What Is God’s Will For Me?

What is God’s will for me?

A question that many believers ask at some time. Along with;

Why am I here? What is my calling? What should I do with my life?

Life is full of so many choices. Crossroads appear at ever turn. Schools, activities, friends, choices, choices, choices. What if we make the wrong choice? Go to the wrong school? Pick the wrong career? Move to the wrong town? Marry the wrong person? Oh My!!!!! I can be overwhelming! But does following God’s will really need to be so difficult? Do the choices really matter?

Break it down

Looking into The Word of God we see that God tells us what He desires for and from us.

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What this tells us that God loves us and sent His Son (Jesus) to us so that by believing in Him we can have everlasting life.  This means it is God’s will that we believe in Jesus and have everlasting life.

Likewise, 1 Timothy chapter Two, tells us that living “a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior”

And

“Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth”

So I believe it can be said that God’s will for everyone is to be saved and live a quiet and peaceful life.

Ok, but what about all the choices that we face? What is God’s will for those decisions? Does he care about those choices we make and if so can we make wrong choices? I would say both yes and no in that if salvation is God’s will for everyone, then as long as these other choices do not distract or conflict with that prime directive then His Grace is sufficient.

Some believe that there is one perfect almost predestined plan that God has for our lives and that we should seek that out earnestly. Prayerfully seeking God’s direction before making any important decision is always a good thing to do but being anxious about a decision or regretful about a past decision because one believes they are outside the will of God is defeating.  Certainly, God wishes us to do well, be happy, live long and use our gifts to glorify Him.

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth  3 John:1-2

God saw that it was not good for man (Adam) to be alone. God made Eve as a companion for Adam and it is safe to say that He wishes that single people find someone to be a companion to. He cares about our happiness but cautions about being unequally yoked (paired with someone that is not of the same faith). Some say that this scripture verse relates to marriage and business/career relations but we are in the world even though we are not of the world and as such we should shine a light especially on unbelieving co-workers and the world in general.

Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of your heart. Ps. 37:4

Prosperity, health and happiness and our eternal salvation of our souls are a concern to God and the reason He sent Jesus to make a way for us all but that’s not all.

He wants us to tell others the good news! The Gospel of Jesus is The Good News!! Death has been defeated and the grave is not the end. We will all pass from this life to the next but our final destination is not a fateful unknown. We can choose our destination and as previously pointed out – John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What this tells us that God loves us and sent His Son (Jesus) to us so that by believing in Him we can have everlasting life.  This means it is God’s will that we believe in Jesus and have everlasting life.

But if we must believe in order to have everlasting life then how can anyone believe that does not hear? This is why Jesus commands us to go, and share the Gospel. Matthew 28:19

In summation –

God’s will for your life doesn’t concern itself with where you live, what car you drive, what school you attended, what career you follow or any of the temporary superficial things we as a society worry and tweet about.

God’s will for your life (everyone’s life) is that you believe in Jesus and receive everlasting life as a result of that belief. Additionally, having received this gift of God, share the Love of God and the Good news of Jesus Christ to a world full of people who will live an eternity in agony if they don’t.

If you surrender to His will all those other things will fall into place or be revealed as useless vanity and be forgotten.

Be blessed A&B

An Angel Went Home……..

An angel went home and will be missed.
A teenaged family member went home to the Lord and we are left behind to deal. She was a bright light that shown even when the darkness of cancer loomed. Those of us who are of the faith have held our hearts and hopes in what we believe – difficult as that was. The thought of a young vibrant loved one being struck with cancer is an arrow to the heart of ones faith in God.
Some reactions were to stand in faith. Trusting and believing that God would heal her and that the devil is the father of this lie. To others such faith was viewed as denial.
Some may have seen the diagnosis as a the inevitable death sentence that it came to be and just felt sad.

Whether a believer or a skeptic. Filled with faith or denial. Trusting in an Almighty God or the almighty doctors.
Such a situation raises more questions then it answers.

Why would a loving God allow such things to happen? With all our technological/scientific advances why cant we conquer this and many other diseases? Is there an afterlife? How can we be sure of what happens when we die? Along with many more I am sure.

The Bible is chock-filled with unbelievable suffering. The children of Israel have been persecuted and enslaved and driven from their homeland to the far corners of the world and they have been called (and truly still are) the chosen ones by God. Granted, there have been times when the sufferings they felt were a result of disobedience against God. But there are a few examples of suffering befalling seemingly innocent people.

Job comes to mind. The man that God Himself defended to the Devil saying Job was a righteous and upright man, felt the weight of incredible loss. His wealth, his children, his own physical wellbeing all taken from him in a few days time. Even his wife encouraged him to denounce God and give up his faith. His friends accused him of deserving this bad fortune because he had a secret sin that caused God to allow it.

Ironically, scholars still argue the case of jobs sufferings so I am not going to take a shot at the “why” but rather focus on the “what”. Job suffered unanswerable events suddenly and never gave up his faith in God.
This is the example we have.

Fast forward to the days that our Lord walked this earth and lets look at what He taught us.
He taught us that this life is not the end all. Death is not the end. We do live on.
He also told us that in this world we will have troubles but that we should have faith because He will never leave us or forsake us.
Ok. What’s that mean to a grandmother or mother or father burying a child who died too young from a darkness that came out of nowhere?

It means
This life is not fair. It’s not safe. It’s not right.
In fact this life and this very world is deteriorating.
Jesus Himself called Satan the god of this age (the lord/ruler of this time period).
The day we are born a clock begins and when it stops we don’t know. God knows. Which is reason one for making the most of the time we have. I sarcastically say that our birth certificates have an invisible expiration date. lol maybe?!

What the uncertainty of this life also should teach us is that we are eternal beings. We should carefully consider that eternity because there really are two (and only two) separate and entirely different destinations for our eternal home.

Believe it or not there is a hell. It is real. For ever one time that Jesus spoke about Heaven He spoke two times as much about Hell. Hell is a place that is absent from the grace of God. As bad as this world can be with all its sin/crime/injustice/hate/hurt/pain the spirit of God is here holding back evil and restraining the fullness of the devil. Hell will be a dark, solitary place of suffering alone without end. Life without any hope of rest, sleep, peace or satisfaction.

Heaven, will not be a place filled with winged saints playing harps and endlessly floating about. Heaven will be filled with the presence of a loving God Who will reveal the wonders of the universe to His children.
(Oh, yes, His children! This will be clarified in a later post but – spoiler alert!! – not everyone born on earth is a child of God!! read John Chapter one slowly and carefully).

In closing
In this world we will have troubles but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a loving God Who has a plan that we have to trust in. Yes. We have to! What’s the alternative? Trust in reincarnation? Give up hope? Believe that this life is all there is and when it ends that’s it? nah!!

Read your Bible
Prayer
Ask
Seek
Knock

He is real
He loves you
He will answer you

Dedicated to Dakota Bell Griner May 2006 to Sept 2019 and now eternally with our LORD

Side Note
I was a distant relative to dear sweet Dakota
Distant geographically and relationally
She lived about 1200 miles from me and was my sister’s grandchild. I met her a handful of times and that may diminish my memories of her but not my feelings for those who knew her, loved her and will forever be changed by her leaving. My only hope for those left behind is that her passing leads you all closer to the Lord Who holds her close by His side as she lives forever in His presence.
Love you all
Uncle Al

PS Those of you that know me and read the few and far between posts I write know that I usually show my work – lol

I will, if needs be, show all the many scripture verses that brought about this post because we, Betty and I, still believe that its all about Jesus and the word of God and not our opinion.

Be Blessed

Is this the day?

Mortality looms in the shadows of every day. It’s there and we try to not see it or simply assume it will have a long wait before stepping into our life. Until we fall suddenly ill!

In the past 24hrs I went from felling discomfort that I assumed was work related to preparing for death. Sounds dramatic, I know, but having been in a place of sudden sharp chest pain and other symptoms typically associated with a heart attack was startling. The uncertainty caused me to draw on my faith. I prayed that I was ready. I prayed for my wife. I prayed that I might make it thru this trial so as to take care of unfinished business. In a way I also, selfishly, wanted to go home.

Thankfully or unfortunately I am fine and still here and will be for a long time – at least my doctor said so. I did in fact hurt myself at work picking up a desk. I strained muscles in my chest. My heart is strong and I’ll recover. No heavy lifting for the near future. 

But, the experience was like no other. I mean sure I’ve been scared before. Even had some bad health issues. But there’s a difference between having the flu and wanting to die just to feel better and thinking you’re about to die and having time enough to consider the concept.

Paul tells us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” Phillipians 2:12 NKJV

Work it out. To me that means self examination. Where am I in my walk with God? How close am I with Jesus? Am I being honest with me? With Him? 

Is today the day? Well, for me this day. This 24hour period is over and I’m still here. Today is not the day that I leave here. 

Today is not the day…..but one day will be the day for me ….and for you….work it out before that day ends!

Thanks and be blessed, Al

Pray Without Ceasing – Myth Busters 2

My sister asked me a very good question the other day – ” If God knows how and when a person will die why should we pray for them to recover from an illness if they are going to die anyway?” The short answer I presented was that God commands us to pray for the sick. After all He may know when a person is going to die – we don’t! We went on to discuss if this situation was in contradiction to the argument outlined in the previous blog (see Myth Busters). If it’s Gods’ will that someone is going to die then our praying for their healing is useless. Isn’t it?

If only it was that easy a thing. God’s not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9b KJV and even though He clearly knows all and sees all it can not be assumed that every human death (or suffering for that matter) is ordained by Him. There are so many reasons we have trouble in this life. Sickness, disease, accidents, acts of violence are only a few things that happen all around us.Simply because we are powerless to stop something doesn’t mean it an “act of God!” Jesus warned us – “I have told you all this so that you will have peace of heart and mind. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows; but cheer up, for I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 Living Bible

So, what about praying for someone you love who is suffering with a terrible sickness? James gives an example of what to do – Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. James 5:14-15 KJV  Paul puts it very simply in his letter to the church – Pray without ceasing. 1Thess 5:17 KJV Jesus is our example Who we see praying always. 

I saw a sign years ago that read – Live each day as if it’s outcome depends on you and pray each day as if it all depends on God.  At face value this may seem contradictory and maybe somewhat egocentric. But we are expected to be a good steward of the gifts that God has given us, which I believe includes our bodies, mind and spirit as much as our gifts and possessions. Yet, Jesus told us that without Him we can do nothing. John 15:5 KJV So, we pray. Pray and then pray some more and afterwards, pray some more. We do not know what God will do with the prays that He hears from you. But I am sure of this  – He will hear you and He will be proud of you for bringing this situation to Him. The Bible is full of examples of how we are powerless without God as well as examples of how prayer has changed events. But if you do or do not get the answer or result you prayed for that does not mean God doesn’t hear you. We will live and die by the Faith we have (or lack thereof) in Him.

For God is not the author of confusion 1Cor 14:33 KJV This is why I steer clear of confusion caused by controversy and the landmines of arguments about God and Heaven and the Bible by asking myself one simple question. “Does my Salvation depend on this?” If the answer is a firm “NO!” i move on. Are my pets going to heaven? How old will I be in Heaven? Where will I live in Heaven? Will I need to sleep in Heaven? I do not know the answer to any of these questions and am not concerned with finding the answers either. Rather, I am more concerned with making sure I GET TO HEAVEN ! Once there all those questions will be answered. Now, if a controversy or the confusion about something in the Bible or my walk threatens my relationship with God and my possible goal of reaching heaven I need to keep it simple and decide if I am going to trust Jesus or turn away.

When faced with unanswered prayers and disappointment we are at a crossroad in our walk with Jesus – Trust in Him and live or doubt Him and die.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life  Deut 30:19KJV