Living in the will of God - a twofold process of faith and trust

As I was coursing the aisles of Walmart a couple weeks ago with my kids, my son piped up and asked if we could get some granola bars. A simple request. But then he followed it up with a profound thought. He said:

“But if I’m not going to get it, then I don’t want it.”

I’ll be honest, it took a minute for what he was saying to sink in. I asked him to repeat it.

“I said, if I’m not going to get it, then I don’t even want it.”

I smiled at him, “That’s a really good way to look at it, Buddy.”

There was a depth to the sweet, childlike comment. My spirit was touched and convicted.

Can I approach God in the same way my son just approached me?

A twofold process to walking in the will of God

As believers, we all want to live within the will of God. We know there is no safer place to be. However, when we get going in day to day life, it starts to feel a bit more complex than that. We have desires. We have needs and perceived needs. We have to-do lists for today and long-term plans for tomorrow.

But God has something much better in store.

What God invites us into and Jesus models for us is a twofold process of faith and trust. It’s how we surrender our ever-limited will in exchange for His perfect one.

First, He invites us to approach Him. God wants to know the desires of our heart. In fact, He already knows them, and He delights in our willingness to bring those things to Him. It requires humility and trust to bring our hearts before God. We can rest assured He loves to hear from us. This is why He sent Jesus – to bridge the gap and allow us a way, the Way, to genuine relationship with Him.

Second, He invites us to accept His better will and plan. After we bring our hearts before Him, we humbly submit it all to His authority and trust His greater purposes.

When we approach this process with genuine humility before God and trust in His love for us, there is a natural joy and peace that flows from it. We find rest in surrendering our will for the Father’s.

Ask, Seek, Knock

In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus details this exact process.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

He tells us flat out to ask. He then follows it up, though, with this beautiful picture of a child asking his father for something. The father certainly would not give his child a lesser gift.

It is the same way with us. God wants us to ask, and then He promises that He will never give us a lesser thing than what we have asked for. He may, however, give us a different gift than what we’ve asked for because He knows best of all how to give good gifts. He sees the end from the beginning and knows what we truly need. All good gifts come straight from above (James 1:17).

In fact, the way Jesus explains this, our asking is what unlocks our ability to walk within the will of God. We ask, we seek, we knock. Then God gives, He reveals, He opens. We approach the Father in humility, then He gives good gifts as only He can.

God’s good gifts will always serve one purpose – to draw us and others closer to Himself. Rarely do God’s good gifts look like what we in our humanity call “good.” Rather, His good gifts are invitations into His greater plan and purpose for our lives and His Kingdom. To receive His good gifts is to walk in His will.

Not My Will, But Yours

Not only does Jesus teach this process of approaching God and surrendering to His will, He also models it. In Luke 22:42, we see Jesus right before His betrayal and death calling out to God.

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

He asks in earnest humility and submits to the Father’s will in the same breath.

This is the picture of deep trusting relationship. Jesus knew He could go to the Father, and He also knew the Father’s will was best. In Jesus’ hour of distress, He modeled for us what a life submitted to the will of God looks like. He taught us how to live in the gift of relationship with the Father, a gift He unlocked for us through His own death and resurrection.

The Lifestyle Switch

Walking in the will of God requires a lifestyle switch in us. It requires a return to child-like faith, the kind my son showed in the aisles of Walmart.

Romans 12:2 tells us:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

It’s a daily process of choosing faith and submission over self-sufficiency. It’s a constant turning to the Lord in humility. 

He invites us to set our sites completely on Him. Like Jesus calling Peter to walk on the waters with Him, God invites us to keep our eyes on Him in faith and walk with Him in His perfect will.

Our flesh desires a sense of security. Our flesh thinks we know what we need. Our flesh wants to force the issue.

When we are led by the Holy Spirit, though, we are truly secure in the only One who knows what we need and who guides gently from one moment into the next. All He asks of us is to be in relationship with Him, to humble ourselves like a child and approach Him and trust Him. What a beautiful exchange.