You know, when I first turned to God in the middle of my life after trying to “do” life my way, time and time again I would ask the question out loud, “What is Your (God’s) will for my life?”  I didn’t know how to identify God’s will.  I was in the throws of despair and needed some answers.  Then I heard a preacher on TV say the Bible is God’s will for a person’s life.  What did that mean?  How was I going to extract from the Bible God’s will for my life?  I didn’t know how to bring it “out of the Heavens” and into the earth so I could be successful and turn my mess of a life into something good, fruitful and happy.

I learned early on that in order to understand God’s will for Molly Painter, I was going to have to listen and then “do” little by little what I learned in the Word.  I didn’t realize that it was going to be a process.  I would take something I heard from a preacher, then go to the Word, and talk to God about it in our times of study.  I wanted to make certain what I was hearing was correct.  I still made mistakes discerning God’s will over the years but I never stopped trying.  I have learned I am not going to get the “whole ball of wax” all at once. 

I was faithful to pray my life through each day.  I would then get up from my knees and get going and “doing” what I knew to do.  I thought at first, He would just tell me what He wanted me to do and then I would go do it but it didn’t happen that way.  I had to stay hooked up to heaven to get the answers I wanted.  That kept me going further and further with God, whereas if He had told me everything all at once, I can tell you I would have quit a long time ago.  He showed me His will for my life a little at a time so I could grasp what He was trying to teach me.  You have to push and keep “pressing in” to attain His will for your life.  He is not going to allow you to go in grab, what you want and leave.  He wants more for you than that.  

In the beginning, I started praying for a home, money and cars.  Of course, that had to be God’s will, didn’t it?  He wanted to give me life and give it to me abundantly, (or so I heard) so abundance to me meant things, good and big things.  After all, He was God and He owned the cattle on a thousand hills so He must want me to be extremely wealthy.  That kind of thinking had me wasting my time in prayer because I seemed always to be praying for stuff.  I was a baby in the things of God even though I had tangibly seen His hand move in my life.  He always gave me what I needed but He did not “rain down” material wealth on me like a genie in the sky.  He wanted the lasting changes for me, which I needed so that He, in turn, could give me what He wanted me to have.  Doing it this way was the only way I would develop staying power and truly wanting to keep walking in the way of the Lord.  He knew me better than I knew myself and knew what would be best for me.

Learning God’s will for your life is not hard.  Getting in the Word will help you learn about God and His will.  For example, He says not to judge others.  If you are, then stop.  Put into practice what you learn at every step.  Once you receive the revelation on anything, if you really want God’s will accomplished in your life you will be tested on it to see if you will “do” it His way.  If you do nothing but get into Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and do what those scriptures say, then you will gain the victory in your life and be changed into what God’s will is for you as you go along. 

If you need “The Path” He has ordained for your life and you question what you are doing right now in the earth, then go to Him and tell Him and ask Him to reveal your path.  Find a prayer partner and earnestly pray for God’s will to be revealed.  Then start listening for the answer to “come down” from heaven.  Rule of thumb is if “two or more” people are telling you the same thing, then listen because God is trying to get something specifically to you.

Everyone wants answers and you are not alone.  I wanted very specific answers.  I always felt that if I could be “squared away,” then I could help others but that is not what God wanted.  God wanted me to start doing His will for my life right where I was.  Begin where you are, even if you are living in a dirt pile, and start walking with Christ.  Through your obedience and willingness, He will raise you up.  If He did it for me, He will do it for anyone who tries.   

There are people who have always had tough times and this time in our history seems to be much worse.  I realize that but if you will just ask the one who knows the will for your life, having created us all, He will be faithful to get it to you.

Don’t quit, don’t give up and don’t stop….and He will get you His will for your life.

If you would like evidence of what I have just stated click here and listen to what God did in the life of someone just like you.

Molly

What Is The Armor of God?

The armor of God is discussed in Ephesians 6:10-18.  I came to call Ephesians “The Warfare Book” of the Bible.  I learned early on in my quest for the truth I needed armor to be equipped to fight what would be coming at me.  We are in a spiritual war whether we want to think so or not and we need weapons to fight.  In order to fight evil, we have to know what our weapons are.  We are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age, and against a whole spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

Our armor is truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace and our faith. Our faith is born from knowing there is a God and knowing there is a devil.  It gives us a supernatural strength to fight our enemy. The enemy is so wiley that in some battles all we need to do to win is tell the truth.  Some battles are won by “doing the right thing” when our flesh wants to do something else.  The undergirding of it all is knowing what is in the Gospel.  I find that this lack of  knowing is what causes much defeat.  Our ignorance about armor needs to be rectified so we can gain the victory in the earth for our lives and the lives of those God calls us to.  What is this armor, you say?   It is the most important thing you will need in order to fight what is coming against you.  The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty for the pulling down of strongholds.  What is the Strong Hold in your life?  Finally, it is The Blood of the Lamb that will overcome Satan in your life. Revelation 12:11  Take your armor seriously.  It was paid for with the greatest price known to human man.