One of the problems most frequently encountered by serious-minded Christians is how to discover the will of God in a given situation.
This is not a small matter.
To countless thousands of Christians it is vitally important.
Their peace of heart depends upon knowing that God is actually guiding them, and their failure to be sure that He is destroys their inward tranquility and fills them with uncertainty and fear. They must get help if they are to regain their confidence. Here is a modest effort to provide some help.
First, it is absolutely essential that we be completely dedicated to Gods high honor and surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God will not lead us except for His own glory and He cannot lead us if we resist His will.
The shepherd cannot lead a stubborn sheep.
The evil practice of using God must be abandoned.
Instead of trying to employ God to achieve our ends we must submit ourselves joyously to God and let Him work through us to achieve His own ends.
verse
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.
— Matthew 26:39
thought
Have you ever tried to use God? Have you attempted to persuade Him to do your will rather than you doing His? To know His will we must be fully committed to do it!
prayer
Lord, You were fully committed to do the will of the Father, costly as it was. By Your Spirit strengthen within me the resolve to do Your will no matter the cost.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
It is something of a happy paradox that while the thoughts deeply affect the will and go far to determine its choices, the will on the other hand has the power to control the thoughts. A will firmly engaged with God can swing the intellectual powers around to think on holy things.
Were it not so, Pauls words to the Philippians would be psychologically untenable: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Philippians 4:8).
Since we are here commanded to think on certain things it follows that we can command our thoughts; and if we can pick the objects upon which to meditate we can in the end sway our whole inner life in the direction of righteousness.
It is much more important that we think godly thoughts and will to do Gods will than that we feel spiritual.
Religious feelings may and do vary so greatly from person to person, or even in the same person they may vary so widely from one time to the next, that it is never safe to trust them.
Let us by a determined act of faith set our affections on things above and God will see to the rest.
The safest, and after a while the happiest, man is the one who can say, My heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.
verse
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.
— Philippians 4:8
thought
Thoughts invade our thinking because of the world around us and things stored in our subconscious. We cant altogether prevent thought invasion. But when wrong thoughts, evil thoughts arise we can deliberately focus our mind on things good.
prayer
Lord, I determine by Your enablement to think about the good.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
It is significant that when our Lord describes the stream of iniquity as it flows out of the heart He begins with the thoughts.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies... Matthew 15:19.
It is doubtful whether any sin is ever committed until it first incubates in the thoughts long enough to stir the feelings and predispose the will toward it favorably.
Even the sudden flash of anger, which of all sins would appear on the surface to have the lowest mental content, is anything but a sudden eruption of the emotions.
The quick-tempered man is one who habitually broods over wrongs and insults and thus conditions himself for the sudden fit of temper that seems to have no mental origin. The heart that has had the benefit of broad, sane thinking on moral questions, especially long meditation upon mans sin, Gods mercy and the goodness of Christ in dying for His enemies, is not conditioned to blow up when occasion arises.
The worst reaction to an affront or an injustice will be annoyance or mild irritation, never a burst of sinful anger.
verse
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
— Ephesians 4:31-32
thought
The short-tempered person is given to fits of rage. Long-temperedness (patience) is part of the fruit of the Spirit as is gentleness and self-control. That fruit is produced in us as we walk by under the Spirits control.
prayer
Lord, help me to relate to people as You do to me-with great patience, grace and gentleness.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
It will probably be found at last that there is no sin except sin of the mind.
It is the carnal mind that is enmity against God, that is not subject to the law of God, neither can be.
It should, however, be remembered that when the Bible speaks of the mind it does not refer to the intellect alone.
The whole personality is included in the concept; the bent of the will, the moral responses, the sympathies and antipathies are there also, as well as the intellect.
When God saw the wickedness of man, that it was great in the earth, He saw what could not be seen from the outside, that, as it is rendered in one place, the whole imagination, with the purposes and desires of the heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5).
From this passage alone we may properly gather that sin has its seat deep within the mind where it pollutes the emotions (desires), the intellect (imaginations) and the will (purposes).
These taken together constitute what the Bible and popular theology call the heart.
verse
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
— Matthew 15:18-19
thought
What we are in heart at times explodes and at other times quietly leaks out through our mouths as well as our gestures, expressions and actions. That is why it is imperative that our hearts be clean and that there Christ be enthroned.
prayer
Examine my heart, Lord, expose it. I want my heart to be Your throne.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Any man who would escape the heavy tax which humankind lays upon the righteous must make a satisfactory compromise with error.
This is so because sin has perverted the nature of things.
He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey is as true now as when it was first uttered.
Little as we like to admit it, two thousand years of Christianity have not made much difference. The human race is still cursed with what Bacon called a natural though corrupt love of the lie itself. Nevertheless the hazards of truth should not count in our final tally.
Truth is such a royal patron that we should embrace it without regard to cost. The cautious calculator, who tinkers with truth for fear of consequences, is no worthy servant of such a noble master. We Christians above all people should value truth, for we profess to belong to the One who is the Truth.
The Stoics who had no access to the Scriptures nevertheless had a noble concept of truth and of mans responsibility to it. When on trial for his life before a hostile and prejudiced court one of them told his accusers: A man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong-acting the part of a good man or a bad.
The true follower of Christ will not ask, If I embrace this truth, what will it cost me?
Rather he will say, This is truth, God help me to walk in it, let come what may!
verse
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, This is the way; walk in it.
— Isaiah 30:21
thought
Some of us want to know the way, the truth just to be knowledgeable among our brothers and sisters. But God shows us truth and says This is the way; walk in it.
prayer
You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. As You show me truth may I walk in the way of it, even though it is sometimes painful.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
To know the truth is the greatest privilege any man can enjoy in this life, as truth itself is without doubt the richest treasure anyone can possess.
This follows from the nature of truth, and from the world-outlasting dowry it brings to those who open their hearts to it.
Apart from truth our human lives would lose all their value, and we ourselves become no better than the beasts that perish. Our response to truth should be eager and instant. We dare not dally with it; we dare not treat it as something we can obey or not obey, at our pleasure. It is a glorious friend, but it is nevertheless a hard master, exacting unquestioning obedience.
While a life lived in conformity with the truth will come at last to a good and peaceful end, candor requires us to admit that the lover of truth will have to endure many a heartache, many a sorrow as he journeys through the wilderness.
This is the price the world makes him pay for the priceless privilege of obeying the truth.
The world being what it is, truth must carry its own forfeit.
The servant of truth will be penalized for his devotion. So goes the world always.
verse
Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
— John 14:6
thought
Christ is the truth. We want to embrace some truth and screen out other truth. We cant. To follow Christ means walking in the truth-all of it!
prayer
It hurts sometimes, Lord, to embrace the truth, all of it. Yet to reject truth is to embrace darkness. You are the truth. Fill all of me!
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Man is a worshiper and only in the spirit of worship does he find release for all the powers of his amazing intellect.
A religious writer has warned us that it may be fatal to trust to the squirrel-work of the industrious brain rather than to the piercing vision of the desirous heart.
The Greek church father, Nicephorus, taught that we should learn to think with our heart. Force your mind to descend into the heart, he says, and to remain there. . . . When you thus enter into the place of the heart give thanks to God and, praising His mercy, keep always to this doing, and it will teach you things which in no other way will you ever learn.
A religious mentality characterized by timidity and lack of moral courage has given us to a flabby Christianity, intellectually impoverished, dull, repetitious and to a great many persons just plain boring.
This is peddled as the very faith of our fathers in direct lineal descent from Christ and the apostles.
We spoon-feed this insipid pabulum to our inquiring youth and, to make it palatable, spice it up with carnal amusements filched from the unbelieving world. It is easier to entertain than to instruct, it is easier to follow degenerate public taste than to think for oneself, so too many of our evangelical leaders let their minds atrophy while they keep their fingers nimble operating religious gimmicks to bring in the curious crowds.
Christianity must embrace the total personality and command every atom of the redeemed being.
We cannot withhold our intellects from the blazing altar and still hope to preserve the true faith of Christ.
verse
All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of the God and ponder what he has done.
— Psalm 64:9
thought
The indwelling Spirit can inflame our intellect, empowering it to climb new mountains of thought that brings us closer and closer to God.
prayer
Lord, remind me to think from the heart, not just the mind. May I persevere and find answers of heart, if not of mind. Make me a sanctified thinker.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
To think well and usefully a man must be endowed with certain indispensable qualifications.
He must, for one thing, be completely honest and transparently sincere.
Another qualification is courage. The timid man dare not think lest he discover himself, an experience to him as shocking as the discovery that he has cancer. The sincere thinker comes to his task with the abandonment of a Saul of Tarsus, crying, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
Thinking carries a moral imperative. The searcher for truth must be ready to obey truth without reservation or it will elude him. Let him refuse to follow the light and he dooms himself to darkness. The coward may be shrewd or clever but he can never be a wise thinker, for wisdom is at bottom a moral thing and will have no truck with evil.
Again, the effective religious thinker must possess some degree of knowledge.
A Chinese saying has it, Learning without thought is a snare; thought without learning is a danger.
I have met Christians with sharp minds but limited outlook who saw one truth and, being unable to relate it to other truths, became narrow extremists, devoutly cultivating their tiny plot, naively believing that their little fence enclosed the whole earth. An acquaintance with or at least a perception of the significance of what Kant called the starry heavens above and the moral law within is necessary to right thinking.
Add to this a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, a good historic sense and some intimate contact with the Christian religion as it is practiced currently and you have the raw material for creative thought.
Still this is not enough to make a thinker.
verse
Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
— Psalm 111:2
thought
Courageous thinking pursued in depth and fixed on God, His Word and our human situation takes us into new territory. It leads to new questions, expanded knowledge and truth new to us. It brings us to our knees in delight before our great God.
prayer
Lord, it is You who have given me the ability to think. May I exercise that ability with courage even though I encounter new problems and questions. May I grow in You.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
The creative religious thinker is not a daydreamer, not an ivory tower intellectual carrying on his lofty cogitations remote from the rough world; he is more likely to be a troubled, burdened man weighed down by the woes of existence, occupied not with matters academic or theoretical but the practical and personal.
The great religious thinkers of the past were rarely men of leisure; mostly they were men of affairs, close to and very much a part of the troubled world. Neither will the sanctified thinker of our times be a poet gazing at a sunset from some quiet secluded spot, but one who feels himself a traveler lost in a wilderness who must find his way to safety. That others will later follow the path he makes will not be primary in his thinking.
Later he will understand this, but for the time being he will be all engaged hunting the way out for himself.
To think well and usefully a man must be endowed with certain indispensable qualifications.
He must, for one thing, be completely honest and transparently sincere. The trifler is automatically eliminated. He is weighed in the balance and found too light to be entrusted with the thoughts of God.
Let but a breath of levity enter the mind and the power to do creative thinking instantly goes out.
And by levity I do not mean wit or even humor; I do mean insincerity, sham, the absence of moral seriousness.
Great thoughts require a grave attitude toward life and mankind and God.
verse
Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.
— 2 Peter 3:1
thought
Wholesome thinking is not done in a closet or in an isolated ivory tower. Wholesome thinking is serious thinking of depth and breadth done in the midst of busy living in a busy world. It is honest and sincere thinking.
prayer
Father, Im not inclined to wholesome thought. But the intent of Your Word is to stimulate me to wholesome thinking. May I give myself to it!
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/