E20 - Obeying the Will of GOD - How It is done - Part 1 of 2

09/19/21 • 9 min

Hope's Harbor Podcast - Gritty Bible Devotions

I must apologize. The titles of E20 and E21 got mixed up in my covid brain. It may be I should have waited before resuming the podcast. It's just that I missed sharing GOD's encouragement through these devotions. Regardless, I made corrections as much as I could and ask for your patience and understanding. When taken together E20 and E21 present a look at obeying GOD's sovereign will, that part of His will He will not change no matter how much we pray otherwise; and His permissive will, that part of His will in which He allows us the freedom to choose options available to us throughout life. Thank you -
What do you think of when obeying the will of GOD comes to your attention? Is there dread, or fear, or even indifference?
It will help you to pray before listening today and ask GOD to give understanding about His will. After all, GOD wants us to know His will in order to obey it. A good prayer for this is found in Ephesians 1:18 where Paul prayed for the following: ' the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,'
Full show notes at hopesharbor.net
Episode #20

Title: Obeying the Will of GOD – How it is Done

Date: September 20, 2021

Contact: [email protected]

Key verse(s): Luke 6:46 - "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?"

Intro: During a bout last week with the Delta variant of covid-19 I was so sick I couldn’t pray. It was the prayers of GOD’s people that stood between me and death for a couple of days until, by the efforts of doctors and staff in ICU, I began to improve.

During several long nights when I couldn’t sleep I read my Bible and I came across the passage in Luke where a rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked a question.

Luke 18:18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus told him to obey the commandments. The man said he’d kept them since his youth.

Jesus gave him one more thing to do: Luke 18:22 ‘So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."’

Even in my virus dimmed mind what Jesus said leaped out at me and rang a bell.

I thought about what this meant to me. For the ruler it was specific. He was rich it says in another passage in Luke 18:18, and he went away saddened because the cost for him to follow Jesus was too high for him.

But for me, after thinking through Jesus’ words throughout that night and several following I began to realized the command was for me to release all sense of possessing ...

What does this have to do with obeying GOD’s will?

Devotion focus: There is more to knowing GOD’s will than reading it in the Bible. That is knowing as in the letter of Scripture and knowing the spirit of GOD’s will.

The first, the letter, or what is written of GOD’s will when followed as a burden can lead to legalism. The second, understanding the spirit of GOD’s will helps us understand what GOD intends for us when we obey His commands.

One example of this is found in John 15:10 – “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.”

It goes without saying we are to obey GOD, and here the promise is if we obey His commandments we will abide in His love.

For full show notes go to hopesharbor.net
Next week’s devotion: Part 2: Knowing the Will of GOD – How to discover it

Show notes at HopesHarbor.net

Title: Obeying the Will of GOD – How it is Done

Date: September 20, 2021

Contact: [email protected]

Key verse(s): Luke 6:46 - "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?"

During several long nights when I couldn’t sleep I read my Bible and I came across the passage in Luke where a rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked a question.

Luke 18:18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus told him to obey the commandments. The man said he’d kept them since his youth.

Even in my virus dimmed mind what Jesus said leaped out at me and rang a bell.

But for me, after thinking through Jesus’ words throughout that night and several following I began to realized the command was for me to release all sense of possessing ...

What does this have to do with obeying GOD’s will?

Devotion focus: There is more to knowing GOD’s will than reading it in the Bible. That is knowing as in the letter of Scripture and knowing the spirit of GOD’s will.

One example of this is found in John 15:10 – “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.”

It goes without saying we are to obey GOD, and here the promise is if we obey His commandments we will abide in His love.

For full show notes go to hopesharbor.net
Next week’s devotion: Part 2: Knowing the Will of GOD – How to discover it

Show notes at HopesHarbor.net

Previous Episode

E19 - Joy in the Lord - Do you want it?

Love is such a powerful force, and Paul believed that the Holy Spirit was responsible for giving this love to Christians. The first of nine virtues listed in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 are "charity," or better known as agape Love. This kind of true selfless unconditional love stands out when you think about how different it can be from your relationship with others while not being filled with charity - people may see us more as acquaintances than friends because they don't really know who we are deep down inside; if there's no mutual respect then there's likely little to nothing at all driving our interactions together other than familiarity alone.

What would happen if we had more opportunities for experiencing real joy? Think about what life might look like. I've discovered a lot of joy comes from loving others and being loved. And this is not easy.
Full show notes on hopesharbor.net
Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions

Episode #19

Title: Joy in the Lord – Do you want it?

Date: August 9, 2021

Contact: [email protected]

Key verse(s): John 15:11- "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Chara khar-ah' From G5463; cheerfulness, that is, calm delight:

Intro: In Galatians 5:22-23Paul listed 9 virtues of the Holy Spirit imparted to Christians. The 1st one listed is love, and think about it, we have love, that is love given to us from GOD, and the love we have for others. It stands to reason joy will come out of this love.

What if love is missing in our lives? What if everyone we know is more acquaintance than a friend and the relationship is not based in love, either their love for us or our love to them

Can we still have joy? Let me read through the virtues listed in Galatians and I want you to think about the Holy Spirit’s ministry to us, especially when He comes to set us apart for GOD.

Gal 5:22 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Gal 5:23 - gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Devotion focus:

· How to have joy regardless of other relationships or circumstances

Now, when I typed this out I knew I would have a difficult time convincing someone in terrible circumstances that they too may have joy.

And then I remembered it’s not my responsibility to convince anyone of anything in these devotions. It’s GOD’s place to convince people of His truth as revealed in the Bible.

Having said that I recognize I have a responsibility to present GOD’s truth clearly so I don’t cause confusion or doubt to enter.

With GOD’s help, I’ll try my best to present this devotion about joy edged with feelings of my own joy.

I’ll confess right here that feelings of joy come and go with circumstances when I’m distracted or frustrated. This is my normal experience with feeling joy.

Let me stop here and ask you: what are you feeling right this moment concerning joy?

Before going further let me caution you not to try to fake it with a false smile. Be real with yourself. It’s okay; no one will know when you’re honest with yourself.

If you discover that feeling joy is rarely your experience then you’re in good company.

So what can we do to feel joy or joyfulness at times? A look at Biblical joy Jesus said He gives will be helpful, and then we’ll look at ways to bring about this wonderful promise of Jesus by which to partake of His joy.

An important point: The joy Jesus gives is founded on love.

First, when I asked earlier what if love is missing from our lives how can we have joy - follow this closely: love on

Show notes at HopesHarbor.net

Next Episode

E21 - Knowing the Will of GOD – How to Discover - Part 2 of 2

The way you make decisions in your life is through the permissive will of God. He gives us choices, but only those which are good for our soul and not harmful or damaging to others.
This episode goes over simple questions and answers about how we can take part in this adventure and take some of the mystery out. And by the way, GOD wants us to enjoy this process called the Christian life!
For full show notes go to hopesharbor.net
Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions

Episode #21

Title: Knowing the Will of GOD – How to Discover

Date: September 27th, 2021

Contact: [email protected]

Before going into this episode, my wife Kris asked why I didn’t give more detail in episode 20 about the experience I went through when in the covid ICU. I don’t know why, but I hesitate trying to explain what happened on that spiritual level, something I’ve never experienced before.

Since the event is too long to go into here I recorded it as E21a and posted it for October 4th, 2021

And now, let me get back on track with the focus of this episode ‘Obeying the Will of GOD’:

Key verse(s): Romans 12:2, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Colossians 1:9 – ‘For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;’

Intro: When we obey and apply GOD’s expressed sovereign will to our lives consistently, then, and I think it safe to say, only then does GOD more readily reveal His permissive will to us.

But then, when we determine a course of action within the freedom to choose options and become convinced it is what GOD intends for us a good direction to act on and we don’t follow through, what do you think is the logical outcome for such indecision? When we freeze up with fear and just drift along.

Listen, to do nothing with a choice we know is right is still a decision.

Here’s a quote from an anonymous writer, I have on my wall: “On the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions who, on the threshold to victory sat down to wait, and waiting they died.”

Devotion focus: Finding GOD’s permissive will for our lives.

The first thing that should come to mind is just what does it mean – GOD’s permissive will?

First off I’m not going into all the theological arguments about every aspect and perception of what is meant by GOD’s permissive will or whether it exists.

For the sake of this devotion, I define GOD’s permissive will as GOD allowing us the freedom to choose options within the Christian life, the condition being we are obeying GOD to the best of our knowledge. This means not living in known, willful sin.

The options are choices we make when deciding where to work, live, marry or not. Some people even apply seeking GOD’s will as to what kind of car to buy.

Concerning our life's work I’ve read GOD isn’t so much concerned with our occupation and much as He is with what we’re occupied with.

So here is a blessedly easy way I’ve used throughout my Christian life, even though I forget the pastor who wrote the book in which this method of making choices is taken.

When trying to decide between choices available to me I ask the following:

1. Is your choice prohibited in the Bible? If so, then don’t do it, period. You would think this goes without saying, but I’ve heard people dismiss the Bible prohibiting something, like divorce for nothing more than convenience sake. They’ll say something like, “I know what the Bible says, but...” and give their excu

Show notes at HopesHarbor.net

Hope's Harbor Podcast - Gritty Bible Devotions - E20 - Obeying the Will of GOD - How It is done - Part 1 of 2

Transcript

Knowing the Will of God - How to Discover
Key verses are Colossians 1:9 and 1:10. Verse 9, "For this reason, we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding." Verse 10, "That you may walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."
Several weeks ago, in August 2021, I h