|
understand His will far more than we want to understand it. He always makes His will clear to those who seek it with an obedient heart. Most of the real problem areas in the question of God's will are settled for us in Scripture." So, what does Scripture tell us about seeking God's will for our lives? According to noted Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke, "There are no examples of explicitly seeking or finding God's will after Acts 1:24-26, in which the disciples drew lots to select Matthias as a replacement for Judas. There are dreams, visions, and revelations after this, but never in the context of explicitly seeking God's will. From this point onward it is not divination (seeking to probe the divine mind) but revelation given by God to His people. After Pentecost there is no instance of the church seeking God's will through any of the forms of divination… The problem of using divination today is that the techniques Christians use, like promise boxes and seeking signs are not examples offered to those living under the New Covenant. So when a believer is told to "not take a job until you have God's mind," I think he may be led astray. His faulty logic and faulty exegesis cause him to believe in divination, but there is no such biblical example to follow for Christians." [2] Nowhere in the New Testament does God tell His followers to "seek his will." Christians are commanded to seek His kingdom and do His will. The means God used to reveal His will before Pentecost is not normative for the church today. According to Waltke, "God does not administer His church in the same way He administered old Israel. He administered old Israel by the Mosaic Law, but we are no longer administered by that law. He administers us by the Spirit, not the Law, and this changed at Pentecost."
God operates differently today because we are under grace, not under the Law. "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14). Born again Christians are controlled by the Spirit of God. Through the work of the Holy Spirit in us, we know how to tell right from wrong. Hebrews 8:10 says, "I will put my law into their minds, and write them on their hearts." As I stated in Part 1, God speaks to us through the pages of Scripture. "For all our talk about sola Scriptura," says Greg Koukl, "many also hold that God speaks to them on a regular basis giving true information about Himself and specific directions for their lives. Their claim is, essentially, 'I believe the Bible is a bona fide source of information and the Spirit also gives private information directly to me.' The second step frequently follows the first: The personal, subjective sense of what a person thinks God is telling him trumps the objective Scripture." Koukl makes an important point. Should what we hear in our mind take precedence over what Scripture says? Christians will often toss out the phrase, "God told me" that they should do this or that. Or "I felt led," or "I sensed that God wanted me to___" You fill in the blank. Televangelists, who pretend to have a direct pipeline to God, prance around in front of the TV camera, claiming to hear "word from the Lord." At the risk of sounding negative or divisive, most televangelists teach outright heresy (I can prove it), so why would God speak to them at all? Frauds should not expect to hear from God; they should expect to be rebuked by God. But I digress. Here's an example of divining God's will. Loretta wanted to change jobs so she prayed for guidance. When God didn't answer immediately she experienced doubts and anxiety. Maybe she should stay at her current job. After being in limbo for a weeks, someone mentioned a company that was hiring and thought Loretta would be the perfect candidate. A sign from God, perhaps? Loretta applied and landed an interview. The interview went well and she knew it would be a good fit. Loretta really wanted the job, yet she felt uncertain about accepting it, as she still hadn't heard from God. Frustrated, Loretta decided to lay out a fleece. If the company offered her the job, with a raise in salary to boot, she'd know for certain it was God's will. Eventually the company extended an offer, which included an increase in salary--and a private office! There was no doubt in her mind that God had spoken. The fact that she had gotten everything she prayed about--and more--was the confirmation she was waiting for. Loretta also felt a peace about it. Loretta believed she had received a confirmation from God, and she felt a peace about it, yet in the end she turned the job down. The reason? The 30-minute commute didn't appeal to her. Does Loretta's decision mean she's out of Next page
Prints 1 page at a time Home | Email | Up Page 3
|
|