Date: Saturday evening, December 14, 1940Place: Shanghai Scripture Reading: Rom. 12:1-2; John 15:7; 1 Cor. 10:27; Acts 16:3, 6-7, 18; 17:16-17; 20:16
Every Christian should know God's will. If a Christian does not know His will, he is still in darkness. John 12:46 says, "Every one who believes into Me would not remain in darkness." John 8:12 says, "He who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness." This means that all those who believe into the Lord and who follow Him will surely have light. They will surely see and know. Putting it another way, if a man does not have any light or if he does not see or know, he has a problem in following the Lord.
God's will is different from the Lord's will. God's will is objective; it is outside of man and has to do with God. The Lord's will is subjective; it is inside a Christian. Because God's will is objective and rests in God's throne, it is something mysterious to a Christian, and there is the need to seek after it. In order to know God's will, one has to drop his own will and reject the activities of the flesh.
At the same time, we have to realize that we know and understand very little concerning God's will in our daily life. If a man can say that he knew God's will fifty times in a year, he is very good. In many cases one cannot name ten times when he has known God's will.
God's will is often reflected through man's will. In John 15:7 the Lord said, "Ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you." The word "will" is an active kind of will in Greek. It is not a passive will. Both English and Greek use this word as a verb. It means for the will to make a decision. If our will actively wants something or asks for something, it will be done for us. This wanting is a very strong wanting. If we want something, all we have to do is to exercise our will to pray for it, and it will be done. This verse appears to pose a danger, because what would happen if what we will does not match God's will? We may be very careful when we read this verse and may even want to add a footnote, saying, "If something is according to God's will, and you actively will and ask for it, it shall be done for you." However, this is our concept; this is not the Lord's thought. The Lord said, "Whatever you will." The Lord believes that the will of some people is according to God's will.
In 1 Corinthians 10:27 Paul said the same thing: "If any of the unbelievers invites you and you wish to go, eat everything that is set before you, asking no question for conscience' sake." It is strange that Paul did not tell us to pray to find out if we should go, or to pray to find out if we should eat. Paul did not mention God's will; he only mentioned man's wish. He only paid attention to the human will.
In John 15:7 the Lord Jesus said, "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you." This word was directed at those who are in Christ, in whom Christ lives, and who are genuinely regenerated and consecrated. When a believer has the Lord's heart and is one with Him, he will experience this word.
The words in 1 Corinthians 10:27 and John 15:7 are not for everyone. They do not mean that anyone can wish what he wants and God will accomplish it for him. This word is for Christians who are in Christ, who are genuinely regenerated and consecrated, who have the mind of Christ, who receive the dealing of the cross, who abide in the Lord, and in whom the Lord's word abides.
We have said that God's will is objective while the Lord's will is subjective. God's will is on the throne, while the Lord's will is in the heart of Christians. God's will is outside a Christian, and he has to seek to know it. The Lord's will is inside a Christian, and it is waiting to manifest itself. God's will is countable; it can be a few wills or a few dozen wills. The Lord's will is continuous; it is continuously unveiled to us.
As soon as a man is regenerated, God's life enters into him and he becomes one with the Lord. Once the Lord's life enters a Christian, His will also enters into him. He will love what the Lord loves and hate what the Lord hates. The Lord's will becomes his will. To some the word of God is living, but to others it is dead.
Some may ask, "If this is the case, is not God's will too simple? Should we not spend more time to pray and to seek for His will?" Many people think that all they need is to spend more time to pray. But often the more they pray, the more confused they become. In the end they become cold and depressed. Actually, this need not be the case. If we are one with the Lord, we will want what the Lord wants; our will will become the Lord's will. Of course, this means that we must be proper persons.
When a person is one with the Lord, his will becomes the Lord's will. If something is not according to God's will, the Holy Spirit will intervene and give him a feeling of unrest. If he does not stop, but insists on doing what he wants to do, he will feel ill at ease and not have any peace. God often guides a Christian by his own deliberations and will. For example, a brother or a sister may invite you to a certain place. You may feel cold inside. Although you want to go, you know very well within that you cannot go. This is God's will being manifested through your will.
Consider Paul's experience in Acts. When he went to Lystra, he met a disciple called Timothy, whose mother was a Jewish believer and whose father was a Greek. All the brothers in Lystra and Iconium recommended him, and Paul wanted to take him along. But because the Jews in that place knew that his father was a Greek, Paul circumcised him (16:1-3). Paul felt to circumcise Timothy, and he did it right away.
The same can be seen in Paul's experience in Philippi of casting out the spirit. A slave girl was possessed by a spirit, and followed Paul for many days, crying, "These men are slaves of the Most High God." Paul did not cast out the spirit immediately. The spirit was cast out when Paul wanted to cast it out. When Paul became provoked, he cast out the spirit, and the spirit left (vv. 16-18). Paul could have dealt with the spirit during the first few days, but there was no provocation within him. Once he was provoked within, the spirit was cast out. From this we see that the Christian walk should not be based on outward control, but on inward control.
The will of those who are truly consecrated reflects God's will. Paul was such a man. Acts 20:16 says, "For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus..." It does not say here that God decided but that Paul decided. We often hear Christians say, "God's will has led me here" or "God's will has led me to do this," but Paul did not use such spiritual expressions. His decision matched God's will. How do we know? We know because the result of his going to Ephesus was good. Paul feared God and was after His heart. Because of this his will became the manifestation of the Lord's will in him.
But this does not mean that we will never be wrong when we walk according to our own will. Acts tells us that after Paul set out from Antioch for his evangelistic work, there were very few times when the Spirit led him to do something; most of the time the Spirit was forbidding him from doing something (16:6-7). Only in the vision of the night do we see the leading of the Spirit (v. 9). We must trust in the leading of the Spirit and also trust in the forbidding of the Spirit.
In conclusion we can see three things: (1) God's will, (2) the Lord's will, and (3) the forbidding of the Holy Spirit. Under normal circumstances, we know the Lord's will; through our union with the Lord, His will becomes our will. God's will is manifested only during special occasions. In addition, if something is not according to God's will, the Holy Spirit will intervene. If something is not according to God's will, we cannot force our decision or will through. This does not work. If something is not according to His will, we will not have the inward boldness to do it. God's will is positive, whereas the forbidding of the Spirit is negative. God's will is manifested in positive guidance, whereas the Holy Spirit's intervention is manifested in forbidding. In contrast, the Lord's will is both positive and negative.
Romans 14 is an important chapter. Verse 23 says, "All that is not out of faith is sin." This is an important principle of the Christian life. The faith spoken of here is different from the faith spoken of in other parts of the Bible. In other places faith refers to the act of believing, such as: "Believe in the Lord Jesus" and "Believe in God's word." But in verse 23 this faith is not a believer's faith in God's word or in God Himself. It is the faith that believes in what he does himself. If he does things that are after God's heart, God will give him faith to assure him that he is right. If he does things that are not after God's heart, God will condemn him and show him that he is wrong. It is this faith that helps us to experience and understand God's will, and it is this faith that helps us to follow after the Lord's light and to live before His presence.
Some Christians have reached an advanced stage, and God can put His trust in them. They have passed through the cross and gone through the dealings. They are abiding in the Lord, and the Lord's word is abiding in them. As such, the Lord can trust in their will and in the proposals that come from their will. A brother from England once said, "A person who has passed through the cross does not take a passive role or wait for God's will in an outward way like many people do." If the Lord's life is living within us, His will is spontaneously living within us.
May we all see that God puts His trust in those who are truly obedient and consecrated. God's will is manifested through such ones. May the Lord deliver us from all kinds of passivity and foolishness so that we do not follow Him in darkness.
