How to Walk in the Will of God
The will of God provides all I need, want, or desire. God has promised to restore us. He promised to reward us. He outlined how He will complete us. My part involves simply living in His Will and walking each step according to His will.
I say simply, because it is simple. All I have to do is just do it. But even though we are to be in this world but not of it, I sure manage to let the world get in the way quite a lot!
The key to His abundant life lies in knowing, understanding, embracing, and living in God’s will for my life. My works, performed purposefully and intentionally, fulfill what He shows me of His will.
I have a part. God has the promise. Both are necessary for me to get there.
If God’s promises never fail, and if I’m not dwelling in the midst of His promises, then what is off balance in my life?
Discovering What Is Off Balance
If something is not right about where I am then the problem is never with God. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The problem comes if I am the same as yesterday. I can’t get to where I want to be and stay where I am.
If I stay where I am then I stay as I am – or worse, I slip even farther behind.
I need to discover what is holding up my walk if I am going to walk out the Will of God.
Review the promises
What are the promises of God? According to some theologians, there are over 8,000 promises of God in Scripture. That works out to about one promise every 123 words. I did the math three times because I didn’t believe it. Until this moment, I had no idea there were so many promises from God for my life.
Did you?
How can I live in promises I don’t even know existed?
My dad told the story about working at a hospital in California. He just started the job and had to make money stretch until the first paycheck came in. Every day, he went through the lunch line and ordered the same thing – a bean burrito – because it happened to be the least expensive. Every day, for two weeks, he had a bean burrito for lunch.
One day, he noticed the guy in front of him loading up his lunch tray with steak and the fixings. Payday still loomed over a week away. “How are you able to buy that?” Dad had to ask.
“I charge it to my next paycheck.”
It turned out that every employee could charge a meal to a future paycheck. Dad didn’t know, so he couldn’t take advantage of the perk.
Suffice it to say that Dad did not eat a bean burrito that day. To this day, he doesn’t like bean burritos.
Having promises from God but not knowing those promises keeps up eating bean burritos because we don’t know any better.
Want better? You have to know.
Review the expectations
Knowing something is essential to receiving. You can’t know what to expect if you don’t know what has been promised. Even after you understand the promises, you have to balance the expectations to the truth of those promises.
I mentioned before about my dad and his bean burrito experience. Once he found out about the process, he didn’t have to wait for payday to enjoy the benefits. However, if my dad had not continued to plan his lunch process based on the promised paycheck, he could have ended up in the hole.
Even though he didn’t need to eat the cheapest thing on the menu each day, he still had to balance what he did with the promise of his coming paycheck.
God’s promises are exceeding abundantly above all we can think or imagine but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t limits set in place for our benefit. If you received everything you ever wanted right now, how do you think you would feel?
Solomon had a heart so aligned with God that God literally gave Solomon everything. And yet, once he had it all, he began to pull away from the very God who had provided it all. After years of living in this world and conforming to this world, Solomon declared that it was all useless apart from God.
God promises to give us exceeding abundantly according to His Will – not because He wants to limit us, but because He wants to draw us closer to Him. The closer we are, the more He trusts us. To be a good and faithful steward we have to keep our expectations in balance with all the promises of God.
Review the results
Walking in the will of God requires action. You can’t walk and stay in place. When I find myself at the side of the river getting nothing but bread crumbs and bird poop, I need to evaluate (with honesty) the actions I’ve been taking.
I had a friend who wanted to run a local 5K. She planned the perfect training system. She thought about how she would do it and what it would be like. Imaging the run became a daily part of her meditation routine.
When the day came to run the 5K, she stood at the starting line ready to go. Shortly after the starter’s pistol fired, she stopped running. She couldn’t run another step. Despite all of her planning, and thinking, and meditation, she hadn’t actually run to prepare for the race. She didn’t get the result she wanted because she didn’t do what was necessary to get the result.
What are the results you are getting? Your actions determine your results. Do you need to take more action? Or maybe you need to do less of what is holding you back and more of what you know to do?
Weigh the will
God’s promises are ours for the taking – or for the living out. Willingness to walk in the Will of God is all that’s required.
My husband and I have read through In His Steps several times. Each time, it has a profound impact on our hearts. The people in the story dedicated one year to asking themselves “what would Jesus do” before making a decision in their walk. Some of them had to give up a lot. All of them had to risk a lot. Some gave up before getting started because they weren’t willing to do it.
The ones that gave up often gave up because it wasn’t something they wanted in the first place. If you don’t want the promises offered to you then you won’t have the will to do what needs to be done. If someone else TOLD you that you wanted it or told you what it was, you will still have the same struggle.
You have to know it for yourself, embrace it as your own, and then determine to walk it out above all else.
What are you willing to do, or not to do, in order to be positioned to live in the promises of God?
Over 8,000 promises are waiting for you right now. You are one step away from walking out the will of God for your life and living in the exceeding abundance He offers.
How do you get there?
Walking According to the Will of God
- Invested in the Word
- Invested in deeper study
- Invested in meditation
- Invested in sharing
Invested in the Word
You have to know it for yourself. The only way to know it is to encounter it. Encountering the Word of God requires picking up and reading the Bible. It’s truly that simple.
Read the Word first thing in the morning for five minutes.
Read four chapters of the Bible every day.
Follow a daily bible reading guide
How you do it matters way less than doing it. Find a way that works for your our share a way you have created to get the Word in your heart.
Invested in deeper study
Learn more. Dig deeper into what you’re reading or what you are hearing.
Do a word study – where you hone in on one particular word and use a concordance to find all the uses of that word and the meanings behind them.
Do a subject study – docs on a topic in Scripture.
Do a book study – break down the ideas and topics in one book of the Bible.
There are many studies out there or just jump in and start learning on your own.
Invested in meditation
Take time to pray about what you read and learn. Let it simmer in your heart and mind. Review and reread until you have a deeper understanding than when you began.
Invested in sharing
Meet with others on a regular basis to talk about what you are learning or have an organized study group. It will help hold you accountable to being invested in the Word and will offer you insight other than your own.
The great part about being invested in the Word is that there are no limits to how you can do it. Just make the investment to get it done.
Faith Building
You have to know God to trust God and you can only know Him by spending time with Him . Share on XIsaiah 57:13b
“He who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land and shall inherit My Holy mountain.”
To walk in the Will of God requires completely trusting in Him and you have to know Him to truly trust Him. Knowing comes from spending time with someone. How are you spending time with God?
Your Way to Walk in the Will of God
It is up to you. Only you can walk your path and it has to be done the way that was crafted specifically for you. The more you invest in knowing God, the more you will be able to see and understand your path. Once you grasp your path then you are positioned to walk boldly in the will of God for your life.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | RSS | More
