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What, Exactly, Was I Looking For?
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I live just down the road a piece from the church where Tony Evans preaches. (This is Texas where “down the road a piece” means about an hour on the interstate, okay?)
I like Tony Evans. A lot. I get to listen to him on the radio every evening if I want. He’s a godly, spirit-filled, truly anointed preacher. And he preaches the gospel gospel-style. I just love it!
Well, Tony has a daughter, Priscilla Evans Shirer. When I heard she had video Bible studies available and that my church was offering them, I signed up. Now I love her, too. She obviously inherited her father’s teaching skill and absolutely was called by God to teach women. Love her!
So, in her Bible study – perfect study for summer, by the way; short, concise, lite homework…Okay, back to my point. In her study she makes a statement that really floored me. I mean, I learn a lot from Bible study teachers like Beth Moore, Kay Arthur, Jennifer Rothschild, Anne Graham Lotts and others. I’m sure many of those reading this are nodding their bloggy heads saying, “Me, too! I love those video-teaching Sistahs, too!” Because we do love us some good, solid, Bible study, do we not? The kind where the teachers shine a new light on the never changing Word! We love it! Can’t get enough!
Sometimes one of those video teachers, or even a non-video teacher or preacher, says something that strikes me, though. And Miss Priscilla did just that. Here’s what she says in her study. Are you ready for this? She says…and I quote…
“Desiring and doing His will is not my responsibility to discover; it’s His responsibility to reveal.” (Discerning the Voice of God, bottom of page 41)
I read that and I read that again. (Go ahead. You can look again, too.) Then I said it out loud a few times. Then I said, “Say WHAT?!??!” Then I thought, “Girlfriend better have herself a verse to back that one up.”
From the time we are milky babes in the faith, we are taught to seek God’s will for our lives, in our lives and throughout our lives. I guess the church in Philippi must have had a few questions as well because Paul explains it like this:
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:12, 13 [emphasis mine]
Huh! Okay, one more.
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Philippians 3:15 [more emphasis mine]
There are also many verses about the Holy Spirit’s role in guiding each one of us individually – the reason He was sent to indwell us in the first place. It’s an active role. It’s not like He’s in there with us doing this passive thing like my kids do when they know chore time is coming.
My kids will hide from me. They’ll take a book or video game into the bathroom or pretend they’re sleeping if they even so much as sense I am approaching “unload the dishwasher” time or if they even think I might send them outdoors on “weed patrol.”
They will avoid my requests, pretend they don’t hear me calling, wait until I pound on the bathroom door with my request. “Hello?!? Are you listening?!?”
The Holy Spirit isn’t just in there waiting for us to coax Him or plead with Him into giving us some clue about God’s will. He is not going to avoid our request. He wants us to know God’s will. If He lives in us, He will lead us and guide us and instruct us in God’s will. The question is, are we listening for it?
And so, after years of study under many different teachers and pastors and authors and under direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, I think I get it:
I don’t need to constantly chase after God’s will; I just need to constantly chase after God! The closer I am to Him through prayer and through the study of His word, the closer I am to Him and the easier it will be for me to hear His voice as He leads me and guides me in His will for me.
Sometimes I’m a little slow. In Texas, we call it “laid back.”
Visit Carol at: She Lives
Jul 14th, 2007
Wow, Carol. You just totally shook up my perspective. It’s very freeing though, to know, that I don’t have to be frustrated trying to figure out God’s will. I just need to get closer and closer to God. And then He will do the work to show me. Very freeing. Thanks for this post!
What a great word, Carol. I so agree with your thoughts. I especially like I John 2:27 “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.”
God is sovereign, and He is active, but as you’ve pointed out, according to Phil 2:12-13 He requires our participation. We are to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” Your question is poignant: “If He lives in us, He will lead us and guide us and instruct us in God’s will. The question is, are we listening for it?”
We are co-laborers with Christ… and we must diligently pay attention to the Spirit’s leading. The more we seek Him for himself, the more we will know where He is guiding us. Amen!
Carol, Thank you for sharing that with us! Whoa! I agree with Susanne. It’s a very freeing thought. Now I won’t have to worry or fret whether I am doing His will for my life. If I stay close to Him, He wants me to know His will, and His Spirit will let me know.
This reminds me that recently I had another freeing thought. I’ve alway been impatient, and I know God has tons of verses in the Bible for patience - and still I was like a kid with a tantrum, “I want what I want NOW!” Well, recently the Holy Spirit impressed on me (on a day my computer kept freezing up and I had lots of work to do) that if it doesn’t work, it wasn’t meant to happen right then. So, now I just go on and do housework or something until the computer behaves itself! It’s done wonders for my blood pressure, and my husband was always chiding me for my impatience, which was not a good testimony for Christ. In traffic was another bad time to test my patience. Now, I just trust that God needed me to have some quiet time with Him - and I use it to pray! Wow! I can’t believe how He’s changed my life! Thanks again, Carol for your wonderful article!
“Freeing” is definitely the perfect word for this post. I am always complaining to God about how He is just so hard to catch. I feel like I’m chasing and chasing. Maybe this is why–maybe I’m chasing after His will instead of Him. Hmmm…
You said: “I don’t need to constantly chase after God’s will; I just need to constantly chase after God! The closer I am to Him through prayer and through the study of His word, the closer I am to Him and the easier it will be for me to hear His voice as He leads me and guides me in His will for me.”
I say…Amen, amen, and amen. Thanks Carol for this post. I’m glad I stopped by here today! I always like your “take” on the Bible too. I wish I could get more of it. Hint, hint.
Really great thoughts here. Thanks for posting today, Carol!
I love the pound on the bathroom door, are you listening analogy! Yep, we too often search for God’s will, when in reality, we are trying to make His will our will.
Love this. I was just commenting to my SIL that I really appreciate her and my husband (her brother). They are simply content … just living, watching, waiting. When God asks them to do something, they do it. Very little agonizing or freaking out when they want an answer or things aren’t going their way. When I read your post, I thought … Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about. They aren’t constantly chasing after God’s will and agonizing over whether they are missing it or what it might be or whether it’s something they’re going to like. It’s more along the lines of, “Well, God. You know best. So here I am. If you’d like me to do this, let me know.” … Or, “I’m going to do this particular thing, God, because it seems like the wisest thing to do. If you don’t want me to, please let me know.” And by golly, He does let them know one way or another sometimes. Other times, life just rides on and everyone wonders why things just seem to fall into their laps at just the right time. I used to call it luck … not anymore.