Have you ever struggled with God's will? Do you ever wonder if you have the willpower to carry out God's will if you know it? I may be able to help.
I spent much of my working life in sales. I am not a salesman. I went into it because there were jobs available at the time. I soon discovered why not so many people seek sales work. I was selling industrial and technical products, much different from the foot in the door style that I thought of as selling.
I learned a lot. What is relevant here is the way that people make decisions. The will of a person follows their desires. If you look at effective advertising, you will see how ads are attempting to stir up an attitude of "I want that". If the desire is strong enough, you will get it.
We have an assurance that God is at work in our lives to bring us to maturity.
"Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4 You can take this two ways. Does it mean that if we delight in the Lord, He will give us whatever we want? Some think so. I thought that too. It is extremely dangerous to think this. I ended if in a mess because of unfulfilled expectations. It may be a proud attitude that we are delighting in the Lord anyway.
I prefer to think of it in the other possible meaning. If we are delighting in the Lord, He will put desires that please Him into our hearts. I have learned that if we are pleasing God, we are also content and satisfied.
Philippians 2: 12 & 13
"Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose."
If we are wondering what God's will is for us, there are principles in His word. However, sometimes we don't know and the Bible is not specific. For example, what job should I look for? Where should I live? Maybe I need a holiday? We can ask God to make things clear to us. We can ask God to establish the desires of our heart according to His will. The reason for "establish" is that we can be fickle. What we want one day may not be the same the next.
We are aware that the spiritual battlefield takes place in the mind. We can also ask God to watch over our thoughts so that they do not argue with the desire of our hearts. Satan seeks to discourage us and to hinder us from getting God's best. Satan is able to inject thoughts into our minds that seem to come from us. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
The Christian life is not automatic. There is an aspect of salvation that needs to be worked out. It is not the initial, born again experience. it is the ongoing "salvation of the soul". Having a heart that is full of desire for God's will is a great help on our journey.
I spent much of my working life in sales. I am not a salesman. I went into it because there were jobs available at the time. I soon discovered why not so many people seek sales work. I was selling industrial and technical products, much different from the foot in the door style that I thought of as selling.
I learned a lot. What is relevant here is the way that people make decisions. The will of a person follows their desires. If you look at effective advertising, you will see how ads are attempting to stir up an attitude of "I want that". If the desire is strong enough, you will get it.
We have an assurance that God is at work in our lives to bring us to maturity.
"Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4 You can take this two ways. Does it mean that if we delight in the Lord, He will give us whatever we want? Some think so. I thought that too. It is extremely dangerous to think this. I ended if in a mess because of unfulfilled expectations. It may be a proud attitude that we are delighting in the Lord anyway.
I prefer to think of it in the other possible meaning. If we are delighting in the Lord, He will put desires that please Him into our hearts. I have learned that if we are pleasing God, we are also content and satisfied.
Philippians 2: 12 & 13
"Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose."
If we are wondering what God's will is for us, there are principles in His word. However, sometimes we don't know and the Bible is not specific. For example, what job should I look for? Where should I live? Maybe I need a holiday? We can ask God to make things clear to us. We can ask God to establish the desires of our heart according to His will. The reason for "establish" is that we can be fickle. What we want one day may not be the same the next.
We are aware that the spiritual battlefield takes place in the mind. We can also ask God to watch over our thoughts so that they do not argue with the desire of our hearts. Satan seeks to discourage us and to hinder us from getting God's best. Satan is able to inject thoughts into our minds that seem to come from us. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
The Christian life is not automatic. There is an aspect of salvation that needs to be worked out. It is not the initial, born again experience. it is the ongoing "salvation of the soul". Having a heart that is full of desire for God's will is a great help on our journey.
