Between "To Will" and "To Do"

Philippians 2:13: For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

In this scripture, Paul differentiates between God’s desire to do something in our life and the fulfilment of that desire. It is God who works in you both “to will and to do”. Paul is telling the church at Phillip that God wants to work amongst them because he wants to do His will in their life.

For those reading this short devotional – I want you to know that God wants to do His will in your life. God gets pleasure when we are in His will.

So when God works among us, it is not just to entertain us, but it is to put us into a position where He can do in our lives the things that He wants to do – “His good pleasure”.

There is comfort that comes only when you know that you are in the will of God and doing what God has called you to do. Who is it that wants to do the will of God?

But, what do you do if you don’t know God will. There will be times when you cannot honestly say that you are in the perfect will of God. There will be times when we stand between to the “to will” and the “to do”. What do you do when you find yourself in this position?

Genesis 12 tells the story about Abraham, when he was 75 years old, being called out of his country and away from his family unto a land that God would show him. God said “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”. What a promise? But how was Abraham going to inherit the promise? God told him to walk! Just walk! “I’m not going to tell you where it is now Abraham. First you’ve got to walk!”

If you read the account you will find that Abraham walked for 15 years and then stopped. Abraham turns 90 years old and He gets in God’s face and says “God, I’m 90 years old now and I’ve walked 15 years from Ur. I don’t understand how I am in this position. I’ve got to know your will”. God looks at him and says “Abraham, the day that I called you I told you to walk…now get up and walk before me Abraham, my ways are still the same”.

If you are between “to will” and “to do”, and you don’t know what God’s will is at this time, just walk in God’s ways. You may not know His will, but His ways have not changed! It is His ways that will lead you into His will!

Don’t allow the confusion of what you don’t understand to push your heart away from the passion of the things you do understand. When you don’t know His will, you’ve got to remember His ways. It is His ways that will lead you into His will!

That's my five minutes!