Greetings,
When Jesus was teaching His disciples how to pray, He indicated that after giving honor to the Father and expressing a desire for His kingdom to come, that a high priority was to seek the Father’s will. We are to desire His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Christ went on to say that doing the will of His Father was a requirement for entering the kingdom of heaven. Doing the will of His Father was very important to Christ. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me … and this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life …” John 6:38, 39. Given such emphasis on God’s will, how can we proceed to know what that will is?
The apostle Paul understood the need for a transformation of the mind in the process of knowing what is, “… that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” Romans 12:2. He wrote to the Philippians that, “… it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” Philippians 2:13. The Holy Spirit will convey the will of God to our minds – to minds that have been prepared to receive such knowledge.
King David’s attitude is instructive. “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. David connects the need for God’s Spirit with a learning process of coming to know God’s will. He also combines these two elements with a vital third element – God’s law. “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart” Psalm 40:8.
As we submit to and obey God’s law, the Holy Spirit puts that law into our minds and writes it upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). It is this process that Paul refers to when he wrote to the Colossians, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it (their spiritual growth), do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” Colossians 1:9-10.
This Sabbath is a very opportune time for all of us to be seriously considering the need to know God’s will – for our individual as well as our collective lives.
Services this Sabbath will originate from Denver with the sermon patched in from Chattanooga.
Warm Regards,
Brian Orchard
