How do you know 100% that you are really truly perfectly in God's will?
You don't.
Here's what I mean. Unless you are Jesus who was one with God you will never perfectly know that you are in and doing God's will. I've been really diving into seeking wisdom and finding out what is God's will for me? Am I doing His will? Am I being selfish or am I listening to Him? In order to figure it all out I think we need guidance and wisdom. So, on my way to work (from Spartanburg to Clemson about an hour commute both ways) I have been listening to Podcasts. More specifically I've been listening to the teaching of Steven Furtick of Elevation Church. He did a series about a month ago on God's will and let me tell you that man can PREACH! It is wow so good. But here is what I've been learning and more specifically how it's helped shape how I look at my life in the present.
Steven discusses a couple of things about being in God's will. (Disclaimer: PLEASE go listen to his podcasts because he says and illustrates it a million times better than I). In one of the podcasts he says to do God's will we need to:
- Discover God's will –> that really just means knowing and believing that God really truly has a plan for you and your life and discovering what that might be.
- Do God's will–> He said something really great here: doing God's will is like a can of paint- the paint does not gain value until it is applied. -Really I mean common that makes SO much sense. We can go to church read our Bibles but that means NOTHING until we apply it. It takes application and actually DOING something to truly BE in God's will
- Desire God's will–> it's okay to be scared of God's will in the beginning but if we REALLY want to know and be in God's will then we must learn to desire it.
Here is the BIGGEST kicker that Pastor Steven said:
Most of us know the verse Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourselves in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." And really I thought okay yes if I love the Lord my God then He will give me what my heart desires and longs for. But like Pastor Steven says that is such a one dimensional way to look at this verse. If we look at it another way if we find pure DELIGHT and JOY in the Lord and being with the Lord then not only will he FULFILL the desires of MY heart but he will also INSTILL the desires of HIS heart. How much better is it to know that the desires of our hearts would then correlate with the desires of HIS heart?
For me and my journey to Discovering God's will for the World Race. I'll go back to the old hymn we sing at church that even as a younger girl always spoke to me.
"I the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry. All who dwell in dark and sin my hand will save. I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright. Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send? Here I am Lord, is it I Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart."
Little did I know whenever I sang this song and it spoke LOUD and clear to me that it would eventually lead to the discovery of God's will for me on the World Race. YES Lord I will bear your light to them, I will go and I will hold your people in my heart.
The DOING sometimes can be the scariest part. I mean that's the part that requires action. That's the part that requires acceptance to what God wants for you to do. That's the part that requires sacrifice. That's the part that you actually have to get out of your comfort zone. But that's the part where you change. That's the part where you are in God's will.
For me that is living out of a back pack. That is giving a year of my life to people of different countries. That is not being with family on the holidays and friends as they share in big life events. That is not going straight to get a higher education. That is not going into the corporate world and living the "American dream". BUT that is changing. That is trusting. That is accepting God's will. That is knowing there is something bigger and better. That is action.
Finally, the DESIRE is what I have struggled with but have now slowly come to this amazing peace and actual desire. If you've read previous posts or have been around me you would know that I have been scared. I have doubted if I can or should do the World Race. I have been treating this like a burden that God has put on me- like a task I have to do. But I am here to say that now I Desire it. I long for the race. I long to hold God's people in my heart. I long to see his creation. I long to have intimate time with the Lord- with no distractions of America. I long to see God's masterpiece of sunsets from all angles and all surroundings. I now have the biggest excitement and joy to be able to do this wild thing call The World Race. I desire to be on this adventure.
I may not know 100% perfectly truly if this is God's will but let me tell you. I KNOW that I have discovered it, I am doing it, and I now desire it- and that's pretty darn close.
We will never know 100% truly and perfectly because we are not perfectly one with God like Jesus was. But I can tell you that when you desire His will I know you have to be pretty close to perfect.
What is God's will for you?
With all my love- Cam
