Knowing God’s will for your life – Thursday, 23 November

“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  14  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”
John 14:13-14 KJV

“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”
John 15:16 KJV

God’s will for us is that we bring glory to Him by being fruitful – fruitfulness, not failure glorifies God and yet there is a lot of bad teaching out there which says that failure is a part of God’s plan for you.  I’ve never found the place in the Gospels where Jesus tells the disciples to ask God for something and then tells them something like, but don’t expect to get what you ask for because my Father might want to teach you something… or, don’t expect to be successful (in life, in ministering to the sick, in casting out demons or in raising the dead) because it might not be God’s will for you. No!  

In an attempt to console ourselves as to why things sometimes do not seem to work out the way that the Word shows us they should we often fall for man-made religious teaching that maybe it wasn’t God’s will. You will only see success in your life when you pray with boldness and have a confident expectation (Mark 11:23-24) to receive (faith), and you will only pray like that if you know what God’s will is. You can know God’s will for you because He reveals it to us in His Word.

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 3 John 1:2 KJV

Part of God’s will for us is that we would prosper, be healthy and have a healthy soul (mind, will and emotions). There are many other scriptures to confirm this – God’s will for you is never lack, sickness or depression. Sadly, many believers embrace things like lack, sickness or depression wrongly believing that they are gifts from God, sent to work some greater glory in their lives.

Not everything in your life is from God. The Bible tells us (James 4:7) to submit to God and to resist the devil. There are things that you should embrace in life and some things which you should resist (actively fight against). What you do not resist, you are submitting to and what you submit to you cannot resist.

How do you know what to resist and what to submit to? When you know God’s will for your life, as revealed to us in the Word, you will know what God’s plan for your life is (what you should submit to), and you will know what the devil is trying to accomplish in your life (what you should resist).

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28 KJV

There is a lot of bad teaching out there that teachings things along the lines of: find God’s purpose in your tragic situation. But God is not the author of your tragic situation and it is not His will at all. Bad teaching like that will only cause you to be passive and accept the will of the enemy for your life. All things can work together for good, but God does not work (or cause) all things. God can certainly work a lot of good in a negative situation and turn it for your good, but He is not the one causing the negative situations in your life.

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10 KJV

This is good simple theology: if it’s good it’s from God if it’s bad it is from the devil. God’s will for you is prosperity, health and a healthy soul. The enemy’s will for you is lack, sickness and an unhealthy soul.