Showing posts with label Pleasure of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pleasure of God. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Willing the Will

I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. (John 5:30)
Jesus was all about doing the will of God. As disciples of Jesus, that is what we should always be about, too.

The Greek word for “will” has a semantic range which includes these meanings: determination, choice, purpose, inclination, decree, pleasure, desire, will.

Willing the will of God is …
  • Determining with His determinations
  • Choosing His choices
  • Purposing His purposes
  • Being inclined with His inclinations
  • Decreeing His decrees
  • Being pleased with His pleasure
  • Desiring what He desires
David said, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). As we delight ourselves in God, His desires become ours, and He is pleased to fulfill those desires, because they come from Him.

Jesus said, “I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:29). This was just another way of saying, “I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” So He willed the will, decreed the decrees, and experienced the full pleasure of His Father.

To us is given the privilege, as children of God, to speak and act with His choices and purposes, to decree the things He decrees and know the joy He experiences. His will is our pleasure and delight, the desires of our heart being fulfilled.

(See also The Pleasure of God on Earth)

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Discover the Passions of God

Do not be conformed this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you ma prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)
First, note that the Greek word for behind “world” is aion. It is where we get our word “eon.” So it primarily refers, not to a place, but to a time (yes, yes, I know that time and space are relative, but I did say primarily). It should actually be translated, not at “world” but as “age.”

So we have, “Do not be conformed to this age.”

You see, they are two ages going on: this present one and the one that is to come. To one that is to come is the age of God’s kingdom — the age of His rule and reign. The age that is to come has actually already been breaking into to this present one. Has been every since Jesus began His ministry preaching “Repent and believe, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

The enemy of our souls wants us to continued to be conformed to this age, to think the thoughts of this present world order. He wants to blind us to the age of God’s reign, which is breaking in all around us. Paul said,
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)
The light of Christ is already shining brightly in the world, and the whole earth if full of the glory of God (Isaiah 6:3). But the devil, the god of this present age, has blinded the eyes of so many so that they don’t even recognized the light and know the glory.

There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who are being conformed to this age, and those who are being transformed by the renewing of their minds.

Enough about the former. Let’s talk about the latter.

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” For too long we have been discipled by the present age to think that way it thinks, feel the way it feels, act the way it acts. We have been conformed by it. Even in the Church, there are many who have been deceived by the spirit of religion to adopt a form of godliness, but totally lacking the power of godliness.

We need to be transformed, and it happens by the renewing of our minds. We need to begin thinking differently. That is what repentance means. The Greek word for “repentance” is metanoeo, and it literally means to think differently.
“My thoughts re not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
(Isaiah 55:11)

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
God’s thoughts and ways are different from those we have received in this present age. He wants us to think His thoughts and walk in His ways, because the age of His rule and reign is breaking in. That is why He has given us His Word and His Spirit, so we could be renewed in our thinking, and thus be transformed. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

We need to be transformed and have our thoughts renewed so we can discover the will of God. The will of God is not a plan to manipulate and control us. The will of God is the passionate desire He has for us. He has created us for great things, to partake of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). He longs for us to enter into in, to see how good His will is, how full of favor His desire for us is, how perfect and complete His passions toward us are.

Our minds were made to think God’s thoughts, our emotions were made to express God’s heart, and our wills were made to express God’s desires. When we let God renew our thinking by His Word and the Holy Spirit, it will totally transform our lives and prepare us to receive His kingdom, already breaking in all around us — to discover the passions of God.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

The Pleasure of God

What do you get for the person who has everything? That has always been a stumper. Now take it up to the nth degree — How do you please God?

It’s not hard. The Bible speaks of a number of things that please Him.

1. The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him.
He does not delight in the strength of the horse;
He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him,
In those who hope in His mercy. (Psalm 147:10-11)
To fear the Lord means to love, honor and stand in awe of Him, to love what He loves and hate what He hates, to seek His favor above all else, and to avoid His displeasure at all cost. In the parallelism of Hebrew poetry, we see in this passage that those who fear the LORD are the ones who hope in His mercy — that is, they put their trust in Him.

The Hebrew word for “pleasure” is ratsah. To take pleasure in someone means to be satisfied with, to set one’s affection on, to delight in, enjoy, and show favor to them. The LORD is fully satisfied with those who love and trust Him. They are the object of His affection. He delights fully in them and shows them the abundance of His favor.

2. The LORD takes pleasure in His people.
For the LORD takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the humble with salvation. (Psalm 149:4)
God has chosen a people — all those who love and trust in Him—and He beautifies them with salvation. To beautify means to adorn, to glorify. The Hebrew word for “salvation” here is Yeshua, which the name of Jesus. Jesus is the salvation of all who come humbly in faith before God. They are adorned with the Lord Jesus Christ, to share in His glory.

3. The LORD takes pleasure in the prosperity of His people.
Let the LORD be magnified,
Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. (Psalm 35:27)
The word for “pleasure” here is chaphets, which means to desire, delight in, have pleasure in. God delights in, and greatly desires, the prosperity of His people. “Prosperity” is the word shalom, the Hebrew word for peace. It refers to complete wholeness and well-being. God desires this fullness for all His people. The apostle John expressed God’s will when he said, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 2).

Let the name of the LORD be magnified, exalted and full of glory because of His great goodness toward His people.

4. The LORD is pleased to deliver His people.
Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
O LORD, make haste to help me! (Psalm 40:13)
The LORD delights to deliver all those who belong to Him, all who call on His name. He does not leave them in their predicament, but comes to snatch them away.

5. Faith pleases God.
All these things please the LORD, but not without faith.
Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. But with faith, it is impossible not to please Him, for faith is taking God at His Word, and God rewards that greatly. He is entirely pleased and satisfied when we believe Him, and delighted when we seek after Him.

It is very simple to please God. Just love, honor and trust Him. Take Him at His Word. He will pour out His favor and cause you to prosper. He will deliver you in time of trouble and show you His salvation — Jesus.