Thinking Like a Christian

pastor peteA series of Scripture meditations on what the Bible teaches about the Christian life.

by Pastor Pete Beck III

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Delighting in God's Will

 

Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. Psalms 37:4-5 (NASB) 

 

Worshipping God changes us. When we spend time delighting in God, we begin to understand his perspective and will. Our desires become aligned with His. When this happens, we are able to pray in faith and will certainly receive what we ask for.

 

And this is the confidence that we have before him: that whenever we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, then we know that we have the requests that we have asked from him. 1 John 5:14-15 (NET1)

A key to this is found in Paul's letter to the church in Rome. In Romans 8:28, Paul explains that all things work together for good in our lives. It does not take much of a jump to conclude that all things also work towards God's glory, ultimately, at least. When we put this thought into the context of Ephesians 5:20, we have a recipe for delighting in God.

 

And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20 (NLT)

Here is what I have learned. Believe that God is working everything together for good in your life, even the things that seem difficult and confusing and even destructive. It's not that those things are in themselves "good", but God in his sovereignty works them for good. Therefore, we can and must praise him in ALL things. We do this because we want to glorify him, and there are not many things we can do that bring more glory to God than when we praise him when everything looks dark. That is a true "sacrifice" of praise.

 

When we do this, we will find that God gives us a new perspective. We climb out of our "pit" of despair or discouragement and come up to where God is working for our good. We begin to glimpse what God has planned. I remember once I asked a woman who had been sexually abused as a child to praise God for his allowing that to happen in her life because somehow God would work it for good. She begain to do so, and it wasn't long before she was prophesying that God would use her to minister to others who were likewise afflicted! God did not answer her question as to why he allowed that travesty to happen, but He did show her how He would work it for good! When God does this, we know how to pray. We simply agree with God.

 

So, why don't you make this a habit in your life? Praise God in all  things, especially when you don't feel like it. You will see a big difference!

 

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