Is God's Will My Will?

Is God’s Will My Will?

This is the will of God, your sanctification . . . —1 Thessalonians 4:3

One of my favorite teachers from PCB (now Philadelphia Biblical University) was the late Dr. John Cawood. “Doc” had a profound influence on my life over the years. Often we would hear him say, “If you want to know God’s will for your life, start by doing what God’s Word already tells you to be His will.

Oswald Chambers gives us one piece of the puzzle as He shares that your sanctification is the will of God:

Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30).

Beware of saying, “Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.” No, you are not. Recognize your need, but stop longing and make it a matter of action. Receive Jesus Christ to become sanctification for you by absolute, unquestioning faith, and the great miracle of the atonement of Jesus will become real in you.

All that Jesus made possible becomes mine through the free and loving gift of God on the basis of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound, humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness). It is a holiness based on agonizing repentance, a sense of inexpressible shame and degradation, and also on the amazing realization that the love of God demonstrated itself to me while I cared nothing about Him (see Romans 5:8). He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul said that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one with God, and it is accomplished only through the magnificent atonement of Christ. Never confuse the effect with the cause. The effect in me is obedience, service, and prayer, and is the outcome of inexpressible thanks and adoration for the miraculous sanctification that has been brought about in me because of the atonement through the Cross of Christ.

I trust you will be encouraged today – God DOES have a plan for your life! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 21; Isaiah 62-64; 1 Timothy 1

Dig This Quote: When we really are living close to God we know the reality of the Spirit's guiding. When our spiritual life grows dim we do not appreciate His guidance so much. It is not, I think, that He ceases to guide. Rather we cease to be in a condition to apprehend His guidance. But the guidance is very real. There is the alternative danger of interpreting our own feelings and opinions as the Spirit's guidance. Our best defense against this temptation is a real humility joined with a genuine readiness to hear and obey the Spirit. Leon Morris

Determined Digging: Level 1: John 1:12-13; Level 2: Proverbs 4:20-27

Determined Praying: Work as if everything depended upon work and pray as if everything depended upon prayer. William Booth