The Will of God

Can anyone stop the Lord once he has decided on a matter? Most certainly not! And yet we spend so much time trying to do exactly that. Instead of misused energies, we should rather investigate the pursuit of Gods plans. God’s will shall come to pass and once we know what that is we find peace and even in the struggle of life we find rest. It’s the trial of life that God has willed into our paths that will bring about change and glorify His name; “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” (1Peter 4:1-2) - Stop trying to shirk your responsibility. Praying against the will of God is a futile exercise.

 

How then do I understand the will of God for my life? Firstly, I need to read the Bible, so if that has stopped happening. It would be a good time to start factoring that back into your daily routine. An important note to understand when reading scripture, context is crucial, it’s dangerous to isolate a verse and then run with it in spite of the context. But above all things, lock onto the finished work of the cross, remembering the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice and what it cost Him to save us from our sinful states. If and when we focus on Him it will be well with our souls.

 

The will of the Father was to send His only begotten Son the Lord Jesus into the womb of a young virgin, who was miraculously impregnated by the power of God the Holy Spirit. He was born and then lived on the earth for 33 years, he was not a prophet as some religions claim, He was God in the flesh, the creator of all things. All those who deny this fact oppose the will of God and their prayers carry no sway when it comes to having His ear. Sure, the Christian is surrounded by spiritual forces of darkness and other enemies opposing Gods will, with an objective to get all of mankind to do the same. They are and continue to cause mayhem whilst deceiving the nations and yet it all still falls under the will of God’s plans. I sifting of wheat from the tares, or separating the goats from the sheep. It’s exactly what they propagate and how people respond to their call that allows us to understand who is truly saved or not.  

 

The man Jesus then lived a life of sinless perfect, was judged for sin even though he was innocent, his end in the flesh was barbaric, he was beaten, whipped and then crucified, was buried and then three days after that was raised from the dead by His Father. His resurrected body was handled by doubting Thomas, who would not believe the testimony of others unless he saw and handled the resurrected Christ. Many others engaged with Him, in fact, there were many who could confirm that the Lord Jesus was raise from the dead; “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.”  (Act 2:32) – On Judgment Day these witness will confirm the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead.

 

The purpose behind the plan of God involving His Son was to make a way of escape for all those who would understand their position before a Holy God, acknowledging that we are at fault and have not paid our Creator the due benevolence HE deserves. We have sinned against the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and because of this we need forgiveness. The love of God encapsulated in the Lord Jesus Christ, everything outside of Him, carries very little weight with God. He is the darling of Heaven, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.” Without Christ’s seizure in our lives we will never be covered by God’s grace nor will we have his ear.

 

Therefore, for those who acknowledge their sin and earnestly seek out God’s forgiveness, for all those who cry out to Jesus for rescue will be saved from the looming judgement that will come. The Lake of Fire will be the sentence, a place of everlasting torment, with no escape. God has willed it, but He has also willed rescue for all who cry out to Jesus; “For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”” (Romans 10:13)

 

Will you call or roll the dice on fate and hope for the best against the will of God? If so I can assure you regret will encapsulate eternity.

 

Signing out

 

Tyrone

Conforming our minds

 

If you need rescue run to the cross, run to the WORD of God which points us to Christ our beloved Saviour. Bask in its goodness and before long it will have achieved the desired result. I am convinced that no medication prescribed for the brain will ever come close to the power of the Word of God. One is of a carnal nature whilst the other is Spiritual. The one feeds our natural desires whilst the other the will of God. We are constantly at war within ourselves, but I think we have missed a trick, we often look for the generic instead of the real deal. Hoping that it may lighten our load, an instant solution to our problems that at best can only ever elevate the pressure of life for a season. Our problems remain because of our sinful natures, our natural minds have been cut from sinful material, we are fallen beings. Therefore, we need a miraculous intervention and that's where walking in the Spirit comes into its own. The battle is won or lost in our minds and this is where it all solidifies, it is the wheelhouse to our souls. The more I give it thought the more I realise I am onto something. Let’s unpack a few truths, but before we get there it would be amiss of me not to mention the importance of this point; “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” (1Corinthians 1:17) – Therefore, it’s important to steer away for the brilliance of academia accolades, or us trying to sound wiser than most by brilliant speech or the like, because that distract from the simplicity of the gospel. We want no praise for ourselves, period! It would be good for us to constantly bring this truth into focus whilst ministering. Jesus and His achievements alone must receive all the glory.

 

It’s the Apostle Paul who instructs, pay attention; “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2) 

 

·        There is an appeal to the Christian – we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice and the only way this is possible is to search out the mercies of God in our lives to achieve this objective. But the instruction is clear, we need to acknowledge the fact that we are no longer as important as we once believed, it’s no longer about our selfish wants, which almost always highlight sin in our lives. What is todays message, the world message? "When you start seeing you worth you will find it harder staying around people who don't." God's way is love you neighbour as yourself, its unconditional. It’s now all about the well-being of others and how we play our part in conforming them to the image of God and His holiness. This then is our spiritual worship.

 

·        How is this achieved? – In the mind, we are instructed not to be conformed to this world, which is open ended coaching. Almost everything the world teaches us to satisfy our carnal needs. We must learn to embrace the Lord Jesus’ example in every area of our lives and only then will we truly find the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. Think of the Martyrs that have gone before, Christianity cost them their lives and yet in the throes of death they were at peace. Stephen the very first Martyr had rocks crushing his skull and his lasts thoughts were about heaven with all its glory and forgiveness for the perpetrators. We know that the Lord Jesus in now seated at the right hand of God, nevertheless in this account in the book of acts we see him standing; “And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”” (Acts 7:56)  - “And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7:59-60) 

 

·        The instruction is to have our minds renewed, reprogrammed if you like. And the only way this is achieved is by testing, which means by trial and error. Christianity is a marathon and not a sprint. The closer we walk with the Lord the harder the trial and yet the greater the peace. It’s through the trial of life that we learn to have our minds transformed into the image of Christ. Our minds must embrace the bigger picture, which is the will of God.

 

My conclusion then, regardless of the cross we will all have to carry and that obviously varies, nevertheless, we all have the potential to overcome, excuses only ever come from a place of our sinful cravings, which the Lord has already crushed. If we claim Christianity as our own then this will become our mantra; “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:50) 

 

Its times to let go and let God, we must walk by faith, for without it is impossible to please God.

 

Signing out

 

Tyrone