I had the opportunity to share what God has been teaching me lately with the students last week during our morning devotions. Every day one of the students shares a short devotion after breakfast. Chris and I were each able to share during this time to start things off…
Many times in my life I’ve wondered what God’s will was for me. Each season presents a new opportunity to ask myself- “What is God’s will for my future?” After high school?
I went to the Torchbearers Bible School in New Zealand, and then wondered, “What university should I go to?” And what major should I choose? What job? Is it God’s will for me to marry this person? What is God’s will for our future together?
We are still asking this question- what is God’s will for us this coming January?
As a normal Christian this question comes up a lot, “What is God’s will for my life?!”
God has been convicting my heart lately and showing me that there are many areas of His will that He has made clear in His Word, and that I should be more concerned about these areas of His will than the unknown future. I should be more concerned with what he has made clear, then that which is still a mystery. Because it applies to today, it applies right now in this moment. I’m often so concerned with the future that I’ve missed God’s will for right now.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 it says, “Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
So God’s will for me is to be joyful always, to pray continually, and to give thanks in ALL circumstances. What business do I have asking God what His will is for three months from now, when I have completely ignored His will for right now?
If I refuse to be joyful always, to pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances- I have completely rejected God’s will for my life- and what job I have, where I live, and what I do, doesn’t really matter. Because even when I do marry the person ‘God will’s for me’, or get the job He has for me… I am still not living out God’s will for each of the moments that make up my life in that relationship or in that job. I could be ‘in God’s will,’ but not acting according to His will at all.
God has been showing me that as I focused on the big areas where I wanted Him to reveal His will, the big questions, the big decisions, I have been missing the joy that comes as I obey and seek His will in the moment by moment.
To give thanks in all circumstances, this is a hard thing to do.
As I look back in my life I can see many times where I have sought and followed what God’s will was for me in big decisions, maybe I followed God’s will by going to Bible school, in choosing a College, a husband, even being here now— but in small moments, can I say I was joyful always, and giving thanks in all circumstances?
I am ashamed as I look back on my life, and I see times when I had SO much to be thankful for, and I didn’t thank God, and then other times when life was really hard and I couldn’t find a way to thank Him, to be joyful.
Growing up I was very blessed- I had a wonderful family and all my basic needs were met. What a privilege it is to grow up in the country I did, and for my parents to be Christians. I had much more growing up than a lot of people in the world have.
Isn’t it amazing that we can have SO much, and still forget to be grateful, that our lives can be filled with privileges and blessings that many people in the world don’t experience, and yet somehow we aren’t very grateful people?
So I often forgot to thank God for all that I had.
Then there were really difficult times. In recent years Chris and I have gone through some difficult trials. And when things were painful it was really hard to have joy, to thank God.
But this is God’s will for my life. To give thanks in all circumstances.
One year ago I was given a book called ‘One thousand Gifts.’ In this book the author was challenged to make a list of 1,000 things she was grateful for.
As I read this book, I began to make a list of my own and I began to count all the ways God loves me, all the ways He is showing me His love and grace, thanking Him specifically for these gifts He has given me. And as I did I was reminded that I have SO much more than I deserve. I am not entitled to privilege, comfort, wealth, or health.
And God has given me the GREATEST gift I could ever ask for. God loved me enough to send His son to take my place on the cross and die for me, and now has given me His life. This is the greatest act of Grace that has ever been done. How can I ask for more? Anything more I receive in this life is purely God’s grace.
So as I look back I can count on my list all the many wonderful things God has given me, and I cultivate a heart of gratitude as I treasure more and more the GREATEST GIFT I have been given. And I’ve started to see how God was there, giving us grace even in the hard times in the past. But I still find it so hard in the moment to thank God for pain, for trials. How do I thank Him for those ‘gifts?’
If I cannot say thank you, then I refuse God in that moment, I refuse His love and His grace- I refuse His will for my life, and surrender any possibility of ever experiencing joy. But how can I do this? It still seems impossible to thank God for hard things.
I’m afraid my heart is too sick, too selfish, and too near-sighted often, and I am upset, stressed and angry when things are hard. How can I thank God?
And Then I look again to Jesus. He had to say ‘Thy will be done’ in His own life. And on the night He was betrayed He broke bread, and He GAVE THANKS, and then He went to the cross and died for me. Then He gave me HIS LIFE. In Christ, His life in me, I can thank God for even hard things because Jesus gave thanks and did the hardest thing, and went to the cross for me. His strength, His life is now in me, is available to me.
How do I live in His life? Now I’m beginning to see how to ‘pray continually’ is the key that fits in with joy, and thankfulness… when I speak with God continually He gives me His strength, reminds me of this life, Christ in me. He gives me His perspective, He gives me His Truth, His strength – in Jesus, and I am able to, by faith, walk in His will.
Christ has given me the ultimate gift, and will also be the strength in me to continue to receive with thanks each of the gifts God gives me in this life. Christ is here teaching me to give thanks in all circumstances- for this is God’s will for my life.
The Mainlands 