HIS WILL, NOT MINE

You know how I know when God is trying to teach me something? When I hear the same thing over and over.

I consider myself strong in my faith, but that doesn’t make me perfect. On January 1, 2013 I decided to radically change my pursuit of God. Of course I’m still nowhere near where I want to be, but I am encouraged by God’s pursuit of me at the same time. I am learning how deeply God is in love with me, with us. 

I’ll admit I am a bit of a sucker for romantic love scenes, both in movies and real life. I once watched a movie where the a groom performed a song he wrote for his bride during their wedding ceremony which chronicled how he fell in love with her, from the first time he saw her. He was in awe of her from the day he first saw her. It was a beautiful picture, but then I think of God feeling the same about me… Only even more extreme!

“THE KING IS ENTHRALLED WITH YOUR BEAUTY; HONOR HIM FOR HE IS YOUR LORD.” Psalm 45:11

Did you catch that? He’s enthralled with you, with me. So madly in love with us. More than we can imagine with our human minds. You can’t fathom it. You just can’t. He loves you and finds you worth more than you can even begin to understand and especially more than you can compare to some human love story.

So,that’s one of the things God has been teaching me, but there are numerous other verses that keep coming up in my daily life. To me, that means God wants me to know them, to take them to heart, and to obey them.

 They include:

“THE LORD WILL FIGHT FOR YOU, YOU ONLY NEED TO BE STILL.” Exodus 14:14

“BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD.” Psalm 46:10

“WHATEVER YOU DO, WHETHER IN WORD OR DEED, DO EVERYTHING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, GIVING THANKS TO GOD THE FATHER THROUGH HIM.” Colossians 3:17

God is also reminding me that if there is something I am wanting, I need to check my motives. Do I want to be married for myself or for the glory of God? Do I want to have a high paying job so I can buy more things, or do I want a high paying job to somehow give God glory through the extra income? Seriously, I am reminded to examine my motives. When I finally am able to pray for God’s will in those circumstances, then should I pray for them at all. Until then, I am praying God give me a heart to do His will. I should be praying and asking for His will in my life daily (James 4:15).

 I am really good at planning. The funny thing is that most everything I plan never comes to pass–my plans are always interrupted.   This is simply helping me learn how to submit and simply ask the Lord for his will to be done. I am being prayerful EVERY STEP of the way, asking for the Lord’s wisdom, listening and asking for Godly advice from my friends.  Everything isn't clear and yes, I’m still making lists, but really those lists mean nothing.  I trust the Lord to guide me and to surround me with godly people who will help me make good decisions. So in the last months God has taught me:  His will, not mine; the joy of submitting to his will.  He has taught me so much, but I have so much more to learn.

Two other things have been made clear this past month:

1. I need to be still in the situations of my life – right now God has me where He is getting most glory. I believe that because despite my itch to move out of various circumstances He keeps telling me to be still. Stillness is not strength of mine.

2. God thinks I’m dang beautiful.