God's message will always be in harmony with his Word, the Bible, and never in opposition to it.

Second, when God is speaking to us or leading us, there is a quiet conviction and a sense of inner peace. As his Word says, "Let the peace of God rule in your heart" (Colossians 3:15). When we don't have this inner peace, I have learned the hard way not to act on what I think I should do.

In younger days, if what I thought was God speaking to me, I would have been willing to stand on my head in public. But I learned that there is a vast difference between what God is saying (a conviction) and what is my own compulsion. With a conviction there is a sense of freedom and peace. But where the "little voice inside my head" keeps saying, "You have to do this! You have to do this! You have to do this!" and it is distressing me, I can be certain that it is a compulsion and not from God.

Third, God often "speaks to us" or leads us through our circumstances. Speaking personally, as I look back over the years, I can see how God has consistently led me through various and sundry circumstances and as the hymn writer said, "Jesus led me all the way."

Fourth, When a word is from God, there is always 100% accuracy. There was a severe penalty (death) in Old Testament times for false prophets—that is, those who claimed their message was from God and it wasn't. The test for a true prophet or spokesperson for God was 100% accuracy all the time.

Fifth, for me personally, whenever I feel God is "speaking" to me or leading me, I pray and ask him to reveal to me the truth of the matter, and...

Finally, all the preceding steps need to line up (like the markers in a harbor leading ships on a safe course both in and out of the harbor), and when they do, we can be confident that the leading or word is from God. Then we need to step out in faith to test the leading to make doubly sure it is from God. I prefer to do this and even be wrong, rather than through fear of failure, not put what I believe is God's leading to the test.