How may I find God's will for my life?
God has promised us that he watches over us as the apple of his eye. The angle is that when something touches the apple of our eyes; everything else stops. We must take care of our eyes. God is not like us, that he has to stop everything to take care of one problem at a time, but he is very attentive to our needs.
God did not create us to be a failure; we are
created in his image to be like him. The apostle
Paul made this statement "for me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain" Phil
1:21. We in this self-efficient age do not
understand what dying to self is all about. To
be like Christ we must "die daily", "It is God
which worketh in you both to will and
to do of his
good pleasure" Phil 2: 13. When
we die to self we have taken the big "I" off the
throne and put Christ on the throne of our
lives, then it becomes his responsibility to
lead us and direct our paths, even in the simple
things of life. "Trust in the Lord with all
thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct they paths." Proverbs
3:5-6. Remember nothing "touches you outside
the permissive will of God: Satan may have done
it, but God permitted it. We may go through
seasons of our lives with the question "Why" as
did Job, but God intends all that touches us to
drive us to our knees and ask God to shows us
what he intends to teach us in this experience.
In the struggles of life the Apostle Paul had
learned how he could relate to the Roman
Christians (please read Romans chapter 8 several
times) he knew how to be an overcomer "Nay, in
all these things we are move than conquerors through
him that loved us. " Roman's
8:37. Being in God's will is giving up of
our self and giving over to God. Then it becomes
"God that worketh in you both to will and then
do his will through you".
- THERE WAS THE "WITNESS TO THE SENSE OF SIGHT"
1."Were eye witnesses of his majesty" (V. 16).
2. Seeing is believing in many instances. Peter "saw" - THERE WAS THE "WITNESS TO THE SENSE OF HEARING"
1. "And this voice which came from heaven we heard" (V. 18). It seems God made every approach necessary to the reasonableness of man's intelligence. - THERE WAS THE "WITNESS TO THE CONSCIOUSNESS"
1. Man became a "partaker of the divine nature" (V. 4). Only those who have been born again can understand this statement. Nevertheless it is a satisfactory witness. - THERE WAS THE "WITNESS TO THE SOUL OF MAN"
1. "He received from God honor and glory" (V. 17). Man has never understood the "glory of God," but he has always been convinced by its presence --as on Mt. Sinai. and elsewhere.
2. The "glory of God" on the church does more to "convict" than all the preaching in the world. - THERE WAS THE "WITNESS OF DIVINE FELLOWSHIP"
1. "When we were 'WITH HIM' in the holy mount" (V. 18) - THERE WAS THE "WITNESS TO THE WILL IN HIS CALL"
1. "And hath called us" (V. 3). This is a mystery that only those who have received such can properly understand. But a surrender of the "will" to the voice of God is a satisfactory witness also. - THERE WAS THE "WITNESS TO THE MIND OF HIS SECOND COMING"
1. "But the day of the Lord will come" (V. 10)CONCLUSION: Christ's second coming was a dominant note with the early church, and should be in this our day and generation.
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Text: II Peter1:16
INTRODUCTION: The apostle endeavors to give a reason for his hope in Christ. He has not "followed cunningly devised fables." but has a "more sure word of prophecy."
NOTE PETER'S ASSURANCE: