In order to PRAY in God's will, you have to BE in God's will.
- The first step to being in God's will is to answer the knocking at the door of your heart. Revelation 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with Me."
- The second step to being in God's will is to acknowledge you are a sinner. Romans 3:23 "But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
- Taking the third step to being in God's will requires us to admit that every sin, every evil way has a penalty to be paid. Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Every step we take has a shadow of the next step.
- The fourth step is to believe that Jesus Christ, the One knocking on our heart's door, paid that penalty for our sin so we would not have to. Romans 10:9, 10 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Philippians 2:5-11 makes it plain and simple, straightforward even: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
- Stepping into number five is Romans 10:13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." John 3:16, 17 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 4:15 "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God."
We see by these first five steps that the first thing we need to know about being in God's will is to have salvation through Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. Only one Man can save your soul from eternal damnation and that man is not you. You cannot save yourself. I cannot save myself. I need the perfect Lamb of God to do that for me. And He did. When He was crucified, Jesus died for my sins and yours. When He was beaten, spit on and made fun of, He did that for you and I. He was not even recognizable. (Isaiah 53)
Could you love someone who looked like that? And, yet, He loves us still. We are weak, but He is strong. We weary easily, but He never tires. We are shallow and He is deep. We stray and Jesus looks for us, to bring us near His side. Before we can pray in God's will we have to BE in God's will. Are you in God's will today?
