God's Will 4 (a long one)

Last time we dealt with depressing side of the issue that God sometimes stops giving direction because you already know what He wants you to do.  Today we get to talk about the uplifting side of this whole debacle.  It can be depressing because all we want is a new word!  "God Just TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!!!!!", but if we look at this another way we will see the truth that this is a loving God creating us for maximum enjoyment and freedom in love.

 

You see I've realized recently that the way I've looked at God's calling and purpose in my life has been all wrong.  I always kind of looked at it like this - Here I am little old me with talents, giftings, faults, struggles, dreams, desires, and life circumstances. One day I God meets me in the road and says, "this is what I have for you to do!" and the 'call of God' drops down on me.  All my stuff that I had before the "call" no longer matters, I have been given a mandate and now this is how I must walk.  My call defines me and the work I have to do gives me a purpose and a drive.  I can live this way.  The call may be hard it may not even be what I really want to do, but I know it is God's and so I do it.  "Carrying the cross", for Jesus, but what happens when God takes that away?  What happens when God comes to me again and says ok you're done with this and takes it up off of you, but never gives you anything else to carry!  Suddenly my purpose is gone, my drive is gone, and my way of life has to change, but to what?  I no longer have that cross to carry.  What the Heck do I do now?  The whole thing just doesn't work.  I may have been miserable before but at least I knew I was doing what I am supposed to be doing!

 

The problem is that this is NOT how God really works!  Let me give you the real story.

Before the foundation of the world God had an idea that was you.  He loved this idea.  The idea was not about what you would do, but who you would be.  The idea was not about what you would accomplish but about the things He could show the world about Himself through you.  The idea was not about the ways He could use you or your effectiveness in His kingdom, but about an eternity of showing you more and more ways to fall in love with Him.  God looked forward to being loved by you, but He never needed you, He just wanted you.  So when the perfect time came, He formed you and sent you into the world to discover Him.  Human beings are made to love in a multiplicity of ways.  We love Him by beholding, we love by changing, we love by responding to love, we love by reflecting love.  So as you walked He guided you into places where you could see His love in new ways and show others His love in specific ways.  He leads you there because only the specific idea that is YOU can show His love in the way He wants it to be shown in that place at that time.  After a time He lead you out of those places , but it's never about the places.  It's always about Him and you.  This walk and this purpose, loving and being loved is the eternal calling.  It is the ultimate purpose, the forms and the tracks it takes are important but they do not alter the purpose.  God gave us life LIVE and because He is a productive person He made you in such a way that only as you are producing fruit in partnership with Him and for His glory are you happy.  Because He is a creative person He made us in such a way that only as you are being creative in partnership with Him are you happy.  He is a relational person a self existent community of Father Son and Holy Spirit so He formed you in such a way that only in community with others that love Him will you be happy.  All of this is for our joy and fulfillment and His Glory and revelation to us of Himself and NONE of it is about rules or a cranky God trying to pile something on top of us that we don't want .

On this road God does lead us through hard and confusing times but even these are His way of showing us love.  The hard and confusing times teach us lessons about ourselves and God that only hard and confusing times can teach us.  They buy us treasures that only this costly a price could buy us.  In the end we will agree with him that what we received is far and above the worth of what we paid.

 

So what does all of this have to do with God's will?  Only this.  God's will is not something imposed upon us.  It is something God grows up THROUGH US.  He doesn't create us one way and lead us another.  He forms us for the walk that He wants us to walk.  If God has put a desire in your heart to do something then He wants you to do it!!!  If God has not put a desire in your heart then, unless He has given you VERY CLEAR direction to do it, you should not be doing it!  So the directive is this:  Get you heart deeply in love with God and then DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO, and act with confidence that this indeed is GOD'S will for your life!

If you are floundering, if you are unsure, if you just don't know what God wants you to do it is probably because He wants you to go after your dreams.  He put them in your heart did He not?  You might say, "follow my dreams HOW?"  Well that is for next time, but I will give you a couple of words to chew on until then.

Courage, Faith, Wisdom, and Diligence.