The Will of God


Jesus was sent to the earth by God the Father; He came to do the will of the Father.   John 5:30 “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”  He restated His purpose in John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  When Jesus approached His crucifixion, His will was different from the will of the Father.  He did not want to go through the pain and anguish that was before Him; He did not want to have to bear the sins of the world upon Himself; He did not want to die upon the cross.  So He prayed to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane and asked that this all could be taken away.  Luke 22:41-42 “He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’” Jesus did not want to go through the death upon the cross, but He wanted more to do the will of the Father.  Hebrews 5:7-9 “Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.  And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”  Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Jesus came to the earth to do the will of the Father; He completely did His will, to include dying on the cross.

Just as Jesus came to do the will of the Father, you and I are also to do the will of the Father.  Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”  If we do the will of the Father, we will enter the kingdom of heaven.  Otherwise, we will be rejected.  I want you to understand what the will of the Lord is for your life.   Ephesians 5:15-17 “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”  I believe the following scripture gives a general description of the will of God for you.  1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.  For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.  Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.”  I encourage you to seek to know the full will of God for you.

It should be your desire to cease from sin, from the lusts of men, and live to do the will of God.  1 Peter 4:1-4 “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.  For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles — when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.”  We each have spent enough of our past lifetime doing our own will.  Now we should have the same mind as Christ and desire to do the will of God.

The Bible gives us a description of the kind of life that is according to the will of God.  That is one reason why we should each read and study the Bible – to discover that will of God.  But sometimes God has specific things that He wants a person to do.  For example, Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus and chose him to be a main spokesman to the gentiles (Acts 9:3-19).  You and I are not likely to see a blinding bright light and hear the voice of Jesus telling us what to do.  But you may be given opportunities and spiritual leadings of things that are the will of God for you to do. Don’t ignore these.  Listen to the Holy Spirit within you and do His will. 

Doing the will of God has benefits, to include eternal life.  1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

I encourage you to seek to know and follow the will of God for your life.  As Jesus did, yield your will to His will, whether that includes the kind of life you live or whether it includes the specific things He wants you to do.  Hebrews 10:36 “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.”


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