WHEN GOD EXERCISED HIS WILL - PART 5

TUESDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2023

God revealed a heaven, and informed us of a tormenting hell fire, through His specific messengers and by the Scriptures in general. He showed us that the first one is eternally beneficial, and the other must be avoided - and by exercising His will through Christ Jesus, who came to die for the sins of the entire world, we can avoid the later. Now mankind is left with two choices: Receive Christ and have eternal life or reject Him and face eternal damnation, and admittedly, all of God's correspondences and communications to humankind, are worthy of profound attention, because eternity has no end.

Reference: James 1:18 New American Standard Bible (NASB) "In the exercise of His will He gave us birth by the Word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures."

Through the exercise of God's will, many eventful results are brought to pass on behalf of God's own people. Also in the past, God wilfully allowed some terrible events to happen by exercising His wrath or indignation against evil boasting. For instance, in the Old Testament, when Sennacherib, the king of Assyria boasted of the history of Asyrian's bravery and heroism, of having done harm to all the countries surrounding them, and destroying them completely, he also challenged Hezekiah, king of Judah. When Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, He responded saying, "But have you not heard? I decided this long ago. Long ago I planned it, and now I am making it happen. I planned for you to crush fortified cities into heaps of rubble" (Isaiah 37:26 NLT). In other words, God exercised His will by making it happen for Hezekiah, such that a great number of Asyrians were put to death in their own camp by the angel of the Lord, as well as Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who was killed with a sword.

In the New Testament, God graciously exercised His will regarding the entire world, in His unconditional love. To actualise this, Acts 2:23 (NLT) says, "But God knew what would happen, and His prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him." Today, those who have received salvation in Christ can walk with God because, in the exercise of His will, He gave us birth by the Word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. Beloved, by exercising His perfect will, God made known to us, the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ (Ephesians 1:9 NIV). To a profound extent, God is still at work in every born again Christian, who is submissive to His leading, and thus, He exercises His will in their lives, according to His good pleasure. To that effect, Philippians 2:13 (NIV) says, "For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose."

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens" (NIV). In the same way, God has His own perfect timing, in relation to exercising His perfect will. For instance, there are will of God yet to be exercised. Romans 11:25 says, "Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in" (ESV), and this verse denotes the mystery of Israel's salvation. More so, God revealed the certainty of a state of our future existence, which is to spend eternity with Him (John 14:1-3 ESV). In my conclusion, may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He continue to work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen, Hebrews 13:20-21(NIV). Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Jeremiah 29:11; Romans 4:17; Romans 8:28; Romans 9:11.

Guided Prayer: Gracious Father, through the impeccable demonstration of your will, you gave birth to me by the Word of truth, such that I have become a superior kind of first fruits among your creatures. Your class of truths are pure, elevating, transforming, benevolent and well settled in heaven, and they capture the deepest interest of my heart and spirit. Therefore, I'm truly delighted to proclaim the supremacy of Christ in my world, in Jesus' Name, Amen!