Posts from — May 2011

This essay was written in response to John 14:15-21

Last week a friend posed a question to me.  She said, “How do you know when you are acting in accordance with God’s plan and will as opposed to acting based on your own emotions?” A great question deserves the right answer, but I am sad to say I didn’t have a quick reply.

Part of me wanted to respond, “Have you met me?  I am such a broken, messy, emotional person that it must be clear that I am never grounded enough to know when I am in line with God’s plan and when I am following my own path!”

Instead, I shared what others have shared with me:  Being aware of the Holy Spirit’s urging, tuning yourself into God’s voice, and feeling the quickening of His direction is only possible for a heart that is completely submitted to God’s will.  Daily meditation and surrender during prayer is one of the disciplines that guides a heart toward an attitude of “not my will, Lord, but thine be done.”  I imagine that when a heart has a rhythm of voluntarily opening up, allowing God to be in charge, letting go of it’s own mission, then it must be easier to decipher God’s will during difficult times.  The process is the same both for the daily discipline, as well as the on-the-spot-emotionally-charged moments.  It’s just a matter of simply surrendering our own desire to control the outcome.  If only this came easily to the broken and messy ones of us… sigh.

In today’s passage, Jesus is covering this whole process.  It starts with loving Him (if you love me), obeying Him (you will obey my commandments), being with Him, (I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you) and finally becoming one in union with Him (I am in the Father, you are in Me and I in you.)

For a moment, I imagine what my life might look like if it were covered by this process. Peace and contentment might rule my heart, because I would feel confident that I was taken care of and part of God’s family.  I might be able to let go of my constant companion, worry, because surrender and trust don’t really leave room for worry and fretting.  Perhaps as I realized the union I had with God, the relationship I deeply would enjoy, it wouldn’t matter so much what others said about me or did to me, because I might see myself through His eyes.

Apparently, this process begins with surrendering my will.  I can see all the good that can come from a surrendered heart.  I wonder why it is still so difficult for me to do?