Knowing the will of God

Do you ever have trouble knowing the will of God for your life? I do. I remember as a young teen the dilemma I faced about what I would do with my life. I grew up in a Christian home and had a deep desire to follow the Lord from a very young age, yet knowing and finding out what His will was for my life was not an easy task. As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of Who God is we find that most of the will of the Lord is revealed in His Word. That's why God's written Word and the study of His Word is SO vital to our well being. I love the song in our hymn books called, “Come Thou Fount.” Remember the verse that says:

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

What in the world is a fetter? It's a shackle. The songwriter recognized that every day he was prone to wander, falter and fail. So we offer God our hearts every day, and His grace and goodness bind our hearts to Him like shackles bind a prisoner. No longer are we bound to sin and the things that bring death; rather, we're bound to Christ our Deliverer, Healer, Redeemer, Savior, the Fount and Giver of every blessing!!! Jesus is the Bread of Life; His Word is our spiritual food. We need it to survive. Read it; study it; memorize it; cling to it; ask the Lord to speak His will through it in the areas of your life that are variable.

Ephesians 5:17 says, “do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.” Through the study of His Word this week, the Lord has shown me again a couple of ways I can know what His will is. Understand that this walk of faith is a walk of believing what we cannot always see (Hebrews 11:1,6). But we also know that God is a God of demonstration. In Romans 5:8, we read that “God demonstrates His love for us (present tense) in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God is a God of balance. He's the Lion and the Lamb. He's the Beginning and the End. He's the First and the Last. So, in finding and knowing what the Lord's will is, I believe there will be a measure of uncertainty but God will give enough evidence that your spirit and His will bear witness and you and I will KNOW in time. He remembers we are dust (Psalm 103:14). He's not trying to hide His will from us when we sincerely come to Him for guidance. Be persistent. Be still and know that He is God and He will confirm His will.

He did it in Elizabeth and Zechariah's life in Luke, chapter one. Read verses 5-7 and you'll know with certainty that these were two people who loved the Lord and followed His Word. As their story goes, God revealed His will to them through a messenger, the angel Gabriel. Zechariah was in the temple and God sent the messenger to him. Gabriel came to Zechariah standing at the right side of the place of prayer (the altar of incense-vs. 11). Why does it reference the specific place (the right side) of the altar? Because the right side is symbolic of the place of honor and authority. And it comes from a root word meaning to receive favorably, not to reject; to bring up, educate, teach, instruct. It says later in verse 19 that Gabriel identified himself as one who stands in the presence of God sent to give him this news. Today we don't hear of too many folks being visited by an angel from heaven. Wouldn't that be somethin' if we did? But, the Spirit of the Lord does speak today bringing a message from heaven to the listening heart. Revelation says, “he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says...” And this is where we must have faith to believe what He says. Zechariah had trouble believing the message he heard that day that God would give Elizabeth and him a son (in their old age). WHAT? The priest of God didn't believe? That's right and it cost him his ability to speak (& probably hear) for a time. Unbelief is costly.

But Lord, I need more! I DO have faith to believe, but I need you to show me if I'm on the right track!

In time, the Lord DID show Elizabeth and Zechariah His will. We know they had their son, John, and that first chapter of Luke chronicles their story in more detail (please take time to read it all especially during this Christmas season). It's SO good and SO full of truths to help us today, but God reveals a couple of specific ways we can know that we are in the will of God or that we are doing the will of God through this passage.

In both Elizabeth's and Mary's (vs. 26-56) situations, God revealed His will through His messenger, Gabriel, sent from His very presence in Heaven. God declared His will and His full power marked that word – the power to bring life and fruitfulness to the barren womb of Elizabeth, and the power to bring the very Son of God to the virgin womb of Mary.

When we are in the will of God, His full power will mark His Word and we will witness – we will be able to “see” - His life-giving power at work producing fruit in and through our lives and the lives of those we are seeking to minister to by His Spirit. Hallelujah! That's what I want! That's what I long for! That's what we need! That's what our world needs! Let's be a part of building the Kingdom of God and seeing His Kingdom come and His will being done on earth as it is in heaven!

p.s. This power working in Elizabeth, Mary and Zechariah also produced a song recorded by each of them in response to all they saw and experienced in this season of their lives. I've Got a Song to Sing! Don't hold it in...let it out!