What is God's will for me?

What is God’s will for me?

John 17:1-26 Robert Pitts – 7/16/2011 Upper Springs Ministries.org

Read John 17:1-26 This will be our base text, however, we will not go verse by verse.

This is truly the “Lord‟s Prayer”. Jesus is praying to His Father in Heaven for His disciples then, as well as for his disciples now..

In the article, “Struggling Christians”, we saw that most Christians seems to go through life chasing the “Elusive Will of God”, so now Let us see what the will of God is for us.

It is God‟s will that you be saved and have eternal life John 17:3 - "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

The word know is the Greek word “ginosko” It means to have of knowledge that is grounded on personal experience It does not mean to have intellectual or head knowledge only, but to have intimate heart knowledge.

This intimate heart knowledge begins with knowing why God the Father, sent His Son, Jesus Christ to live as a man.

Matthew 1:21 -"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."

2 Corinthians 5:21 - For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Hebrews 2:14-15 - Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, (15) and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Philippians 2:10 - that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,

Colossians 2:13-15 - And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, (14) having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (15)Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Christ has done everything for us to be saved.

Salvation begins with Christ and it ends in Christ.

Salvation is by faith alone, not by works.

However, we are saved for good works.

Many religious folks today are looking for the Lord to jerk them out of this world and all the trials and tribulations, but Jesus had a different idea.

John 17:15 - "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.

Jesus asked the Father to keep us.

John 17:11 - "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.

Jesus has all power and authority in heaven on earth and under the earth.

What Jesus wants, Jesus gets!

Any Bridegroom desires to be with his bride.

So what is Jesus waiting for?

Galatians 4:4 - But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

God has an appointed time for everything.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 - To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: So what is Godâ€&#x;s purpose and will in delaying Christâ€&#x;s return?

There are many reasons, so we will look at a few.

2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

The Lord knows that some people of the world will perish, but He desires that none of His children will.

The Holy Spirit is always leading us to repentance.

It is through the repentance of our sin that we can be sanctified.

1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Our English word sanctify is the Greek word “hagiazo�.

It means to make holy, to consecrate, to dedicate, to be separate, and set be set apart for God. The Lord does all this for us as we obey Him

In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, we find that God has called us to holiness.

In verse 3 we find, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification:” Yes, I know I left off part of the verse, because we are not dealing with sexual immorality, but instead we are dealing with God‟s will for us to be sanctified.

In verse 7 we find, “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.”

How does God make us holy and sanctified?

Ephesians 5:25-27 - Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church He and gave Himself for her, (26) that might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, (27) that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.Hebrews 10:10 - By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

It is also God‟s will that we love one another.

John 15:12 - "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

John 13:35 - "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

1 John 4:19 -"We love Him because He first loved us.”

Because God loved us, we are able to love Him, thus we can: Love our fellow Christians Love the lost people in the world Keep His commandments Become all that He wants us to be

John 1:12 - "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (power) to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:�

In John 17:18 & 20, we find that we are to be missionaries Verse 18 - "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

Verse 20 - "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; In Matthew 28:18-20 — we are told “As you go make disciples”.

In Mark 16:15-18 — we are told to go forth with power.

In John 17:21 & 23, we find that we are to be one with each other and with Christ.

Jeremiah 32:39 - then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.

1 Corinthians 12:20 - But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.

Romans 12:5 - so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

The Lord promised He would do this in Jeremiah and in Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 11:19-20 - "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, Galatians 3:28-29 -" There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (29) And if you are Christâ€&#x;s, then you are Abrahamâ€&#x;s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

If we want to know God‟s will, then we must obey Him, to obey Him is to love Him. 1 John 5:3 - “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”

Obedience to God‟s Word is not an option.

Luke 6:46 - "But why do you call Me „Lord, Lord,‟ and do not do the things which I say?”

It is God‟s will that we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.