Do We Need To Know God’s Will?

[ The following is an excerpt from chapter one in James’ newest book, The Way of Wisdom. ]

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:17
Jesus said, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Do you believe that? Have you tested Jesus’ words to discover that He said what He meant and meant what He said? I believe that a lot of the bondage and heartache and frustration in life come because we believe stuff that is not true. We accept what is flat out not true. We don’t know the truth.

If we don’t know the truth, we’re not free. We live in a form of bondage to something false. In this case, what many of us believe about God’s will is not really what the Bible teaches. Many people know that Jesus said those words about the truth setting us free. But most of them don’t know what comes before the “And you will know the truth” phrase. The “and” means “as a result” -but as a result of what? John 8:31 gives us the context: “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, -If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth.’ ” If we’re not abiding in Jesus’ words; if we’re not basing everything we believe on God’s Word, we can’t expect to know the truth or experience the freedom that comes from knowing the truth!

You probably can’t remember the last time you used the word abide in a conversation. Most of us don’t tell our kids, “If you abide in my house, you live by my rules!” We don’t usually say to our spouses during our wedding anniversary celebrations, “I’m glad we’ve abided together all these years!” Abide is a time-honored word that I like because its oddness makes me stop and think. The word abide can be translated “to live within,” “to dwell,” or “to take up residence.” Jesus was saying, “If you live in my Word.” Or, “If your life is a genuine reflection of what I say, you are truly My disciples.” This means that our conversations, our illustrations, and our meditations ought to be permeated with God’s Word. We should live so much in God’s Word that it fills us up and overflows constantly from our lips. The beginning of knowing what God wants you to do is knowing what God wants you to know!

Did God’s Word get your attention in Ephesians 5:17? The verse says, basically, “Hey, don’t be foolish! Understand what the will of the Lord is.” We can be sure of this: If God tells us to understand something, He will provide what we need in order to understand. That’s why He has given us His Word!

Continuing in Chapter 1:

Three primary reasons why we need to undertake this study of God’s will:

Motivation 1: Because there’s so much misunderstanding on the subject.

Motivation 2: Because there’s a lot of abuse of this subject

Motivation 3: Because there’s a lot of frustration about this subject

© 2007 Walk in the Word.

On this day...

• God loves to hear us use His names in our worship - 2011
• THE NAMES OF GOD - 2011
• What are the attributes of God? What is God like? - 2011
• Thirty Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God - 2011
• The Purpose of Life - 2007
• Laid In A Cold Place - 2007
• Making Himself Known Everywhere - 2007
• Wealth And Riches Are A Tool - 2007
• Delivered From Temptation - 2007
• Unity For The Churches - 2007