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March 29, 2008

God's Will - Striving for Christ

By Anthony Wade

God's Will - Striving for Christ

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God's Will For You, A Summary Striving for Christ

1Thesselonians 5: 16-22 - Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

We often lament our seeming inability to discern the will of God for our lives. We can find ourselves facing life changing decisions and seeking the will of God only to hear nothing. Too often, we have decided and then seek "confirmation" as opposed to seeking the will of God before making decisions. The bible is filled with direction on the will of God but nowhere does it seem clearer then in Paul's closing remarks to the Church at Thessalonica (1st Epistle). As the Apostle Paul is signing off his letter, he provides seven instructions which he refers to as, "God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Seven of course is God's number of perfection and each of these imperatives are given their own separate verse, even though they are contained within only two sentences. No matter what circumstance you may face in your life, you can match it up with these seven imperatives to discover the will of God for you in Christ Jesus!

But taking a closer look at these imperatives can present daunting problems for our finite minds. Remember we do not think as God thinks:

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
       and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9

It is easy to look at these verses and declare: impossible! Five of the seven are written as absolutes! How can we be joyful always? Doesn't God himself say that we will have tribulation in this world? Yes, but the entire verse actually reads:

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

What is Jesus telling us? If you live through Him, you can overcome the world too! But how then can we pray continuously? Surely this seems impossible as man thinks. The object is not to walk around through your life and job in reverent prayer. It is a matter of developing a God consciousness. The Holy Spirit resides in each believer but we sometimes relegate Him to the prayer closet and only reflect to Him when trouble comes against us. That is not God's will for you. Have a big meeting? Talk to God first! Having a temptation problem? Talk to God first! But we get caught up in our strength and our own thinking. We can have a tendency to think that we can handle some things without God's input. The bible says differently though:

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 1Corinthians 2: 12-16

We have the mind of Christ but still like to operate under our own thinking. The will of God would be that you pray continually and operate under the mind of Christ. What about giving thanks in all circumstances? Not possible, right? In actuality, the act of praise can be very liberating from what troubles you. It reinforces who is in control. It reminds us of our position in Christ Jesus; seated in heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6). It is easy to praise God on the mountaintop but in the valley, praise will mean even more.

Test everything? Is that really possible? The bible is your map beloved. Anything that you encounter in the world can be answered in the bible. There are no grey areas in life. God is not ambiguous. The world wants to turn what is black or white into shades of grey because it is inside the grey areas that we can minimize sin and feel better about not living up to the standards that God expects from us. Sometimes the sheep analogy is taken too literally. Yes we are to listen for the voice of our shepherd, Christ. We are to know His voice so that we do not stray and we always follow him. That does not mean that we are to blindly accept what anyone has to say in the kingdom. We follow God, not man. We are not meant to be sheep in the sense that we do not discern; we do not test. We are not meant to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

Lastly, is it plausible to avoid every kind of evil? Probably not. The world is fraught with evil at every turn. The word to focus on is avoid. While we may not be able to never have to face evil we can actively work toward avoiding it. We can avoid places we know will tempt us. We can avoid people we know can tempt us. We can strive, for righteousness. When Daniel was taken into captivity in Babylon, he was to be provided with a portion of the king's meat and wine daily. The bible tells us how Daniel avoided this evil:

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Daniel 1:8

The key here is he purposed in his heart. He made a conscious decision ahead of time, before the temptation came to him, to not sin. He avoided it successfully this way and we are to purpose in our hearts as well to avoid the king's meat. We are to purpose as best we can to avoid the trappings of sin offered by this world. That is God's will for us in Christ Jesus.

We may not be able to always be joyful, pray continuously, give thanks in all circumstances, test everything and avoid every kind of evil. The bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The most important thing to remember though is that just because we cannot conform to it completely, that does not change the fact that it is God's will for our lives. God wants us to be joyful always even if we fall short. He wants us to pray continuously, even if we may forget. He wants us to give thanks in all circumstances, even if we allow life to gain the upper hand sometimes. He wants us to test everything even if we occasionally lean on our own understanding. He wants us to avoid every kind of evil, even if we sometimes are disobedient. God's will for you is His will for you, regardless of whether we strive or become complacent.

We are always, striving to be Christ-like, knowing we will not quite achieve it until the day he calls us home or he returns.

Anthony Wade March 29, 2008



Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

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