“And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:17, NKJ)
In Scripture there are six basic conditions for those who are eager to discern the will of God in their lives. You can call them principles that need to be upheld as general requirements before you can get to the specific detail of your walk in the will of God.
Firstly, you need to be saved. This is God’s will for all people (2 Pet 3:9; Matt 18:14). Perhaps stating the obvious: an unsaved person cannot walk in the will of God.
Secondly, you must be led by God’s Word and Spirit (Eph 5:18-21; Col 3:16-17). Being filled with the Spirit and obedience to the Word are prerequisites to move in His will.
In the third place: You must choose to continually submit yourself to the will of God (Rom 12:1-2).
Paul states in 1 Thess 4:3-6: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification…” This is the fourth requirement. Sanctification means that your soul dimension – will, intellect and emotions – are continually changing and adapting in order to demonstrate the character of Christ. Without holiness, says Heb 12:14, we cannot see Christ. This does not mean you aren’t saved (in other words lost) – it means that you won’t move further than the outer court. And that you won’t receive a revelation of Christ – your spiritual eyes will not be opened. It essentially implies that you won’t be able to move in God’s will for your life.
The fifth condition we see in 1 Pet 2:15 & 17. “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men … Honour all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.” Submission to authority is of huge importance – remember: all authority comes from God (Rom 13:1-4), even non-Christian governments or authorities.
Finally, 1 Thess 5:18 states it clearly: “… in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. In EVERYTHING be thankful – this is one of the most important keys in the Kingdom of God. We’ll touch on this briefly in the next teaching.
- Sela: Where do you stand in terms of these general principles in order to qualify to walk in the will of God? Settle this with the Lord. And be honest with yourself.
- Read: Ex 28; Ps 78; Mark 4
- Memorise: Mark 4:22
