I’m not going to look at any specific Bible passage this week, but rather one phrase, “Thy will be done.” What does that really mean? It’s rather simple, we say Thy will be done asking God to provide for us the way that He wants to and not the way we want to. So then why so often do we pray for this or for that? Or going one step further why do we pray all these things and at the very end, before we say Amen, we say Lord if it is your will let these things be done? Do we really mean it when we say, Lord if it is your will? Or are we just saying that to please God? I have really been struggling recently, trying to get things squared away for Germany, and I haven’t been lifting well or running well, and have even been struggling at work and within my social life. I find more and more that I am asking God to show me a path and that I just want His will to be done, but what really is His will?
Well let’s look at it in the most common context, the Lord’s Prayer.
1 Tim. 2:4 says “[God] wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” That sounds rather simple, right? God wants all men to be saved. We believe and therefore are saved as long as we continue to believe.
Deuteronomy 4:2 says “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.” This is where it becomes more difficult for me. Do not add or subtract from the Lord’s commands. I so often ask God when I pray to help me with a test, to help me lift better, to help work go more smoothly, to help me work less, to relieve some of my stress, and on and on it goes. Every aspect of my life I feel like I could better, but that isn’t what God’s will is. I am slowly but surely not going through the actions anymore but am rather looking more in depth at what I am saying and doing: especially when I pray. I find that I am still asking for things, but am really doing my best to say, “Lord it’s not my will that I want done, but it is your will that I want done.” After looking at these couple of verses, I realize that my life on earth really isn’t about me, but rather it is about Him. Without Him, His will cannot be done. If He is not here, how can we believe and come to a knowledge of the truth? It’s simple, we can’t! Our life can be as smooth or as rocky as God wants it to be, but what really matters, is that we love the Lord with all our heart, and soul and strength.
So again, I found I had another problem. If all we have to do is love and follow God, how come we have these rocky paths in our lives? How come things can be so difficult that we want to change our lives completely? So here are a couple of verses that I found that helped a little with this.
Romans 8:28 “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”- Just think all we have to do is love God. Sure the path may seem rocky at times but it’s just a small portion of your life. If you compare all the good and bad times in your life, the good will always outweigh the bad, as long as you love God. It may not feel like the good outweigh the bad, but they really do.
Psalms 119:35 “Direct me in the path of Your commands, for there I find delight.”- Yet another thing that I look at. I find that when times are bad, I am not trusting God completely. It is the easiest and yet the hardest thing to do. Trust someone that is. Most of the time it takes a while to find someone whom you trust, even if it is a good friend that you see all the time, but we have to trust someone who we never see. Trust is such an easy thing. God says if we believe in Him, we will be saved. That is all the motivation we could ever need, and yet we still don’t put complete faith in Him. Next time you are having a hard time or are on that rocky road, look and see how much faith you are putting in your Father. Eventually, you will put all your trust in Him, and you will come out of your valley, and have yet another prosperous time in your life.
One final verse I leave you with. It is from the book of Psalms chapter 23 the fourth verse. Most of you probably know it, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Even though we have all these ups and downs in our lives, we have nothing to fear, because the Lord is with us. So put your trust in Him. When you feel down, He lifts you up. When you feel great thank Him. Everything we do here on earth is for the Lord, so that we can live eternally with Him forever.
I pray that each and every one of you trusts the Lord all the time, and realize that no matter what path you are on it is all for Him. No matter how rocky or smooth it is, everything we do is for Him. God blesses us with so many things, things that we entirely too often overlook. I want to leave you with 2 questions: When is the last time you thanked God for the simple things in your life? And is it your will you want, or is it His will?
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Hope
I would like to extend my apologies before hand. This particular post does not come from any particular section of the Bible. Rather it is just a few things that I feel like the Spirit is asking me to share with whoever it may be that reads this.
As can be seen, it has been a while since Dan and I have posted. We hope to get back to a weekly basis here shortly. One of the reasons for the delay has simply been life itself. I can't speak for Dan, but I know that I personally have been having a few problems, and have had a lot on my plate recently. That, and it just seems like there are a lot of people right now that are going through some struggles, myself included.
For all of these people, here is the message we all need to hear. There is hope. This hope was born to us in a manger in Bethlehem around 2000 years ago. This hope lived a perfect live for us completely fulfilling the law and undergoing every temptation that we have to face. That hope was crucified and killed for each and everyone of us. That hope was then raised from the dead on the third day by God the Father Almighty, so that we too may one day rise with him and live with him for all eternity! That hope was Jesus the Christ of God!
It is true, many among us suffer. Many of us at times seem to have no hope at all. At times it seems that we are losing our faith or that our life is going down the drain. Romans 5 tells us that "we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Jesus promises to take our burdens from us if we would only just caste it upon him, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light. He calls us to come to him all who are weary and burdened. (Matt. 11:30).
For all of us out there with any sort of pain, or trouble, or hardship, we need to lay it at the foot of the cross. We must preach Christ crucified to our fellow brothers and sisters who are suffering in this world. Christ died for our sins on that cross so many years. He took the fears, sorrows, sins, and weight of all the world with him onto that cross. Each and every one of yours. In this we can truly take comfort, and in this we can truly have hope, even when life itself seems hopeless.
As can be seen, it has been a while since Dan and I have posted. We hope to get back to a weekly basis here shortly. One of the reasons for the delay has simply been life itself. I can't speak for Dan, but I know that I personally have been having a few problems, and have had a lot on my plate recently. That, and it just seems like there are a lot of people right now that are going through some struggles, myself included.
For all of these people, here is the message we all need to hear. There is hope. This hope was born to us in a manger in Bethlehem around 2000 years ago. This hope lived a perfect live for us completely fulfilling the law and undergoing every temptation that we have to face. That hope was crucified and killed for each and everyone of us. That hope was then raised from the dead on the third day by God the Father Almighty, so that we too may one day rise with him and live with him for all eternity! That hope was Jesus the Christ of God!
It is true, many among us suffer. Many of us at times seem to have no hope at all. At times it seems that we are losing our faith or that our life is going down the drain. Romans 5 tells us that "we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Jesus promises to take our burdens from us if we would only just caste it upon him, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light. He calls us to come to him all who are weary and burdened. (Matt. 11:30).
For all of us out there with any sort of pain, or trouble, or hardship, we need to lay it at the foot of the cross. We must preach Christ crucified to our fellow brothers and sisters who are suffering in this world. Christ died for our sins on that cross so many years. He took the fears, sorrows, sins, and weight of all the world with him onto that cross. Each and every one of yours. In this we can truly take comfort, and in this we can truly have hope, even when life itself seems hopeless.
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