For us to enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the coming age, we must be those who do the Father’s will in this age; as kingdom people, we are on earth to do the Father’s will.
When it comes to knowing the will of God and doing the will of God, many believers consider mainly, What is God’s will for me and my life?
But God’s will is not mainly for us but for God, for what God wants and intends to do; our will is what we want to do for our own purpose, so God’s will is what He wants to do for His purpose.
Many speak of God’s will for my life, for my future, but who cares for God’s will for God, for what He wants to do?
There needs to be a shift in our understanding and our emphasis, so that we would seek God, receive guidance from Him, and be led by the Spirit to know what is the will of God for God.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth He was guided, governed, and controlled by the Father’s will; He didn’t do His own work but did the work of the Father, He didn’t speak His own words but what He heard the Father speak, and He didn’t seek His own glory but the glory of the Father.
Once we see the Father’s will, once we realize we are kingdom people who are saved for us to do the will of our Father, we will settle this in us: whatever I do, wherever I go, and whatever I say is for me to do the Father’s will.
When we see the Father’s will, we will realize that our getting married, the place where we should live, our job, caring for our family, caring for our health, and all our relationships are for us to do the will of our Father.
May the Lord gain our will to such an extent that we are in harmony with His will; on one hand our will needs to be subdued, and on the other, it has to be strong for the will of our Father, for His will to be done on the earth.
Only one person in the whole history of man lived such a life of doing the will of God; He was governed absolutely by doing the will of the Father, and He walked on earth and did and spoke many things for the Father to accomplish His will.
Even at the end of His human life on earth, when He was agonizing in prayer in the garden, He knew that the cup of death He was about to drink was the Father’s will, and He said, Not My will, but Your will be done.
After that prayer, it was settled in His being, for He knew that the Father’s will was for Him to drink the cup; because He drank the cup, we are here today.
The Lord Jesus said that He cannot do anything from Himself, but as He hears, so His judgement is just, for He doesn’t seek His own will but the will of Him who sent Him (John 5:30).
He came down from heaven not to do His own will but the will of Him who sent Him.
This Christ who spoke this way and lived this way, this Christ who did the Father’s will and sought nothing else but the will of His Father, He is now the Spirit dwelling in us and living in us.
And today, though we all are exceedingly conscious of the environment surrounding us, we can say before the Lord, Lord, we take Your will and agree; may Your will be done and Your kingdom come!
To Enter into the Manifestation of the Kingdom of the Heavens we must Do the Will of our Father in this Age
Matt. 7:21-23 is a striking portion concerning the Lord as the Judge saying, Depart from Me, workers of lawlessness, I never knew you.
He says this concerning some who say, Lord, Lord, in Your name we did this and we did that, and many works of power we did in Your name!
Many will come to the Lord at His judgement seat and say, Lord, we prophesied in Your name, we cast out demons in Your name, and we did many mighty works of power in Your name…but the Lord will tell them, I don’t know you, I don’t recognize you, workers of lawlessness.
These people are not unbelievers; they are believers in Christ, even those who serve God ardently and did many works in His name, yet the Lord said that He doesn’t know them or recognize them.
May we cry out to the Lord concerning these verse, for we want to know what it means for us to do the will of our Father and be approved by the Lord at His coming judgement.
We do not want to be lawless workers but rather, be governed by the will of our Father and do the Father’s will in our daily life.
We want that the Lord would say to us in that day, Well done, you faithfully did what the Father wanted you to do; you did His will.
We tremble if He would say, You did what you were permitted to do, and you even did what you preferred, wanted, and liked to do, but you did not do the Father’s will – depart from Me!
This is a weighty matter, for in order for us to enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the coming kingdom age, we must do the will of our Father in this age (see Matt. 7:21-23; 6:10; 12:50; Rev. 4:11; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 1:5, 9, 11; 5:17; Col. 1:9; 4:12).
The kingdom is absolutely a matter of God’s will and completely fulfills His will; in fact, the will of God is His kingdom, even for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as in heaven (Matt. 6:10).
As human beings, we are citizens of the country where we live and are under the governmental authority in our country; as believers in Christ, we are kingdom people, citizens of another country, and we are under the throne of God, so we pray, Lord, may Your will be done and Your kingdom come!
On one hand, we became the citizens of the kingdom of God simply by calling on the name of the Lord to be regenerated with His life; when we called on the name of the Lord, we received the divine life and were regenerated to become children of God, citizens of the kingdom of God.
On the other hand, however, for us to enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, we need to do the will of our heavenly Father.
To call on the name of the Lord is good enough for us to be saved and enter into the kingdom of God (Rom. 10:13), but for us to be in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, we need to do the will of our Father.
First we are born of the divine life to enter the kingdom of God, and then we live by this life and according to this nature for us to enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.
May we open to the Lord concerning this matter and tell Him,
Lord Jesus, we thank You for regenerating us with the divine life to bring us into the kingdom of God; now we want to live by this divine life and nature so that we may enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the coming age. Amen, Lord, we are here not for ourselves or for our benefit but for You and for the Father’s will! May our living, work, service, and speaking be in oneness with You, and may we do the will of our Father just as You did! Amen, Lord, we open to You: You are the One as the Spirit in our spirit who already did the Father’s will. May You live in us and may You do the Father’s will in us!
As Kingdom People, we are on earth to do the Father’s Will by Living according to His Nature
In Matt. 5-7 we see the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens, which is the highest standard for our living as kingdom people.
The ultimate issue of the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens is the will of the heavenly Father (Matt. 7:21).
In His conclusion of the decree of this constitution, the Lord didn’t merely tell us to overcome our temper, lust, self, flesh, and anxiety, but that we would positively do the will of the Father who is in the heaven.
He regenerated us with His divine life and nature, and we live a life on earth as kingdom people not merely to deal with the negative things and have proper relationships in God’s kingdom, but to positively do the Father’s will by living according to the divine life and nature of our heavenly Father.
As kingdom people, we are here on earth for nothing else but for doing the will of the Father; God is our Father, and we’re here to do His will.
This is to walk in the constricted way; we have entered into the kingdom by the narrow gate (regeneration by repentance), and now we need to continue to live in the reality of the kingdom by walking on the constricted way.
This is not merely a living according to the highest standard of ethics, morality, and spirituality, but a living according to the divine life and nature of God.
Our Father has a will to accomplish, and His will can be accomplished only by His life and nature; nothing of us, nothing of our zeal and strength can accomplish God’s will – only His life and nature can.
For us to accomplish the will of our heavenly Father, we need to live by the life of our Father and according to His nature. As kingdom people, we are on earth to do the Father’s will (Matt. 12:50).
If this will governs us and rule everything we do, it will control the way we live, we serve, we administrate things, and serve the saints, for we realize we are on earth to do the Father’s will!
We are not here on earth to do what we want to do; we are not saved so that we continue to do what we prefer and like to do.
Rather, we are here on earth and in the church life to do the Father’s will and to be one with the saints in carrying out the will of our heavenly Father!
If we do not do this, if we don’t carry out God’s will as it involves us, our human life is meaningless; we will end up living a life of vanity of vanities.
In a real sense, our Christian life and church life are meaningless if we don’t know the will of the Father and we don’t do the Father’s will, for we fall short of the goal of our life.
In Matt. 7 we don’t see what is the will of the Father, but in Matt. 16 the Lord unveiled the church; God wants to build up the church upon Christ as the rock, and this is fully developed and expounded in Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation.
How can we know the Father’s will and how can we carry out His will? It is by His life and nature within us.
If we walk and run according to the divine nature within us, we will be within the constricted lines of the Father’s will, and the divine nature will indicate that we are right and we do the Father’s will.
But if we step outside the lines of the Father’s will, the divine nature within us will bother us and tell us not to go this way.
There’s no need for anyone to tell us what to do, for the regulating, constricting divine nature is within us, and this nature tells us where we are.
We simply need to live and walk according to the divine nature, and we will do the will of our heavenly Father.
Thank You Lord for putting us on earth and bringing us in the church life to do the Father’s will! We are not here to do our own will or to carry out our own preference; we are here to do the will of our heavenly Father by living according to the divine life and nature within us! Amen, Lord, we put our own preference, opinions, desires, and intentions aside, and we choose the will of our Father! May Your will be done and Your kingdom come! May the Father’s will control our daily living, walk, and work for the Lord. May our life be full of meaning and be rewarded at the judgement seat by our daily living according to the Father’s life and nature so that we may do the will of our Father!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Matthew, msg. 24 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Will of God (2020 spring ITERO), week 6, Doing the Will of God in the Kingdom of God under the Government of God for the Church as the Israel of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Doing the Father’s will Thy prize, / Never accepting Satan’s lies, / None like Thyself, so faithful, wise; / Lord, I remember Thee! (Hymns #86)
– Can you? Then beloved, / Christ just waits for you; / Listen for His orders, / Glad His will to do; / Then when soldiers muster / At the set of sun, / And your name is mentioned, / Christ will say, “Well done.” (Hymns #657)
– My stubborn will at last hath yielded; / I would be Thine, and Thine alone, / And this the prayer my lips are bringing, / “Lord, let in me Thy will be done.” (Hymns #383)
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