God’s Will For You Today, Tomorrow And Everyday!

 TWO TYPES OF – THE “WILL OF GOD” revealed in His Word. One we can call His Will Of Decree (or His Sovereign will) and the other we can call God’s will of command. His will of Decrees, what He determines to happen will come to pass! His will of command can either be obeyed or disobeyed.

It is this “Will Of Command” that we want to focus on and often think of when it comes to “the will of God,” for us.

So how can we know for certain what God’s will is for us?

The First thing to Realize is that God wants us to Know His Will!

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. “-{Deut 29:29}.

THERE are secrets that belong to God alone, things He has not revealed because they are not necessary for us to know. Some people try and spend their time and energy…figuring out the “secret things” of God as somehow it makes them more “spiritual,” but neglect what God wants them to know as this verse says, as revealed in His Word! We Go to where He reveals His Will to us- His Word!

 

NOTE; The Purpose of God’s Will is to Bless a person!

 

Note the phrase the “WILL OF GOD,” in the verses below which indicates what is  GOD’S REVEALED WILL for His people.

Consider some Aspects of what HE Wants you to Know Regarding His Revealed Will;

1. – The WILL of God you be SAVED;

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’  “-{Matt 7;21-23}

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”-{2 Peter 3:9}

 ^“This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”-{1 Timothy 2:3-5}.

To know His will and have the Power to do it we first must obey HIM by repenting from self rule to wards God’s Authority and put our faith in the Lord Jesus to rescue us from the Spiritual danger of the wages of sin which is death. Not just spiritual death but eternity separated from God  for all eternity. Rescued from the bondage of sin, satan and self and  adopted into the family of God. For by Grace we are saved through faith and not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. New life, new power, new relationship with god through the Lord Jesus Christ. Once the foundation is right then is the possibility to not just know His will but Do it! And the wonderful promise “For it is God who is at work IN you both to Desire and Do his will, for His good pleasure.”-{Read Phil 2;13}

 

2. – The WILL of God you be SPIRIT CONTROLLED.

“…understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”-{ Eph 5:15-20}.

It is possible to know His WILL – “Understand (present imperative = command to make this your daily practice) .

When a person is drunk they are not in control of himself. They behave irrationally and are out of control very often they are under the control of alcohol. Their thinking, discernment, walking can and are affected.Something else controls them—alcohol. When a person is filled with the Spirit, Someone else controls him—the  Spirit of God.

The contrast between being under the influence of alcohol versus the influence, control of the Holy Spirit, which is manifest in submission to the Spirit, Speech that is different, Song in the heart to the Lord, Saying Thanks continually, and it goes on to speak of Submission in relationships. 

The Spirit of God is the believer’s Power to do the will of God! To be under His power  means to be Under His authority, and the authority of His Word also., Consider Colossians 3:16 –“ Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you,with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and  spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Note the similarities between Ephesians 5 and Col 3.  the Word of God is mentioned in both passages as are “…psalms and hymns…spiritual songs… singing… with thankfulness in your heart to the LORD.” To be “filled” is to be controlled, dominated,” and

when the Spirit of God is in control, the person will be in submission to the Word of God!

It is not possible to be Filled with the Spirit and ind defiance to the Word of God!

And when both are in submission to, then speech, song, relationships are different. Gratitude towards the Lord and Serving others from a heart of love! -{Read Galatians 5:13}

 

3. – The WILL of God to be SEXUALLY PURE;

” this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;”-{1 Thess 4:3-5}.”Sanctification” refers to been set a part, holy and in this case it is sexual purity and knowing how to control one’s own body.

Sanctification (38)(hagiasmos [word study] from hagiazo = sanctify from hagios = holy, set apart, consecrated) literally means sanctification and includes the ideas of consecration, purification, dedication and holiness. The dominant idea of sanctification is separation from the secular and sinful and setting apart for a sacred purpose, for God’s special use, all made possible by the atoning work of Christ. Hagiasmos does not denote the state of holiness but rather the process of being made holy, of becoming more and more in character and conduct that which God desires us to be. A sanctified person puts himself or herself at the complete disposal of God….

The idea of sanctification is that something or someone is set aside for the use intended by the designer. For example, a fountain pen is “set aside” or “sanctified” for the purpose of writing. A pair of glasses is “sanctified” and set aside for use in improving one’s sight. In short, as used in the Bible, things are sanctified when they are used for the purpose God intended. A human being is sanctified, therefore, when he or she lives according to God’s design and purpose, walking in a manner which is pleasing to His and worthy of His great Name. That is the practical meaning of hagiasmos.”-{preceptaustin commentaries}

“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits a immorality are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.”-{1 Cor 6:18} “Flee (present imperative =  This is neither optional,nor a suggestion but a command to make it our habit to flee – continually flee and keep fleeing until the danger is past. It can be as simple yet spiritually benefiting if watching something and some immorality comes on the tv to remove yourself from the situation as it will not foster pure thoughts but a temptation to impure !

A great illustration of Fleeing is found regarding Joseph’s response to Potiphar’s wife when she sought to seduce him, his response, “There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God? And it came about as she spoke to Joseph day after day, that he did not listen to her to lie beside her, or be with her. Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. And she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. – (Genesis 39:9, 10, 11, 12). And it cost Joseph his freedom as she made false accusations and Joseph ended in prison, for Honoring God!

“Immorality (4202) (porneia) originally referred to any excessive behavior or lack of restraint, but eventually became associated with sexual excess and indulgence, of every kind of extramarital, unlawful, or unnatural sexual intercourse. Porneia is used 25 times in the NAS (Where are most of the NT uses?) translated as: fornication, 4; fornications, 2; immoralities, 1; immorality, 16; sexual immorality, 1; unchastity, 1…

Our English word pornography is derived from porneia + graph = a writing and thus pornography (or colloquially “porn”) is thus a writing (or picture) about sexual sin.

Christianity brought chastity, a virtue that was foreign to the Greco-Roman world. Into this world of pagan idolatry where sexual immorality was not only condoned, but regarded as normal, the Christian faith came as a purifying fire. Twentieth-century America has reverted back to the “normality of sexual immorality” and the revival fire of the Christian faith is desperately needed.

Remember the context of the society Paul was addressing. In the Greek culture of that day, prostitution and fornication were considered permissible activities. A married man in Greece cold engage in extramarital sexual intercourse as much as he wished, but this practice was forbidden for the wife! Athenaeus, a writer in the second century AD, quotes from a speech of Demosthenes,

We keep mistresses for pleasure, concubines for daily concubinage, but wives we have in order to produce children legitimately and to have a trustworthy guardian of our domestic property.””-{preceptaustin}

NOTE-  Sexual immorality begins with a thought before the act! Guard your Thought life. guard what you look at!

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”-{Matthew 5:19}

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,…nd things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”-{Gal 5;19,21} The warning of the persons who ‘practice such’ will not inherit the kingdom of God. they are spiritually lost!

” But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; “- {Ephesians 5:3}

 

Idolatry and immorality often go side by side in Scripture.

In Romans 1 Paul clearly links idolatry with immorality writing…

Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures (idolatry). 24 Therefore God gave them over (a judicial term in Gr., used for handing over a prisoner to his sentence. When men consistently abandon God, He will abandon them) in the lusts of their hearts to impurity (a general term describing decaying matter, like the contents of a grave and in context speaks of sexual immorality), that their bodies might be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie (an idol is a lie, a false representation of God), and worshiped and served the creature (idolatry) rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over (God’s judicial sentence because of their idolatry was to deliverer them over to the power of) to degrading (dishonoring, disgracing, shameful) passions (which resulted in erotic activity with members of their own sex); for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent

Samson never tamed  or mastered his lust and in the end it mastered him and led to destruction! David committed adultery and had the woman’s husband set up to be killed, but the root of the problem when he was confronted was “Why have you despised the Word of The Lord…” His root problem was to have a light attitude towards the Word of God and it goes on to say that He despised the LORD  as he despised the Word of God! When we have a light attitude towards the Lord, His Word, it makes it easier for us to sin and justify ourselves in doing so. But regards would the LORD have me or you live sexually pure. the answer is clear as he says “THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD…that you abstain from sexual immorality… not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles WHO DO NOT KNOW GOD!” It’s the will of God we don’t behave as the people “who do not know God!” Paul goes on to give his reasons why, “…Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”-{1 Cor 6:19-20}.

 Sexual Purity is the will of God and it Glorifies God!

 

4. – The WILL of God to be  Saying THANKS Continually

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.“-{1 Thess 5:18}.

Thanksgiving is the will of God, THANKSGIVING GLORIFIES GOD .{Luke 17:15-17}. Our prayers are to be permeated with Thanksgiving as it helps to combat anxiety also {Read Phil 4:6}. Thanksgiving helps to stay spiritually “alert” in devoting to prayer -{Read Col 4:1-2}

Who is to be the FOCUS of Thanksgiving?

GOD IS to Be!! God is to be The OBJECT OF OUR THANKS GIVING. Psalm  100:3-4 says, – “Give thanks to Him; …”

What  should you be Thankful for?

Thankful to Him for His…

A. GOODNESS– 1 Chron 16:34 “ O  Give thanks to the Lord for He is GOOD, for His Lovingkindness is everlasting.”
Thank  Him for His...

B. VICTORY – 1 Cor 15:57 – “But THANKS BE TO  GOD who GIVES us the VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Victory over sin, satan and death…
Thank  God for His…

C. SALVATION – 2 Cor 9:15 – “Thanks Be  TO GOD for  His Indescribable gift.”
 Give thanks to Him for…

D. CHANGED LIVES– 2 Thes 1:3 – “We ought  ALWAYS TO GIVE THANKS TO GOD for you brethren, as is only fitting, BECAUSE your faith is Greatly enlarges and the love of each one of you toward one another GROWS even Greater.”
Give thanks to Him for…

E. Other Christians/ The Family of God – Phil 1:3 – “  I give  THANKS to God upon every remembrance of You..”
WHY?

F. BEING ABLE TO PARTICIPATE in the gospel with OTHERS. – Phil 1:3 “ I thank my God upon my every remembrance of you all… in view of your PARTICIPATION in the Gospel from the first day until now.”

2. – THANKFULNESS IS TO PERMEATE YOUR PRAYING. – * Phil 4:6 “ Be anxious in Nothing but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication WITH THANKSGIVING… let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding shall guard your heart and  minds in Christ Jesus.”  “Devote yourselves to prayer keeping alert through an attitude of thanksgiving.” – Col 4:2.

The “will of God, ” is for us to give thanks. In times of difficulties we can thank him for the opportunity to pray, to develop spiritually, to use for the advancement of the Gospel. In times of severe trials, Peter wrote “…Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” {1 Peter 3:15}

 

5. – The WILL of God you  be SHARING and DO GOOD;

“For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”-{1 Peter 2:15}. “Doing good,” is a testimony to those who would oppose the Gospel and seek for ways to discredit it.

 

6. – The WILL of GOD Can at Times include SUFFERING 

“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” -{1 Peter 4:19}

There is a suffering we can bring on ourselves for doing wrong, sinning but in this passage there is a “suffering according to God’s will.” And while encountering such suffering He tells us to commit, the word means “entrust” like depositing some valuables into the safe keeping of another or like a bank transaction. Be ready to suffer! Its  something God may call you to. And don’t be surprised that is as a result of you doing right and good… It can happen in the home, ” A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” -{Matthew 10:36}. It can come in the form of persecution and name calling. ” Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”- {Matthew 5:16} Though the phrase”will of God” is not used in this verse it is implied,” Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”-{2 Timothy 3:12}. If we are following the LORD Jesus then there will be opposition…”These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. “-{John 16;33}. “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”-{1 Peter 3:17}

 

7. – The WILL of God you SUBMIT To Authority

“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.”-{1 Peter 2:13-15}

For you as  for all followers of the LORD Jesus, from His Word you can know…

The WILL of God – Saved

The WILL of God – Spirit Controlled

The WILL of God – Sexually Pure

The WILL of God – Saying Thanks

The WILL of God – Sharing  By Doing Good

The WILL of God – Suffering

The WILL of God – Submitting to serve others

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, SO THAT that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”-{Romans 12:1-2}

 

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, SO THAT that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”-{Romans 12:1-2}

 

“For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”-{Mark 3:17}

“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” -{1 Peter 4:19}