Jesus Revealed in Doctrine KNOWING GOD'S WILL
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. John 6:38.
Nine tenths of the difficulty of knowing God's will for our lives is met when we come to the point where we are willing to listen objectively to God's direction. How can this be done? Humanly, it is impossible. Only God can accomplish it for us. It is going to have to be done by His grace and His power.
And isn't this demonstrated in the life of Jesus? You'll have to admit that it must have been within God's will for Jesus to have a drink of the water at the well of Samaria. But when He had a chance to talk to someone about deeper wells and longer-lasting waters, the disciples were surprised at how quickly He forgot His own needs.
In John 4:34, Jesus said, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me." He pointed this out as His mission, His purpose in life, again and again. And finally, at the close of His ministry, in the Garden alone, struggling and sweating drops of blood, He said, "Father, if thou by willing, remove this cup from me." He had a preference in the matter, but He immediately surrendered His wishes and His will to His Father. "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). He was willing for His own wishes to be submitted to God.
There is a quotation that some of us carry around, longing for the reality in terms of growth and experience for it to be accomplished in our lives: "Christ in His life on earth made no plans for Himself. He accepted God's plans for Him, and day by day the Father unfolded His plans. So should we depend upon God, that our lives may be the simple outworking of His will. As we commit our ways to Him, He will direct our steps."--The Ministry of Healing, p. 479. That was the example that Christ left for us.
Wouldn't you like to live so close to the Lord that He would be able to flash His plans to you individually for the day? Wouldn't you at least like to be open to His plans so that if He interrupts plans you have made for yourself you do not resist Him? As we grow more and more into the likeness of Jesus, we will be more sensitive to what His plans are, so that the plans we follow will be the plans He has made, instead of simply our own.
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. John 6:38.
Nine tenths of the difficulty of knowing God's will for our lives is met when we come to the point where we are willing to listen objectively to God's direction. How can this be done? Humanly, it is impossible. Only God can accomplish it for us. It is going to have to be done by His grace and His power.
And isn't this demonstrated in the life of Jesus? You'll have to admit that it must have been within God's will for Jesus to have a drink of the water at the well of Samaria. But when He had a chance to talk to someone about deeper wells and longer-lasting waters, the disciples were surprised at how quickly He forgot His own needs.
In John 4:34, Jesus said, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me." He pointed this out as His mission, His purpose in life, again and again. And finally, at the close of His ministry, in the Garden alone, struggling and sweating drops of blood, He said, "Father, if thou by willing, remove this cup from me." He had a preference in the matter, but He immediately surrendered His wishes and His will to His Father. "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). He was willing for His own wishes to be submitted to God.
There is a quotation that some of us carry around, longing for the reality in terms of growth and experience for it to be accomplished in our lives: "Christ in His life on earth made no plans for Himself. He accepted God's plans for Him, and day by day the Father unfolded His plans. So should we depend upon God, that our lives may be the simple outworking of His will. As we commit our ways to Him, He will direct our steps."--The Ministry of Healing, p. 479. That was the example that Christ left for us.
Wouldn't you like to live so close to the Lord that He would be able to flash His plans to you individually for the day? Wouldn't you at least like to be open to His plans so that if He interrupts plans you have made for yourself you do not resist Him? As we grow more and more into the likeness of Jesus, we will be more sensitive to what His plans are, so that the plans we follow will be the plans He has made, instead of simply our own.
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