Stand

410. Not my will but Yours

How can you be absolutely sure that Satan will not have his way in your life?

Our lives are set up in such a way that we need to make daily, even hourly decisions. Humans have a free will they are not robots. Our choice is what makes us capable of true love. The problem comes in when we feel that we should exercise our free will without God. We were never created to exercise our free will without God. We may and we can, but this leads to disaster, and eventually to our being under the control of Satan.

When Adam and Eve refused to consult the Tree of Life (the Word of God), and instead consulted the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (their own intellect), they turned their lives over to Satan.

God is continually looking at our will; that is what Shewbread means. Bread is ground up flour, mixed with oil and baked in the fire. Our will and our desires must be continually offered up to the altar to be ground and burned. This is a very special sacrifice to God, for it is our will, and He will not overwhelm nor control us. Offer your body as living sacrifice, so that we may prove that perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2). This is an opportunity to repent, to turn from the paths and ways of the world toward God’s paths. When we turn, we get the power of God (Acts 26:18 and 2 Corinthians 3:16).

Oftentimes Christians, even well meaning Christians, can get into the trap of using their own will without God involved. Proverbs 19:21 says, “There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the LORD’s counsel – that will stand.”

The Bible story that best illustrates this is centered around Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac.

God came to Abram in Genesis 12 to call him out from his own family, his business and financial security, his idols and his method of worship, in order to create a family to be called the “family of God.” This would be the Israelites, the Jews, and would eventually become Christians, the Body of Christ, God’s spiritual family.

In Genesis 15 God appeared to Abram again and told him that he will have a child. Genesis 15:2-6 says, “But Abram said, ‘Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ Then Abram said, ‘Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!’ And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”

Abram could not figure out how God was going to give him a child since he was so old and his wife Sarah was barren and could not have children. He knew God’s will, and he figured that it was time for him to just do it. So he made his own plans for having a child.

Genesis 16:1-4 says, “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, ‘See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.’ And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.”

Actually, this was not an immoral act in those days as far as they were concerned. It certainly was not the way God created things to work and it caused a lot of heartache. The world had become so sinful that this had become normal, and God had not yet dealt with Abram about the Law and these kinds of things. So in Abram’s eyes, he was doing an innocent thing to help God with His plans. The child was named Ishmael.

God was not finished with Abram, however. God had other plans, His plans! He came again to Abram some years later and told him about His plans (Genesis 17).

Genesis 17:1-7 says, “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.’ Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.’”

Genesis 17:15-22 says, “God also said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’ Abraham fell face down; he laughed and said to himself, ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?’ And Abraham said to God, ‘If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!’ Then God said, ‘Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.’ When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.”

Later, the Angel of the Lord visited Abraham and Sarah. Genesis 18:9-15 says, “Then they said to him, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’ So he said, ‘Here, in the tent.’ And He said, ‘I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.’ (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’ And the LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, saying, “Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?” Is anything to hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied it, saying, ‘I did not laugh,’ for she was afraid. And He said, ‘No, but you did laugh!’”

Genesis 21:1-3 says, “And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him – whom Sarah bore to him – Isaac.”

As it turned out, all of the Arab nations came from Ishmael, Abraham’s plans. Israel, Jesus and Christianity came from the supernatural birth of Isaac, which was God’s plan and His own doing. Ishmael had a curse on him. Genesis 16:12 says, “He shall be a wild man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

This surely has proven to be true. Israel and all the Arab states have been in a state of war and hatred for a long time. It is current news today! There are many precious Arab brothers in the Lord, but in general, the Arab countries have been against God’s purposes for Israel.

God is interested in saving the Arabs now through Jesus Christ. God wants to graft them in just like He grafted in you and me.

The lesson we are to learn from this is that we need to allow God to perform those things for us that He wants. Sure we are supposed to work, study and try hard. But so far as our will is concerned, we are to offer that up to Him. Abraham should have had this attitude. He should have said, “Oh God, I know your promise to me, I understand You want me to have a child, and I don’t see how that can possibly happen. Perhaps I misunderstood you, perhaps You have something else for me. I lay this desire of mine and promise from You on the altar and ask You to perform it for me if you want this for my life. I dare not touch this to help You. If this is from You, then I will wait until you perform it.” We need to refuse to manipulate people and circumstances to get our way. God never does that, and we should be afraid to do it. This will ensure that we do not create an “Ishmael” in our life that we will be sorry for, perhaps forever.

One of the rules I have adapted for sifting out God’s will from my will is a method I learned when I used to sail in the Caribbean. We would begin to enter a harbour and would be warned that there were coral reefs all over the harbour entrance. However, we had a map, or a chart, that would give landmarks on the land with which we could line up our entry course. For instance, there would be a church, a water tower and the city hall. If we would line up those three object so that we could only see them in a straight line, then, the chart would tell us, we could enter the harbour on that course and would be safe. In the spiritual world, I like to line up three or four items to find out if a certain course is God’s will. I want to hear from Him in the Word, I want to hear from the Holy Spirit, I want to see circumstances begin to line up, and I want to see the Body of Christ affirming my decision.

Take a lesson from Jeremiah.

The Lord told him that Israel was going into captivity to Babylon, and that eventually they would come back to their land. He told Jerimiah to make a real estate investment in anticipation of this return. However, Jeremiah did not just go out and buy it even though he felt he knew God’s will for him. Instead he waited until circumstances lined up with God’s promise. Then he knew it was the word of the Lord.

Jeremiah 32:6-8 says, “And Jeremiah said, ‘The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, ‘Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right to redeem it is yours to buy it.’” Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, “Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.”

So many times I have been disappointed when something did not work out. But later I saw God’s hand in it protecting me from disaster! I am so thankful that God closed so many doors. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Seeking His Kingdom is seeking the Word, and walking in righteousness and holiness. If we do that, God will add all the things we truly desire down deep in our hearts. When He brings something into our lives, it is perfect, and it truly makes us happy forever. He gives good gifts without sorrow. Sorrow is always attached to the things we bring into our own lives.

How do we live this out on a daily basis?

Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Offering our bodies daily means, not only offering our hands, feet, eyes, ears and tongue to Jesus, but also our intellect, our thinking, our will and our emotions. We make sure that we do not put junk in, so that junk will not come out. We will never have God’s perfect will without it.

If Jesus would not act on His own, how much more fearful should we be of acting on our own? In Luke chapter 4, the Devil tempted Jesus with acting independently from His Father. Jesus would not give in. The bottom line of these temptations was that they all would have led to “worshipping the Devil.”

John 5:19 says, “Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.’”

John 5:30 says, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

Why did Jesus talk about this kind of attitude? He was giving us the pattern for life for one thing. Jesus was here to turn around Adam’s sin of disobedience by being totally obedient to His Father. This is what got you and I saved. This is what will save us from trouble, and from Satan’s plans.

Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemene about going to the Cross. Matthew 26:42 says, “Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.’”

God’s will is what defeated Satan at the Cross, and it will defeat Satan in your life. 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 says, “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

Proverbs 19:21 says, “There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the LORD’s counsel – that will stand.”