The will of the Lord be done...As long as we agree with it!

Acts 21:10-14(NKJV)
10And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 
11When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”
12Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. 
13Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
14So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.”

I have been writing this blog for about 6 months now and it truly has been a blessing.  Most days it's pretty easy.  I spend time in prayer and in the Word.  I allow the Holy Spirit to just lay a message on my heart.  Every now and then it is  a struggle and then every know and then God just  tees one up for me in the first few verses of what I read and I know that is what I am going to be blogging about that day.  Today is one of those days.  Thanks Lord!

Let's look at the story above.  Paul is traveling to Jerusalem and he is determined to get there.  All along the way he is given revelations that things aren't going to be fun when he gets there.  His traveling companions try to talk him out of it and he will not be dissuaded.  Take a close look at the last verse. 

14So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.”

Think about that.  It would be one thing if they thought Paul was making a mistake and they were trying to talk him out of it.  But this is much more than that.  They ceased saying "The will of the Lord be done." which to me shows that they believed that it was God's will that Paul should go to Jerusalem.  They didn't like the outcome, that is they didn't want to see anything happen to Paul, so even though they believed it was God's will they stopped praying for it.

God's will, God's will, God's will.  Among Christians this seems to have become a bit of a trite throwaway phrase.  We say we want God's will, but do we?  This is something that I had to confront in a very real way a few years ago. 

When my oldest son was a junior in high school he came to us (his Mom and I) and said "I've had a great life so far.  Been all around the world and now I'm felling God calling me to serve in the military".  Well far be it for us to come between our son and God so we started exploring his options.  He ended up becoming a United States Marine (as did his little brother and his sister married a Marine so you can see we are one big Marine family).

In 2006-2007 his unit was deployed to Iraq where he faced combat on a fairly regular basis.  In fact, here is a picture that we call a Picture of God's Protective Grace.  Luke was driving and there were three other Marines in the vehicle.  They hit an IED with the left front tire and yet all four of them walked away. 

It was during that tour of duty that I had to come face to face with the question of God's will and if I truly wanted God's will or only if I liked the outcome.

It is my belief that it was God's will that my son joined that Marines.   It is my belief that it was God's will that Luke be where he was in Iraq.  I had to face the very real possibility that he could be killed there.   If that happened, was I really going to be OK with God's will?  If I truly believed that he was where he was doing what he was doing because that was God's will for his life at the time, would I really be OK with God's will if he died over there? 

After thinking it through, for me there was only one answer.  Yes!  Would it be easy. Absolutely not.  Would I have been devastated?  Sure.  But the key question had to be am I willing to submit all that I have, including my son, to God's will?  And again for me personally there could only be one answer.

Puts a different perspective on it doesn't it?  So the next time you are praying for God's will in your life, make sure you really want it.  Are you willing to gratefully and graciously accept God's will in your life when the results aren't what you wanted?  Are you truly praying for what God wants in your life or are you really praying for what you think God should want in your life?

And God's will in each and every one of our lives starts with accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.  Have you asked Jesus into your life yet?  If not, why not do it right now.  Just say a little prayer asking Jesus to be the Lord of your life.  Then get ready to experience God's will in your life!

If you pray for God's will in your life can I promise that things will always be rosey?  Nope.  We still live in a fallen world and so bad things happen.  What I can promise you however is that if you will continually seeks God's will in your life it will be worth it!