“The will of God will never take you to where the grace of God will not protect you”
I’m reading this book, it’s amazing, every chapter seems to open a new chapter in my heart. Isn’t that awesome when that happens, and each of those chapter is a stepping stone to the next. I have a harder time putting down this book with each page I turn.
One question the book discussed that really has had me thinking lately… and I am not sure if this is the exact wording, but this is what my heart heard…
Do you want to live in the will of God because you want your life to be easy or because you want to be obedient to God?
Now, I don’t know about you, but some days it’s the first, and some days it’s the last part of that. I will tell you, I struggle with obedience. Maybe it’s because I’m self-centered (a-hem) and I’d probably be willing to be that part of you is a little self-centered too (I’m just saying). And in that struggle of obedience, I cause myself a whole lot of turmoil.
I’m reading this book, it’s amazing, every chapter seems to open a new chapter in my heart. Isn’t that awesome when that happens, and each of those chapter is a stepping stone to the next. I have a harder time putting down this book with each page I turn.
One question the book discussed that really has had me thinking lately… and I am not sure if this is the exact wording, but this is what my heart heard…
Do you want to live in the will of God because you want your life to be easy or because you want to be obedient to God?
Now, I don’t know about you, but some days it’s the first, and some days it’s the last part of that. I will tell you, I struggle with obedience. Maybe it’s because I’m self-centered (a-hem) and I’d probably be willing to be that part of you is a little self-centered too (I’m just saying). And in that struggle of obedience, I cause myself a whole lot of turmoil.
but I’m getting there.
About two weeks ago, we were stuffing programs for church, normal Sunday thing. As a team, we decided to do it one way (which by the way, wasn’t wrong), then our Pastor came up and said he wanted it another way (which wasn't wrong either). That meant more work for us. My first thought “he’ll never know if we don’t restuff and he probably wouldn’t remember that he told us”. Hey, I’m being honest here, judge me if you must. I know no one wanted to restuff. A voice inside me said “be obedient, he’s your pastor, he’s the leader of your church”. Ugh! And so I said it outloud “he’s our leader, we must be obedient”. And maybe you think this is not a big deal (stuffing programs), and really it isn’t, HOWEVER, the being obedient part, is. Baby steps.
I don’t like being obedient. I like to do things my way, God gave me a brain, I like to use it. But that is not ok if you’re going against “authority”. The scripture is clear.
Romans 13:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
And how many times have I prayed “if it be Your will” to God. Ok, I’ll be honest again here. When I pray that, I’m usually praying for something (healing, some issue), I am really just hoping that it be God’s will. Wouldn’t it be better to just say “God, I want this” because really, He hears our hearts, no matter what our mouths say.
So I’m still working on answering that question. And I'm sure I'll be exploring this again.
Do you want to live in the will of God because you want your life to be easy or because you want to be obedient to God?
You can answer this here or on your own blog, or maybe just in your heart.
And I just think about how everyday I must die to myself in order to live for God. To live in His will because really, I do want to be obedient.Matthew 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
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