Who's will am I serving?

I had a wake-up call the other day. In Experiencing God, the author writes that when it comes to doing the will of God, we often are asking ourselves the wrong question. We ask, "what is God's will for my life?" But the better question is, "What is God's will?" Note the difference. In the first question, it's really about us. We're viewing the world including God's activity through ourselves. But asking, "what is God's will?" requires you to first get very clear about God's purpose and then to align yourself with what God is doing.

Now we know that God is Love. He created us out of love and yearns for us to be in loving relationship with Him. Everything He has done, is doing, or will ever do starts with Love. We may not always understand what God is doing, but we can be sure that God will never act contrary to His nature. From the beginning, God has always expressed Himself through perfect love.

With this in mind, I began to examine all the aspects of my life. Work, volunteer projects, my relationships, hobbies, habits, church. . . . So often when we examine our lives we are very judgmental. We hold ourselves against some litmus test of rules and regulations we have picked up along the journey of life. But that judgment and condemnation is purely distraction. What a difference it makes when I start using Love as my litmus test and asking myself whether the things in my life are really centered around who God is.

This is really a shift in thinking. For example, one of the areas of my life I have been struggling with the past two years is my career. Am I having an impact? Is my work effective? Does it have meaning? I keep trying to figure out what I should do and how I should do it. I keep asking what is in the plan, where is this all going? I keep trying to do something and make something happen.

But then who's will am I serving - mine or His?

What If  I just focused on God and what He is doing and let Him lead me? I have been praying for God to tell me what His purpose is for me. But it's not about me! The real question is, God, what is Your purpose?

Knowing God's purpose, requires me to know Him -- to know that God is love and that He only desires a relationship of love with me.  By understanding this to the core of my soul and walking with Him, everything else will flow.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  The truth of the matter is that my own plans could never compare to the plans of God. He has things in store for us that we can't even imagine. God will do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power at work within us! He doesn't hold us to the restrictions and limitations we place upon ourselves. He has put His power in us and is desiring for us to walk with Him.

So let my prayer be: Lord, I trust you. I thank you for Who you are. I am so blessed to be able to grow in relationship with You day by day.  I know that You love me and are forever with me.  Let my focus be on you and not on my plans. Lord, I surrender to You: “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go." Amen.