Seek God's leading and his will (3) - final

We today end a short series of devotions about God’s leading and the importance of seeking and accepting the Lord’s will in everything we do.
We already learned that one can be a professing Christian, yet live as practicing atheist who does not care about what God wants for our lives and where he leads us. We also learned that our lives, its days, weeks and its years, are not in our hands. It is in the hands of God. God is in control. We should be what God intends and he will add his blessings to our plans and his grace to our desires.

Seek God’s leading and his will. (3):
Never ignore God’s leading. Be aware of his control. James says,
(James 4:15) ... you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

Do you remember the days when Christians used to say often - "If the Lord wills." Paul knew we cannot defeat the sovereign will of God. He always desired to follow the Lord's leading, expecting God’s blessing in doing so.

When Paul said farewell to the Christians at Ephesus, he said, "I will come back if it is God's will" (Acts 18:21).
When Paul's friends could not talk him out of going to Jerusalem, they said, "The Lord's will be done" (Acts 21:14).
To the Corinthians Paul states that he would visit "if the Lord is willing" (1 Cor 4:19) and "if the Lord permits" (1 Cor 16:7).
To the church in Rome, he says, "I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you" (Rom 1:10).

When I was a child no announcement in church would be made without the minister saying – “God willing”.
My Mom and Dad, uncles and aunts, grandparents and others made it part of their daily vocabulary to say "if the Lord wills" or, "if the Lord is willing."
We do not talk like this anymore. Not even in Church. And we have lost something important in the process. We lost the daily awareness of the importance of submitting to God and his will. We lost more than an expression, but a lifestyle that was seeking the will of God and submitting to the will of God in everything. We have lost faith in the loving, wise sovereign will of God.

How do we follow God's leading? God's leading requires Bible reading, contemplative prayer, a heartfelt, earnest desire to do nothing outside of God’s will and the confirmation of his will by godly friends and fellow Christians. It requires faith that will not allow me to do anything important without the Silent Voice putting me at rest and at peace that it is what God wants me to do.

It is about not doing anything of which my conscience tells me it is wrong. It is about trusting that God always and under all circumstances knows best and surrendering to him. It is about making peace with God and his control of my life.
It is about praying these Jesus-words, and meaning them: “Not my will, but your will be done!”