Friday 29th Sep 2023
“So brothers and sisters, s way ince God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual for you to worship. Do not be shaped by this world; instead, be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.”
Romans 12:1-2 NCV
The way to know the will of God is to submit ourselves to him. Not to be shaped by the world's way of thinking.
Christ knew that the way to know the will of the Father was to say “not my will but your will be done.”
How do we know what the will of the Spirit is?
I would say when we are in daily fellowship with God and his word. Aware of God's Spirit, In submission to God’s word, we know his voice, it could be loud or quiet or sometimes you just know. Except to hear God. Open the Bible daily.
In Matt 6.33 it says
... Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well. So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:32-34 NCV
In Romans 8 Paul writes
“The Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”
Romans 8:27 NLT
We can pray each day, that we live in harmony with the will of God.
Question
So if it's not in the Bible for clear direction, say a Job interview... How do we know what does God want for us?
I would pray that God gives me wisdom, ask God how to speak clearly and that the favour of God is on me.
Learning to listen to God's voice, by daily fellowship.
In most of these things, God has given us a choice, and then God gives us the strength and wisdom to follow through.
However - I do suggest if you are not sure that you check it out with someone you trust, who hears God.
Page 116 from my Isaiah study
We try so hard to figure out the next steps in our human striving when Scripture documents the Lord speaking most often in the quiet. He promises to teach us and guide us.
Isaiah 30:21 says “When we ask for help and then wait patiently for Him, we will hear a voice telling us, This is the way you should go, whether to the right or the left.
When we shift our focus off of ourselves and toward God, we show Him that we believe He is enough and we trust Him with our details.
Jesus said my sheep know my voice
If it's God’s will does that mean it will be easy? Some say if I have peace about it, it's God.
For example, you know it's the right thing to do but it's tough but it will make you grow and be stronger. Moses had it rough but he listened and obeyed, courage was needed to bring the Israelites of slavery. When we moved to Ely, we knew inside it was the right thing, it was God’s call and we knew we had to do it.
if we are living in fellowship with the Spirit, trusting in Christ, submitted to God, filled with wisdom, and have a good foundation in God’s word
What about if we do stray from God's will, and fall into sin. What happens?
David, a man after Gods own heart, was an example
He prayered
“Create in me a pure heart, God, and make my spirit right again. Do not send me away from you or take your Holy Spirit away from me. Give me back the joy of your salvation. Keep me strong by giving me a willing spirit.”
Psalms 51:10-12 NCV
However, if we are unwilling to repent and we are in a place of rebellion or hardness of heart we will find conflict
Submission to his will isn't just for those important decisions that come along once or twice
Submitting to his will is a daily choice
Luke 9
23 Then Jesus said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?
The cross isn't possible without the garden submission where Jesus prayered.
And because of the work of Christ we know God as Father and by the Holy Spirit within us we live in harmony with His will.
Another example is Jonah, he knew God's will, yet at first didn't obey God. God sent a fish and spoke to him and turned it around, even though he at first made the wrong decision.
God has a way to turn things around.
Romans 8 says
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”
Romans 8:28-30 NLT
As children of God we are already right in his sight, he wants the best for his children and if he needs to correct us he does with his Spirit within us.
Being a child of God we can say that God's discipline leads us to life, he corrects us as the example in the life of Hezekiah (Is 38.16)
John writes that
“But to all who did accept him and believe in him, he gave the right to become children of God. They did not become his children in any human way—by any human parents or human desire. They were born from the will of God.”
John 1:12-13 NCV
Believe that we can know God and that we are born from the will of God, and we know his voice, we know him.
When he said my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts that was Old Testament
New Covenant he says
I will write my laws of your hearts and your minds
I will no more remember your sins
I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh
I will be with you always.
You will know my teaching Christ said because the spirit will remind you about the things I have spoken to you.
The Holy Spirit bears witness with us that we are his children and we believe that we are shaped by him.
In Isaiah 43 it says
The one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
because you are precious to me.
You are honoured, and I love you.
“Do not be afraid, for I am with you
Isaiah 43
As David prayed, “Where can I go from your spirit, if I make my bed in Hell or rise to the heavens, you are with me.”
So what do we know about the will of the spirit?
I will teach you
I will heal you
I will save you
I will bless you
These are promises we can hold on to.
Conclusion
Close with opening scripture, we reject the worldly way of thinking, we submit ourselves to God’s. We know we are children of God, we know we hear his voice. If we stray we can turn around renew our minds and trust in God to live a life pleasing to God. This is worship.
“So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. Do not be shaped by this world; instead, be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.”
Romans 12:1-2 NCV
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