Choose Love (25 page)

We Show Love for God by Longing to Be in His Perfect Will

Life is short. Forever is a long time. That’s why we must desire nothing beyond God’s will for us. And we should settle for nothing less either.

God is a God who can be known.

That means His
will
can be known as well.

Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (John 4:34). Like Jesus, we must long for God’s will to be done in our lives just as we long for food. Our love for God is shown by our
desire
to live in His will, and knowing that doing His will is more satisfying than anything else.

We show love for God by looking to Him for direction and not presuming we know what His will is concerning the certain specifics of our lives. We all know from His Word that He doesn’t want us to lie, steal, or commit murder. This is true for everyone. But does He want us to quit our job and move to Tennessee? He might want
you
to do that, but that may not be God’s will for everyone else. You must know His will about that for you.

When you need to know the will of God about your life specifically, the only way to understand it is to pray, pray, pray. And then pray with other people whose walk with God is deep and true, who love God more than all else.

When we do not live in God’s will, or we have stepped outside of it, it’s not so much that God slaps us down as punishment but that we have forfeited the blessings that were ours if we were
in
God’s will. Living outside the boundaries of God’s will by not living in a way that pleases Him exposes us to the very consequences we want to avoid.

That’s why we must draw near to God and seek to know His will every day. We must search His Word for it and we must pray for it.

Too often people wait to seek God’s will until something terrible happens—such as a tragedy or calamity. Or it may take a severe difficulty to wake us up to the fact that we have slidden away from God’s
perfect will, where we once were. We have let our heart toward God become weak, insipid, timid, toxic, variable, or indifferent. But because He is merciful and loves us, the moment we turn back from our wayward slipping away and seek Him with a truly repentant and humble heart, He forgives us and receives us back under the protective umbrella of His perfect will.

We can’t presume to know God’s will in all things without asking Him.

Presumption is having an attitude toward something that is not accurate. It is failing to listen for a word from God because you think you already know what His direction will be, but it’s not correct. Presumption leads us to have false confidence because we believe something to be true that doesn’t really exist. We have confidence that a certain thing is God’s will when it really isn’t.

When Jerusalem fell to its enemy, many of the Israelites were carried away captive. Those who were left asked Jeremiah to pray that they would have clear direction as to whether they should go to Egypt or stay where they were.

Jeremiah said, “I will pray to the L
ORD
your God according to your words, and it shall be, that whatever the L
ORD
answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you” (Jeremiah 42:4).

But even though Jeremiah had favor with God, it still took ten days to receive the answer from Him, which was that they were to stay in Jerusalem.

However, the Israelites had already made up their minds that they were going to Egypt no matter what. They either presumed to know God’s will or they didn’t care what His will was for them. Either way, it was a horrible choice.

Because they did not wait on God for
His
direction, the people were destroyed. It is said of Jerusalem that “
she did not consider her destiny
; therefore her collapse was awesome; she had no comforter” (Lamentations 1:9).

These people didn’t consider their destiny because they didn’t care about what God wanted. They wanted what
they
wanted instead. And they wanted it right then. Waiting on God for the answer was not in their mind at that point.

Far too many of us have done things of which it can be said that we did not consider our destiny when we did them. How many times in your life have you done something without truly thinking through the consequences? Not many if you relied on God’s wisdom and leading, and you sought the knowledge of His perfect will. But I’m talking about
before
that. Before you knew to value God’s Word and His wisdom and His will. How many do-overs would you like to have if you had a time machine? I can think of so many things in my life that it’s scary. Thank God for His mercy that causes us to rise above our mistakes and lack of judgment. Thank God that He can make things right, healed, or restored. Where would we be without His redemption and restoration?

The way to have a life without those kinds of regrets is to live in His will and refuse to live any other way. When you’ve had a big gulp of what it’s like to
not
be in God’s will, and the taste is so bitter that you want to do anything to avoid having to drink from that cup ever again, then you will do whatever it takes to never be outside God’s will—even for a moment.

We Show Love for God by Making the Right Choices

While it’s true you can read God’s Word to find out what His will is concerning most of your life, there are choices you must make, and you need to hear from God specifically regarding them. We cannot assume we know His will without hearing from Him and getting His peace about it. We can’t assume God will do things a certain way because that’s what He did in the past. We can’t try to force God into a box of our design. We cannot presume to know what He is saying without asking Him what His will is in that particular situation.

God wants us to walk with Him, keep our eyes on Him, listen for His voice leading us, and seek to know His will every moment. He doesn’t want us running off on our own, thinking we have Him all figured out and we know as much as He does, so we don’t need to check with Him anymore. And He definitely doesn’t want us doing what the Israelites did—deciding to do what
we
want to do regardless of what
God
wants.

Not considering our destiny has disastrous consequences.

We must have a heart that truly listens for God to speak His will to us. And we cannot have selective hearing—only hearing as much as we want to hear and when we are ready to hear it.

Not listening to God will always cost us, and the price will always be too high
.

Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven,
not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me
” (John 6:38). Even Jesus sought God in order to do His heavenly Father’s will.

We show love for God by longing for His will. But that means being completely honest with Him. If we come to Him with less than perfect motives, we will wonder why He doesn’t answer our prayers.

Some people believe if you say anything negative about yourself it is a sign of unbelief. Therefore you cannot say “I’m sick,” or “I’m afraid,” or “I’m sad.” To do so would be giving in to it—even to speak of it in prayer. But I say if you don’t speak the truth in prayer, you don’t really give God a chance to answer. Then it is
you
doing it. The psalmist said, “I believed, therefore I spoke, ‘I am greatly afflicted’ ” (Psalm 116:10). Because he believed in God, he spoke the truth about himself and his affliction.

It’s best to pray, “Lord, this is what is happening to me, and this is what I want to see happen in this situation, but more than that, I want what
You
want.”

I have known friends who died from their ailments who would not even ask people to pray for them because they would have to
confess they were sick. God’s healing is an act of His mercy upon us. It’s not something we
make happen
because of our great faith.
God
decides whom He heals and when it’s our time to die. We have to let God be God and not try to make things happen without His power.

God’s will is not all about us. He has things He wants to do in this world, and He wants to use each of us as His instruments to do them. He doesn’t need us. He can do what He does by Himself, but He chooses to
partner with us
to do His will on earth. We cannot fulfill our calling if we are not first of all seeking His will for our life.

You have to be honest when you seek to know God’s will about a specific thing that’s personal to you. Tell Him how you feel about it, but let Him know you want what
He
wants more than anything else. When you seek His will for every part of your life, you will be amazed at what doors open up for you to do His will for others.

We Show Love for God by Longing for His Presence

We must develop a passion for the presence of God. We do that by growing into a passion for Jesus, a passion for His Spirit in us, a passion to serve and please Him, and a passion for the Word of God.

Once you sense God’s presence in your life, you will long for it every day. You will always desire to live in that peaceful place. When you long for His presence more than anything else, you won’t want to go back to living any other way. Anything less is no longer acceptable. You will be hopelessly addicted to His presence, and hopefully you will never recover from it.

Moses warned the Israelites not to go into the Promised Land, which the Lord had promised to them, because it was too late. They had already failed to trust God when He asked them to go in earlier. They had their chance and they totally blew it. But now they were
presuming
this was what God still wanted them to do without checking with Him first.

Moses said, “Why do you transgress the command of the L
ORD
? For this will not succeed” (Numbers 14:41). He warned them that
they would be defeated by their enemies
because the Lord was no longer with them
(Numbers 14:42).

The Israelites had lost God’s presence with them because of their lack of faith and their disobedience. Can there be anything sadder in our lives than to lose the presence of God once we have it?

Moses said, “You shall fall by the sword; because you have turned away from the L
ORD
,
the Lord will not be with you
” (Numbers 14:43). But they ignored what Moses said and did what they wanted to do. As a result, their enemies attacked them and drove them away.

We lose the closeness of God’s presence when we don’t seek Him above all else, and we violate His ways by living outside of His will. But when we submit our spirit to Him and welcome a fresh sense of His Spirit in us every day, and seek His guidance in all things,
He empowers us to do the right thing.

God does not promise us a continual rose garden, nor does He say our lives will always be a living hell. He says we will have trials, but we can find joy and peace in the midst of them as we seek His presence in the situation we are in.

There is a movement out in Christendom among reactionaries to the prosperity gospel. The supporters of the prosperity gospel believe a person can claim anything they want and God will give it to them. The reactionaries to that belief system have gone to the other extreme and claim there is a misery and suffering gospel, as if that is all we can ever hope for on earth. It has become heresy to them that anyone could ever find happiness or joy this side of heaven. I don’t believe in either of these extremes, and neither should you. I don’t see the case for either side in the Bible. God gives happiness
and
also allows suffering for His purposes. And to claim we will never experience one or the other is wrong. It’s like putting God in a box and dictating to Him what He can or cannot do.

God is not like a genie who, when you snap your spiritual fingers in prayer, will appear and make everything right. He is not Santa Claus, nor is He a dictator. He is the God of love, peace, and joy
who wants us to put our trust in Him. God wants us to seek Him intensely, long for Him deeply, pour out our love for Him in praise and worship lavishly, devour His Word like food for our soul, and stop trying to control what He does in our lives. It’s the least we can do considering all He has done for us.

Living in God’s Presence Brings You into Your Destiny

Jesus instructed us to first seek God’s kingdom, and then we will have everything we need (Matthew 6:33). In other words, seek God in prayer and in His Word and refuse to worry about the future. That doesn’t mean don’t think about
planning
for the future, or
working
for the future; it means we do what God asks and
trust Him
for the future.

Seeking God first will always put us in the correct position and aim us in the right direction to move into the future God has for us
.

God says the future He has for us is good.

Making God a priority by letting Him know every day how much you need Him, and that you are keeping your eyes on Him, and you are walking with Him through every step of your life will keep you on the path that leads to the future He has for you.

You must decide to trust Him and “be anxious for nothing, but
in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). The promise here is that when you release the situation you are concerned about into God’s hands in prayer, then “
the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding
, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). What a wonderful promise to us. We get peace in exchange for praying and trusting God.