Thursday's Thought ~ The Will of God

I was just getting ready to prop my feet up and read a book on my lunch break, but when I saw the quote at the beginning of Part One of the book A Slender Thread by Tracie Peterson, I had to share it with you.

"Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and he is instantly set free! No one can hinder him. It is only when we introduce our own will into our relation to God that we get into trouble. When we weave into the pattern of our lives threads of our own desires we instantly become subject to hindrances from the outside." A.W. Tozer

I must admit, I don't know who A.W. Tozer is (to find out who he is, click here), or that I'd ever heard of him before I read this quote. However, it compelled me to stop reading and write this quick blog post. I'm of the type who loves to use the concordance to complete a Bible study - Strong's Exhaustive Concordance is my favorite; however, if I'm at work, or unable to use Strong's, my online reference tool is BibleGateway - This is a fabulous site that lets you search by passage, keyword, or topic, and it has several versions of the Bible; and also several languages. (Side note: last year, for a back to school bulletin board, I looked up 2 Timothy 2:15 in many different languages, and placed them on the board, with a bulletin board border made up of flags of different countries.)

My favorite verse in the Bible that specifically states what the will of God is concerning us:

1 Thessalonians 5:18 - In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Anyhow, I went to BibleGateway and entered in the phrase "will of God." This phrase is found in the King James Version of the Holy Bible only 23 times. Below are the most pertinent verses to understand what the will of God is for our lives, but 1 Thessalonians 5:18 is the most direct, specific verse.

To make intercession for the saints according to the will of God – Romans 8:27

To be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

To give yourself to the Lord – 2 Corinthians 8:5

That we be delivered from this present evil world – Galatians 1:4

Not to please men, but to be the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart – Ephesians 6:6

That ye should abstain from fornication – 1 Thessalonians 4:3

To give thanks in every thing. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

To receive the promise, if we have patience – Hebrews 10:36

That with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men – 1 Peter 2:15

To suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. – 1 Peter 3:17

To not live in the flesh to the lusts of men – 1 Peter 4:2

To abide for ever – 1 John 2:17

May we be thankful in EVERY thing, and not weave our own tendencies and desires into the fabric of our lives that we are trying to shape after the will of God. Have a blessed day! Rhonda
Well, my lunch break is over now, so I didn't get to read any of the book yet. I'll let you know how it turns out when I'm through with it. :) Happy Thursday, all!