the center of God's will

A little nugget for you. This is something God has been reteaching me recently about being in the center of His will.

I think a lot of us want to know the answer to the question, "What is God's will for my life?"

I ask this question all the time, but usually the answer I am looking for is some sort of activity - a job, a ministry, a project, a group of people to help. We really want to know what we are supposed to be doing. That's what we usually mean when we say we want to know his will.

But God has reminded me recently that his will is not just doing the right activities, ministries, what have you. Activities are always secondary to heart condition in God's Book. Activities are essential to our faith, but they are not primary. I believe the Enemy works very hard to get us to focus on our actions while our hearts stay far from God.

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

God's will is very clear in Scripture. He wants us to draw near to him - to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and he wants us to love our neighbor as He loved us. Very well then - we can do that anywhere.

God is very clear that loving and delighting in Him is His primary desire for you, and He always takes care of the secondary - making your path straight and giving you the desire of your heart. You love and trust; He carries out the plan.

So maybe the next time we feel like we want to ask God, "What should I do?" Maybe instead we should question our hearts.

Is God currently the center of my life? Is HE the best thought on my mind all day long? Do I love Him more than anything else in my life? Do my thoughts constantly gravitate towards Him? Is my heart and mouth overflowing with praises to Him.

If the honest answer to these types of questions is "no," then there is no ministry, no job, no mission, no work, no human relationship in the world that's going to satisfy you or change you.

We hate that answer. We think that if we could just have this job, do this or that thing, then we will be happy. If we are not happy in the Lord now, in the current situation where HE has placed us, then we will not be happy in any situation. And if we think we will, we are only deceiving ourselves.

I must confess that I am so guilty of this - of thinking that activities and new circumstances will solve the dissatisfaction in my life - trying to fill emptiness with works and ministry and "legitimate" things, while the only thing that counts is faith working through love. I still tend to believe the lie that my worth is found in what I am doing, which is so contrary to the gospel!

Maybe God is wanting you, like me, to repent from this type of attitude. Maybe He wants us to quit covering up our ugly dissatisfaction with fancy-looking "righteous deeds" that amount to dirty, bloody, garments in His Book and return to Him. You can know you are in the center of His will when He is the center of your life.