WHOSE WILL IS WINNING OUT?
Thursday – February 23, 2017
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is so good, merciful, kind, and patient. Have you ever needed God’s patience? I sure have, you know we can be real strong-willed at times not thinking things through or consulting the Word of God. Help me Lord Jesus! Now back to our Bible Study.
Ephesians 5:15-18 (KJV)
15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
I left off yesterday talking about making the most of our time. The Scripture tells us that is important “because the days are evil”. The words ‘days’ and ‘evil’ are both female in gender and pleural in number. This is telling us that if we redeem the time, that is doing the will of God there will be productivity for the Kingdom of God in our days, if not evil will abound. If we chose to do our own thing in the name of the Lord we are evil and that will be productive for the kingdom of darkness. This is serious folks. Do you know with a certainty that what you are doing “for the Lord” is what the Lord has asked of you? I am not talking about the overarching call, I am talking about the day to day schedule each of us is keeping. Whose schedule is it? Is it the schedule God has chosen for us or have we ourselves done the scheduling?
As we move into verse seventeen, the verse of victory, the Apostle Paul and our Lord, commands (not a holy suggestion) again for us not to be fools to not be unwise. Okay, do you suppose He does not want us to be fools, to be unwise? Consider that it is a conscious choice that each of us make to be a fool or to be wise. The fool chooses their own way and the wise person chooses the way of the Lord. Will you join me in making that conscious effort to talk to the Lord about what we are doing and how much is Him and how much is me? He will lighten and right many of our schedules greatly. This may take some time since the persons with the very heaviest schedules are not used to hearing the Lord and will need to practice hearing and following His voice. It also could be that those with little to no schedule are also not used to hearing Him and will need to practice to get on track as well.
Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV)
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Before I move on let’s consider why Jesus has to issue the call for those that are laboring and are heavy laden to come to Him. It is because we did not get that labor and load from Him, we got it elsewhere and He wants us to come to Him, learn from Him and right size our mission (yoke, and burden). The second half of verse seventeen (Ephesians 5:17) tells us to understand the will of God. This word ‘understanding’ means ‘to be in union with’, in this case, to be in union with the will of God, one with God. This idea of being in union with the Word of God which is God is like the peace of God. The peace of God is to be one with God and to be in the will of God are one and the same place. Consider the following Scripture.
Ephesians 2:5-6 (KJV)
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
At the point of salvation our dead soul was quickened (made alive), we instantly became a living soul and were seated with and in Christ Jesus at the right hand of Majesty on High. That is not to say that we are not all too well aware of our physical bodies and the physical reality and circumstances swirling about in our lives. The question is this, what are we most aware of and what is in us? Are we most aware of our position and our reality in Christ Jesus or are we most aware of our circumstances? Our situation is the same as our Heavenly Father’s if we will remain focused on Him, or we can choose the circumstances of the evil one, the curse. Once the circumstances are within us and occupying our thoughts, words, and actions we are done for. If we will choose to remain high above, far above our circumstances we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. Is this easy to do? Of course not! You knew that already. We must say to ourselves and to our Heavenly Father, how do you see this issue, do you want me to deal with it, or do I ignore it casting the care of it onto You, and go about our family business?
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
