Everything That's On My Mind

Thanks for responding so thooughfully to my thoughts Bob - oh what i would give to sit in your living room again and have this discussion!

I think we actually agree on 90+% of the topic, and perhaps what I think of as the will of God is more like the voice of God. Paul did say, "we see in part" because you're right, we can never divine the full intents and plans of God. But, Paul never mistook the voice of God either. In the book of Acts it is recorded several times that he wanted to enter certain places and the Holy Spirit stopped him. The books never imply that he was confused about whether it was God or not. He knew he was fulfiling the plan of God for his life and if God didn't want him to enter a certain city, then so be it. There is no record of him agonising and saying, "Oh but is it the will of God?" He was already doing the will of the Father, now it was a case of obeying the voice of God.

How many of us, myself included can say they are doing the explicit will of God - the one laid out for all believers in the Word? How many believers even know what it is, and how God has equipped us to succeed in fulfiling it? We pray, 'if it's your will' when it comes to healing and yet we believe we are forgiven of our sins. But scripture tells us that he took our iniquities (sins) and our sicknesses and diseases on the cross - he took them all, not just our sins, so it as easy to believe that our sins are forgiven as it is to believe that we are healed. That is an explicit part of His will.

Even if people don't agree with that (although personally I have a problem with those who think God is testing them with sickness and then put themselves under a doctor's care - aren't they disobeying God?) we can surely agree that we can hear the voice of the Lord, in whichever way he chooses to speak. Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they know me." It's a promise - he knows us and we know him. Also, in John 16:14 Jesus prays for all believers and says that the Holy Spirit when he comes will tell you things to come. Not some cheap fortune teller obviously, but Paul's actions in the book of Acts is the perfect example of being told of things to come - whether through a person or through an impression.

Knowing the will of God is less hard than people make it out to be, I think. If you are doing the explicit will of God, walking in right standing with the Lord to the best of the knowledge you have at the moment, and if you are spending time with Him, getting to know him in the quietness of your prayer closet (whatever that may look like) then finding the specific plan or will of God becomes that much easier!

Of course, it's only taken me 26 years to get to this point and I am only just beginning to understand this topic!

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Regards,

Rich
BlogRodent

Pastor Bob,

At blogspot where I'm at there's a feature that enables you to have a comment automatically sent to your e-mail. Maybe you have the same feature. I was unaware of it for some time.