God's Will

1 Peter 4:3
For you have spent enough time in the past . . . .

I've never understood how to find out God's will for me. He's not going to come right out and tell me. I know He could, but more than likely He won't. So I don't get it. How the heck am I supposed to know? I'd really like it if He just said, "Erin - you're going to do this and this. You are going to date this person and that person and you're going to marry this person. You will have more kids. You are going to work in the women's ministry at church. Life will get really hard here and here and here, but I'm always there and you will get through it."

The pastor Sunday was a visiting pastor. I don't even know his name. But he explained something to me that I've never understood before. He said instead of focusing on the part I don't know, focus on God's will that's already revealed to me. Where do I find that? In the Bible, of course.

So, what is God's will?

He wants me to be saved and know Him.
We settle for so much less. We settle to know about Him in stead of really knowing Him.
1 Timothy 2: 3
This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

He wants me to be Spirit-filled.
Ephesians 5:18
. . . . Instead be filled with the Spirit.

He wants me to be sexually pure.
1Thessalonians 4:3
It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality. . .

He wants me to be submissive.
Ephesians 6:7
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.

He wants me to be willing to suffer.
1 Peter 3: 17
It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

If you are a non-Christian (or agnostic?), the last two might bother you. OK - let's be honest. A lot of them might bother you. But here's my thoughts on the last two. God doesn't want us to be submissive like a doormat. We are supposed accept there is authority over us and it is placed there by God. The suffering part you may just think is stupid. I'm not sure if I can explain it to you. Unless you understand and accept how Jesus suffered for you, I don't see how you would be willing to suffer for Him.

The pastor described how so many of us focus on the plan or we focus on the stuff. We are to focus on the goal - the goal is to be more Christ-like. I admit, I get captured by the stuff.

I feel so great about my life when I'm at church, surrounded by others who love Him. I feel like I can do it - I can survive. I lose that feeling too fast and I hate that. I know it's my fault. At church, I am actively pursuing Him. At home, I'm trying to do everything else. I'm so tired of doing everything else, but I can't find the balance. There is stuff that HAS to be done. I'm not even going to list it all because I'll just get more depressed. I almost had a panic attack - I've never had one, but I got very panicked while driving home today: tears, heart beating faster, sense of hopelessness. I have so much stuff to get done - none of it is anything that I can't do: dinner, grades, cleaning, paying bills, getting tax stuff together . . . . You know how God answered that prayer? When I went to pick up Elyssa, my awesome friend Karen asked me if there was any papers she could grade. She took NINE stacks of papers to grade for me. NINE! I told her I owed her big time and wasn't sure how I could repay her. She simply said that's what friends are for and that she misses putting smiley faces on papers. Karen - I love you!

I'm going to end with a quote that Karen just gave me while we were IMing. I keep thinking I need to be better than I am. I keep thinking I'm not good enough. I keep thinking about how much I fail. Good ol' CS Lewis shuts me up so well.

Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing yet had been done.