faithchristianisrael recently posted this blog:
Perhaps few things are more important than knowing the Lord's will for your life. We could learn a few things from Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Mary's journey was filled with: a) an announcement from Gabriel (not just any angel), b) a visit from shepherds, c) gifts from wise men, d) prophetic words from Simeon and Anna, e) surprises at the temple, f) public controversy and confirmation, then finally, g) her son's death and resurrection. She stewarded the "plan" well, though she may not have fully understood it all.
How did events from the past inform Mary about the future? What signs should she have been looking for? How did she know she was in the middle of His will? These answers must have been difficult to come by, but they started with the simple response of this young Jewish handmaiden: "I am the Lord's servant," (Luke 1:38 NIV).
Humility releases the grace of God (Proverbs 3:34). Absolute vulnerability to the Creator and Sustainer of life opens unparalleled opportunities of discovery. He has a plan for you—and if you could even imagine for a minute what the picture might look like, it would bring a smile, for it would reveal a future filled with hope!
--from a devotional letter by Glenn Burris
I would like to add some comments:
I like this material from Glenn Burris. I really do! It brings out some good points to consider for anyone desiring to fulfill God’s will for their life. But may I add one point of disagreement? I think there is something more important than knowing the Lord’s will for our life. And that is being in His will. And actually, we don’t need to know His will, His plan, to be in it. In fact, knowing His will could actually make it harder for us to fulfill it! (Would it have been easier for Joseph to fulfill God’s plan for him if he had know he was going to be sold into slavery and then later thrown into prison?)
Let me insert here some words from George Warnock. He makes the point better than I do. “Just here, I would remind God's chosen ones, and especially the younger ones who are zealous for God. Do not try to get some kind of a 'plan' from God for your life, so you can start working on it! If you work on your plan, you will very likely spoil it! Or God may spoil it for you! You need only to know that God has a plan for your life, get to know His voice, do His will today and every day, and commit yourself into the hands of a loving God, and a very capable Predestinator. As you walk in God's will, you cannot miss God's intention for your life. And as you present yourself to Him a 'living sacrifice' -- you will learn to walk in His ways, and come to know His voice more clearly.”
Present ourselves a living sacrifice – and then trust God that He will accept that sacrifice and that He does have a plan for it – a grand and glorious plan – and that He will, indeed, fulfill that plan. No matter what our present circumstances look like! No matter what happens, don’t withdraw that sacrificial offering! Leave it all in His hands. Trust Him. Believe Him. Faith in Him. That’s what it takes, that’s what He’s looking for. The unfolding of our life – that’s been given to Him – will reveal (“prove”) what His perfect will for us is. Let our response be the same as Mary’s: “I am the Lord’s servant.”
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” 2 Chron. 16:9 (NIV)
Fully committed – that’s the key.
Of course, we think that we are fully committed. But sometimes our hearts deceive us. (Not our new heart that God has placed in us – in the “new creation”, but that old heart that we inherited from Adam. The heart of our old nature.) I think this is one reason why we need trials and tribulations – they reveal what’s in our heart. And they show us where we’re walking according to our flesh, instead of according to the Spirit. When we lose our peace and our joy, when we become anxious or fearful, or full of doubts – that reveals a place in our hearts where we’re not submitted to God – an area where our faith is weak, where we don’t fully trust Him.
I sure need that "strengthening of the heart"!
Every now and then God reminds me that I need to walk one day at a time. Today He did that as I was considering the scriptures that say: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Or, another version: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about it’s own things. Sufficient for the day is it’s own trouble.”) And also the prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
So apparently, each day has its problems, its troubles, its evils. They are “sufficient’. They are enough. What’s that mean? Enough for what? Sufficient for what? Sufficient to keep us busy? Is that all we are to do – keep busy? Each day has enough for us to worry about? Is that all we’re supposed to do – worry? Sufficient for us to “get through”? Is that our goal -- to get through, to make it through, each day? We just need to get through today, and then tomorrow we’ll have other things to worry about and we can concentrate on getting through that day? “Getting through”, surviving – is that our aim, our task? For some people throughout the world, that is their task, and it’s a huge task.
But that doesn’t seem to be all that these verses are talking about. These are, of course, the words of Jesus – as He is calling us to follow Him. Jesus isn’t calling us just to survive. We’re called to more than that. We’re called to overcome. Not to be survivalists, but to be overcomers.
Every day, these verses tell us, there is enough – enough trouble, enough evil, to occupy us in this task of overcoming. So what is all this evil that we confront every day? What’s the problem? Some days, yes, there are some big problems. The rent is due and I don’t have it. My spouse is mad at me. The car won’t start. A term paper is due and I don’t have it done. I’m not well. Those are troubles, alright. But evils? I wouldn’t really call them evils. We think of evils as great big, monstrous things – like robbers at the door or screams in the night or maybe learning that we have cancer in our body. We don’t face those kinds of things every day.
Well, every day there is, as they say, the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world is continually holding out it’s enticements to me (loud and clear – and persistent). The devil is tempting me, whispering in my ear. And my flesh is saying “Yes! Yes! I want it! Give me more! More! God didn’t really mean what He said, anyway.”
Yeah, that’s enough to overcome, that’s sufficient. For we’ve been called, as I mentioned, to follow Jesus. To follow Him in walking in unity with the Father, to follow Him in walking according to the Spirit, instead of according to our flesh. Doing whatever is necessary to fulfill the will of the Father, instead of our own will – today. Yeah, that’s enough, I’d say. That’s sufficient. Today – that’s when we need to do it. Not later on when I get stronger. Not on Sunday when I’m in the midst of worship. Not tomorrow, because that never comes. Today. “Today”, it says, “if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” “Today, while it is called today.”
Ouch – that doesn’t leave any wiggle room!
No wonder we need to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Man can’t live on bread alone, Jesus said, but by “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” That’s the daily bread we need – and it doesn’t just mean that we need to read some scripture every day, but more than that: we need to hear God’s voice. Wow – every day. And not shut it out, but receive it and walk in it. Yeah, that’s enough.
I think I’ll need some help.
