JUST DO IT
"Oh, Lord God! You yourself made the heavens and earth by your great power and with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!"
Jeremiah 32:16
Wonderful and beautiful is the Lord's name, righteousness and holiness. He is almighty. And he has an open door policy for them who love and fear him. He is willing to receive and hear the prayers of his family. And he'll answer those prayers in the affirmative if those prayers are aligned with His will.
Think about it like this. You're swimming in the lake and you're tethered to the dock. And you pull the rope to return to the dock. Are you pulling the dock closer to you, or are you pulling yourself towards the dock. You're not changing God's will, you're drawing nearer to His will.
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. – Matthew 6:10
But what is God's will?
Most folks will struggle with fully acknowledging and accepting that God is completely in control of everything, absolutely everything. As if to say there is something so big and different that God cannot master it, or maybe he's not interested in dealing with ALL things. It's foolish to doubt him. As Jeremiah prayed (see 32:16 above) nothingbis too difficult for him.
The Bible speaks about God's unseen will…
The purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. – Ephesians 1:11
...God knows ALL of his will, were not on a need to know basis. God keeps the things that matter to him, things that we aren't to be concerned with, to himself. And his will that he needs for us to acknowledge and keep is made known to us through his word.
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."
– Deuteronomy 29:29
Everything is woven into God's purpose. He created it intentionally, not accidentally. And He works all things according to the counsel of His will. Nothing in our life is outside of God’s purpose or beyond His control. This is why it's such a great comfort for the believers , especially in prayer. They know that God hears them and is working out good in all things. They know that even while trouble is looming and their lives are being ruined, they must trust God in what He has kept secret. We won't understand the good in the trouble, it'll be a mystery to us, and so we often find ourselves asking, ‘Lord why?’ Why did you allow this in my life Lord? In these moments of doubt, anxiety, or depression, we pray ‘Lord, strengthen my faith, and may Your will be done.’
We do this because we know He hears us and is intentionally making a way through the trouble.
You may ask, how can we "know" he hears and intends good for us?
There is a will of God that can be discerned. It is neither secret nor revealed in his word, but somewhere in between. It is discerned. Though the Book does often testify to God's goodness and his providential intrusion into our lives, and its there to encourage us, our strength and confidence about God's will is increased when we pray, 'increase my faith'. We discover things when we pray. We discern things. Mysterious and unexpected things. Every time we come to a fork in the road of our lives, you should find yourself asking, ‘What is God’s will?’ This kind of request cannot always be found in the Book, sometimes it's better found in The Spirit. It's not always revealed, sometimes it's discovered in The Spirit.
The Shepherd does walk beside us, but he also leads us. ‘The Lord is my Shepherd. He leads me beside still waters.’
You may ask, "how can I trust what I think the Spirit is doing?"
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:2
"By testing you may discern..."
We test for fruitfulness and effectiveness, we test our experiences, and the wisdom of others. And we pray, ‘Lord give me discernment; help me to be wise, and Your will be done.’ We test our revelatory insight and inspirations by comparing these things we've learned against the revealed will of God found in his word. One easy test is the law (the Ten Commandments). If our discovery lines up with all of the law, this includes Jesus' covenant of love for one another, then we can be sure that God's will is in it. If however it is contrary to any part of the law of love, it's likely our will may have injected and entangled itself into our heart.
The race before us is a race towards God's will and away from our own will. Everything is about this race. Running away from our sin and towards His righteousness.
You may ask, "where in God's revealed will can I find God's will for me?"
Jesus was our example. The gospels are his road map into his will. Jesus quite literally was God, living as one of us, showing us his will for us.
Start simply,
See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
– 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18
There it is, concise and to the point. Do these things. Measure everything against these things. Discern and learn by doing these things. You've got to pray for increased faith, and do faith. The more you do this, the closer you get to his will.
The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. – 1 John 2:17
Just do it.