Is it possible to miss out on God’s plan for your life?

Is there a good, better and BEST plan?

Will some come before God being just barely saved, but having missed out on the fullness of what God wanted to do in and through them?

Is it possible to live a fully victorious life in Christ?

Maybe some of these questions you’ve pondered in your mind. I don’t think we will explore each question in such great depth. The questions are just to get your mind going. The main topic we are exploring here is about walking in the perfect will of God.

To start, I’ll define what I believe it means to walk in the perfect will of God. We’ve been created, are sustained and given everything we have by God. “For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things’” Romans 11:26. We are made by God, for God, and to live through Him. To walk in the perfect will of God is to, every second of everyday, know that apart from Jesus, we are nothing. Apart from Him we are disconnected from the source of life. We are blind, empty, and naked and don’t even know we are walking in darkness.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 
Matthew 5:3 

We are blessed when we have our eyes opened to the fact that we desperately need Jesus, every single moment of everyday. Ours is the Kingdom when we depend on Him to quench our thirst for eternal life and seek Him to satisfy our hunger with the truth. The best position we can ever be in is crying out to the Father in whole hearted dependance on Him as the source of everything we need, want, and hope for.

To walk in the perfect will of God is to recognize our need for a savior. A savior from a fallen world filled with sin, deception and corruption. As well as the need for a Shepard— an Almighty, all-knowing, omnipresent guide to light the path before us and lead us in His goodness. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” John 17:3.

Issues occur when we begin to think outside of this truth. When we depend on our own strength to forge our own path. When we lean on our own understanding instead of losing our life and finding it in Him. Or worse, we trample of the work on the cross and backslide into deliberate sin. To walk in the perfect will of God is to recognize our complete moral depravation apart from the One true living holy God— Jesus Christ.

We are called to live as Christ lived. As said in 1 John 2:6, “Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did”. And Philippians 2:8 says, “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” — following Jesus is no half hearted pursuit. You either say yes with all of your soul, spirit and body, or you deny Him. We are to pick up our cross, deny ourselves and follow Him. This is a life laid down. This life is no longer our own.

I often hear people grumble about “religion” when I share the gospel with them and I often agree. Religion never saved anyone. Religion never gave someone new life, transforming the very substance of who they are from something tainted by sin to be made pure and holy— made a whole new creation in Christ. We don’t go to church, we are the church. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, we carry the Kingdom of God within us every where our foot treads. With Christ in us, we carry the light of the world in our hearts to shine into the world for all to see.

Living in the perfect will of God begins with wholehearted submission. The laying down of one’s own life. But who would be compelled to do this unless they had a deeply convicting reason to. It is His goodness that leads us to repentance. When God has done a wonderful work in your life, when you’ve been a witness to the all consuming goodness of God, it is love that compels you to share this good news with everyone you meet.

What has tripped me up more then once is believing I was in control. That it was all on me to decide and be the determiner of my own destiny. Every time I’ve gone before the Lord, either out of impatience, fear, or unbelief I found myself at the end of my pride, realizing once again, “apart from Me you can do nothing” John 15:5.

God has a purpose in each heart, a story written for each life He’s created but not everyone will live the abundant life He has promised. “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” Matthew 7:14. Our stubborn hearts want to be in control, and God has given us the right to choose. We have free will and we can do as we will. It is only through Jesus Christ that the purpose and calling God has placed on our life can be fulfilled. God knows for what purpose you were created. Many spend their entire lives chasing the wind, running after vanities. The life Jesus offers us is truly a life of wealth and great riches.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ," 
Ephesians 1:3

So how does one walk in the perfect will of God? John 6:28-29 says, “Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent”. Believe. Put all of your faith in Jesus. Decide and don’t look back. Let the promise on your heart be “I have decided to follow Jesus, there is no turning back”— and follow through.

The most courageous choice one can make is to love. To love is to be vulnerable, fully seen, it is to expose your heart and entrust it into another’s care. You are no longer in control of the outcome but yielded in hope and in faith that it will all work out for good. To follow Jesus is to love Him. As your Lord, as your Savior, as your God. The safest decision you can ever make is to entrust your entire being, your soul, your eternal destiny to Jesus Christ. He loved us first, He chose us first, He sacrificed Himself for us to live and now our only work is to surrender. Let Him lead. Live a life of utter abandon to the hope of glory. He is worthy of it all.