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Knowing the Will of God

You ask me, how do I know your will? You want to know if what you’re praying is what I want too. I hear your cries for help. And first, let me say that I don’t want you to hold back on your talking to me. Don’t try to guess what it is I would ever want you to say. I know your thoughts, you know. I know your heart. I know what you really want, and what you think you want. And if you try to hold back on your real emotion, and not let your heart be transparent with me—engage in a conversation with me about how you are really struggling—then your trust of me is very small.

But if you want to know what I already think about something, a topic, in general, my Word written down in the Scriptures is where you want to go. But I also speak to you now. In conversations we have face to face, heart to heart. And for you to know it is me speaking, you will know by what I say, by what your heart knows. For your heart who knows me, is true. Your spirit, made to align with me, knows. So to know what I say to you and what my heart desires for you is to be confident, first, in my love for you. It always starts there. Any prayer I answer is because of my love for you. And I answer every prayer. I am with you in all moments when you talk to me.

Now sometimes you want to know, in your prayers, whether you should do this thing or that. You want to know about what I think about a choice you have in front of you. Sometimes it is about a relationship. Or a job. Sometimes it is about an opportunity to go forward, or to turn around and rest.

I bring wisdom, dear one. And I bring love. I bring hope. And I bring light. I bring strength. And I bring joy. I bring freedom. And I bring Jesus. I am your God, your Father, your rock. I am the one who pursues, who loves, who protects, who gives you all you need and more.

Stay resilient now, son, daughter. Do not fear about praying the wrong thing. And do not fear about hearing the wrong thing from me. Pray from your heart. Pray from your heart aligned with mine. Look into my face, Pursue my truth. Trust that I speak to you. Trust that your prayers to me are just one side of the conversation. And listen for my voice in your heart, as I speak to you, in thoughts, or ideas, in situations or other people who know and love me.

Cry out to me, and I will hear you. Turn your gaze to me, and I am looking back. Respond to where I guide you and know that I am with you. Do all things in my love. Know you are protected in my love. Let all your prayers be in alignment with my love. Start each prayer knowing to whom it is you are speaking. Remember how I come for you, how you are held here, how you are not alone, how, even in your desperation, your darkest moments, your frustration about what to do, about whether or not you should take action, you need not fear. Just stay close to me. For when you are close to me, not just in deeds, but in how your heart is connected with mine, you can trust how your ideas, your choices, are what I have had for you all along.

So get to know me more. Spend time with me more. If it is just to know my will for you, that’s okay. We can start there. But I think that when you spend time with me, you’ll worry less about what the next step is, the right or wrong choice, the correct or incorrect decision. Rather, you’ll be naturally letting me direct you, step by step, only because you are tracking where my own feet land. And you follow.

Exercise:

It’s a good and valid desire to want to know God’s will for our lives. A job decision is looming and we wonder what to do; a relationship is hard and we want to know how to respond. A family member is hurting and we wonder how we can help. So we call out to God, asking Him for guidance, for wisdom. We want His direction; we want to know what to do.

But it can feel isolating—and frustrating—when it feels like we hear nothing in response. Even King David, a man of God’s own heart, wondered whether God heard his prayers. He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. That’s from Psalm 22 .

But John the Apostle reminds us, no matter how we feel in a given moment, we can be quite confident in approaching God with our prayers because He is, indeed, listening: “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” That’s from 1 John chapter 5.

John’s words are super encouraging and comforting, but they beg this question: how do we know if what we ask in prayer is in accordance with God’s will?

Okay. Let’s back up a bit. Holy Spirit just told us this: “If you want to know what I already think about something, a topic, in general, my Word written down in the Scriptures is where you want to go. But I also speak to you now. In conversations we have face to face, heart to heart . . . I answer every prayer. I am with you in all moments when you talk to me.”

So, maybe, when we’ve cried out to God and it feels like we aren’t getting a response, maybe we need to shift course and ask ourselves some tough questions: like, could it be that we actually want wisdom, more than we want a relationship? Could it be that we actually want answers, more than we want a conversation?

There’s an ancient Jewish blessing that goes like this, "May you always be covered with the dust of your rabbi." The blessing recognized that physical proximity was an external reflection of the inner zeal students had (or didn’t have) for their rabbis’ leadership and teaching. So, if students were committed and walking closely, they’d naturally encounter the dust kicked up, as their rabbis walked ahead.

Think about the relationships the disciples had with Jesus. They ate with Him; they traveled with Him; they slept next to Him. They heard Him talk; they heard Him talk to His Heavenly Father. They saw Him get baptized. They saw Him get hungry and thirsty and tired. They saw him well-rested and full of energy. They saw Him get frustrated and angry and sad. They knew the sound of His laughter. They knew the look in His eyes when He was joking, and perhaps the furrow of His brow when He was earnest. They knew His heart. He was their teacher, their brother, their king, and their friend. They knew him; they knew, naturally, the alignment of His heart. They knew, naturally, his opinions on lots of things—because of the kind of relationship they shared.

Now, I’m not saying the disciples had all the answers. They struggled with decisions and and tough questions and circumstances, just like we do. But I imagine they could be fairly confident about what Jesus might think about most given issues. Because, again, they knew Him. They’d spent countless hours with Him—Him pouring wisdom and love into their hearts.

And Holy Spirit invites us into that kind of intimacy with Jesus too. He said, “Look into my face, Pursue my truth. Trust that I speak to you. Trust that your prayers to me are just one side of the conversation. And listen for my voice in your heart, as I speak to you, in thoughts, or ideas, in situations or other people who know and love Me.”

Friend, you can know Him. You can walk with Him, every day. You can sit at His feet and let His many words work in the deepest places in your heart.

And this, precisely this, is how we get more aligned with the will of God.

So, let’s ask Holy Spirit to give you a picture of what it would look like for you—personally, uniquely—in the rhythm of an ordinary day, to begin to be covered with the dust of Jesus.

Holy Spirit, I want to be better aligned with Jesus’ heart and will. I want to want what He wants. I want to think how He thinks. So, I surrender all my questions, all my requests for wisdom, and I just ask You to give me a picture now of what is looks like to sit at Jesus’ feet, to be in His presence, to hear His laugh, and to receive his teaching. Show me what it looks like for me to begin to love Him more; to share with Him more; to know Him more.

I consecrate my mind and my imagination to You.

Amen.

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