Perfect Will of God for you

“Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.” (Psalm 50:23)

I will say it again – I love God! He is so awesome in His gentleness with His people and will so patiently guide us into all wisdom and righteousness – if we will but allow Him.

Business training teaches us to plan our goals out to twenty years and beyond. Eastern cultures teach their business leaders to plan generationally out several decades or more beyond today. We so carefully lay out our desires and visions for the future, yet a million decisions we make on the day-to-day alter those plans. As you read through the scriptures pay attention to all the minutae that change the course of invididuals, families, tribes, and nations. It has been said, for example, that if we waited until all the traffic lights between where we are and where we plan to go were green we would never even start. And yet, having started, how many times have you had your plans been altered because of a detour – road construction, bridge out, auto accidents, etc? The same is true with our lives.

As I awoke this morning and breathed out a prayer to God for another day to live for Him and serve Him, it was like He was just waiting for me (imagine that!). He immediately began speaking to me. His words were strong, yet loving. Like most, I have plans and projects on hold. I haven’t understood, I have questioned Him about it for the past few months. I may have even grumbled a little bit about it – Why? What’s going on? Is this even going to happen? I know He gave me these opportunities and these great and worthwhile plans – so what is the holdup, Lord? This morning He seemed to answer all of them with just a word, with such great wisdom. God is awesome!

Again, as you read through scripture, I encourage you to highlight, underline, or otherwise mark all the times you see the phrase, “When all was set in order, then…”, or similar. There are many moving parts in all our lives. So it has been with mine recently. But this morning God clearly spoke to me and said, “Now...now that this particular thing is being cleared out of your path I can move on with what has been waiting.” He didn’t give any clear indication of why this was a problem, just let me know this was the one thing standing in the way of Him fulfilling His promise to me. And in case you’re wondering, it was not any sin on my part. In fact, it was an act of charity I have been performing, a way of helping out a friend and repaying a debt I owed. Yet in my charity I have been (unknowingly) holding up the work God is doing in my life! How crazy is that? Yet we see that pattern in scripture as well.

I can no longer blame God (although, secretly I guess I have been all this time). Perhaps it shows a weak spot in my prayer life. Think about all the times we read that David and others prayed to God and said, “Shall I pursue them…?” or “Shall I go up…?” They were wise enough to seek God’s will even in rescuing their own families and lands before they acted. I need to learn from them in this manner – and execute accordingly.

How many of us have not been receiving God’s promised best for our lives because we rushed ahead in our own “wisdom” – often doing a “good” thing instead of asking Him about the “perfect” thing? As Paul wrote in Romans 12:2, “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.” You know the irony in this? I have preached from this very verse about there being a good will of God, an acceptable will of God, and a perfect will of God. I have been for the last months living within the good will of God – and that’s, well good. I have even been living in the acceptable will of God – and that, too, is often an honorable place to live. But, oh my friend, there is a PERFECT will of God – showed to us by His Son, Jesus, as He walked this earth. That is the most desirable place in which to be of all. For in the perfect will of God is perfect peace, perfect love, perfect fellowship with Him, and therein only can He truly show out in our lives! I regret to say I have all too many times missed that perfect walk inside His will.

That ends this week – in Jesus’ Holy Name. Once this situation has been totally cleared out of my life (and it will take the rest of the week to clear it out), I will be free to pursue, once again, His perfect will for me. He has assured me that the holds will be released once this is done. This isn’t a message about prosperity or anything over-the-top like that, but it is a message of hope. It is a message of restored fellowship and blessing on my life like none I have known before. Hallelujah!

Why do I tell you about my life in this matter? Because I suspect there may be one or two reading this who have been questioning God about their own situation. If that is you, my friend, I strongly encourage you to spend some time with God today. Ask Him clearly and bluntly about your particular situation. Why are things the way they are with you? Why do you keep running into a wall? Why do your plans fail? Perhaps you do have an area of sin in your life that has been there for years and it is just “normal” for you. Maybe there is no known sin in your life, but you are stuck. Whatever it is, seek Him and seek His heart. He will in no wise hold out or withhold from you for no reason. He wants you to have His best – whatever that is for you. His desire is to bless you above and beyond anything you could ever ask or imagine. That may include a healing in your body, a restoration in your relationships, or something else you may not have even imagined was missing. God is the God of completeness. The Jews call it SHALOM – perfectness, wholeness, nothing missing, nothing lacking. Close yourself in with Him today and allow Him to speak to you.

Be blessed.