FINDING, KNOWING AND DOING GOD’S WILL
Life is literally littered with decision-making moments. Almost always you have cause to make or discard a decision. Everyone, both young and old, makes decisions.
Sometimes the decisions border on the college or Higher Institution to attend, or the kind of career you should pursue. At other times it is the kind of accommodation you will like to take up, who to marry, what make of car to buy, etc. As a husband/wife, you must have had cause to make a decision at one time or the other. At some point it could be on the number of children to have. It could also border on whether to allow your wife (as a husband) to be a full-time house-wife or be gainfully employed. It could also be whether to have your parents live with you or whether to keep them in an Old People’s Home. It could even be whether to employ the full service of a maid or steward, or have such come to help around the house occasionally. The fact is that you are always in the business of making decisions.
We start making decisions early in life. Little children make decisions. They decide on what to do on certain occasions. At times, they run into difficulties, and on such occasions run to their parents. They know daddy and mummy are wiser, and their decisions are more reliable.
But even adults are not left out of this dilemma. In making decisions they also have difficulties peculiar with their age and experience. The tragedy, however, is that only very few adults are humble enough to admit their ignorance or difficulties in making certain decisions. And it is rather surprising and even disturbing to discover a number of them act and make decisions like children. How do children make decisions? Little children go for whatever gives them temporary satisfaction. No matter how temporal the satisfaction is. For instance, a child prefers running into a hall with an open door and end up in danger, to exercising patience before a temporary closed door, which will lead to their ultimate good. This is a common characteristic of children.
Now, this is not too different from what some adults do. Many adults follow the open door or circumstances and just take a decision on temporal, transient promises. On some other occasions, it is the “Majority carries the vote” method they follow. Majority of the Israelites, for instance, decided that they couldn’t possibly make it to the Promised Land because of the report of the majority that went to spy out the land. And that was just how it stayed. Many of them never got to Canaan.
CHRIST also faced the temptation to follow the majority. But He understood His purpose for coming to the earth. He also perfectly understood that it was the Father’s will. And He stood by that which He knew was God’s will. If He had given the disciples a chance to vote and had allowed the majority to carry the vote, He never would have gone to Calvary.
Some psychologists interested in knowing how decisions are reached, conducted a survey covering many people from the ages of five upwards. Their scope covered how decisions in marriages, education, child-up bringing and many other areas of life are made.
The result they got were shocking. They discovered that with the majority of people, the method through which decisions are made at the age of five is the same way decisions are taken at the age of twelve, thirty, or even fifty.
They realised that decisions made by adults, like those of children, are based on the following considerations:
1. Do I have a feeling of temporary satisfaction?
2. Is there any door of circumstance open? If the answer is ‘Yes’, then I must forge ahead.
3. What do others advise me to do? Majority carries the vote!
4. If the object or project is attractive, I must have and keep it.
5. If friends and peer group do it, I must do it NOW.
6. I want to stem the fear of doing nothing, so I must do something?
7.If sudden impulse and immediate actions are required and present satisfaction is promised, it’s alright.
Once you start making decisions using the above parameters, you’ll continue to do so, even if you keep getting the same (negative) results throughout your life, except something positive happens. This goes to say that you cannot make right decisions on your own without God’s guidance.
If you can tell God that you do not know how to go about finding the right partner for your life, He will help you irrespective of past failures. The Bible says, “That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.”
Job 34:32 KJV
There was a man in the Old Testament who needed a know-how on leading God’s people and instead of seeking direction from God, he decided to seek counsel from men. And that action made him to lose his right to the throne (1 Kings 12:10-18).
David too, at one time was faced with a decision and all he did was seek the face of God.
“Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshingfloors. Therefore David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah.”
1 Samuel 23:1-2 KJV.
And you know what? He did not take one step until he got word from the LORD.
But we still read about another man who sought counsel from the LORD but never got a response.
1 Samuel 28:4-6 records,
“And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.”
1 Samuel 28:4-6 KJV
The question that straightly comes to mind is why did God not give king Saul an answer? Before this time Saul had been rejected as King because of his disobedience. This teaches that it is actually possible for God to disregard someone’s prayer.
WHY GOD MIGHT DISREGARD PEOPLE’S PRAYER:
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:”
Psalms 66:18 KJV
SIN was the first problem in Saul’s life. And it actually is the first hindrance to the ascension of your prayer. If there is sin in your life, God’s counsel will remain unrevealed to you. The only way out of this is to take the sin away; confess it to the LORD, forsake it and repent of it. Take care of every form of sin in your life and heaven will open. And it will become easier for your spirit to receive from the Spirit of God.
The second problem is SELF-WILL. God does not reveal His will when He knows that you are unwilling to do it. He does not talk to you when He knows you are self-willed. So, let your will to God be given. Tell God by your words and actions that it’s not about you but about HIM and that you want only to do HIS Will.
The third problem is UNBELIEF in God’s word. Hebrews 11:6 declares, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6 KJV
Before you approach God to know His will for any area of your life, particularly the area of marriage, you must first believe that He is and that He graciously rewards those who seek Him wholeheartedly.
Two truths stand out in this verse. One, before you can come to God in the first instance, you must believe that He lives. Many do believe that He lives. The stars of the sky attest to this. The seas, fields and indeed all of nature are proofs that there is a GOD. And the assurance that He lives within you is also evidence that there is a GOD isn’t it? But then, believing that He lives is not just enough, hence the second truth which is that you must believe that He rewards those who seek HIM wholeheartedly.
Now, this is one truth many believers find difficult to believe. Actually, the issue here is that many who claim to look up to God for guidance in the area of marriage doubt His ability to give them the man or woman that best suit them. This is the unbelief I am talking about. God cannot possibly reveal His counsel to you if your heart is clogged with the doubt that He does not know you well enough to be able to give you the man or woman you can call your soulmate.
The fourth problem is the PRESENCE OF AN IDOL in your heart. What does it mean to have an idol in your heart? It means to pretend to seek to want to really know and do God’s will when in reality, in the recesses of your heart you have who you actually desire to marry against what God does want for your life. This problem shields the face of God from the seeker. Ezekiel 14:3-4
“Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;”
Ezekiel 14:3-4 KJV
So, if you truly desire to know the will of God in marriage, take away idols from your heart. The idol could be a particular man who is a non-Christian, church-goer or even a Christian. It could be that you are drawn to somebody by some qualities which came from your carnal mind. For instance, as a lady, you might set out for a man who is well-read and this could become an idol. And if you harbour it in your heart while you pray to God for leading, He says He ” will answer you according to the multitude of the idols in your heart”.
Don’t idolise a man or a lady. If you end up marrying your idol that individual may turn out to be a thorn in your flesh, pricks in your sides, or may eventually be instrumental in turning your heart away from God. Remove every idol if you have any and God will reveal His perfect will to you in JESUS MIGHTY NAME AMEN 🙏
In summary, four things must be kept away from your heart in order to know the will of God. The first is SIN, the second is SELF-WILL, the third is UNBELIEF and the fourth is IDOL harboured in your heart. If you keep all these away, you can be sure that God will reveal His will to you for this is “Your Father’s good pleasure.”
Shalom
Mrs Angelinah Olubunmi Peters
JESUS Is Alive In me
