In this thread, I request that you share the story behind how you came to the place in life where you wanted to do the will of God from the heart. What was the circumstance or the trail of events that turned you from your prior direction to this new enthusiasm? I'd enjoy hearing your story and I can imagine others would also.
How'd you get here?
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You have reason to suspect you may have misunderstood the intent of my post, dear Gideon.
Deliberately, of course. The English language lends itself to ambiguity and I like to have fun with it. I found this forum by an internet search. It's one of several and it's my preferred forum.
I know. I enjoy your wit. Now that you've answered my title, what about answering my original post? Think you could?
Before I was saved, I had no idea that God had a purpose for mankind. I had some (not happy) experience with the Church of England and I knew the Lord's prayer. It may as well have been Swahili as far as I was concerned. After I was saved, it did not take me long to realise that God indeed had a plan and purpose for every believer. When we are born again, our spiritual eyes are opened.
The first dilemma was how to discover what God's will is. I wanted to know as it was obviously (to me) an essential aspect of the Christian life. I tried a few ideas, following my own thoughts and feelings. While I was doing that, God was leading me even though I did not see it at the time.
I also discovered that knowing God's will is not enough. I had desires, plans and ambitions that God was thwarting. So I realised that God and I were not on the same page on a number of issues. I believe that every believer has at least one desire that strongly opposed to God's will. To me, it is like a personal "Gethsemane" experience. I had several such struggles.
It took more years than I care to think about, but one day I realised that the struggle was over. God won and, to my surprise, so did I. God's will is better than anything that we even imagine for ourselves.
God's will is not complicated. He asks us to go about our business and respond to whatever comes our way. The main thing is to maintain fellowship with God and get to know Him and His word. There is no such thing as coincidence. God leads us and we often do not realise it until later. We know God's general will through His word. We are led by the Spirit for more specific leading.
For example, I was coming home late from night school. I had the very strong impression that I should go to see a young woman, a widowed mother of a child with a disability. I was youth leader at my church at the time. I did not want to go. Visiting single women late at night was not on my list of acceptable behaviours. The Lord told me again. So I obeyed. The young woman answered the door and invited me in. She said that she had prayed that God would send someone to pray for her and the child.
We prayed. The child began to improve almost immediately. A few months later, the child was normal for her age. The woman married a strong Christian and they moved to a different city.
There's no award for how badly we hurt ourselves before we come to Christ. Don't downplay your testimony. I think it's utterly beautiful and I wish I'd done it that way.
LOL
Never heard it phrased quite like that, but now I'm gonna use that phrase.
Also, welcome to the forum.
I agree with Lynx - well said, Devorah, and I'm likely to appropriate it too. I'm interested to hear how you came to have this hope. Feel welcome to share.