photo credit: Vince Alongi via photopin cc
Why did God create the heavens, the earth, and all things in it? Why did God create man? God is a God of purpose, a God who has a will of His own pleasure, and He created all things for His will so that He might accomplish and fulfill His purpose (Eph. 3:9-11; Col. 1:9).
All things were created for God’s will, and because of His will they were created and they were (see Rev. 4:11).
What is God’s will? Most believers ask this question in the following way, What is God’s will for my life? But what the Bible reveals is not necessarily “God’s will for our life” but God’s will, His great and high will. God has a will, according to which He created all things, and His will is to accomplish and fulfill His purpose.
God’s will is not concerned with petty things and human needs like what job to take, where to live, who to marry, what car to buy, what school to go to, etc. God’s will is for us to enjoy Christ, know Christ, and live Christ, so that He may have the Body of Christ, a corporate expression of Himself.
This is what God desires. For His purpose according to His will, God created the heavens, the earth, man, and all things. All things are created by God for His will!
Lord, open our eyes to see what Your will is. May we really see something of Your great and high will. Lord, fill us with the full knowledge of Your will, that we may know what You desire to do on earth and in the universe today!
Seeing God’s Will, According to Which All Things Were Created
Even though we are saved, we are still concerned mainly with our own life, our own living, our family, our this and that. Even when it comes to realizing we are created by God in His image according to His will, we may still wonder, What is God’s will for my life? Is it God’s will for me to go to this university? Is it God’s will to marry this sister / brother? Is it God’s will to buy this car? Is it God’s will that I see a doctor for my illness, or should I just “trust in God” about it?
Most of our questions and interest regarding God’s will are related to us, to the things concerning us. But God’s will is higher than this, and we need to see His will not from an earthly standpoint but according to what the Bible says. None of the trivial matters of our life and needs can come up to the great and high will of God!
What is God’s will? What does God desire? What makes Him happy? In Ephesians we see that God had a plan in His heart, coming from His heart desire, and according to this plan He has an economy to head up all things in Christ (Eph. 1:5-11). God’s will is to have a body for Christ to be His fullness, His expression.
When we present our physical bodies for the mystical Body of Christ as a living sacrifice, we are renewed in our mind and we see, discern, and prove by testing that the will of God is to obtain a Body of Christ to be His fullness and His expression (see Rom. 12:1-5).
In order to carry out His will and accomplish His purpose, God created the heavens and the earth and all things in them (Gen. 1:1; Eph. 3:11, 21). God’s creation of the heavens, the earth, the animals, the plants, and man, began the fulfillment of His eternal plan to carry out His intention to have a full expression and manifestation in man in the universe!
Being Filled with the Full Knowledge of God’s Will
photo credit: HisVerse – Colossians 1:9
In Col. 1:9 we see that we need to be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will, so that we may have a clear revelation of God’s plan.
What is God up to? What is God doing in this universe? What is His plan? What is God’s will? We need to seek spiritual knowledge from God to know the will of God, which is not focused on things such as our family, our marriage, our job, our housing, our location, etc, but it is concerned with Christ as the all-inclusive One to be our portion.
In Colossians we clearly see that the will of God is that we know the all-inclusive Christ, the One who is the Firstborn of all creation, the Preeminent One, the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell bodily. We need to know Christ as the all-inclusive One, experience Him, and live Him out as our life so that God would have a corporate expression in humanity, the Body of Christ.
Satan has darkened the mind and thoughts of the people in the world today, making them think that being preoccupied with their own affairs is the most important thing on earth. But we as believers in Christ need to be enlightened by the Lord and clearly see God’s plan, His will, His desire in this universe.
What did God plan in eternity past to do in time, through all the generations and ages, and consummate in eternity future? What is God’s will and how do we as believers fit in “the grand scheme of things” in God’s sight? We need to ask the Lord to fill us with the full knowledge of God’s plan.
According to God’s will and for the fulfillment of His purpose, we live and exist today. Our existence and our living needs to be in God’s will. We live and breathe on earth today so that we may know Christ, enjoy Christ, and live Christ for God to have the Body of Christ as His full expression!
Lord, unveil us from anything of our self, religion, or concepts that hinder us from seeing what Your will is. Thank You for predestinating us according to the purpose of Your will. You do all things according to the counsel of Your will, and You have designated us as an inheritance in Christ. Praise You for regenerating us and bringing us into Your Body as members of Christ. Lord, may Your will be done! May we be those who know Christ, enjoy Christ, and live Christ for the Body of Christ!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message and portions in, The Experience of Life (ch. 8), and, Life-study of Colossians (msg. 3), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week / msg 2, Creation in Christ for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose.
- Hymns on this topic:
# How oft believers through the years / Have sought the will of Jesus, / And would have offered everything / To walk as Him it pleases. / If you should seek the will of God, / Don’t waste another minute; / The church life is His glorious will, / And you too must get in it.
# Oh! Christ, expression of God, the Great, / Inexhaustible, rich, and sweet! / God mingled with humanity / Lives in me my all to be.
# Lo, the central thought of God / Is that He be one with man; / He to man is everything / That He might fulfill His plan. / Earthen vessel man was made- / Body, soul, and spirit too, / God as life that he may take / And with Him have oneness true.
Praise the Lord