God teaches us in 1John 5:14(NKJV), “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” We all have desires and needs, and Jesus Christ also teaches us in Matthew 6:8 that God knows what we need even before we ask. Even before the thought of a need formulates in our minds, the Father knew the exact moment we would have the thought. By this, we can have confidence that when we ask the Father for something that is within His Will, it is already on its way to us. However, we cannot overlook the reality that the operative words in 1John 5:14 are “according to His Will”.
You and I don’t know ourselves as well as we think. Throughout history, this has proved a very challenging thing for humans to accept. Each of us perceives life a certain way. This certain way is based on the thoughts, memories, and knowledge from our experiences and from what we have learned and picked up from others. Our environment in our development years created the boundaries of what we now believe. All our opinions, assumptions, and thoughts about how things work stem from this, and most of it comes from what the world feeds us.
In Romans 12:2(NLT), God commands, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” God’s expectation is that when we come to Christ and accept him as our Lord and Savior, we will understand that we are set apart for God’s glory and purpose. We will need to learn to operate through His Spirit and cut ties with copying the behavior and customs of the world. We must humble ourselves before God and let Him transform us from the inside out. This will require us to reprogram our minds to the mind of Christ.
The mind of Christ is a mind that is saturated with God’s Word. It is a mind that thinks of the excellency of God’s goodness, and this translates to actions that follow the example of Christ. Psalm 24:1(NLT) states, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.” God is the Creator of all things and all things belong to Him, but He did not create us to be robots. He has given us free-will agency, and this means that we get to make our own choices and decisions. God loves us very much, but He doesn’t force us to return this love to Him. He allows us to choose whether we will love and honor Him with our whole lives, or whether we will continue to live in darkness.
When we gave our lives to Christ through the new birth experience, we made the choice to love God through Jesus Christ. We acknowledged that we believe in his sacrifice and resurrection, and that Jesus Christ is Lord! We received the gift of salvation, and our commitment to live for God through His Word will keep us in His safety and care. Through reading and studying God’s Word, we learn that God is the One with the plan. Therefore, all our plans and what we think is best must go out the window.
God isn’t pulling our strings like puppets, and He isn’t controlling us or forcing us to do what He says, but we must remember that this is His earth and we belong to Him. He created us for a purpose, and every facet of this purpose is good and perfect. Heavenly Father has made our mission clear, and it is to become the image of His Son. This means that we live as Christ lived and love and he loved when he walked the earth. Jesus Christ said in John 6:38(KJV), “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” We are here on this earth to carry forth the work of Christ. We are here to do the Father’s Will.
God said in Jeremiah 29:11(NLT), “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Our lives are not in our hands, they are in the hands of God, and He knows exactly what He is doing. God is all knowing and all good, there is no darkness in Him at all. We must be thankful and overjoyed that we can release the burden of having to figure it all out. All we need to do is trust God and walk with Him throughout our lives. Nothing is more wonderful than this! ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Live According to God’s Will”, written by KLizzie, edited by Reverend Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.