THY WILL BE DONE

Time with Jesus - 13 Oct 2013

Hi all,

GOD’S WILL FOR ALL CHRISTIANS
1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. 2 Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Rom 12:1-2 NLT
14 Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. 15 See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. 16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 19 Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. 20 Do not scoff at prophecies, 21 but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil. 1 Thess. 5:14-22 NLT
JOHN 8:44 NLT
44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
1 THESS. 5:14-22 NLT
1	Warn those who are lazy
2	Encourage those who are timid
3	Take tender care of those who are weak
4	Be patient with everyone
5	See that no one pays back evil for evil
6	Always try to do good to each other and to all people.
7	Always be joyful
8	Never stop praying
9	Be thankful in all circumstances
10	Do not stifle the Holy Spirit
11	Do not scoff at prophecies
12	Test everything that is said
13	Hold on to what is good
14	Stay away from every kind of evil.

Today, let’s look at the will of God for Christians. I’m deliberately raising this because of all the nonsense being taught about God’s will for our lives. 

We get inspired by wonderful stories of people such as Hudson Taylor, Gladys Aylward, David Livingstone and others who have achieved great things because the Spirit of God prompted them to do what they did. 

These were instances where the men and women followed their heart. This transformed their lives and the lives of those whom they contacted. Basically, all they did was what they really wanted to do!

So let’s start by stating that God’s will for you will always be what you want to do! A quick examination of Psalm 34 makes this clear. If you delight in Him, the desires in your heart will be His desires, because He will have put them there! 

 ⁴ Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart's desires. Psalm 37:4 NLT Thus, if you are a Christian, what you enjoy doing is His will for you!

God’s will for you, will always be good, pleasing and perfect. Rom 12:2 NLT I’ve met people who wouldn’t commit their lives to Jesus because they didn’t want to be sent to some outlandish place. 

For example, China! They wanted to go somewhere else. For example to Bloemfontein. For some reason they didn’t understand, Bloemfontein is where they knew they would be happy. 

When it was explained to them that this desire originated from God, they could hardly believe it. 

‘”Do you mean to tell me that God wants me to go to Bloemfontein?” “Of course it is!” was our reply. (Mind you, why would anyone want to go to Bloemfontein is beyond Phyllida and me?) Incidentally, I recall listening to Spike Milligan talking about Bloemfontein. “It’s the only town I’ve ever visited where the cemeteries are above ground!” He added. “The most exciting activity is watching the traffic lights change colour”!  Don’t go running around and looking under every rock to discover God’s will for you. In nearly every case, you will find His will for you is where you are. After all, that’s why you are where you are. What about if you’re in prison? Well, if you’ve broken the law, His will for you will be to pay the penalty for what you’ve done. Bear in mind, you did it. God didn’t do it. Neither did He tell you to it! It was your own idea, initiated by Satan to disobey the law. The price you pay for this is determined by the law. So make the best use of the time in prison. Tell your fellow prisoners that even though you’re incarcerated, Jesus Christ has set you free. Men can 

imprison your body. But in Jesus Christ, you are free to roam the world.

Do you want to improve your education for a special purpose in order to enter a profession? Do you want to be a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer or something similar? Where would that desire come from? If you need to go to University, or some other educational institute, do it! It’s a desire He put in you. Where should you go for this? You must make the enquiries. When you know what is available, you will be able to choose. By all means, ask the Lord to help you with the decision. He will do if He has a specific purpose for you in a particular educational establishment. Otherwise, you’re the one who chooses. It’s one of the reasons why he gave you a brain! Use it wisely!

Look again at Psalm 37:4; notice the first few words. “Take delight in the LORD.” To take delight in Him is to walk with Him and spend time with Him. As you know, Phyllida and I married in 1981. How did I know that marrying her was God’s will for us? It wasn’t very difficult. We delighted in each other. We wanted to be together. We wanted to spend time together! We wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. The same is true with the Lord. Do you want to be with Him? Do you want to spend time with Him or is it a chore you force upon yourself? Do you want to spend eternity with Him? If this is true, you are delighting yourself in the Lord. Don’t complicate it!

Behaviour is critical. To be a Christian you must live like one. Hypocrites say one thing and do something else. Jesus was severe with the hypocrites of His day. He’ll be equally severe with those who claim to be Christians but live like the devil. John 8:44

In conclusion, Paul in the first letter to the Thessalonians wrote informing them how they should behave. For convenience I’ve listed 14 points illustrating how a Christian should live in this world. He stated, “This is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus”.

What is fascinating about this is it’s not complicated. These are the things we should do if we say we’re Christians. The list is not exhaustive. There are other activities to obey if we claim to be His disciples. For example, we should love Him and keep His commandments.

Even so, this little list is plenty to focus on. Believe me when I say, Phyllida and I are still busy with this list after over a half century of following Him! No, it’s not easy. Satan does his best to ensure we don’t find it easy! 

But Jesus Christ is faithful. He gives us the power to walk in His ways; and when we fall, He helps us get up again and get going. That’s Jesus’ will for us; to endure to the end and receive the crown of life. We will receive them after obeying His will for the remainder of the years we have left in this world. Thank You Lord. Even so, Come Lord Jesus,

Shalom

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Sunday, 13 October 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	THY WILL BE DONE
I’ve never believed in “Dot Theology”. Dot theology tells us that God’s perfect will for us is in the very centre of something like a dartboard. Anywhere else on the “dartboard” is His permissive will. To miss the dartboard entirely, is not His will. It sounds very simple and logical. Frankly, this is a load of nonsense. Paul put it as follows; 2 Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 NLT This does not mean that God has three “wills”. A good will, a pleasing will and a perfect will. A better way of stating it today would be to say that when you are in His will, you will find it good, pleasing and perfect. It implies that everything else is not His will. Frankly, God has only one will. Everything else is not his will. There is no such thing as the permissive will of God. Show me a permissive Bible and I’ll acknowledge His permissive will. So we are either in it, or not in. To my way of understanding, anywhere on the dartboard is His will. Off the dartboard isn’t His will. Think about this for a moment. This morning I got out of bed at 05h45. If it had been 05h44 or 05h46 would I have missed His perfect will? When I brushed my teeth, I started at the top and worked down. I brushed tooth number 12 before number 11. But if I’d brushed number 11 first, I would have been in His perfect will. Later on I chose to put on green socks. What if God’s will for me was to be barefoot. Am I now out of His will because I chose to wear green ones? Of course not. What I could say is that God wants me to brush my teeth. Whether or not I do, is up to me. Another illustration is to consider what I should be doing each day. His will is for me to work. Perhaps He has a reason for me to work in a bookshop. Let’s assume I get a job in a bookshop. He is satisfied. If I am cleaning shelves or serving a customer, He is satisfied. I am still in His will if I serve customer A or customer B. That’s why He gave me free will. He wants me to decide. He is not standing watching to see if I cleaned shelf A or served customer C. That’s up to me. Note that if I’m in the shop working within the law and not doing anything contrary to His commands, He’s happy. But if I steal from the till, it’s a sin! To find His will is not too difficult. First ask Him what it is. If you are a six foot 150kg rugby player, don’t ask if you should be a ballet dancer. You would rebel! In most cases, His will for you is what you like doing. I like writing. I would not be interested in flower arranging. He’s made me the way I am. I like it this way. If you want to be a ballet dancer or a flower arranger and are talented that way, go for it! It’s most likely His will for you. Don’t make it so complicated.  Ecclesiastes tells us 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. Eccl 9:10 NIV. That’s where you’ll meet with God. He doesn’t guide people who aren’t busy. That’s where you’ll find His will. For you it will be good, pleasing and perfect. The secret is to carry on doing what you are already doing. Then watch for his instructions to go left or right. They will shine out to you like traffic lights. Then do what he says. That way, life will be abundant and exciting. You will be kept on the edge and you will know His peace. That’s where you will find God’s will for you. Where He directs and where His peace is found. OK so you make a couple of mistakes! Get up and carry on! It’s not His will for you to quit. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 ESV	Jesus prayed, “The Father’s will, that’s done in heaven each day. Will also come upon the Earth in every little way!” It sounds so complicated. But why should that be so? It’s not as though the Father’s will on Earth we do not know! He spelled it out quite plainly, on tablets made of stone. The concepts are so beautiful; they clearly have been shown. To always love the Lord your God with spirit, heart and soul. To make your love for neighbours your sure and steadfast goal. There also is a rider. To love your enemy. These two “commands” of God sum up the things He says must be. He spells out the specifics we all can understand. Like “Don’t commit adultery”; such actions have been banned. Only married couples should ever copulate. “Don’t commit adultery and do not fornicate!” We know this isn’t popular. But Father makes the rules And blatant disregard for this is only done by fools. Of course we all have weaknesses. There’s yours and there are mine. But we resist temptation through Jesus Christ Divine. So if you look at someone with an attitude of lust. You are an adulterer. Perhaps that seems unjust. But if you love your neighbour, you won’t harm him or her. So only do the things you know that Jesus would prefer. All of these commandments are generalities. Do not murder; do not steal and liars do not please, The Maker of Creation. These are a bagatelle, To keep your eyes on heaven and not be sent to Hell. Now this is just the framework, of how we ought to be. Let’s be more specific. What is God’s will for me? How do we detect it? How can we ever know, That what we’ve started doing, is the way we ought to go? Here’s a little rule of thumb, I think may well assist. If you keep it in your mind, His will should not be missed. Think about the High Street than runs right through the town. There are many traffic lights, to slow the traffic down. When you reach a corner, keep looking straight ahead. Listen for the Master’s voice ringing in your head. If He says turn left or right, then that is what to do. If He tells you nothing, the way in front of you, Is how you should be going. I’ve never known it miss. You’re walking in the will of God. You can be sure of this. He’ll give you confirmation, just keep on keeping on; And vain imaginations will very soon be gone. So walking as God told you within His will each day Is how we ought to live our life and do it Jesus’ way. Jim Strickland Written 13th Oct 2012
			17 Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Ephesians 5:17 NLT
			14 In the same way, it is not My heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish. (lost sheep) Matthew 18:14 NLT
			3 It is God's will that you keep away from sexual sin as a mark of your devotion to him. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 GW
			2 That way you won't be guided by sinful human desires as you live the rest of your lives on earth. Instead, you will be guided by what God wants you to do. 1 Peter 4:2 GW
			18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. James 1:18 & 21 ESV
			16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:16 ESV
			34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother & sister & mother." Mark 3:34-35 ESV
			24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25 TNIV
			17 The world and all its  wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out--but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity. 1 John 2:17 MSG