SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/21/2020 11:01 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-3
“Right Understanding of God’s Will”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
6:10b
Message of the verse: “Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.”
In
our last SD we were talking about giving out three distinct aspects of God’s
will as He reveals it to us in His Word, and I promised that we would look at
them in this SD.
John
MacArthur describes these as he writes “First, it is what may be called His
will or purpose—the vast, comprehensive, and tolerating will of God expressed
in the unfolding of His sovereign plan that embodies all of the universe,
including heaven, hell and the earth.
This is God’s ultimate will, of which Isaiah wrote, ‘The Lord of hosts
has sworn saying ‘Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just
as I have planned so it will stand’’ (Isa. 14:24; cf. Jer. 51:29; Rom. 8:28;
Eph. 1:9-11; etc.). This is the will of
God that allows sin to run its course and Satan to have his way for a
season. But in God’s appointed time
sin’s course and Satan’s way will end exactly according to God’s plan and
foreknowledge.” I will at this time
quote these verses that are in the parentheses. 1) Jer. 51:29 “So the land
quakes and writhes, For the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand, To make
the land of Babylon A desolation without inhabitants.” 2) Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes
all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are
called according to His purpose.”
3) Ephesians 1:9-11 “9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His
kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration
suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all
things in Christ, things
in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained
an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the
counsel of His will.”
Now
I will quote from “Jesus’ Pattern of Prayer” “How do we pray in accord with His
will of purpose? By joyously getting
involved in the anticipation of the accomplishment of His divine ends.” That’s a great way to pray; ‘Lord, I know
someday You’re going to call out Your church, and You’re going to bring back
Jesus Christ to take us to be with Him.
May it be, Lord, may it be.
“It’s
going to happen—it’s inevitable (expected).
He thought it, He purposed it, it’s in the plan.
“Do
you ever get tired of the anxiety of this world? Do you ever long for the day when you know
the freedom of the sons of God, when you are like Christ, and you can dwell in
the eternal glory with Him? I do. And so sometimes I will pray, ‘Lord, I know you’re
going to do it, and I just want to let You know You’ve got my vote. Go ahead, do it. The sooner the better.’ That’s praying according to God’s
comprehensive will.”
Now
we want to move onto the second distinct aspect of God’s will as we again quote
from MacArthur’s commentary. “Second, is
what may be called God’s will of desire.
This is within His will of purpose and completely consistent with
it. But it is more specific and
focused. Unlike God’s will of purpose,
His will of desire is not always fulfilled; in fact, it is very unfulfilled in
comparison to Satan’s will in this present age.” In his book we have been quoting what he
entitles this “God’s compassionate will,” and we will take a look at that in a
moment.
“Jesus
greatly desired that Jerusalem be saved, and He prayed, preached, healed, and
ministered among its people to that end.
But few believed in Him; most rejected Him, and some even crucified
Him. ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,’ He
prayed. ‘I wanted to gather your
children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you
would not have it!’’ (Luke 13:34). That was the repeated experience of God’s
Son, who came to earth that men might have life, and have it more
abundantly. Like the unbelieving Jews in
Jerusalem, most people were not willing to come to Jesus for that abundant life
(John 5:40; cf. 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9).
Now
from his book as he writes about God’s compassionate will, a name that means
much to me as I have studied this prayer.
“Included in this are the things that God wills that don’t always
happen; they are His desires, but men may reject them… You remember that Jesus
wept, but do you know that in Jeremiah 13:17 God says that when He must judge
sinners, ‘Mine eyes…run down with tears?’
“Peter
says He is not willing that any should perish, ‘but that all should come to
repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
“That
is the heart’s desire of God, and yet many will say in that last day, ‘Lord,
Lord,’ and He will respond, ‘Depart from me, I never knew you’ (Matthew
7:22-23). He desires all to be saved,
but not all will be. That’s the
mysterious paradox of an absolutely sovereign God’s allowing man his own
volition.”
I
think it best to do the last point in our next SD as we have not actually
covered much in words, but the words that were written have some deep meaning
that we need to think about.
11/21/2020 11:34 AM
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