We live in troubling times. I have no doubt that every generation could make the same statement and did. Yet at every point in history, the Lord has a will. For believers around the globe – who believe in the One they cannot see and choose to trust and learn to love Him – He has a redemptive will to triumph.
Bear that in mind, because the strength of our determination to hold up under the trials of life 1 will be in direct contrast to our foe determined to cut us off.
Jesus’ prayer is a manner of praying He desires we become accustomed to. His foreknowledge of these days in which we live burned as the flame of the Spirit in those who wrote the holy scriptures, left to transform our understanding.
Jesus was encouraged by the Spirit; so was Paul who wrote a majority of the New Testament. Paul took what Holy Spirit revealed to Him and began to flesh it out. He had one life to live, patterned after Christ, Who had a redemptive will for Paul. The same is true for every individual who receives Him and His Light of life.2
Understanding What the Will of the Lord Is
There is increased urgency these days for believers to rise in earnestness. It is not a call to be combative nor presumptuous, but to call in sincerity for the coming into being of Our Father’s will. As we do, something marvelous and mighty happens as the understanding of what He wants finds its release in us and we pray.
At this midway point in Jesus’ sevenfold prayer, there is insight for us that Paul gained regarding this season of the end times and the will of God. Paul wrote of a light of awareness by which Our Father’s will is made known. Where our finite understanding falls short, His Spirit within calls us to wakefulness that He may work it out in us.
Ephesians 5:13-17 (Amplified)
13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light [of God’s precepts], for it is light that makes everything visible. 14 For this reason He says,
“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine [as dawn] upon you and give you light.”
15 Therefore see that you walk carefully [living life with honor, purpose, and courage; shunning those who tolerate and enable evil], not as the unwise, but as wise [sensible, intelligent, discerning people], 16 making the very most of your time [on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence], because the days are [filled with] evil.
17 Therefore do not be foolish and thoughtless but understand and firmly grasp what the will of the Lord is.
Unwise vs Understanding
It is because of the very things in our lives that require the attention of heaven that Paul made a clear distinction between moving through life as the unwise vs.understanding, holding with a firm grasp, what the Lord’s will is.
In the Ephesians passage above, the word unwise comes from the Greek aphron. Its meaning reflects ways we may embrace life, including without reason, senseless, silly (juvenile, ridiculous), foolish, without reflection, acting rashly, frantic over situations. No wonder the Lord said, “Come, let us reason together…” 3 It has always been His will that we trust in His Son, the triumphant One who takes us from this futile, fearful way of living.
In essence, our asking for understanding what the will of the Lord is, is also our prayer to dare to be wise. 4
Suniemi is the Greek word from which understanding comes. It is a wonderful word meaning to have the ability to put things together; to comprehend thoroughly, to perceive clearly. It is the connectivity of knowledge and understanding: the ability to understand concepts and see relationships between them; including patterns.
For believers, it is the positive, redemptive use 5 of that which our foe employs to set or bring together in a hostile sense between two combatants. How our mind understands God’s warm will is a miracle of His doing.
Called Upon to Understand
In our call to walk in understanding – not as unwise, but wise – it is holding a predetermined will that trips us up. The psalmist called it “the snare of the fowler.” Our mind and our feet share a combined ensnaring. Sometimes it is our own will; at times, it is the will of others laid upon us. Or agreement with another’s will over God’s will.
Whatever the source, the Word through Paul exhorts believers to not be unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Which tells me, and you, that it is possible to grow in understanding as the Lord works it in us.
I remember years ago when I attended a home Bible study. The video series was rich in content and scriptural truth. After the lesson one day, a fellow attendee declared it was not possible for us to know what the Lord was doing. She shared she really didn’t understand why or what He was doing, especially as it applied to difficult issues in her life and family. Through her personal grid, knowing, let alone understanding His will was not for us.
Burned in my memory is the look one of the other women gave me as I turned my head away from the one speaking. It was the look of understanding agreement with my inaudible but firmly grasped, “no! no! no!” I was not without understanding how she could view it that way. I had been there, too. But now I no longer was. The difference was in the realization I needed the Lord’s will to come into being wherever my will still held tightly.
Understanding what the Lord’s will is does not come in a one-and-done flash of inspiration. His will and His wisdom are inseparable. All seven portions of our human spirit need Christ’s illumination. Holy Spirit listens to the Father, works in the now area of our life, doesn’t waste anything we’ve experienced, and weaves it together. The blueprint He follows is inscribed with the redemptive triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Thy will, not my will.
A Prayer for Understanding
Father, we Your people are such a blend of understanding and not having a clue. We churn out thoughts that tend to graze on the ground of this earthly domain. When they compel our feet, we walk out ways that match. When we do, You mercifully remind us that, “your thoughts are not My thoughts, and My ways are not your ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways.” 6 And then you beckon us to come learn of You. Forgive us, Father, for the times our soulish will rides herd over our spirit that longs to truly connect with You. Teach us by Your Holy Spirit the lessons of the loved ones that enrich the lives of all those who call you LORD.
As I, and those I love and desire to know You, give our lives over to Your will, seal in us the work of Your Spirit. For Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Illumine our understanding. Cause us to know what Your will is for our day, season, and time, for only You can work it out in each of us called by Your Name. May the power and authority of Your Kingdom reign and work in us, and through us to those still in darkness. Lord, fill us, we pray, with knowledge, wisdom and understanding what Your will is. Christ, shine on us as we awaken more fully, rise, and look to You, for You are Life. ~ Amen.
~ Nancy
1 James 1:12 2 John 1
3 Isaiah 1:18 NASB – “Come now, and let us [a]debate your case,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet,
They shall become as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be like wool.” [a] argue as in court
4 Proverbs 8:33 The Voice 5 “Paul was a dying negative reciprocated 2 into a living positive.” 6 Isaiah 55:8-9
Click here for a printable PDF of this article: Redemptive Gifts Pattern of Seven – Understanding What the Will of the Lord Is
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