Daily Seeking His Will

My family and I recently toured a Christian university. My sons enjoyed the campus, the curriculum offerings, and of course, the Christian atmosphere. They felt very comfortable centered in God’s domain. One message delivered by our tour guide reminded me of something I learned much later in my Christian life:

“Here at University, you will find God’s will for your life.”

We hear that many times in Christian forums. It sounds like a great idea. From childhood on up, well-intentioned people ask us, “What do you want to be when you grow up? What do you want to major in at college? What is God’s will for your life?”

Jesus said we have a river of life flowing from us. Oswald Chambers said about that river in My Utmost for His Highest, “’Be being filled,’ and the sweetness of vital relationship to Jesus will flow out of the saint as lavishly as it is imparted to him. If you find your life is not flowing out as it should, you are to blame; something has obstructed the flow.” To know God’s will for your life, treating it as a one-time event could create such an obstruction.

A few years ago, I learned this transforming lesson from Dr. Adrian Rogers of Love Worth Finding. He said that Romans 12:1-2 really starts back at Romans 11:36. Usually, we start at verse one to learn about God’s will. But God says in verse 36 (KJV),

“For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

Contrast all things to knowing God’s will just once. Look at how much you could miss out on. If we learn to open the flow, we find life constantly filled with wonder and newness. Chambers summed it up like this, “Never allow anything to come between yourself and Jesus Christ, no emotion, or experience; nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.”

Is learning the will of God a one-time experience? Not when all things means a lifetime of experiences with God. In light of this truth, obey verses one and two – be being willed. What is God’s will for your life in this moment, in this course of the river? Not what’s around the bend. Not when you get to the crisis of a plunging waterfall. Not when life is an easy meandering stream. What does Jesus want right now?

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2 KJV)

Thirty years ago when God saved me at college, I asked Him what His will was for my life. He wanted me to be a writer. I never asked again until 27 years later, when I learned this principle. Now I ask Him all the time, “What do you want me to write today?” Now I feel His life, His presence, His Oneness with me all the time.

Can you imagine living in a stagnant pool for 27 years? I spent a lot of time wondering, “What next? Is this all there is?” Needless to say, I did a poor job of fulfilling His will. It was just too big.

Now I ask God, “What is your good and acceptable and perfect will right now?” If I am rightly related to Him, He answers right away. Then I go and do the thing. When I am finished, I go right back to my Father and ask, “Okay, now what?” Then I find myself beside still water, as David in Psalm 40:8 (KJV),

“I delight to do thy will, O my God ...”

Copyright © 2011 Lawrence J. Caldwell, used with permission.