E20 - Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions - Obeying the Will of GOD - How it is Done
Hope’s Harbor
Gritty Bible Devotions
Episode #20
Title: Obeying the Will of God – How it is done
Date: September 20, 2021
Contact: info@hopesharbor.net
Key verse(s): Colossians 1:9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
Colossians 1:10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of GOD;
Intro: During a bout last week with the Delta variant of covid-19 I was so sick I couldn’t pray. It was the prayers of GOD’s people that stood between me and death for a couple of days until by the efforts of doctors and staff in ICU, I began to improve.
During several long nights when I couldn’t sleep I read my Bible and I came across the passage in Luke where a rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked a question.
Luke 18:18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus told him to obey the commandments. The man said he’d kept them since his youth.
Jesus gave him one more thing to do: Luke 18:22 ‘So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."’
Even in my virus dimmed mind what Jesus said leapt out at me and rang a bell.
I thought about what this meant to me. For the ruler it was specific. He was rich it says in another passage in Luke 18:18, and he went away saddened because the cost for him to follow Jesus was too high for him.
But for me, after thinking through Jesus’ words throughout that night and several following I began to realized the command was for me to release all sense of possessing …
What does this have to do with knowing GOD’s will?
Devotion focus: There is more to knowing GOD’s will than reading it in the Bible. That is knowing as in the letter of Scripture and knowing the spirit of GOD’s will.
The first, the letter, or what is written of GOD’s will when followed as a burden can lead to legalism. The second, understanding the spirit of GOD’s will helps us understand what GOD intends for us when we obey His commands.
One example of this is found in John 15:10 – “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.”
It goes without saying we are to obey GOD, and here the promise is if we obey His commandments we will abide in His love. To abide here means to stay in.
But about knowledge:
Of course reading the Bible to learn GOD’s will is the preliminary beginning of knowledge of GOD.
But just what is the will of GOD?
This is taken from Romans 12:2 – ‘And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.’
Will means - thelēma thel'-ay-mah From the prolonged form of G2309; a determination (properly the thing), that is, (actively) choice (specifically purpose, decree; abstractly volition) or (passively) inclination: - desire, pleasure, will.
The verse in Romans 12:2 reveals GOD intends for us to know His will, and to obey it is implied where it says, ‘be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
To renew the mind as it relates to knowing GOD’s will involves applying the knowledge we gain. This means like right now. I say this smiling…
This is from an online search, source unknown: “God's ultimate will is the advancement of his kingdom (Dan 2:44), his glorification (1 Cor 10:31), and the salvation and sanctification of his children through his son, Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:9). Stop thinking of God's will for your life as a separate plan from his will for his kingdom. They are the same.” Jun 2, 2020
When you think of GOD as King over His Kingdom and how we are His people in that spiritual kingdom, it’s easy to envision why we should seek out and follow GOD’s will for us.
If you’re like me and are all or nothing when you do something, this act of following GOD’s will, can be scary when considered as all-or-nothing.
It would mean regardless of the costs I will follow GOD’s will.
So how can we know GOD’s sovereign will, that determination of GOD to have His way in His creation.
We find the answer in every verse that declares a ‘you shall’ in it, either expressed or implied.
Listen to a few of the Ten Commandments:
· Exo 20:3 Thou shall have no other gods before me.
· Exo 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
· Exo 20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
· Exo 20:10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant…’
· Exo 20:13 Thou shall not kill.
· Exo 20:14 Thou shall not commit adultery.
· Exo 20:15 Thou shall not steal.
· Exo 20:16 Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
What would happen in our lives if we started with just these expressions of GOD’s will, these commands, and began to obey them, today?
Summary: To know GOD’s will requires reading and studying the Bible and part of that study requires knowing the difference between Old Testament commands that apply to us and those that don’t. This devotion doesn’t allow time to study those differences.
For example the OT implies ‘And eye for an eye’ speaking of retribution, but Jesus when addressing this said in Matt 5:38 "You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.'
And then in:
Matt 5:43 "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.”’
Matt 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,’”
Action to consider: Look in your Bible, in the NT, find just one command and write in on a 3x5 card, put on your dash, then write it on your bath mirror with dry erase.
Begin to apply this command, this expressed Will of GOD, in your life every chance you get until it becomes second nature to think it and live it.
How long will this take? On average it takes 3 – 5 thousand repetitions to form a habit. So, the question is how much do you want GOD’s Will for your life?
As encouragement, next week we’ll look at GOD’s permissive will, what He allows us to do within the context of our free will to choose, as in where we live, work, whether to marry or not, and if so, to whom?
A final thought is this: if we won’t obey what GOD has clearly declared us to obey, why would He reveal the answer to those permissive questions concerning His will for our choices?
Next week’s devotion: Part 2: Knowing the Will of GOD – How to Discover.