What Is God's Will?

God's will.  I hear a lot of believers say they just want to know God's will for their lives.  I hear a lot of believers say they are praying and asking God to show them His will for their lives.  So, what IS God's will?  What exactly does that mean?  How do you explain God's will to someone who wants to know what it is?  How do you explain God's will to a child?  And, have you ever explained what God's will means to anyone?  Ever?

I had coffee recently with a friend I will call "Jeri," because she reminds me of my youngest brother Jerry.  Like Jerry did, and like many other people in the world do, Jeri struggles with life.  She suffers from depression and also from not "fitting in", and believing she is a "nobody".  If only she was married and had children, maybe she would be happier.  If only she could lose weight, then she might not be so depressed.  She tries so hard to read the Bible, she tries so hard to be in God's will, she tries so hard ... at everything, but nothing works ... if only ...

So, we sat across from each other and I listened, just as I have listened to her for years.  But I've changed in the last few years.  I've learned that encouraging, inspiring, building up, accepting and even saying to people, "I'll pray for you," is a waste of time without sharing the truth of Jesus Christ.  (Don't get huffy here, I'll come back to this.)

When it was my turn to talk, I heard myself asking her, "What is God's will?  How would you explain God's will to someone who asked you?"  She began stammering around and said nervously, "uh, He wants us to go to Heaven with Him ... uh, He wants us to, uh ..."

I cut in and gently said, "Obey Him."  She kept struggling to find words, and again I gently said, "Obey Him."

"Obey Him?" she asked.  

"Yes, obey Him," I said.  "That's it.  Just obey His Word to us.  His will for us is to obey exactly what He said to us.  When He says to stop being angry ... stop being angry.  When He says to stop envying ... stop envying.  When He says to stop lying ... stop lying.  When He says, forgive ... forgive.  It goes on and on."  She completely relaxed and smiled as though she had just finished a race.  I went on.  "We've complicated the Gospel, Jeri.  We have bought into lies we don't even know are lies.  We have taken His Word and we've gone out and sought interpretations and meanings from people other than Him.  We have bought into the lie that His Word is too complicated for us to understand and we spend our whole lives searching for answers when it is all right there for us to read.  You are upset with yourself that you can't lose weight and what does God tell you to do about it?"

"Umm ... obey Him?"  she hesitantly asked.

"Yes, obey Him," I said.  "He says if He is in you, you are His temple, so treat your body, soul and mind as though it is His temple, because it is; you are where He resides.  You can't be overweight if you don't overeat and don't eat junk food.  We don't see obesity in poverty stricken countries.  That is the simple truth, but people don't believe it because they've bought into lies about why we are overweight.  IF you don't want to be overweight and you are unhappy about it, then care about His temple because that is where He is, Jeri."

I then talked to her about a health issue I'd been dealing with for over a month.  I shared with her how I am very hesitant to ask people to pray for things like that, because I believe we have bought into lies about prayer.  Her eyebrows went up, and I went on.  "Think about this, Jeri," I said.  "For the last month, I haven't been able to leave the house much; not even to go to church.  But, I have had more time than I've had in a long time to spend with God and His Word, and so I have.  And this wasn't just time spent reading, it was time spent asking Him to teach me, to reveal Himself to me and to reveal His Word and truth to me.  And He did!  My mind is bursting with things He opened up to me!  Now, why in the world would I ask people to pray that I will get better soon?  Why in the world would I have wanted to miss that huge opportunity to spend that kind of time with Him only!  What do we really want Him to do?  Heal us physically or heal us spiritually?"

"Don't get me wrong," I told her.  "I'm not saying we shouldn't pray for people, I'm saying we need to learn to pray the way God wants us to pray.  Look at the Israelites and all they went through.  Look at all the obstacles they encountered ... for the sole purpose of being able to see God at work teaching them AND so they would have accounts to pass down to their children and their grandchildren forever.  We need to learn to pray for strength and courage to go THROUGH the painful trial or situation or health issue, AND for the truth He is going to teach us about ourselves instead of praying it away, but listen to us in the church!  We are busy, busy, busy praying away all these situations that God intends for us to grow from so that HE will be honored by our obedience!"

Jeri asked me why we aren't taught this.  I told her it isn't the responsibility of anyone but ourselves to know what Jesus says about everything.  Jesus doesn't tell us to go to our church or pastors for our teaching, He tells us in John 6, if we want eternal life we are to go directly to Him and be taught by Him. The church then; the pastor, is to reinforce that.  He told us if we are going to follow Him, we need to let go of ... everything ... even our long-held beliefs ... and do what HE says we must do.  But once we know, we are called to pass that truth on to others who don't know, "just as I'm sharing with you now," I said.

"One more thing before I go," I asked, "when you walk into church and into your class at church, do you feel like you don't fit in?  Do you feel like you are not part of 'the group or crowd?'  Do you feel like you don't measure up because the pastor is closer to God than you are?  And do you feel like other people there are closer to God than you are?"  Her eyes were moist with tears as she slowly nodded her head.  "That's exactly how I feel," she said.

"So, you have God residing in you; you have God in your heart, right?" I asked.  She nodded.  "And the pastor has God in his heart, right?"  I asked.  She nodded.  "And there are others there who have God in their hearts, right?"  She nodded.  "So then, how can anyone be closer to God than anyone else?" I asked.  "While some may have more knowledge of His word, if He is in our hearts, how can anyone be closer to God than anyone else?  If I have more understanding of His Word than anyone else, it is because of my obedience, not because I am more intelligent."

"I've been in 'the group,' Jeri.  I've fit in with 'the crowd' and I found out that being with the crowd, doing all that the crowd is doing, no matter how good it is, if I am not doing this ... if I am too busy doing good stuff to care about you and share His truth with you and others like you who are struggling, then I am only religious and Jesus detests the religious.  That's why I'm no longer part of the church crowd.  I don't go to church to fit in or to be accepted, because Jesus didn't call me to do that.  He called me to do what He did even though He was seen as crazy ... and yes, I am seen as crazy!"

Her smile was huge.  "Just obey Him," she said.  "His will is just to obey Him!"  I nodded and said, "Yes, it's just that simple ... but you have to let go of everything you are trying to hold onto."

What I know for sure today is that when He asks, "Are your hearts still hardened?" He is trying to get us to understand that until we allow Him to teach us, our hearts are hardened against His Word; His Truth.  We can continue to seek out pastors, teachers, Bible study leaders, great authors, etc., to help us understand His Truth, but the longer we avoid seeking His Truth only, which will result in making a choice to obey or disobey, the more our hearts continue to harden as we accept a Gospel that isn't His.

So, how is your heart?  Have you left "the group" yet to follow Him only ... or are you still asking Him to show you "His will?"  Oh, and when He says, "Come, follow Me only," well, you either obey, or you keep following the crowd.