Delighting In God's Will

DELIGHTING IN GOD’S WILL

This week we are traveling with 49 Keswick partners to beautiful Florida. The devotionals this week are from our daily devotional, REAL VICTORY FOR REAL LIFE. – Bill Welte is President & CEO of America’s Keswick

“…I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b RSV) “I delight to do thy will, O my God;” (Psalm 40:8 RSV)

            We all live—most of us do not wish to die—and yet, there is no driving desire to go on living either!  We rise in the morning, accepting of the new day.  We do not dread the day, but neither do we relish it with a sense of anticipation.  The new day is part duty, part chore, and mostly routine—there is no joyous bounding into the day.  The day, and any opportunity it may hold, is not a delight to us— we embark on the new day with resignation.  Something is wrong.  Many go on in this way for years, having settled for a quality of “life” that is far below that which is possible for the believer.

We do not doubt that God is there, or that He loves us.  It isn’t a crisis of faith (theologically), and yet it is a crisis… a quiet and prolonged crisis.  In our best moments we are very aware that this “wilderness experience” is hardly the “life more abundant” that Jesus came to give!  In our heart we know we must enter more fully into this gift of life, and that something is dreadfully wrong.  For me, a deep breath of spring air is enough to remind me of what has been lost from my childhood— there was joy and anticipation in those days.  What is the answer?  How do we get this quality of life that Jesus speaks of?

For the child of God, abundant life comes only when we are obedient to the will of God— David said “I delight to do thy will O my God.”  And delight is just the missing ingredient for many of us.  There is a delight that comes when we are obedient to the light that we have.  Simple obedience can turn a life of plodding resignation into a life that is a daily delight!  Begin to read God’s Word again with a single eye towards obedience.  Then, go into the day with an obedient child-like heart, and let’s see what God does! -- Peter Cardillo serves on the full-time staff of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Deuteronomy 16-18; Proverbs 12; Mark 13:1-20

Motivations: I do not believe anyone ever yet humbly, genuinely, thoroughly gave himself to Christ without some other finding Christ through him. Phillips Brooks

Practice to Remember: Level 1: Ephesians 4:1; Level 2: Ephesians 3:14-21

Powered Up:  Many of us have discovered that true prayer begins where we can begin to say with Jesus, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” That should not mean mere resignation to fate, it should mean cooperation with the will of God. Sam Shoemaker