What is the will of God? This is a common question asked by believers. Many of us seek to know the will of God. Specifically, we seek to know the will of God for our lives. What is the will of God for our education, our marriage, and our occupation? However, we must realize that the will of God is much higher than these matters. The will of God, which is the desire of His heart, is the mingling of God with man. Hebrews 10:7 and 9 and John 5:30 and 14:10 reveal that the Lord Jesus was on the earth to do the Father’s will and that His living, everything He did and spoke, originated from the Father. Therefore, the Lord’s human life was a life in the will of God and a life in the mingling of God and man.
The way for us to experientially know and to enter into the will of God in practice is to obey the inner teaching of the anointing (1 John 2:20). In The Experience of Life Witness Lee says, “From God’s viewpoint, the aspect of God’s will as His heart desire is difficult for us to fathom. But from the human viewpoint, the aspect of God’s will being His mingling with man is absolutely subjective and easy to comprehend, because God mingles with us through the anointing” (chapter 8). As we experience and obey the teaching of the anointing, we are led into the pathway of knowing the will of God. In this way, we realize the will of God and no longer consider ourselves as the center but rather present ourselves as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). If we truly desire to know God’s will, we must offer ourselves to God as a consecrated sacrifice. Witness Lee says, “Man must see God’s need concerning His plan and work and consecrate himself to God; then he has the ground to understand God’s will” (chapter 8).
As we consecrate and offer ourselves to God, He begins to reveal what is on His heart – His will. As His will is revealed to us, we need to deal with our self by denying the self. In Matthew 16 Peter received a revelation of the will of God – that His Son would suffer many things and be killed and on the third day raised. Yet Peter expressed the self when he rebuked the Lord, saying, “God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!” (v. 22). Here we see that in order to enter into the pathway of knowing the will of God, we need to not only present ourselves as living sacrifices, but we also need to deny ourselves (v. 24). Actually, we must realize that the will of God is always the cross, whereas the thought of man is the preservation of the self (v. 23).
Next, in the pathway of knowing the will of God, we need our heart to be dealt with. Whenever our heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and we are able to see and know God’s will (2 Cor. 3:16). Our heart should always be absolutely turned toward God, and we should continue to take God as our only goal. By thus remaining pure and simple in heart, we will see God and His will (Matt. 5:8).
What a privilege for us to know and enter into God’s will! Starting from our obeying and experiencing the teaching of the anointing, God mingles with us, and we continue to go deeper and higher in our experience of the Lord until His will is made clear to us.
Further Reading:
Witness Lee, The Experience of Life, Chapter 8 (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).
Holy Bible Recovery Version, all verses mentioned in this post and their corresponding footnotes (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).
(Most references in the Further Reading can also be viewed on www.ministrybooks.org.)
I’m helped to see the link between denying ourselves and knowing God’s will. So often my self seeks to preserve itself, while the will of God is that I would experience the cross in the Spirit.
Thank you for this timely post.