Testimonials

“His Will vs. My Will”
Have you ever thought about a person in the Bible and thought, I want to be like them? We all have, but most of the time when we do this we think of people like Paul, John, Ruth or Moses. I would venture a guess and say that most of us have never said, “I want to be like Jonah!” Why? Because we know that he was swallowed by a whale because he disobeyed God. He fought against God’s plan for his life. None of us want to fight God’s will for our lives. But, though we hate to admit it, many of us are more like Jonah than we think we are.
We want God’s will for our lives, but when He speaks to us and tell us his plan, we run the other way. Why do we do this? There are many reasons we run and over the next few devotions we’re going to take a look at them.
It’s my prayer that as you read these devotions your eyes will be opened to areas in your life where you’re not completely surrendered to him. As your eyes are opened, I pray that you will make the changes necessary to laying your will down and following His will with all of your heart.
Scriptures to think about:
Exodus 33:13
Psalm 25:4 – 5
Psalm 27:11
It’s Not Easy
How many times have you started something, but stopped because it was too hard? If you’re like me, probably too many to count! The sad thing is we don’t just do this in our natural lives, but we do this spiritually with God’s will for our lives.
For some reason we have this idea that if it’s God’s will for my life that it will just happen. Like God is just going to snap His fingers and “poof” I’m going to be exactly where I need to be , doing exactly what I need to do. This is a crazy idea! But, because it has been so engrained in us the first time something hard comes along we give up.
God never says that His will is going to be easy. Actually, He says, if you want my will you have to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me (Mark 8:34 – 35). We have to learn to die to our wills.
Yes, there is a goal that is before us. But, we have to fight for it. Philippians 3:14, says, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The word press means “to move forward with steady determination”. Will things come against you? Yes. Will the enemy try to stop you any way he can? Yes. Will His will always be easy? No. But, this is where we have to be bound and determined that no matter what comes against us we will not let anything or anybody stop us from fulfilling His will in our lives.
When we have Him in focus and are looking to Him we can and will reach what He has set before us!
Trust
Many of us have told the Lord, “I trust you. I give my life completely to you. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do. Wherever you want me to go, I’ll go.” We’ve said this and meant it to a certain extent. But, if we’ll get really honest what we’ve meant was, “I’ll do what you want me to and go where you want me to go, as long as it’s something I want to do and where I want to go.” When we do this, in essence, we’re saying to God that I don’t really trust you. I don’t believe that Your plan is the best for my life. This is one of the worst things we can do!
When we start making decisions based on “our will” and what we want instead of what He wills for us, we can get into all kinds of trouble.
A very familiar passage is Proverbs 3:5 – 7, ”Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path. Be not wise in your own eyes: Fear the Lord and depart from evil.” When we become wise in our own eyes and think we know what’s best we will go down the wrong path. I don’t want to go there! Do you?
For us to walk in His will, we have to learn to trust Him completely. He might lead us to do something that makes absolutely no sense to us, but we have to believe that He will cause all things to work together for our good! (Romans 8:28)
As we trust in Him, completely, not relying on ourselves, but in who He is, His will for our lives will begin to unfold before us!
Fear
Many times we fight His will for our lives because we’re scared. We have fear that we’re not good enough or that we’ll try and fail. You know what? We’re not good enough, on our own, and there will be times when we miss it and fall. But, that does not mean that we stop pursuing the dream that God has given us.
For me, personally, I’ve had a fear (it’s something I’m working on) that I’m going to mess up and God is no longer going to love me. It’s a fear that if I mess up He’s going to say, “She’s not good enough to do this job for me.” But, I’m realizing more and more that all fear does is paralyze me and it stops me from moving forward. What are some fears that you have? Are they stopping you from pursuing His will?
2 Timothy 1:7 says, God has not given us the Spirit of Fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind. We should not be afraid of what lies before us. We should look forward to it with anticipation and excitement because we know who has made tomorrow.
For His will to be fulfilled in our lives we have to be moving forward. If we are paralyzed by fear any type of fear then God’s love has not been made perfect in us. (1 John 4:18) We have to know that He loves us and wants what is best for us. The best He has for us is His will!
The Motions
Have you ever gone through the “motions” of church? I hate to admit it, but I have and I’m sure you have, too. We have gotten so accustomed to our routine that it really has no affect in our lives anymore. We go to church, raise our hands, sing the songs, give in the offering, sit through the sermon and leave having no idea what happened. Why? Because our mind has been somewhere else instead of focusing on what the Lord wanted to tell us.
You might be asking, what does this have to do with His will vs. my will? I’m glad you asked. When we get into a religious mode then we aren’t really seeking after God. We might still be praying, but it’s just a surface payer and we aren’t really crying out to the Lord. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “and you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart.”
When we are being religious we are not really seeking God. I believe that we continue to go through the motions because we know that it’s what we should do and we feel bad if we don’t. But, this isn’t what God wants for our lives. He wants us to truly walk with Him, seeking Him every day.
Have you been going through the motions? Have you truly been seeking Him and His will for your life? If not, I encourage you to take time and seek after Him. Because it’s when we find Him that we find His will for our lives.
Rebellion
There are a lot of reasons we struggle with God’s will for our lives. I think one of the main reasons is rebellion.
Rebellion means “the defiance of any authority”. We just do not like it when somebody tells us what to do. But, here’s the thing about rebellion – it will lead you down a path faster than you want to go and it will keep you there longer than you wanted to stay. It might start out as something small. You might decide one day that you don’t feel like reading your Bible or praying, so you don’t. Maybe you’re just tired from a long day of work and you don’t go to church. But, this small thing that you decided gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Before you know it you’re not reading your Bible or praying at all. Eventually you stop going to church altogether. You don’t stop doing these things overnight, it’s a gradual process. But, if you aren’t going to church, reading your Bible or praying then you definitely are not hearing God’s will for your life. You’re giving into your will and what you want to do.
We’ve all been rebellious at one time or another in our lives and the crazy thing is that we know in our hearts that we aren’t pleasing God. We know that we aren’t living a life acceptable to Him. Then what happens? We get miserable and we start pulling back from those who love us the most. The farther down the Road of Rebellion we go the longer it takes to get back.
Some of you might be thinking, I’m in rebellion against God. Can I come back from this? The answer is yes!  You can get back on the right path, His will, for your life, but we have to repent. Not just an outward showing (1 Sam 15:10 – 31), but a true heart change (Psalm 51:10 – 12). Rebellion has a lot to do with pride. But, when we truly humble ourselves and come under His authority great things will begin to happen in our lives!
“Not My Will, but Yours”
We’ve gone through several reasons we fight against the Will of God. I hope and pray that as you’ve read them your eyes have been opened.
I want to show you one more example of struggling with the Will of God. Let’s take a look at Matthew 26:39. Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s almost time for him to go to the Cross. He’s praying. He says, “O, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus made a decision that he was not going to let anything stop him from fulfilling the will of the Father. Was he scared? I would say, yes. Did he want to go to the cross? I would say no because he asked for the cup to pass from him. Did he want more than anything else to do what he was placed on earth to do? Yes.
We need to have that same determination. Each of us has been placed on the earth for a purpose. God has a divine plan that he wants you to fulfill. The question is whether or not you will fulfill it. None of us have been asked to literally give up our life and go to a cross. We are asked to die to ourselves, but not have the literal breath taken from our body. Jesus loved you enough that he chose to fulfill the purpose he was placed here for. It didn’t matter if it caused him pain or anguish or pushed him to the point where he felt that he had been forsaken. He made a decision to fulfill his purpose on this earth no matter what it cost him. Will you do the same for him? Will you give up your desires, dreams and ambitions to see His will fulfilled in your life?
John 17:4 – something to think about.