Matthew 6:9-13 New American Standard Bible 1995
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day [a]our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from [b]evil. [c][For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Can You Miss God’s Will?
Matthew 6:10 New American Standard Bible 1995
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
The fear of missing God’s will is enough to paralyze any Christian.
But here’s the question: can a Christian miss the will of God for their life?
Could you somehow go your entire life being outside of God’s good plan for you?
It seems that the Bible teaches that, yes, you can miss God’s will.
It also teaches that no, you can’t miss God’s will.
We Can Miss God’s Will If …
The way to miss God’s will is really simple: ignore the Bible.
In the Bible God has told us exactly what we should do when it comes to making decisions.
First, we should determine if our decision goes against anything clearly spelled out in the Bible.
The Bible is clear that fellowship with other believers is necessary for our Christian growth.
If taking a job will cut you off from fellowship with others, it’s not God’s will for you to take the job.
Second, we should ask God to give us wisdom.
James 1:5–6 says: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting…”
Getting wisdom from God isn’t a mystical, super-spiritual experience.
It means asking God to help us think clearly and biblically about the decision in front of us.
When we ask for wisdom we should believe God is going to give it to us.
God isn’t trying to hide his good will from us.
He wants to help us understand the right way to walk.
Third, we should ask the opinion of others.
Proverbs 15:22 says, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”
This is so gloriously simple.
Finding God’s will for your life is as simple as asking others to pray for you on the matter and then asking the opinion of those other, godly Christians.
Lay the situation out before them, and then let God speak to you through their counsel.
You Can’t Miss God’s Will If…
If we heed the counsel of scripture, we won’t miss God’s will.
So here are 3 signs you are following God’s will for your life, and for each point we will also see the signs that will be present when we are about to miss God’s will for our lives.
1. When You Are Obeying God’s Commands and Seeking to Glorify Him, You Are Following God’s Will for Your Life / When You Are Not Obeying God’s Commands and Choosing Not to Glorify Him, You Are Missing God’s Will for Your Life
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 New American Standard Bible 1995
Sanctification and Love
4 Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to [a]walk and please God (just as you actually do [b]walk), that you excel still more. 2 For you know what commandments we gave you [c]by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from [d]sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to [e]possess his own [f]vessel in sanctification and honor , 5 not in [g]lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but [h]in sanctification. 8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
According to these verses, if you want to follow God’s will for your life, it will all start with obeying God’s commands.
Notice the emphasis Paul puts on us to do what we “ought” and “walk and to please the Lord.”
We are to follow the “instructions” of the apostles which Jesus gave them (which is the word of God).
God’s will is that we be sanctified. God has called us to live holy lives.
Therefore, it is reasonably safe to say that when we are obeying God’s word we are following God’s will.
2. When You Are Choosing to Sacrificially Love Someone, You Are Following God’s Will for Your Life / When You Are Running from Sacrificial Love, This Is a Sign You Are Missing God’s Will for Your Life
God always leads us to love.
How we express this love will look differently depending on each situation.
Sometimes God will lead you to commit to someone more so you can love them in a greater way.
Sometimes God will lead you to let someone go because that is what is best for the both of you.
The key to real love is to put that other person above any selfish desires of your own.
Notice what Jesus said in John 15:12-17. It states:
John 15:12-17 New American Standard Bible 1995
Disciples’ Relation to Each Other
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17 This I command you, that you love one another.
Notice that Jesus actually “appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.”
What is that fruit that he has called us to produce?
That we love one another as he has loved us.
You will recognize what path is God’s will for your life by choosing the path of sacrificial love.
3. When You Are Being Joyful in the Lord Regardless of What Doors God Is Sovereignly Opening and Closing in Your Life, This Is a Sign You Are Following God’s Will / If You Are Resenting God Because You Do Not Like What God Is Doing in Your Life, This Is a Sign You Are Missing God’s Will
When it comes to following the will of God for your life, often what is more important than “what” you choose to do is “how” you choose to do it.
In other words, the details and events that occur in our lives are often outside of our control and fall under the “sovereign will of God.”
But how we go through these events and experiences that God brings into our lives will truly be determined by the choices we make and don’t make when we choose to follow God’s Spirit or not.
You will know you are following God’s will for your life by your attitude towards the things that are out of your control.
As 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 states, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
So whether you choose to relate that person, place or thing or not, whether you are single or get married, whether you stay at that job or go work somewhere else – the single most important variable in the equation of following God’s will for your life is whether or not you are choosing to humble yourself, surrender your will, to glorify and honor the Lord by remaining joyful in him at all times.
God will open and close certain doors in our lives and this is out of our control.
But God desires that no matter what happens, we go through it all with him in a spirit of prayerful submission and joy.
Lord, Teach Us to Pray …
Matthew 6:5-13 New American Standard Bible 1995
5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners [a]so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day [b]our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from [c]evil. [d][For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
By the model of prayer that Jesus gives us here, what this prayer teaches us is God isn’t trying to hide his will, or trying to trick us into making a bad decision.
Go away to your “prayer closet,” your “private place” your “war room” where God alone knows exactly what is going on, God alone knows what needs to be.
Pick up your Bible, and in no uncertain terms, fully engage the Word of God!
If we evaluate our decision by scripture, ask for wisdom, and then ask the opinion of others, we are doing what the will of God requires of us, for us.
He promises to guide us through that process.
Often, our prayers can be focused on the chaos of the “street level” of our lives.
We are concerned about health, finances, relationships, and decisions.
Jesus does not deny the chaotic troubles of this world, but by this Lord’s prayer, he invites us all to see the world also from God’s perspective as he teaches us to pray that God’s kingdom will come, and that God’s will may be accomplished.
We don’t need to seek a subjective, mystical, spiritual feeling when it comes to decision making.
Don’t get me wrong; sometimes God gives us peace about a decision, and that’s an authentic blessing when God knows we truly need it above all other things.
But that’s not always the case.
Sometimes we might not feel one way or another about a decision.
In general, feelings are a very bad barometer of the truth.
A feeling of peace can come from God, but it can also come from a lot of other things, like a glass of wine or a good nap.
Plus, what exactly constitutes the “right” feeling when it comes to a decision?
Is it peace? Or maybe joy? Or a sense of rightness?
The Bible doesn’t tell us what we’re supposed to feel about our decisions.
Instead, it tells us how to make biblical, God-honoring decisions.
So, if you have a big decision to make, don’t freak out.
2 Timothy 2:14-15 New American Standard Bible 1995
An Unashamed Workman
14 Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
James 1:19-24 New American Standard Bible 1995
19 [a]This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all [b]that remains of wickedness, in [c]humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. 22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [d]natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, [e]he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
Instead, go to the Word, study it and ask for wisdom, and get others involved.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 20 English Standard Version
Trust in the Name of the Lord Our God
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
20 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
3 May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah
4 May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
5 May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!
6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
8 They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.
9 O Lord, save the king!
May he answer us when we call.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 