EQUIPPED FOR GOD’S PERFECT WILL

Make you complete in every good work TO DO HIS WILL, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen – Hebrews 13:21

One glorious truth of the Bible, which is also proved in the experience of God’s people over the ages, is that God has a Will for the life of each of His children. The Psalmist often prayed to know God’s will in order that he might please Him. So did the New Testament saints (Col. 1:9; 4:12). Their heart-cry was for grace to know and to do God’s Will: “Teach me to do Your Will” (Psa.134:10a). This was supreme in the heart of the Lord Himself: “Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the Book it is written of me. I delight to DO Your Will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart” (Psa.40:7-8); “Jesus said to them, My food is to DO the WILL of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (Jh.4:34).

God has a Plan for your life, but there is an equipping for His Will. Before we became born-again, we were not really interested in His will. We were only interested in our own will and in going our own way: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way…” (Isa.53:6a). But when God in His mercy stepped into our lives, we found ourselves praying like David – “Teach me to do your will”! As we read in the story of Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul, one of the marks of a truly born again person is the desire to know and to do God’s will (Acts 9:6). Moreover, God is ready and far more willing to reveal His Will to His children and to guide us than we are to be guided, for He wants the very best for us.

Although God has His highest and greatest purpose for us, He may sometimes permit that which He does not desire or command. When we make our own plans and insist on our own choices, He may allow us to do this and even grant us some measure of blessing. Yet, this supposedly “permissive will” is fraught with dangers: “And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul” (Psa.106:15). There is nothing comparable to knowing and doing God’s perfect will. Three basic requirements for knowing and doing God’s Perfect Will are: a teachable attitude or childlike spirit; an intense desire and longing to know; and a willingness to do His Will, whatever it involves – whether it is easy or hard, pleasing or painful.

Three ways by which the Lord equips us to do His Will are: by the teaching of His Word (Psa.119:105); by the promptings of His Spirit (Rom.8:14); and by the intervening of His providence – His open or closed doors. The Great Shepherd is willing and able to “equip you with everything good for DOING His Will...” (Heb.13:21a). Let’s recall our Key Verse for the month: “Teach me TO DO YOUR WILL, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness” (Psa.143:10). In the last twenty-one days, we’ve learnt sufficiently enough of God’s Will to be led in the land of Uprightness.