Our Will or God’s Will?
Our Will or God's Will?
"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams." (I Samuel 15:22)
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
I was converted to Christ while in the United States Marine Corps, in 1944. About a year later while stationed on the Island of Sasebo, Japan, I was called to preach, by a supernatural visitation of the Lord Jesus.
In obedience to the Lord, I went to Bible school upon being discharged, in 1946. Not having been raised in a Christian home, just about everything in the Christian community was new to me.
Being young, enthusiastic, and idealistic, I listened attentively to all that was being taught. One belief held by the teachers and students in the Bible school was that no person could do God's will perfectly and completely. Added to this was the notion that the world was waiting for someone who would do God's will perfectly.
When that person arrived, marvelous events would occur.
The idea seemed to be that God's standards were so high that no individual could hope to attain to them. However, by an institution referred to as "grace," which I had heard about while in the Marine Corps, we all were forgiven and would enter an eternal residence in Heaven when we died.
I was intrigued by the concept of God's standards and the "grace intervention." I began to make noises to the effect that I believed it was possible through Christ to overcome sin.
The older believers shook their heads knowingly. They knew that when I was more experienced in the Lord I would discover, as they all had, that no one could escape the bondages of sin while living in this world, much less do God's perfect, complete will.
Being of a rebellious nature I decided to test this belief. I had no wife at the time, no brothers or sisters. My parents were deceased as were my grandparents also. I have one living cousin who lives across the country. So I could afford to be reckless.
During one recess I prayed: "Father, if you will give me the power to do so, I will do your perfect will."
After recess when I went back into the classroom, a prophecy came forth: "If you mean what you say it will be a blessing to many people."
Of course, no one knew of my prayer.
To the present day (August, 2014) I have through Christ gained victory over the sins of which I am aware. Also, I have done all that God has commanded.
Have I made mistakes or been deceived? Of course. But when I realized I was off the path, I turned to Jesus and asked His help to get me back on course. He always does this.
Anyone can do what I have done, it is no great achievement. In fact, it is the normal Christ life!
During the following seventy or so years, I have discovered that many popular Christian doctrines are not based on the Bible. Perhaps the most destructive of these is the misinterpretation of Paul's doctrine of "grace" to mean we cannot attain to God's standards of righteous, holy behavior. Therefore we must have fellowship with Him and enter Heaven by forgiveness (grace).
There are other unscriptural doctrines, such as "once saved always saved" that keep the believers from making the effort to grow in Christ. I have written previously about these errors.
However, I have come to the conclusion that the most destructive of all the misconceptions that cloud the thinking of Christian people concerns the doing of God's will.
It appears that when we pray "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done," we are assigning this blessing to a vague future. During this shadowy future we will be at rest in our mansion in Heaven while an even more vague Kingdom suddenly comes to the earth.
But the thought of living today on the earth and doing God's will at all times and in every situation does not seem as popular as one might wish.
The people of the world, and of the Christian churches also, appear to believe that we are to live by our self-will. We do not see God. He does not speak to us. (In actuality He does speak to us, just as He is speaking to America in all sorts of disasters. We just cannot understand the language He uses.)
In the normal course of their life the people of the world employ their self-will. Their self-will comes from their adamic personality, I suppose, and is interpreted by their brain. Meanwhile the sin dwelling in their flesh cries continually for expression.
It should be different in the Christian churches. We should be living by God's will, not our self-will. We should be looking to Christ for everything we think, speak, and do.
Why do we not do this? Why do we not live so at all times we are aware of what Christ is thinking, speaking, and doing?
When I am speaking of doing Christ's will in all aspects of our life I am referring not only to overcoming sin but also to those aspects that are not sinful.
Perhaps if we become accustomed to looking to Christ in all that we do it will be easier to overcome temptations to sin.
When we notice a sin we are practicing, we are to confess it to Christ. Then we are to determine never to practice that behavior again for eternity, asking the Lord Jesus to help us with our determination.
This is the day for confessing and renouncing sin. It is an eternal judgment on Satan, an eternal release of the believers.
It may be true that the Christians of history, who have died and are in the spirit world, are looking to us to pave the way to full deliverance from sin and self-will.
Why is it that we have come to believe we are unable to please God without relying on "grace."? We live our life with a guilty conscience when we could be walking in victory with our Lord.
I have come to believe that at some point in the early history of the Christ Church, Satan was able to persuade the Christian people that God and Christ are so high above us that it would be unthinkable to imagine we ever could please them.
After all, we are just creations of the dust. The Father and the Son constitute, along with the Holy Spirit, an unimaginable Trinity. Our destiny is to worship Them, not to behave as They do. Not actually to be in Their image.
One thing we can do is make a picture of them and hang it on our bedroom wall.
"If we can just escape Hell and go to Heaven, that will be enough for us. Perhaps God meant we are in His image because we have a body, soul, and spirit. There is nothing we can do beyond this, so we will trust in God's grace to deliver us from Hell.
Such an attitude may seem to us to be commendably humble, but it is not scriptural. It is not pleasing to Christ or the Father. It is not the robust attitude of the children of God who are living in fellowship with the Father and the son.
I believe it is Satan who has convinced us that we cannot do God's will, we cannot overcome sin, we cannot truly be in the image of God's Character. I believe it is Satan who tells us as long as we are in the world we have to be bound by at least some sins.
I have become somewhat of a speckled bird as I keep exhorting people to ask Christ about everything we do: where to go; what to do; what to eat; how to do this, that, and the other thing right down to the smallest effort.
I said once we should ask the Lord about how many raisins to put on our oatmeal. I meant a general view of the amount of raisins; but it has been passed around that I said to count the raisins.
I practice what I preach. I look to Jesus for everything. In fact, my goal is to set aside my self-will so that Jesus might do my thinking, speaking, and acting; or at lease show me what He is thinking, speaking, and acting so I can do the same, with His assistance. I want Christ, God's Son, to be manifest and exalted in my personality as much as possible.
As I meditated on this situation, it came to me that everyone does not hear from Jesus as readily as I do. Perhaps because they do not practice listening to Jesus. You can't keep your mind on a million other things and expect to hear what God is saying!
However, I realize that God does not speak to all people in the same manner. But it is my belief that He will guide every Christian in one manner or another, depending on how He works with the individual.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5,6)
Notice that it does not say the Lord will speak to us. Rather He directs our path. By one means or another, God will make His will known to us.
And maybe He actually will speak to us, if we keep expecting that to happen.
We are not to lean on our own understanding. So much for self-will.
In all your ways. This includes putting raisins on your oatmeal as well as buying a house.
All, all, all, all, all. I am a fanatic at this point.
Submit to Him. I like the term, "submit." We do not tell Christ what to do. Christ tells us what to do.
Christ is not an "automatic teller" that we go to only when we need or want something!
We Christians like to say we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. The truth is we accept Christ as our Savior, but not as our Lord. We pray that He will grant us what we desire, and we should pray for what we need and desire. God knows what we need and desire, but He wants us to ask.
But the strongest of all prayers is: "Not my will but Yours be done."
Any prayer that does not include this disclaimer should never be prayed by a sincere Christian, no matter what sort of suffering is involved.
Either we are going to do our own will or God's will. If we hope to be in the Kingdom of God we are going to have to make up our mind about this!
As I have pondered this situation I realize that most of mankind, including Christian people, go about their business without asking Christ how He feels about matters.
I described previously in this essay how the experienced Christians in Bible school, teachers and students alike, regarded God's will as unattainable, except for unusual occurrences in their life. To call upon God day and night to learn His opinion of issues great and small seemed to be not as common as might be desired.
But what does the Bible say?
In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome. (I John 5:3)
God's will is not the chamber of horrors that one would think from listening to Christians. Rather, His commands are not burdensome. God has not presented us with standards and directives that we cannot perform, such that we need "grace" to excuse our non-compliance.
God speaks to us in His Word, the Bible. God also speaks to us in our mind, and sometimes by circumstances. We have to present our body a living sacrifice if we are to prove God's will for ourselves. We are to acknowledge God in all our ways, as Proverbs says, and not charge about in our self-will.
We need to take the time, each day and night, to listen to the Lord Jesus. Either He is our Lord or we are our own lord!
As I consider the scarcity on the part of Christians of a mention of God's will, except when they are facing some serious problem, I wonder if Christ is not drawing closer to us at this time and is inviting us to have a closer fellowship with Him. Perhaps things are changing!
Such change is implied, I believe, in the following passages:
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelation 3:20)
By the way, the above passage is an invitation to be married to the Lamb.
Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me . Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them . (John 14:19-21)
The "commands" referred to here are the exhortations of the New Testament plus the personal directives given to us by the Lord as we press on toward Him and obey Him strictly.
I will come in and eat with that person. He dines on our obedience and worship. We dine on His body and blood.
The world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me.
If my understanding is correct, this experience will be given to us prior to the Lord's appearing to the world in order to prepare us for His world-wide appearing.
You will see me! Perhaps this is what is taking place today, and Christ is inviting us to look to Him for wisdom and strength, and start keeping His commands. Then we will do His will and not run about in our self-will, doing we know not what.
Because I live, you also will live.
Now here is something. What does it take to get to the place where we live because Christ lives? We accomplish this by looking to Jesus for all we think, all we say, and all we do. It really is not as difficult as it sounds. This the day to move into this closer relationship with the Lord Jesus.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
In the present hour the Father is to become more real to us. We have been somewhat acquainted with the Lord Jesus because of Calvary. This also is true of the Holy Spirit because of the baptism with the Spirit. But the Father to many of us may seem remote.
This is to change now. Christ came to bring us to the Father, not to Himself. He is the Way to the Father. "On that day," the day in which we are living; the day when the Lord alone is exalted; on that day we shall be more aware than ever that Christ is in the Father, we are in Christ, and Christ is in us.
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.
We can see from this the horrible error of the "grace" message. Grace is presented as an alternative to keeping the commands of the Lord Jesus. When we do not keep Christ's commands, we do not love Him. It is as simple as that!
These are not the commands of the Law of Moses. The commands of Moses are as a slave who brings us to the school of Christ. Once we come to Christ, we no longer are in need of the slave.
Christ's commands, and those of His Apostles, are in the New Testament. Of special importance are the exhortations of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew, Chapters Five through Seven. As we begin to live by the Life of the Lord Jesus, looking to Him constantly, we find ourselves obeying the Sermon on the Mount---sometimes without realizing it.
The one who loves me will be loved by my Father.
God loves those who obey His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The most important issue of the Kingdom of God is strict obedience to the Lord Jesus.
I too will love them and show myself to them.
As I stated previously, this is not the appearing of Christ to the world but to His faithful servants who are keeping His commands.
It is to prepare us for His world-wide appearing. Only those who are keeping His commands and living by His Life are competent and eligible to be gathered to Him when He next appears !
You might be thinking, "This would be a small number of believers."
This may prove to be the case! "Narrow is the gate and the way that lead to eternal life," and few find them, or so the Bible says.
The belief of the Christian churches that Christ's appearing will include a "rapture" in which all the church members will be caught up to Heaven is unscriptural. Those who are gather to Christ in that day are, as I have stated, those who have learned to live by His Life.
The most important requirement is that we are totally obedient to Christ at all times. If we resist this requirement, proving incorrigible after all of God's loving corrections, we will be thrown into the Lake of Fire to be with Satan and the False Prophet.
There will be no individual in the new world of righteousness who causes discord by following his or her self-will instead of the will of Jesus Christ.
The main problem mankind has, as is true also of Satan and his followers, is self-will. Ask a Christian of your acquaintance if he or she is doing God's will all the time, and see what the individual says.
To not do God's will perfectly and completely on every occasion is rebellion. We have been commanded to present our body a living sacrifice that we may prove God's will and then do it.
There is nothing as important for any man or woman, boy or girl, than to do God's will at all times. If we proceed to follow our own will, without finding out from the Lord Jesus if we are obeying Him, we may suffer many pains and problems that we would not have experienced had we looked to the Lord first.
Can you say "Amen"?
According to the Bible, we who are believers in Christ have already come to Mount Zion in the spirit world, that is to Heaven. We now are at the right hand of God in Christ, even though the problem of self-will has not as yet been removed from our personality.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)
There is coming a great shaking, in which some of those who today are in Christ at the right hand of God shall be shaken from their position at God's right hand and thrown back into the earth.
See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12:25-27)
What are the "created things." They are the artifacts of religion that we have adopted.
Christianity was not meant to be a religion. In actuality, the true Christian Church is composed of a fellowship of people in whom the adamic nature has been set aside that they might live by the Life of the Lord Jesus. They can be found in many organizations.
All else of the Christian religion, the ceremonies and structures, are "created things." They are not of God.
All that is man-made, that which is of religion and not made by God, will be removed from the Presence of God. Only that which actually is of Christ will remain.
All that has come about by the self-will of man will be removed. In the Kingdom of God. Only God's will is acceptable.
Notice the following passage. It is telling of Antichrist reaching into the heavens and casting down to the earth some of the host. This is because there is self-will operating in them.
It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. (Daniel 8:10)
Because of rebellion , the Lord's people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground. (Daniel 8:12)
"Because of rebellion." Any time we are not doing the will of the Father, as expressed through the Lord Jesus Christ, we are rebelling against God. When we are planning and acting according to our own will we are not presenting our body a living sacrifice. We are rebelling against God.
How could we be removed from God's right hand? Yesterday the newspaper described the head of a very large ministry with several outreaches who stepped down from his position because of "moral failure."
Tell me—was Satan able to remove him from God's right hand and cast him to the earth?
Can he be restored? I think so. I suppose it depends on how he responds to the Lord.
I am aware we have not understood these matters previously, although they obviously are true. When I was in Bible school I was taught that no one can do God's will, we must be saved "by grace."
Were you ever taught that?
This is the same as declaring that God does not expect us to obey Him because His commands are impossible for humans to obey.
If this is not nonsense I do not know what would be.
Are God's commandments grievous and impossible to obey?
In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome. (I John 5:3)
Ask any Christian you know if it is possible to obey God all the time. See what he or she says.
As I have mentioned in previous writings, we now are entering the spiritual fulfillments of the final three of the seven feasts of the Lord: the Blowing of Trumpets; the Day of Atonement; and the feast of Tabernacles.
The purpose of the spiritual fulfillment of the Blowing of Trumpets is to bring the enemies of Christ under His feet. The greatest foe of Christ in the Christian people is the false doctrines that abound in the churches.
The worst and most destructive of these doctrines is that we are unable to do the will of our Father and must enter His Presence by forgiveness alone---the terrible doctrine of "lawless grace."
It may be true that the greater part of Christian people do not understand that they are supposed to obey the exhortations of the Scriptures until the Day Star arises in their heart. Once the Day Star (Christ) is formed in them, they will begin to think, speak, and act along with our Lord Jesus.
We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (II Peter 1:19)
The moral laws of the new covenant can be written only in the mind and heart of the believer.
"This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." (Hebrews 10:16)
So we understand that we are living today in momentous times. The conflict of the ages, the battle between good and evil, is approaching a climax.
In the beginning Satan set his will against the Lord God.
You said in your heart, "I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:13,14)
Eve was the first human to set her will against the will of the Lord. Since that time, self-will has characterized the greater part of mankind, including religious people.
It is seldom that one hears of Christian religious leaders claiming that Christ has told them to do this or that. They offer acceptable reasons for their efforts; but this is not the same as hearing from the Lord, as did the Apostle Paul, for example:
Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, "Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you." (Acts 27:23,24)
And Paul said this to unsaved sailors! They evidently believed him.
Perhaps the leaders do hear from the Lord from time to time, but are afraid or embarrassed to tell us that.
The difference between religion and obeying Christ is that religion has written codes of conduct that must be adhered to. Obeying Christ is a matter of learning to be conscious of His present will concerning each issue we encounter.
When I was a very young Christian some friends who were members of the Seventh Day Adventist denomination tried to persuade me not to participate in the Saturday drills, because Saturday is the Sabbath.
It is a serious matter in the Marine Corps to disobey the regulations.
So I took the matter to Christ in prayer. I discovered that He had no problem with my participating in the Saturday drill.
As young in the Lord as I was, I learned the difference between obeying the rules of a religion and obeying the living Christ. It is one matter to follow the written code of a religion, and a different experience to look to Jesus to determine what we should do.
Religion has fulfilled its role when it brings us to the living Jesus. Religion never is the end of salvation. Religion is a means to an end, and that end is for us to become part of the Lord Jesus just as He is part of the Father. We are to be married to the Lamb.
The Bible fulfills its role as it brings us to the living Word of God, the Lord Jesus. Whereas religion is temporary, the Bible will survive after the heavens and the earth pass away. The Bible shall stand as a rock forever, and keeps us from being led astray as we seek to learn how to hear Christ and God.
We absolutely must learn to pray continually, for four reasons: first, so we can stand during the Divine judgment that is coming to America because of abortion and other sins; second, so we will be qualified and competent to be gathered to the Lord Jesus when He appears; third, so we will know how to respond to the Spirit of God as He presents the current phases of the Divine redemption, and fourth, to remain in Christ during the great shaking of Hebrews 12:25-27.
To go through this present life and not learn to do God's will completely and cheerfully is the greatest loss any person can experience.
As far as little children who die, the angels will teach them in the happiest of surroundings.
I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart." (Psalms 40:8)