Live 4 God’s Will

“Live 4 God’s Will”

I got inspired by our church meeting last Sunday. Our topic was “The Secret of Victorious Living” and I found it very true and relevant. I figured this would be a good way to spread God’s word to others; with technology nowadays, the internet would be a good medium, I supposed. I take notes and make something like a reading outline. I wanted to share it with you and I decided to give some of my thoughts and what the Holy Spirit brings me to write. I will not claim that all I say is right. Please, if you find anything wrong or not in accordance with His Word, do correct me. I’m not a Bible scholar; I am far from being an expert on Christianity, I merely share my thoughts and experiences and testimonies of His love.

But wait. Before I start, there might be some of you who’d ask, “Who is God?” “Who is Jesus?” “What is the Gospel?” or something along those lines. Please, click on this link here (which is from another site but I felt it to sum up the important stuff) >>> http://www.jesus2020.com/?gclid=CNiyg6Cz1K4CFalV4godtSESbQ ; hope it helps! If that doesn’t answer your questions and you want to know more, don’t hesitate to ask me! I don’t bite. I will answer you with the wisdom I’ve been given by the Holy Spirit and for those questions I don’t have the answer yet, let’s learn together! Here goes…

When we go to a store and see something we like, we buy it. We pay a certain amount of money and that object is considered sold and is ours. In the same way God bought us. How? When Jesus who was flawless and who committed no sin died on the cross for our sins. The price God chose to pay was His one and only begotten Son’s blood just so we could have eternal life so long as we believed in Jesus Christ. We were bought at the highest price. Therefore, we are not our own and we are called to obey God’s will.

So how exactly do we obey God’s will? Well, God’s so great and all-knowing that He has all the answers to our questions in the Bible! He speaks to us through His word and in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 16-18 He tells us: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (NIV) And to add to that, the 25th verse of Hebrews chapter 5, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of  doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”(NIV) God has it all spelled out for us already; we just need to learn to listen to His Word.

“Be joyful always.” Not only during the good times when everything’s going great for us but even in the times of loss and sadness. When we rejoice with Him as He wills us to, He will help us overcome the natural feeling of sadness. In God is the eternal happiness we all search for. God is always with us. God is our joy. It’s like math: a=b, b=c, therefore c=a. Always, all the time, we should be joyful. We should rejoice for God is with us! Material things, positions, achievements only give us a temporary happiness. Our true joy and happiness can only be found in the Lord, not in worldly things like material, fame, money, power, or position.

“Pray continually.” Some perceive prayer as something one does before going to bed or getting up in the morning or at church. While all are true, prayer isn’t limited during “set times” only; meaning, whatever hour of whatever day in whatever place, we can all pray and have fellowship with our Lord. Prayer is just like talking, communing with God. We can talk to our friends any time of the day it permits, right? It’s the same with God. I like to picture Him as somebody who’s just always on call, like He’s just always there waiting to provide for me, guide me, and for me to start communing with Him. The purpose God called us to Him is because He wants to have a love relationship with us, as Henry Blackaby often notes in His book “Experiencing God.” Prayer doesn’t have to be formal or recited either. Prayer should be natural like the way we’d talk to people. We don’t need to talk aloud. We can commune with Him in our hearts as we ride the bus or even while we take exams! With prayer, we become closer to God and through prayer we can more easily resist temptations because we are constantly reminded of His presence in our lives.

“Give thanks in all circumstances.” There are people who praise God when their prayers are answered or when they get what they want. But when things don’t go their way, they get frustrated, sad, or angry even that they forget it’s just God telling them “no” because He has something better in store or “wait” because now’s not yet the time. We should remember that way before we were even born, He knew of us and has already made this plan for us. Let us learn to trust that He is all-knowing and that He knows what’s best for us; even if things get confusing, just have faith that He is never wrong. In life, we will meet unfavorable situations and circumstances but let us remember that He loves us and He’s probably just letting us go through those experiences so that we can learn and become better. He won’t give us anything we can’t handle and most definitely, He won’t let us face anything alone.

“Let us not give up meeting together…but let us encourage one another.” We are being called to live a church life. That doesn’t mean that we stay in church twenty-four hours a day kneeling and praying. No. It means that as we do our daily tasks, as we live our lives, we reflect Christ who lives in us. We pray not only for ourselves and our own motives but also for others; our church members, friends, family, everyone. As often as we can, we help each other out and provide encouragement. For me, church is the place where I am recharged after a week of battling temptations that sometimes drain me. My friends at church accompany me through my spiritual journey and they provide support. It’s like those “support groups,” if you know what I mean, only all our teachings are from the Word and our focus is on God. They also help remind me when I sometimes stray away from the path. It’s nice to have people who can understand you because truly speaking, when we are out there in the world exposed to all those temptations, we might get off track sometimes and getting back on is easier with the support of people who experience the same things as we do.

Let’s keep our focus on God; not on what others think or say, not on ourselves, not on what we want, but on what God’s will is.