The Essence of the Christian Life
I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.
- Psalm 40:8
If you are a true Christian, then you should desire to know and walk in the will of God.
Jesus modeled this for us in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed to the Father, "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine" (Luke 22:42).
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And in the Lord's Prayer, which is really a model for all prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, "May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10).
Jesus taught us to pray always for the will of God in our lives. So we should set our lives in the direction of knowing God's will. We are told in 1 Peter 4:2 not to "spend the rest of [our] lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God." I love that emphasis: Be anxious to do the will of God. Peter doesn't say to just do the will of God, but to be anxious to do it.
The very essence of the Christian life is doing God's will. The psalmist put it this way: "I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart" (Psalm 40:8).
So how do we know God's will? By and large, the way I have discovered it is by studying the Bible, praying for the wisdom and direction of God, and taking steps of faith. Then I have found myself in the middle of His will. The Bible says, "The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives" (Psalm 37:23).
God's way becomes plain when we start walking in it.
