God's Will

ernieball · #1 03-21-2006, 02:43 PM

was listening in Church the other morning and I was thinking. If, for example, God's will is for you to be airplane pilot but you don't know this obviously, but your praying to be a McDonalds manager.........whats the since in praying for something that Gods will is set for something else?

tarheelsykes · #2 03-21-2006, 02:49 PM

That is a time when you need to pray for God to direct you, to open or close doors.
I'll give you an example, 3 years ago I was an assistant manager at a gym. It was part of a local mini chain, but I knew overall things weren't going well. My wife also worked there, so the concern was, if it went south, we both were out of jobs. But I had been there 5 years and loved the gym. So one Wednesday I was on me knees praying, and I asked the Lord, what I was meant to do. I was torn, but I trusted His will. I asked him to shut doors if I was not meant to stay at the gym.
That night, the General manager informed me to help cut cost, she was told to cut my salary by about 1/3. There wasn't a way for us to survive on that amount of money. So very quickly that door was shut and we were moving on. It is easy for us to want something. But if we pray for direction from God, he will provide it.

jeffrobodean · #3 03-21-2006, 02:56 PM

I have been in the private sector all my life, mostly as a data analyst. Only within the last couple of years, I felt a calling to join the fire service and the public sector. So, I am trying. I just took another test last night for a Cleveland municipality, and I have one Saturday for Cincinnati. Had my wife never seen the sign out front, I might not have ever prayed to figure it out. The funny thing is, 5 months after I felt this calling, my company downsized and I lost my job of 6 years. That was harsh, but I had this faith and hope and so far, things have been working out well. I am truly blessed.

shtanga · #4 03-21-2006, 03:18 PM

A lot of times GOd leaves the decision up to us. We do not need to over spiritualize everything ( not saying you are ). God has given us a free will to make wise choices in life. I would say that if a person does not have a directive from the Lord that he is supposed to be a pilot, than it is fine if he wants to choose a position as a Mickey D's manager.

Ps 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. KJV

10forty2 · #5 03-22-2006, 01:22 PM

I have posted on this before, but I do not mind expressing it again. Lessons learned from Dr. Henry Blackaby's bible study "Experiencing God."

God's Will.... what is it? How do we know it? What is our role?

The first thing we must remember is that God is always at work. His Will is being done all around us. He desires for us to be a part of His work and His Will and seeks constantly to have a relationship with us. We have free choice and we must remember that God does not force us into anything. He gives us the choice to join Him in His work or to not join Him. But the key thing to remember here is that His work and His Will is always there and is will always being done.

The second thing to remember is that wereas it is definitely okay and encouraged to ask God for personal consideration, in matters of God's Will, we should ask, "What is your Will?" and not, "What is your Will for me?" We must never foget that God is always at work and desires for us be a part of His work and His Will, but He will continue without us if that is our ultimate choice.

The next time you pray to God, begin asking Him,

"What is your Will? Please show me where you are working so that I may join you."

We get way too caught up in our own feelings and lives to consider that God has a much broader picture and His Will encompasses much more than where we want to work or who we want to marry or how good we do on that test. Ask for God to reveal his work to you and figure out how you can participate in it to serve His higher purpose. you may not fully understand His purpose, but I guarnatee that your perspective on life will change once you experience God in this manner.

As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemene on the night he was betrayed, so hard and fervently that there were sweat drops of blood coming from his brow, he begged His Father to remove this burden from Him. He asked that if there was any other way that God's Will could be accomplished for it to be done that way instead of the suffering and death that He would surely succumb to. His human side asked for mercy from His father. He was scared and anxious over the events yet to pass. BUT... Jesus concluded His prayer by saying:

"Not my will but Thine."

Jesus knew that His father's Will would be accomplished. He knew that His father's Will for the big picture was more important than His own current human needs.

God is always at work and His Will will be accomplished. We need to ask how to be a part of the big picture, not what we can get out of it.

ernieball · #6 03-22-2006, 02:34 PM

thaks for that. My wife says that when I get to the point where I can turn everything over to God, then thats when I will find true happieness. I"m just afraid to. I may get something that I don't want, like what you said about Jesus' suffering. Maybe one day I will have the courage to.