"Positioning Ourselves for the Will of God"

By Mark Brazee

In Ephesians the 4th chapter Paul speaks about gifts and callings, "...When (Jesus) ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men...And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry..." (Verses 4:8, 11-12). Many times we teach about gifts and callings from the standpoint of the fivefold ministry. But many scriptures have a twofold purpose. Let's look at these verses in the light of each Christian walking in his or her calling, being a gift to the Body of Christ, walking in the grace that God has prepared for each one.

Paul exhorts in Romans 12:1, "I beseech you therefore, brethren...." Notice, Paul is writing to the brethren, or we could say he is speaking to the Body of Christ: believers, saints, Christians. There is a purpose for the fivefold ministry-and that is for the perfecting of the saints to do the work of the ministry; however, not everyone is in the fivefold ministry. But there is a purpose for all Christians; these are instructions for every believer. Verses 5-6 state, "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us...." The minute we are born again, we are placed into the Body of Christ, and God has a specific will and a plan for our lives. Every member has a place and a grace and it is vital for each member to find our place.

Romans 11:29 talks about gifts and callings, and the next chapter continues on that same subject. But right in the middle of those verses, the scriptures show certain things that can be done to prepare ourselves or put ourselves into a position to find what God wants us to be doing. Romans 12:1 states, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service," or The Amplified Bible says, "...which is your...spiritual worship," or which is the least you can do. In the light of all that God has done, the very least we can do is say, "God, I have plans for my life, places I want to go. But because you have done so much for me, you had Jesus go to the cross for me, and you raised Him from the dead for me, you saved me, brought me into your family-the very least I can do is give you my life. Not my will but your will. I'll go where you want me to go, do what you want me to do. I don't belong to myself, my life belongs to you." That is called consecration-we present our bodies a living sacrifice.

It can be difficult to find the will of God until we are willing to hear the will of God. In other words, the best way to find the will of God is to position ourselves to hear His voice and not argue with Him when we hear the plan. Philippians 2:5-8 shows us the best example. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,

and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." It wasn't an exciting thing for Jesus to lay down His life, to take the sin, iniquity, sickness and disease of mankind upon Himself. He recoiled from that like anyone would. He said, "...O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew

26:39). Jesus was willing to take His plans, His will, lay them aside and say "Father, whatever your will is, I'll do it." That is what we call consecration.

When we are looking for the will of God, first we present our bodies a living sacrifice: be willing to do whatever, whenever. Secondly, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..." (Romans 12:2). God is looking for transformed lives! The only thing that will change our thinking is God's Word. Start feeding on the Word more than ever before. The Word renews our minds so we think like God thinks. The more we need to hear from God, the more important it is to feed on the Word of God.

"...Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove (or prove out, or walk in) what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Some people have different theories on the will of God. I've heard people say, "God has one will, and you are either in it or out of it!" But I believe there are degrees of the will of God: good will, acceptable will and perfect will. If we are saved and going to heaven, we are in the good will of God. But suppose we're saved, but very self-willed. We might say, "I know what I'm supposed to do, but I've decided I'm not going to do it. I'll do this other thing." Or we might say, "I know God has called me to the ministry, but I'm going to do it the way I want to do it." We've reached the acceptable will of God. But why not be saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, doing what God has called us to do, in the place He called us to, saying "God, you are smarter than I am. I want your will and your plan for my life." Why be in the good will, or the acceptable will of God when we can be in the perfect will of God? There is such a grace and peace knowing we are where we are supposed to be, doing what we are supposed to do.

We must present our bodies a living sacrifice, then feed on the Word. Locate the thoughts and intents of our hearts and make sure we're not disagreeing with the Bible. It's hard to disagree with God and receive His blessings. Amos 3:3 says, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" So we don't present our bodies, feed on the Word and then walk around saying, "I don't know what to do. God never talks to me. I never hear from heaven. I just don't know the will of God." Ephesians 5:17 declares, "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." In Psalm 37:4 the scripture states, "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Jesus said, "My sheep know my voice and the voice of a stranger they will not follow" (John 10:4-5, author's paraphrase).

Remember there is to be no fear or condemnation in our walk with Jesus. We must have a confidence that God is God! He's our Creator, our Redeemer, our Savior! God doesn't say, "Go find your place. I'm going to hide it, you seek it." He wants us to find that which He has prepared for us. He put the Spirit of God inside us who knows the end from the beginning. The Holy Ghost knows every step we ought to take and God said He would guide our steps. He's our Leader!

So we present our bodies, renew our minds with the Word of God and agree with God's will by saying, "Thank God I know the will of God. I'm His sheep, I know His voice. He's working in me both to will and to do of His good pleasure." As we consecrate our lives, renew our minds with the Word of God, and follow His direction, we will truly walk out the perfect will of God!

Offense

by Janet Brazee

Each and every one of us has a race to run. It is important that we find our race and run that race, whether it's locally, nationally, or internationally. It is important that we not get side tracked, or take a turn when we are supposed to go straight. One way we stay on course is to guard our heart, walk in love, and not ever allow offense to come near us.

God is positioning us, getting us ready for the rain-the greatest move of God this earth has ever seen. But we can't think that the enemy is just going to sit back and do nothing to try to stop us. The Word of God says in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that we are not to be ignorant of the devil's

devices. Once we know his devices, his plot is exposed and rendered useless. One of his main devices is that of offense.

Offense or to offend means: to create resentment, to create anger, to hurt the feelings of, or to be insulted. In Carolyn Savelle's book, Conquering the Spirit of Offense, she makes this statement, "Offense is like a bait in a trap set by the enemy to keep us from reaching our highest potential in God." We are living in important days-the last days-and the enemy would endeavor to get us out of our place and out of our race. But the decision is ours. Offense will come our direction so the question is not what will we do if it comes, but rather what will we do when it comes? Jesus said in Matthew 24:10, "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another." That's pretty strong! Jesus said that in the last days many shall be offended. We have to make a decision that we are not going to be one of those who are offended. To be or not to be offended-that is the question.

The apostle Paul said in Acts 24:16, "And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men." Paul said, "...herein do I exercise myself...." That word "exercise" tells me that the apostle Paul knew that it was going to take work and putting forth of effort to walk free from offense.

Paul went on to say that he had to work at not being offended-toward God and toward men. Did you know it is possible to be offended toward God? Often God is blamed for the work of the enemy and people become offended at God. But God is not our problem or the originator of our problems. He is for us-not against us! Therefore knowing the truth can set us free in this area of offense. Paul also spoke about offense toward men. There will be situations arise where we have to put forth a conscious effort to not be offended by saying, "I will not let that offend me."

Psalms 110:165 says, "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them." If we'll make a decision to not be offended in any situation, we will stay in our place, run our race, and finish our course with joy!

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Ultimo aggiornamento: 03-08-06