Open Vessel: Seeking and Doing God's Will

These days, the Lord's speaking has been about seeking and doing His will. For the past few weeks, the constant speaking of the Lord has been about seeking His will. For some reason, the Lord burdened me so much with this burden that I kept trumpeting this burden of the need for seeking God's will to all the saints with my own life testimonies. There are many young ones, new ones, and saints the Lord blessed the church with. It is our responsibility to shepherd them in a way of teaching them. In fact, the Lord also sovereignly led us to study the matter of seeking God's will in our Tuesday group meeting, a lesson from Message for Building Up New Believers by Watchman Nee, on Seeking God's Will, message 27. Simultaneously, the same burden was imparted to the group of brothers I have been praying with every Wednesday night. 

Psalms 25:4-5 RecVer

4. Make Your ways known to me, O Jehovah; Teach me Your paths.

5. Guide me in Your truth, and teach me; For You are the God of my salvation; I wait on You all the day long.

Psalms 25:12-14 RecVer

12. Who then is the man who fears Jehovah? Him will He instruct concerning the way that he should choose.

13. His soul will dwell in prosperity, and his seed will possess the land.

14. The intimate counsel of Jehovah is to those who fear Him, and His covenant will He make known to them.

Psalms 32:8 RecVer

I will instruct you and teach you concerning the way you should go; I will counsel you; my eye is upon you.

Meanwhile, to strengthen the burden, the Lord gave me a couple of verses which I let the saints know of. In fact, I even pray-read with the brothers I have been praying with. The word of God is straight to the point. In this regard, the word of God speaks for, and, by itself! However, to be such a one to know and obey and do God's will, one has to be an open vessel, seeking and willing to do God's will.

One Lord's Day, I encouraged four young brothers, the teenagers, to share the truth part of the message on seeking God's will which they did quite well. The saints were encouraged by witnessing the young brothers speaking the word of God. Some key points they shared, I posted as an excerpt.  Excerpt from Messages for Building Up New Believers (2) CWWN, vol.49, ch. 27

Seeking God’s Will

What are the ways to know God’s will?

A Christian must pay attention to three things in order to know God’s will. If these three things are in agreement with one another, we can be quite sure that it is God’s will. These three things are:

(1) arrangements in the environment,

(2) the leading of the Holy Spirit, and

(3) the teachings of the Scripture.

God’s will is also revealed through the church.

Arrangement in the Environment

God uses the environment to stop us from making mistakes. He forces us to have no alternative but to follow Him.

The Leading of the Holy Spirit

Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

We should learn to trust not only in God’s sovereignty in the environment but also in the leading of the Holy Spirit within. At the right time and when the need arises, the Spirit of God will enlighten us within. He will give us a sense and show us what is of God and what is not of God. If a man has the desire to obey God’s will, he will find out what this will is. There are two kinds of leading of the Holy Spirit.

Inner Urging

The first is an inner urging, as in Acts 8:29 when “the Spirit said to Philip, Approach and join this chariot” and in Acts 10:19-20 when the Holy Spirit said to Peter, “Rise up, go down and go with them.” These are inner urgings.

Inner Forbidding

The second kind of leading is an inner forbidding, as mentioned in Acts 16:6-7: “Having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, yet the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” This is the inner forbidding.

The Teachings of the Scripture

God’s will is revealed in the form of principles and examples in the Bible. To know God’s will, one must study the Bible carefully. God’s will is fully unveiled through the Scripture. One needs only to find what God has said in the past, and he will know what God’s will is today. God’s will never wavers. In Christ there is only one yes (2 Cor. 1:19). God’s will for us never contradicts the teachings of the Bible. The Holy Spirit will never lead us to do something today that He has already condemned in the Bible. God’s word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psa. 119:105). If we want to understand God’s will and His leading for us, we must study the Bible carefully and seriously. God speaks to us through the Bible in two ways: One is through the teaching of biblical principles, and the other is through the promises in the Bible. We need the Spirit’s enlightenment to understand biblical principles, and we need the Spirit’s leading to receive biblical promises. We should ask God to reveal His word to us through the Holy Spirit. We should study the Bible conscientiously and consistently and memorize the Scripture well. When needs arise, the Holy Spirit will use the passages we have read to speak to us and to guide us. If the environment does not give any confirmation, we should wait. Our feeling may be wrong, or it may not be the Lord’s timing.

God’s will is also revealed through the church.

As much as it is possible, you should also fellowship with those who know God in the church to see whether they will say amen to your guidance. This will give you additional confirmation concerning God’s will.

The Lord Jesus says, “Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (v. 18). Because the church is God’s habitation and the beacon of God’s light, we need to believe that God’s will is revealed in the church. We should humble ourselves and should be afraid of our own judgment. This is why we need to fellowship with the church and receive the supply of the Body. If a man wants to know God’s will, he must have an inward yearning to do His will. God’s will is made known only to those who are determined to obey His will! “If anyone resolves to do His will, he will know” (John 7:17). In order to know God’s will, one must resolve to do His will. If you have an intense and absolute desire to do God’s will, God will make known His will to you even when you know nothing about the methods. 

Today, in my reading portion of the morning revival, the same burden of seeking and doing God the Father's will from the life of the Lord Jesus was mentioned again. I was supplied by the Lord's speaking and shared with the saints as well.

Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  (Matthew 11:28-29) Recovery Version

Excerpt from the Life-study of Matthew, pp. 341, 371-373

To take the Lord’s yoke [Matt. 11: 29-30] is to take the will of the Father. It is not to be regulated or controlled by any obligations of the law or religion or to be enslaved by any work but to be constrained by the will of the Father. The Lord lived such a life, caring for nothing but the will of His Father (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). He submitted Himself fully to the Father’s will (Matt. 26:39, 42). Hence, He asks us to learn from Him. God’s will is our yoke. Thus, we are not free to do as we please; rather, we are yoked…The Lord’s yoke is the Father’s will, and His burden is the work to carry out the Father’s will. Such a yoke is easy, not bitter, and such a burden is light, not heavy. The Greek word rendered “easy” means “fit for use”; hence, good, kind, mild, gentle, easy, pleasant, in contrast to hard, harsh, sharp, and bitter. The Lord said that if we take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, we will find rest for our souls [11:29]. The rest we find by taking the Lord’s yoke and learning from Him is for our souls. It is an inward rest ; it is not anything merely outward in nature.

The result of seeking and doing God's will is an inward peace and rest. 

O the joy, peace, and rest of knowing God's will and doing God's will!