When God's Will is not My Will

Have you ever been certain that a direction or answer was God’s will, but found out it was your will but not His will? I have. After several years of farming on the dairy farm I grew up on, I was certain that God was directing my wife and I to purchase a farm elsewhere. God was bringing a change into our lives, but it was a move to ministry and not farming elsewhere. My certainty was wrong and a lot of unnecessary frustration could have been avoided if I was pursuing God’s will, not mine.

What can you and I do that will help us pursue God’s will in our lives?

A prayer from Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) who was an Italian Dominican priest best known for his Summa Theological  can be helpful. Some of the words have been edited from 11th century language.

“O most merciful Lord, grant me Your grace, that it may be with me, and labor with me, and continue with me even to the end. Grant that I may always desire and will that which is most acceptable and most dear to You. Let Your will be mine, and my will ever follow Yours, and agree perfectly with it. Grant to me, above all things that can be desired, to rest in You, and in You to have my heart at peace. You are the true peace of the heart, You are its only source; away from You all things are hard and restless. In this very peace, that is, in You, the one Chiefest Eternal Good, I will sleep and rest. Amen.” 

This is a good evening prayer, but it is an even better prayer to line up our wills with the will of God. This is one of the few prayers that I have memorized and pray often.

When we pray, we must be about God’s will. We are not bending God’s will to match ours. We are not giving God any new information that He does not already know. We pray to align our will with God’s and remind ourselves that He is the author and finisher of our faith.
 
Jesus is our example. He came to earth to do the will of His Father.
Luke 2: 42  “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

Away from God’s will all things are hard and restless. But in the very peace of being in Him and in His will we will find rest.

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