101 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT HEALTH AND WEALTH
January 2015 – Week 2

THE WILL OF GOD

We could spend the rest of our lives discussing the mysteries of God and I believe we should. Even if we lived to be 120 years old, I realize we would not have the time or mental capacity to comprehend but just a drop within the Ocean of God’s Omniscience. For God to be sovereign over all of creation He must have knowledge of all things and this should encourage us even more to keep reaching out further and pressing in deeper toward God’s wisdom. The mind and will of God is accessible and we are NOT satisfied with focusing on things that are meaningless. His truth is available the same as His presence and is an oasis to those who are thirsty for Him! “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, NOT on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-3) Bless you – seekers of divine truth.

Some topics are easier to comprehend while certain discussions leave scholars in tears as they throw up their hands in surrender. We agree that there are “paradoxes” if we believe in absolutes and in the context of knowing God’s “will” we have two definite ingredients. Number one; we have discovered through God’s Word that He not only knows everything about everyone (including their future) but has designed perfect (personal – specific) blueprints for each person to follow. Number two; the Lord has demanded that all of His people learn how to pray and develop into serious intercessors and has promised that holy invocation makes things happen. This is where our mystery begins because it appears on the surface that we have two different things going in different directions. If we are convinced that prayer can “change” circumstances and situations every moment, it does not mean that everything is already recorded as “history” in the infinite mind of The Almighty. Let us keep going.

3.Is there anywhere in the Bible that God says it is His desire for His people to be sick or poor? My first response is no. I would like to add that many of the ways we live compared to what the Bible is trying to say could be interpreted differently. There is a big difference between God supplying all of our needs and us being worth a hundred million dollars but generally speaking I believe it is God perfect will for us to prosper. It is also two different things to be sick or poor for a while until God heals and blesses us. I feel the key word that was missing out of the question is whether God wants us to REMAIN sick or poor. The miracle power of prayer is developed and generated through the enlightenment of God’s will and as we said earlier we can know the mind of Christ. According to God’s Word there is no indication that He would not want us to live an abundant life.

Since we are trying to see several examples, we need to include that there are people who live OUTSIDE of God’s general will and their specific blueprints that do become millionaires. Of course they are miserable without God but nonetheless they have managed to gain wealth. The kingdom of darkness is very well financed and there are millions of lost souls that are helping the cause. Being rich does not mean we are successful in God’s eyes as there are many accomplished people that have never spent one moment trying to find the destiny that God has planned for them. Likewise, there are many of God’s children that are rich and it IS included as a part of their divine destiny. As we have mentioned before, just because the rich young ruler was asked to give his fortune away did not mean he was to live the rest of his life poor. The principal of reaping and sowing is a proven generator of blessings. There are many disciples of Jesus that may not be rich or famous but He is watching over them in every way according to their OBEDIENCE (this is a huge subject). We can talk all day about what people “think” when it comes to sickness and poverty but all of that is similar to politics – it does not really matter. What we want to know is how Jesus dealt with these issues and where He recommended anyone to remain sick or poor just for sake of it! There are definite reasons for these problems and we will spend the entire year talking about it. In Third John Chapter 1 and verse 2, we are faced with a simple decision to believe or shrug our shoulders and walk away. The Bible is alive and filled with the power to “save” us from whatever is hurting us or holding us from being whole. “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest PROSPER and be in GOOD HEALTH, even as thy soul prospers.” Now brother, the writer is just simply wishing us well. Does this mean we are to start cutting passages like this out because we do not think they are inspired by God? God said this through His messenger and this is HIS perfect will! Amen!

4. Do you believe there is a difference between God’s “perfect will” and His “tolerance” for us choosing to live below His level of expectation? Yes. We will address this many times but it needs to be repeated over and over until we get it. I do NOT believe God forces His holy Word into someone’s spirit or makes them spend time with Him in the “secret place” of prayer. I believe we are DRAWN into salvation and continually invited every hour to come closer into our personal relationship with Him so that we might accomplish His perfect will. Faith is given to the saints so they can grow stronger and be transformed into the image of Christ but the ability to choose the way we want to live is included in the package. When we ignore divine appointments or do not pray or study, then we will be judged for these sins of omission because our rebellion caused us to fail. However, God’s love is NOT conditional. Praise Him forever! Yes, He tolerates our disobedience and yes we can live in the outer courts and still be saved because of His GRACE. We can be forgiven but the idea is to learn from these failures and become determined to change. Our Christian life is about growing and developing spiritual sensitivity and being more serious about God’s will. Why? Because we are trying to get on the SAME PAGE with the blueprint that has been given to us to fulfill. Where there is given authority – responsibility and expectation is required. Now, just how far will God tolerate our rebellion – only He knows as He is the perfect judge. Is He disappointed when His children do not fulfill His perfect will? Absolutely. Would you not be disappointed if your child spent their entire life in prison? However, is there anything they could do that would cause them to NOT be your child?

We are NOT going to fulfill every tiny detail connected with our blueprint and when we make mistakes by choosing not to follow His voice – He is present to manage and do the best He can with what we have done. For example, if He tells us to give someone a hundred dollars but out of fear and doubt we give then ten dollars, He can still make it all work out. He knew that we would disobey Him before we did it and was already working on another plan to finish the job with someone else. Giving $100.00 was included in our “perfect” plan so we missed this opportunity to be obedient and consequently the blessing that was to be a part of it. The $10.00 was still used but it was considered by the Lord as a failure to obey. There are endless illustrations that we could discuss but for now I want us to take a close observation of a beautiful section of scripture that can encourage us to keep pressing into our understanding of God’s perfect will. The closer we come to Him – the more we can know Him and what He is thinking. Our covenant relationship was not for us just be a mindless slave! Covenant means “mutual” consideration and until we see this partnership agreement between us and God we will continue to see through a glass darkly.