Living in the Will of God

Over the past 35 years, I have heard numerous pastors and preachers say, "You must know the will of God for your life." And most newer Christians ask, "How do I know what the will of God is?" The simple answer is, the Bible has all the answers on living in the will of God. But some will say, "Oh, but that sounds so generic." Well, the Bible does have all the answers for living our lives in the way God wants us to. There is no hidden mystery or secret formula to use. As a Christian, we should be students of the Bible; we should read it and study it and seek God in prayer on how to interpret it.

I don't know what the percentage is but I would guess that a lot of Christians don't do this, read the Bible. Don't get me wrong, this is a fair guess and if you talk to Christians at random and ask how often they read their Bible, the number who read it every day or even a few times a week, would be small. I'm not picking on Christians, I'm a Christian, but I am speaking what I have good reason to believe. Just try that sometime, maybe when you are in Church the next time. You might be surprised.

Now, if I'm wrong on that, I will admit it. In a Lifeway survey of 2900 Church attenders, only 19% read their Bibles daily. I know a person can search the Internet and find all kinds of polling numbers on this topic and some of the group sizes are smaller than the one I quoted above. That is why I suggested asking people in the Church you attend but do it in a loving way, not in a criticizing way. All this is said just to lead into the fact that the answers for how God wants you to live your life is in the Bible. If Christians are not reading their Bible, how will they know how God wants them to live.

Don't misunderstand, the Bible is not going to pick out your clothes for you tomorrow morning but it will tell you in what manner you should dress (1Pet 3:3-6). Colossians 3 tells us how to live our Christian lives, Ephesians 5 talks to us about husbands and wives and Galatians 5 tells us how to live our lives according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Cor. 7, we read the guide lines for Christian marriage and the allowance of separation between a Christian couple (no allowance), and also for a couple in which one is saved and the other is not. This chapter also includes guidelines for single Christians considering marriage.

These are just some of the information within the Bible which will give us what we need to know concerning God's will for our Christian lives. I could go on and on with other examples; I didn't even mention the 10 Commandments which outline straight forward commands on how we need, not suggest, to live our Christian lives according to God's will. And, right at the top of the 10 Commandments, 'you shall have no other Gods before me.' Even as Christians, striving to live our lives according to His will, we get that one wrong sometimes. Have you ever skipped church for some other activity for either yourself or you kids? That's not meant to be a condemning question, it is just an example and a lot of us have been there at one time or another. But we had placed something before God at that given time.

The one example in the Bible I really like when it comes to God's will in our lives is in Acts 16. The following passage of scripture tells us how the Holy Spirit guided Paul to his next destination instead of where Paul, himself, was attempting to go.

They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia;  and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them;  and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.  A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”  When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.  Acts 16:6-10

Have you ever experienced anything like this in your life? I'm not speaking of the same specifics but in a general sense which concerned anything in your life, when you wanted to do one thing but God kept throwing up road blocks. If we don't recognize it right away, it can become very frustrating for us. But once we get smart and realize it is God telling us no, then we will understand. The next thing we should do is seek what His will is for us in that situation. In Paul's case, he was given a vision of the man in Macedonia calling for his help.

Do you think this is only something which happened in the Bible? Do you really think God can't do similar things in our lives today? There was a time when my wife and I were praying about relocating across the country. That's a big move and I was praying every day and asking God if this is what he wanted me to do. I began to understand this was what God wanted me to do but still wasn't completely sure. I contacted a pastor in the area in which we were going and laid out my situation to him. His response was the passage above. I didn't have a vision but it was from God's word that I was given a message from God that He wanted me to go.

Some would say this was nothing more than a coincidence or I was making something from nothing. But when I got to where we were going, God used me in the way He intended. So, to me, it wasn't my imagination, it was guidance and direction from God. There is so much more to this story but that's for another time. If we seek God's will for our lives, He will show us. He is not in the business of hanging us out there. A student of scripture, that's one who reads and studies the Bible, will know how to seek out His will for their lives. The Bible is not just a book we carry back and forth to church, it is our manual for life and the more we read it, the more we understand how God wants us to live.

Finally, don't fall into the trap of taking the shortcut of making  a trip to the local Bible Book Store and finding the hottest selling book on Christian Living. The book was written by a person, the Bible was written by God. Go straight to the source and don't involve a middle man. Also, don't survey your Christian friends to see how God is working in their lives. God will not ordain His will in your life in the same manner He does with someone else.

The following verse is another example of God's will in our lives.

 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. I Thess 4:3-5

You could stop at, 'God's will is for you to be holy.' His will for our lives is to continue to be sanctified or to grow to be more like Him. The remainder of that verse is specific behavior to refrain from. This is God's will in general for all of us. When it comes to specifics in our lives, we must first pray and seek God's guidance and direction. He might provide the response and guidance in His word, in a passage or chapter you are reading or He might give you the answer through another person. Don't ever doubt that God will let you know what His will is for you.

Hudson Taylor was an Englishman who opened up the Inland China Mission field, now known as OMF International. He was a steady and hard worker and had a strong desire for the Chinese to know Jesus. When the Lord wanted him (His will) to return to England for furlough and rest, Taylor ignored Him. Eventually, after ignoring God's urging him to return, the Lord had no other choice but to make him return. Taylor ended up on his back, in bed for a year. God made sure Taylor received the rest he so badly needed but refused to take. This was God inserting His will in this man's life for the man's own good. After a year in England, Taylor returned to China and resumed his work but by that time understanding what God's will for his life had been.

If you are struggling with what God's will for your life might be, maybe you need to spend more time with Him. Most of us, who have been married for a while, understand and know our spouse pretty good. That's because we have an active relationship with each other. It is the same with our relationship with God. If we are not communicating with Him and we have a stale relationship with Him, how will we know Him or what His will for our lives might be? Close the gap in this relationship and draw close to Him in prayer and reading His word. Then, understanding His will for your life will become much easier.

 

Mocking God

It's done by Hollywood types and people in the entertainment industry. It's also done by bitter atheist and by people who are not Christians and think it is silly to believe. What am I referring to? It's called mocking God and the Bible warns against doing it. But when a person doesn't believe what the Bible says or believes it is a book of ancient fairy tales, then they don't care what it says. The definition of mock/mocking is:- to treat with contempt or ridicule  So, what does the Bible say about mocking God?

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.   Gal 6:7-8

Sowing to the flesh can be understood as living for yourself and not having any concern for God or others. This person is only interested in themselves and getting all they can get for them. It's satisfying what they want and doing for them first and then, maybe others. But God isn't even on the horizon of their life picture.

For the Christian who is sowing to the Spirit, is living his/her life for God, doing the things that please God. They are working at building His kingdom by telling others about Him. They are serving the needs of others first and themselves second. God is always first in their life and it's for Him they live.

Now, I know to those who are not saved, this sounds absolutely crazy. But it sounds crazy because they don't know God and haven't put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. That's why it sounds crazy. (1 Cor 2:14) But for those of us who know Jesus and are saved, it becomes natural for us to want to serve Jesus and others. (and for those who don't know, Jesus is God)

Some people who are not saved and might not want anything to do with God, they can be down right nasty when it comes to talking about God. As I said above, some in the entertainment business enjoy mocking God and even get a lot of laughs from it by others who don't believe. They think it's funny to tell foul jokes about God or openly mock His being. They make up jokes about God and Noah, God and Moses and worst are the ones about Jesus on the cross.

Others are angry when mocking God. They are always quick to ask the question following a catastrophe, "Where was God when this happened?" or "Why would God allow this to happen?" God gets the blame but never gets the credit for things which are great in their lives. Oh, by the way, God was right there. God is sovereign and does not cause evil to happen but will allow it for reasons only He knows. And, who are we to question God? Read the last few chapters of Job and learn how God answered Job when he questioned God. Those who are unsaved and don't really know Jesus personally can never understand anything about God. Of course, there are those who are saved and don't know what they should about God and ask some serious questions. And, God would answer them as He did Job, more than likely.

If you have ever heard some of the more prominent atheist speak in general, they never pass on an opportunity to mock God in an attempt to steal His work from Him, particularly the creation. But their mocking, in general shows their lack of reason, such as the following from Richard Dawkins,

Faith is belief without evidence and reason; coincidentally that's also the definition of delusion.

He says that faith is belief without evidence and reason; really! The evidence is overwhelming for those who approach it with an open mind and are willing to reason through it. As an example, one question: Why would the twelve disciples of Jesus endure the torture and beatings and suffering and finally death, just to keep telling an untruth? The answer is simple, it was true and there were over 500 people, at one time, who saw the resurrected Jesus. This is historical information and to claim otherwise is simply a mockery of God.

Stephen Hawking went to his death, just recently, denying the existence of God and putting his belief in a fairy tale of exaggerated science. What I mean by that is God created everything and that includes the science we know. Some have taken the theory known as evolution and have persuaded many to believe it is fact when it has never been proven again and again as is required for all scientific fact. Then, there is the Big Bang and I won't even get into that. The point here is this, God's existence is seen everywhere. When we look at the science of this world, how can we not see the miracles of God at work? Dive into a medical book on anatomy and research the human body and the parts and the cells and everything and how it is all put together and lives. There is no way this happened through evolution, just no way. But when people say it is real and God is a fairy tale, that is mocking God.

So, it is evident that those who don't believe in God mock Him and His existence but what about those who say they believe? Yes, they do mock God and who He really is but not in the same manner as the nonbelievers. Allow me to give you some examples. The prosperity teachers claim God wants them, and us, to be rich, financially wealthy. They fly around in private jets which cost up to and more than $100,000 dollars. They buy their wives $200,000 automobiles and don't flinch or try to hide it when asked. They walk around the platform at the front of the church with thousands of dollars worth of clothing on and are not even shy about admitting it. Some are very boastful about it. They take passages from God's word and twist them to meet this false doctrine of theirs and that is mocking God.

Someone might ask, "Where does all the money come from?" It comes from the people in these churches who have been duped into believing they too can be extremely wealthy if they only have faith. This is a lie. It's that simple. They are deceived into believing that the more they give, the more they will receive. God is not the great sugar daddy in the sky who gives us whatever we want when we tell Him. He's not a multilevel marketing scheme either. Paul tells Timothy that the love of money is the root of all evil. Allow me to give the passage as Paul speaks it in 1 Tim 6:9-10,

But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

This passage does not condemn those who are wealthy and understand who God is and what it means to serve Him in the way He expects. No, this is a warning to those who burn with a passion for riches and wealth. It is a stumbling block for those who seek it above their relationship with Jesus. But many in these churches have been deceived into believing this is what God wants for them. There is no place in scripture where God tells us He wants us to be monetarily wealthy. It's just not there. These false teachers have taken God's word and twisted it to say what they want it to say as they pass these lies on to their followers.

In a secular news article about these men, the reporter approached Kenneth Copeland, who has been preaching this nonsense for years, about his need for a private jet. His response was one of the worst answers and statements I have ever heard. Here are some of his replies to why flying commercial is not for him.

“You can’t manage that today, in this dope-filled world, get in a long tube with a bunch of demons,” “And it’s deadly.” 

 When asked if he really thought people are demons, he responded with this,

“No I do not, and don’t you ever say I did,” Copeland responded, visibly perturbed. He added, “It’s a biblical thing, it’s a spiritual thing, it doesn’t have anything to do with people. People? I love people. Jesus loves people. But people get pushed in alcohol. Do you think that’s a good place for a preacher to be and prepare to preach?”

I have always approached flying commercial, the only way I can fly, as an opportunity to possibly reach one of these people Copeland appears to be afraid of. There is a whole bunch of these guys who (the Word Faith and NAR guys/prosperity preachers) who claim it is an absolute necessity to have their own private jet and more recently, it seems they all have to buy their wives a $200,000 car. One was seen on the platform with a pair of $4000 sneakers on. Really? What's the point? Is a flaunting the fact that he has the money to waste on a pair of sneakers? To act this way and to conduct God's business this way is making a mockery of God.

Now, I don't claim to know where these people's hearts are with God and I would never attempt to guess but conducting any ministry, which attaches God's name to it, like this is not good. Some could fall into the following,

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’     Matt 7:21-23

The mocking of God comes in all different types of forms and ways. When I hear or read what some of these people say about God, I cringe. I have to remind myself to pray for those who might be caught up in a prosperity teaching, working three jobs in an attempt to have God satisfied with their faith in becoming wealthy. Again, another form of mockery. And, for those nonbelievers who find it so easy and enjoyable to say those foul and nasty things about God, they need prayer for their salvation.

For the atheist who can't help but make fun of the 'sky god' and all the naïve Christians who have been 'brainwashed' into believing the fairy tale, they, too, need prayer for their salvation. Two of the most brilliant Christian minds of the last century, E. Wilder Smith and C.S. Lewis, were both saved out of atheism. So, just because an atheist is mocking God and enjoying it doesn't mean he/she is not in God's sights and being prepared for salvation.

And finally, the Apostle Paul himself, was a mocker of Jesus Christ. He hated believers of Jesus and rounded them up and tossed them into prison. In this process, he was not only persecuting the follows of Jesus, and Jesus Himself, but in do so, He was mocking Jesus and who He was, the Son of God.

We must be very careful, as Christians, how we conduct ourselves in our daily Christian lives. It is so easy to fall into the trap of slighting God and what He has done for us. When we intentionally engage in sin, we are telling God we don't care what He has done for us. I'm not talking about those times when we sin unknowingly or without thought. When we slip, we ask God to forgive us and He does. But when we know what we are going to do is sin, we are mocking God and telling Him, " I know it's wrong but I'm going to do it anyway." Have we even given any thought to Jesus' suffering before and on the cross? If we did, we would not proceed but when we do, we are openly mocking what Jesus did for us on that cross. Remember how the definition described mock/mocking? Treat with contempt or ridicule; is this the way we want to treat Jesus? Is this how we honor and praise Him?