Knowing And Understanding God's Will

Jesus' life amazes me, His life was not filled with aimless distraction, but with focused purpose! His focus was fixed on what God, the Father, sent Him to do. He majored in the important, He did not stray from His God given purpose! We can learn alot from His life, as we seek to know and understand God's will! Jesus completed the tasks God gave Him to do and claimed with all confidence, as He breathed His last,"It is finished!"then He bowed His head and gave up his spirit. I don't know about you, but I want that kind of confidence, to know I've completed God's will! I know I am not perfect, but by God's grace, and with His help, I hope to live a life that pleases Him!

In John 5:19-20, Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does."

Because of Jesus' intimate relationship, He knew all His Father was doing. He knew He could do nothing by Himself, He was, completely, dependent on the Father. There were alot of needs, the sick, the poor, but Jesus didn't try to meet every need, though He could have. He didn't major in what He could do, but only what the Father sent Him to do! The Father was out to save a lost world! Jesus was sent to the nation of Israel, that was His focus! God would use those Jesus' impacted there, to reach the world!

This sounds, completely, opposite from the strategy of telling God what we're doing or what we want Him to do and asking Him to bless it, doesn't it? We tend to make it all about ourselves and what we want. Jesus' life wasn't His own, but a life, totally, surrendered to God! As believer's, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we our not our own either! We've been bought with a price! Like Jesus, we are called to be about our Father's business.

John 5:17 says, "My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working."
I don't know about you, but when I stop and pay close attention, I see God working all around me too. I can't join Him in all I see Him doing, but I can ask Him where He wants me to join Him. This requires time spent with Him daily, to understand what He's doing and what His assignment is for me, today.

I see that God is working in my sister, she is saved, excited, growing and reading God's Word, He's invited me to join Him in what He's doing in her life, to encourage and disciple. I see God at work in my cousin, she is seeking God, asking how she can know Him and be saved. God has invited me to join Him, in her life, answering her questions and showing her God's ways. I cannot do anything without God, either! I can't change their hearts or give them the desire to know and obey His truths. I am only His mouth piece! I look to Him for instructions, for my assignments.

God is working in many ways all around the world. He is working right where we are and will invite us to join Him in what He's doing, if we make ourselves available to His plans and purposes. We can know God's will through an ongoing, intimate relationship with Him. God loves us too and like Jesus, if we draw near, He will show us, too, what He's doing and invite us to join Him.

Completing our God given tasks, will require the restraint to not give into the pressures around us, not seeking to please people or do what they think we ought to be doing. Time spent with Him will give us the confidence, to say, "No, this is what I am to do, today." (Some people will not be happy with our God given agenda.) It's a life of dependence on God, not independence, as the world teaches us. We will avoid aimless distractions, by choosing a purposed focus! We are choosing to major in the important. God will simplify our life, if we will let Him. We can know God's will and walk in it! The question is, "Are we willing to lay down our lives, what we want, our dreams and plans and do God's good, pleasing and perfect will?