Principles to Live By: The Will of God, Pt. 3

Knowing and enjoying the will of God in your life is living life in the sweet spot.

Principles to Live By: The Will of God, Pt. 3

"Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness."

(Psalm 143:10)

This week, we are studying a wonderful topic: the will of God for your life. God loves you, and He wants you to know His will. He wants to reveal it to you so you will live your best life, a life serving God and being blessed by God so you can be a blessing to others. Knowing and enjoying the will of God in your life is living life in the sweet spot.

Dr. Stanley's primary biblical text for his message on the will of God was Luke 5:1-11. This passage describes the day Jesus got in Peter's fishing boat on the lake so He could teach the many people who came to hear Him. After teaching, He told Peter to launch out and cast his net in the deep. At first, Peter thought Jesus' command was unreasonable because they had fished all night and caught nothing. But in verse 5, Peter very wisely said, "Nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net." They caught a big ol' mess of fish, two boatloads to be exact! Peter knelt before Jesus and confessed that he was a sinful man. Jesus said to Peter in verse 10, "Do not be afraid. From now on, you will catch men." The story ends in verse 11 with this wonderful call of Jesus to Peter, James, and John, and their surrender to Jesus' will for their lives: "So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him."

I love this story. Before I get into more of Stanley's message, I want to share with you this thought I had while reading this story in Luke's Gospel: I believe Peter, James, and John heard Jesus teach, and within the message that day, I think there was a call for people to repent and follow Him, for that is what we see Peter doing after he witnessed the miracle Jesus performed with the catch of fish. At first, they "overheard" the message, and then they heard it again and surrendered to Christ. I saw this same thing happen recently when God saved two volunteers at our annual VBS (Vacation Bible School). Many children accepted Christ, and so did these two teenagers who came to help and serve. They heard the message as well, and it changed their lives! God is so good! We should call on people to repent and believe in Christ for salvation and pray and ask God to reveal Himself to them in miraculous ways. This is what is happening all over the world, especially with Muslims coming to faith in Christ. They hear about Christ and then have visions of Him, or they have visions of Him first and then someone tells them about Jesus. God is awesome and is still in the miracle business, especially in the miracle of salvation.

I agree with Stanley when he said that one cannot only obey God when it is reasonable. It seemed unreasonable for Peter to do what Jesus said. He thought it was futile to go fishing after a most unsuccessful fishing expedition the night before. I love the word "nevertheless". Peter said, "Nevertheless, I will do as You asked." How about you? Will you obey God's will for your life, what He is calling you to do, even if at first it appears unreasonable?