Christian Living
This is a question every serious Christian has asked God in his lifetime . Many of us ask the Lord for His will in our lives almost on a daily basis. Out of a sense of gratitude perhaps, we now would like to offer ourselves to the Lord to see what He would have us do with our lives. Perhaps even, the more we love Him the more we would like to please Him & do what He wants us to do. Many expend their entire lives doing many things hoping that it is the will of God & that He will one day say “Well done, my good & faithful servant”.
So then, how can we know the will of God for our lives ? Please bare with me as my answer is not exactly the status quos .
As with many things for today’s Christian, though our intentions be good & even noble, yet with our heart’s amiss our thoughts & thus our doctrines & even our works are incorrect. I know this may come as a shock to many , but today’s Christianity is off the mark much like the Pharisees were in Jesus’ days on earth. How could this be possible, you ask? It is a fundamental issue that effects every man from the days of Adam. We in fact still have the very same choice that Adam had in choosing between the two trees. As a true Christian of course you must have chosen Jesus as your savior but now you must choose Him continually, every day as your tree of life, your source for life & living. What this means is that you no longer live your life according to the soul & the flesh but rather in following Jesus, you lose your life. You now must defer all things to Him as your reigning Lord & Master from within your spirit. And here is the will of God …that you live no longer for & in your self but that you now walk & live in your spirit.
This is the will of God …for man to walk in their spirit wherein the Spirit Himself resides. Your spirit is the only place where you can take the Lord as your daily food for life. As long as we continue to walk in our soul we cannot eat from the tree of life but rather the only thing we can eat is the tree of the knowledge of right & wrong. By this latter tree we live for & by the powers of our own mind, will & emotions & we can do no other. To pray God’s will while walking this way is fruitless.
God most definitely has a will. Where God is, there His will is also. God resides in your spirit but He & His will is quenched because we do not live out from within our spirit. We selfishly want to know God’s will, & our soul cannot help but to seek God’s will as it pertains to the selfish mind of the soul, as apposed to the spirit. The spirit however, is one with God. In the spirit we are in fact god-men & our will is exactly as His. His will is ours ! No matter the good intentions & sincerity, if we live out from our soul, our will is opposed to God’s . They are incompatible. This is why we are told that “those who worship God must worship in spirit & truth”. Because God is spirit we must be in spirit to be compatible with God & to enjoy & participate in Him as our life & way of living. To ask the will of God as one living in his soul however is utter futility. The soul cannot accept the things of God. This is one reason Jesus spoke in parables. God’s ways & thoughts are above ours & we could not receive them if He spoke them to us clearly. Our spirit however is of the same constitution as the Spirit of God. In our spirit we can know, experience & enjoy God. As we walk in our spirit we also walk in THE Spirit, and as we walk in the Spirit we also walk in His will by His way of Zoë life.
Now let me make some further distinction between what we normally think of in terms of the will of God & just what comprises the will of God. We typically think in terms of specific instructions & yes this is included in the will of God but to stop there will effectually impede THE will of God because His will has to do with His very Life & His way. You remember Jesus said “I am resurrection” & also that “ I am the way, and the truth & the life”. We are also told that God is the “word”. God doesn’t just say or do things… He IS ! This applies as well to His will. His will, His way & His life are all one. They are inseparable. When Jesus told the disciples “ Let us go over to the other side”, there was absolutely nothing that could prevent or stop that from happening because He said it. You see, His will, His words & He Himself are inseparably one. His will is also His way. So then, if we walk in spirit according to His way, we not only just know His will concerning certain items & instruction in the details of our “lives’ but on a grander scale, we effect the higher will of God according to His way of Life. When we do this, we walk not as the world, instead we transcend the way of the world. In doing so we heap condemnation & shame upon the world & the ruler of the world. One example is where we are told to go the extra mile, turn the other cheek & relent to the suer. These are spiritual matters which when followed in spirit, effect the will of God because they follow the ways of God. This humility is the very thing that will overcome the pride of Satan & the world & bring about the victory. Satan’s primary plan then to render Christians ineffective & defeat the Lord is to cause people to walk as mere men in the living out from their souls. The soulish man cannot follow the Lord in the things listed above.
This is the sad state of the church today. There is no lack of bible knowledge, money, zeal, sincerity, workers or even so-called “good works”. In fact you can find all of these in all the other religions as well. What is lacking & what should differentiate Christians from the world & other religions is that of one not living by his soul (&/or flesh) at all but rather having rejected his soul life, he now lives by the Spirit in his spirit. This one does not live as a mere “man” but instead as a god-man.
There is a sense in which God’s will, which is also His way, must be effected in the men on earth to overcome & defeat the enemy. There is an opposing will & way of life which has infected the creation of God. Satan in effect created this opposing way which has spread throughout to include other fallen angels, demons & mankind. It is a way that all of these think & believe to be a “better” way than that of God’s. For example, God says “ to not only look out for your own personal interests but also the interests of others” . He further boldly says to “consider others more important than yourself”. The rebellious Satan & his followers on the other hand say things like “If it is to be it’s up to me”, “Be all you can be”, “Look out for number one”, “Go for the gusto” & “You only have one life to live, so make the most of it”. These & more are merely a reflection of a mindset & way of life. These came from Satan & are directly opposed to God. It is written that “ there is a way which seems right to a man but its end is the way of death”. The Lord is waiting upon men to reject this way of the world in an overcoming way so as to defeat His enemy. It is the age old story of good triumphing over evil & we are the key players! We cannot afford to be merely spectators or we shall suffer loss & quite possibly incur discipline.
Therefore, to ask the will of God from a soulish & selfish perspective is to ask from outside the will of God in the first place. This comes from one who is not right before the Lord & is a defeated Saint. We are in a war & God is looking for soldiers. We must allow the Lord in His faithful dealings to reduce us to the spirit so that we may take up His life & live according to His will & life & way. This is the truth or reality of God & it is the only safe place for a Christian to be.
Lose yourself & find the Lord in your spirit. This is the way. Here you will find yourself in the will of God. In short, you don’t need to look so much for the will of God so that you may walk in it but instead you must lose your soul life that you may have eyes to see the Lord in your spirit. Then you will be in the will of God, walking according to His greater life & way of living. Then you will be effecting the defeat of the enemy & the soon return of our Lord & King.
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Thank you for taking the time & consideration to offer your thoughts. Concerning the usage of scripture references, I usually do throw in some but to break it down as you suggest would involve an enormous amount of time & I would end up with a book instead of an article. I would love to do this if I had the time. Right now my intent is to simply throw out there the burdens in my spirit, for others to “see” if they have the eyes with which to do so. I understand that this is meat & most are still in the baby stage, but if nothing else it may encourage them to press on a little harder or dig a little deeper. I know you cannot accept this but the usage of scripture is somewhat superfluous as these things that I write about are of such a kind that only the spirit can discern. There are more so-called teachers then I care to imagine who take scriptures & break them down in great detail to prove their own personal thoughts, ideologies & philosophies. Like the Pharisees, they do err not “knowing” the scriptures or the power of God. All scripture is profitable for the souls of men but they are a mystery which may only be understood by the spirit. The loss of the soul (mind, will & emotion) is a pre-requisite to understanding the things of God. Yes, indeed you must utilize the soul but in a proper way. The soul is actually an obstacle & not an aid until it has sufficiently been dealt with by the cross so as to put it in it’s proper place. The soul is useful & can be a beautiful thing after it has truly gone through death, burial & then to resurrection. I do not have time to elaborate on this right now but perhaps I should at least take your suggestion to break these things down a bit more into bite sized portions. As for Jesus’ method’s of teaching, you have to keep in mind that He also spoke in parables & even His 5th grade level of speech was beyond the simple understanding of mind of the soul. These things are only spiritually understood. There are those (though not many) who do catch what I say however. It is because they have been dealt with via the cross of Christ so that they have broken through that barrier of sorts , that they now have eyes with which to begin to see, as it is with me. Because this is not taught today, few experience this wonderful & liberating breakthrough of the release of their spirit. It remains enshrouded within the confines of the soul so that all such a Christian can use is their soul without the power of the Spirit in their spirit. This is only possible via the cross & that’s why Jesus said, “anyone who wishes to come after Me must deny Himself (because it is a hindrance), take up his cross & follow Me”. It has been said that the only thing that is acceptable to God is what He can see on the other side of the cross. We must therefore subject our souls to the sufferings of the cross so that what remains in resurrection has been properly cleansed & calibrated for the kingdom of heaven. The cross is the only way, it is the only thing in the world that can effectively deal with the soul unto a full salvation. Without this, the most diligent, fervent & powerful mind in the souls of men cannot understand a lick of scripture. Thanks again, brother & may God grant you (& all readers) the enlightenment in the eyes of your understanding.