Knowing God's Will

Last weekend our church teamed up to provide free furniture and household goods for international students at the University of Iowa. As I rode in the back seat of a pickup with Brother John, we  talked about what we've been learning lately. When I told him I've been thinking about God's will as singular, finished, and complete from eternity past to eternity future instead of a progression of events or series of circumstances, he said something like this:

"You know, I've given that some thought.... Our Savior prayed, 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,' and on the night He was betrayed He prayed for God's will to be done, not His. That's God's will--that what it comes down to, God's will, not ours. It's what Jesus did. He emptied Himself--the kenosis--that Paul talks about in Philippians 2. John the Baptist said the same thing, 'I must decrease, He must increase.' And we're vessels, earthen pots in 2 Corinthians 4. Now if we were really empty of ourselves and what we want, and full of what He wants and who He is, that would really be somethin'....Then we'd know God's will, wouldn't we?"

All that in about 2 blocks' time. And I'm still thinking about it. Maybe you will, too.

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread,
¹² and forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:9-13 ESV)

 

And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. ³⁶ And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”  (Mark 13:35-36)

 

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:5-7)

 

‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ ²⁹ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:28-30)

 

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Corinthians 4:6-7)