DAY 20: SEEK GOD’S WILL

I believe that so many have never discovered the power of prayer in seeking to know and do God’s will. Step by step, day after day God reveals His will and shows the way to those who truly seek Him and ask Him. The Bible describes the will of God as “good and acceptable and perfect”—does it get any better than that?

I’ve met plenty of people who are nervous seeking the will of God in prayer because they want what they want and are anxious that what God wants for them involves an entirely different plan! What I tell them in response is that, God’s will for our lives is what we would want if we really knew what we wanted.

And because most of us don’t have the big picture of what is needed in our lives, we simply need to pray. We are to seek the will of God, something that we’re to long for, love, yearn for, and yield to. Psalm 143:10 says, “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!”

Not only are we to seek God’s will, but we are to practice the will of God. We don’t come to God and say, “Lord, show me Your will and I’ll decide whether or not I’m going to do it.” No! Our attitude must be, “Your will, anytime, anywhere, any cost.”

And so, we seek God’s will through prayer. And then, upon sensing His direction, we joyfully follow it with grateful hearts, asking Him as we take each faith-filled step to bend our will to His perfect plan.

Seeking the will of God is asking that our lives be in conformity to His will. It is recognizing the sovereignty of God and saying, “Lord, your will is what I seek, your purpose, your plan in my life. I want to be on your agenda, not mine.”

Jim Elliot, the martyred missionary, once wrote in his diary, “God always gives the best to those who leave the choice with Him.” Wouldn’t that be a marvelous way to live, allowing God to choose the course of our lives?

More than any other definition for success, I like this one best: “Success is the progressive realization of the will of God for our lives.” Truer words have never been written.