Three Easy Steps to Experiencing God's Will

I have spent the last several days preparing for my lesson tonight for the youth and the college and career groups. After spending some time thinking of something to relate to them I settled on I Thessalonians 5: 16-18.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

It's short and sweet, so it should be a piece of cake, right? So, as I prepared I thought of it as three easy steps to experiencing God's will in my life. It only took a moment, however, to realize the difficulty in the application to my life....

Be joyful always? I only have to rewind to yesterday to see a failure here. After a long day at work, my behavior at home was anything but joyful. My old coaches would said my selfish, quick tempered behavior was a "blown assignment" that would have lead to endless running drills. Fortunately for me, my family was full of God's grace and mercy.

Pray continually? The application of this doesn't make things any easier. As a matter of fact, this was one of my worst weeks of being in prayer. Obviously prayer and joy are tied together. Without prayer my joy drains like a bathtub with the plug pulled.

Give thanks in all circumstances? Does this mean giving thanks when my sales are down, and it doesn't look like I'll have the funds to pay for all the things (good things) going on in my life? Does it mean being thankful when a loved one experiences a life altering illness? How about when good friends experience trials of all kinds? The answer is "YES"!

So this is what I found to answer these questions.

1. I have to remember that joy and happiness are two different things. Happiness is based upon circumstance, but joy is eternal. Joy is eternal, because our joy is in the Lord (Phil 3:1). I can daily take joy in seeing His will accomplished (3 John 3-4). I can take joy in the Lord, because He is my strength, my rock and the horn of my salvation (Psalm 18: 1-3).

2. I must pray continually, because I am continually drawn away from my Lord by the desires and the cares of this world, and I just have to let those things go (Luke 9: 23-25). The great thing is my perfect, awesome Savior understands my frailty, so it's cool to call on Him (Hebrews 4: 14-15). So, how can I pray continually? 1) I have to devote myself to it (Colossians 4:2), and 2) I have to live my life and do my work as an ongoing act of worship to my Creator (Colossians 3: 23-24).

3) As I work through these things, I can see that thankfulness in all things flows from joy and prayer. I think it really boils down to placing my focus on Christ, salvation through Him, and eternity (Colossians 3: 1-4).

The verse ends by declaring these things to be God's will for me. These things have nothing to do with circumstance, with my activities or where I live. They have everything to do with my relationship with the Lord.

I pray that all of you will experience God's will today and everyday.