Jesus said that we will know the truth about Himself only if we are willing to do His will, that is, if we allow ourselves to be changed by the truths we find in Scripture. He said, “If any man’s will is to do His will (that is, if he determines to do it), he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority” (John 7:17). We must not assume that we will be able fully to understand any passage of Scripture unless we are willing to be changed by it.
James Montgomery BoiceTaken from “Foundations of the Christian Faith-Book I” by James Montgomery Boice, page 97. (c) 1986 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the USA, Revised edition. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.ivpress.com http://www.gospelcom.net/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=991. Get this book!
We are responsible to obey the will of God, but that we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit for the enabling power to do it.
Trusting God, 1988, p. 197. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved. Get this book!
Obedience to the revealed will of God is often just as much a step of faith as claiming a promise from God.
Copied from The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, © 1996, p. 139. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved. Get this book!
Our duty is found in the revealed will of God in the Scriptures. Our trust must be in the sovereign will of God, as He works in the ordinary circumstances of our daily lives for out good and His glory.
Trusting God, 1988, p. 114. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved.
Where love is the compelling power, there is no sense of strain or conflict or bondage in doing what is right: the man or woman who is compelled by Jesus’ love and empowered by His Spirit does the will of God from the heart.
Paul – Apostle of the Heart Set Free, Eerdmans, 1977, www.eerdamns.com, p. 21. Get this book!
In the first garden “Not Your will but mine” [by Adam] changed Paradise to desert and brought man from Eden to Gethsemane. Now “Not My will but Yours” [by Jesus Christ] brings anguish to the Man who prays it but transforms the desert into the kingdom and brings man from Gethsemane to the gates of glory.
Matthew, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Zondervan, 1984, p. 545, www.zondervan.com. Get this book!
The end of life is not to do good, although many of us think so. It is not to win souls, although I once thought so. The end of life is to do the will of God whatever it may be.
“Should I or shouldn’t I?” is often, ultimately, a question of obedience as well as knowledge and understanding. Very often when young people say they are having problems about guidance, what they are really faced with is a problem about obedience. The issue at stake is whether we will walk along the paths of righteousness in which God will lead us. Are we willing to go through valleys of deep darkness, so long as He is with us?
Discovering God’s Will, By Permission of the Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA. 1991, p. 36.
You are to think of yourself as only existing in this world to do God’s will. To think that you are your own is as absurd as to think you are self-created. It is an obvious first principle that you belong completely to God.
There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way.”
God’s will may not be the perfection of the true believer’s life, but it is the direction of it.
Matthew 1-7, Moody, 1985, p. 479.
Christians are not left in the world by accident but are placed there on divine assignment from their Lord.
Taken from Matthew 8-15, by John MacArthur, Moody Publishers, © 1985, p. 377.
We are never losers from doing the will of the Lord.
The Autobiography of George Muller, 1984, p. 43. All quotations taken from books published by Whitaker House are used with permission of the publisher. Whitaker House books are available at Christian bookstores everywhere.
When the will of God crosses the will of man, somebody has to die (Addison Leitch).
What is necessary is that we have a renewed mind, that is so shaped and so governed by the revealed will of God in the Bible, that we see and assess all relevant factors with the mind of Christ, and discern what God is calling us to do.
Used by permission. What is the Will of God and How Do We Know It? www.DesiringGod.org.
So is this true in your life? Is your heart wholly and unhesitatingly surrendered to the will of God, no matter what it is? Are you underestimating God’s care for you, as if He doesn’t know what is best for you? Or are you overestimating your wisdom before God, as if you know better than He does what is best for your life?
Taken from Follow Me by David Platt. Copyright © 2013 by David Platt. Used by permission. Website: Radical.net. Page 131.
Realize that when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, there can be no holding back. Your will must hand God its letter of resignation. For unless you submit to God’s will in everything, you are not submitting to Him in anything. Think about it. If you only follow God’s will when it happens to correspond to your own will, then you never have to surrender at all. You are simply asking God to endorse your own agenda as often as He can. But if you want new life in Christ, you must adopt God’s agenda and throw away your own.
Your Will Be Done from When You Pray by Philip Graham Ryken, © 2000, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org, page 98.
We need to learn how wrong it is to think of prayer as a way of getting something from God. People often think of prayer as a way of talking God into doing what they want Him to do. This is what lies behind “name it and claim it” Christianity, the idea that I can influence God by offering the right kind of prayer. But that attitude ultimately leads to hell. As C. S. Lewis once observed, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it.” Besides, why would anyone want to change God’s mind? The Bible says that His will is “good, pleasing and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). Imagine what a mess our lives would be in if God always did what we wanted Him to do! For unlike God’s will, our own wills are evil, displeasing, and imperfect.
Your Will Be Done from When You Pray by Philip Graham Ryken, © 2000, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org, page 94.
A man is not far from the gates of heaven when he is fully submissive to the Lord’s will.
If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord’s will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel, insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.
C.H. Spurgeon
What God has eternally decreed shall occur may be the opposite of what He in Scripture says should or should not occur. It is important to keep in mind that our responsibility is to obey the revealed will of God and not to speculate on what is hidden. Only rarely, as in the case of predictive prophecy, does God reveal to us His decretive will.
Are There Two Wills in God? November 6, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.
To know the will of God is the greatest knowledge! To do the will of God is the greatest achievement!
We do not trust God to give us what we want. Rather, we trust Him to accomplish His redemptive plan and evidence that trust by doing His will in the situations of our lives.
From Famine to Fullness, P&R Publishing, 2007, p. 79. Used by Permission.
