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Posts Tagged ‘God’s will’

Knowledge of His Will

Posted in Christmas Through Epiphany, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Here it is, something to ask God to do for me every day: fill me with the knowledge of His will. Think about it! The perfect solution to every situation, every setback, every decision, and every sorrow embedded in the knowing of His will. This is my new “catch-all” when I am overwhelmed.

Colossians 1:9
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

There is a second fall-back scripture for me in times of trouble, “. . . We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” [Romans 8:26] I allow the Spirit to guide in these circumstances.

But now I have this other way, this simple prayer for knowledge of his will. And I’m pretty sure I won’t have a conscious awareness of the knowing. Instead, I will have the effects of it [Matthew 7:18]: the fruits of the spirit [Galatians 5:22-23], the ability to endure and to be patient and to manifest a spirit of thanksgiving in all things [I Thess 5:18].

This is a prayer God will always answer. It’s not one of those “yes, no, or maybe” prayers. Paul prayed in this fashion for others. I can do the same and I can pray it for myself.

When Paul was “kicking against the goads” [Acts 26:14], he was going against the will of God in such a dramatic and determined way that he experienced a physical miracle — and not a pleasant one, no matter how “spiritual” we’d like to make it sound. He was thrown from his horse, lost his sight, heard voices, and had to be led to Damascus in disgrace. After that, he didn’t eat or drink for 3 days. He despaired and expected his own death.

I think I have experienced my own version of going against God’s will, I can tell by the fruits of it: impatience, anger, discontent, harshness, and even cruelty. When my mouth and mind engage in all those sorrows and negativity, I am operating in a vacuum and missing God’s will.

Fill me today, Lord. Fill me to overflowing that the knowledge of your will becomes a sweet aroma to others. Amen.

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God’s Mercy

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Mercy is the best thing ever, particularly when we’re on the receiving end. But, it gets a little dicey when we see some other “undeserving” soul get the good stuff.

Romans 9:14-15
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” [Exodus 33:19]

God is at the bottom line and no matter how hard we try to understand God’s distribution of suffering and mercy, we will never be able to get it. What often appears “unfair” is not for us to judge. Scripture promises that God is just; our understanding is not required in God’s dimension.

My essential characteristics, my natural abilities, my intelligence, my body, my mind, my spirit: these were the ingredients God put together to make me into “me.” These, along with the circumstances and environments out of my control (where and how I grew up) including my parents and genealogy, all come together as my life’s infrastructure. Upon these, I can add building blocks while others can add to the structure as well. I grow, I become, I change. . . or not.

God’s mercy has kept me alive these many years. There were roads I supernaturally avoided that would have led to my early death. There were dangerous people that I fortunately bypassed. There were places I never had to visit. I wasn’t just lucky, I was under grace.

But there was still my willfulness and it narrowed my journey and brought me to turning points that I chose; many of those choices were not wisely considered. For good or ill, they brought me to this day, this hour, this life.

I cannot go back and relive or choose differently. I cannot project who I will be tomorrow. I can only walk out today, being mindful of the gifts, the mercy, the presence of God, the possibilities.

Oh Lord, what will we make of this day together?

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What Shall I Do?

Posted in Advent, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Why can’t I remember to ask this question before I hurdle into action after my own great idea or solution? Answer: Because I don’t want to hear another answer…. or worse, I can’t really hear God’s answer. So, I cover uncertainty with bravado and a battle cry, “This way! Follow me.”

Acts 22:10
And I [Paul] asked, “What shall I do, Lord?” And the Lord answered me, “Get up and go into Damascus, and there it will be told you all that it is destined and appointed for you to do.” [Amplified]

Paul was knocked off his horse by a bright light and a voice who identified himself as Jesus of Nazareth, the very person Paul had hated and whose followers he was persecuting, jailing and condemning to death. And yet, Paul had the guts to ask, “What I shall I do?” (I think there was an unspoken “now” at the end of that question). Paul probably expected he would be killed for his massacre of Jesus’s followers. Blinded by the light, Paul arrived in Damascus and did not eat or drink for three days. [Acts 9:9] He was at the Lord’s mercy.

But God did the opposite of what anyone would have expected. Paul was anointed instead, to be a witness to the reality of Jesus as the Messiah and eventually that witness was predominately directed to the gentiles, the most despised people group by the Jews.

Paul didn’t really know he’d end up with the gentiles. When he started telling his story, he taught among his own people. He went to the synagogues and Jewish prayer places. But when his witness was rejected there, he turned to the other people who embraced his message. His ministry evolved and he allowed it to evolve.

God is full of grace and mercy. He doesn’t drag us along kicking and screaming.

Jeff, my old friend, and I used to always joke that we would “never” go to Africa or anywhere else where poverty and hardships were the norm. No way. We liked our creature comforts far too much. In fact, whenever people started talking about their fabulous experiences in various third world countries or impoverished areas, we would look at each other, pretend to wave a flag, and hum the “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

But, what happened? Jeff ended up in the ghetto of London ministering to the homeless and prostitutes for over a year and my family ended up working with two orphanages in Namibia and Zambia in Africa. And all was done with a joyful heart. It all happened at the right time and the right place.

This is the message for me today: my job is to ask. God honors the asking. God is a good communicator. If I honestly want to hear … if I am willing to hear… then God’s “voice” is clear.

Something is evolving. I can feel it in my heart but I don’t know what it might be. I can only ask: “Oh God, what shall I do now?”

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Hosanna! But Not That Way

Posted in Feast Days and Holy Days, Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , on July 25, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 12:12b-13a
…when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “ Hosanna! … ”

Hosanna means “save us.” But unfortunately, the crowds who cried, “save us!” at the triumphal entry of Jesus in Jerusalem (now marked as Palm Sunday) did not particularly like his methods. In fact, by the time Passover had arrived, they realized he was not going to overthrow the Roman occupation in the way they expected. In fact, he was unwilling to declare his sovereignty over Israel at all.

I think Judas Iscariot suffered from the same disappointment. He had his own “mental model” of how things should go and finally, decided to take things into his own hands. Perhaps he believed that Jesus, once forced by the Sanhedrin to declare himself, would establish his kingdom. (This is just a personal interpretation of the Judas story.) In any case, Judas’s way changed the course of history.

But don’t both of these cases, the crowds of Jerusalem and Judas, mirror our own efforts to control the outcomes our circumstances? In prayer, we cry out for help, but when help comes, we don’t like it or worse, don’t recognize it (like the story of a man stranded on a roof in a flood and prayed for rescue but did not recognize God in the rowboat of a neighbor or the motorboat and helicopter of strangers–he drowned, by the way).

I think God is in the prayer answering business. All prayer is answered: we must learn to accept the answers. When we say God hasn’t answered our prayers, what we often mean is that God hasn’t answered us immediately and miraculously.

We sometimes err in thinking that the phrase “Your will be done … ” means that God can choose either to answer our prayers or not. But I really think it is just a reminder that we acknowledge and accept His answers because they will always be within His will. These are the only answers we should be interested in receiving.

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Stones into Bread

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 4:3
The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

It wasn’t that Jesus couldn’t turn the stones into bread. He could have done that at any point in his days of fasting and praying. But that was not the point. He was called to fast until he was released from it.

I think this happens all the time. There are things that are not available to us, but not because we are unable to have them. God creates an environment for us that is part of our evolving story.

If I look at my life, there are things I would have changed along the way if I could. For instance, I would have liked to have biological children but then, I would have missed having my wonderful adopted children. While pursuing pregnancy, there were many more steps I could have taken to push the point: more tests, more invasive measures, etc. Probably, I could have turned those stones into bread. But even then, I sensed a different destiny, a purpose if you will, for those circumstances.

Barrenness is part of my story so that God could produce a different kind of fruit. And as a result, not only do I have three wonderful kids, but I also have a sensitivity to the plight of orphans in a way that I would have never had before. I’m glad I trusted the Lord. I pray I can be as sensitive to His Will in my current situation.

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