
“When we Christians pray we often include this statement; “Thy kingdom come Thy will be done. When we pray and ask for specific things we say “if it is Your will” bless me with such and such. But if we were honest we would probably say bless my will or, my will be done. This is my will Lord please do what I’m asking. We don't come out and say it that way we want to sound pious and we really do want God to bless what it is a we want. We don’t want to upset Him so we say “if it is your will”.
In the two posts, prior to this one, I asked, can you bargain with God, and can you change God’s mind? The answer to both of those questions is No!
The next obvious question would be...Will God stop me from doing my will? The answer is no too!
God won’t stop you from doing things your way, but let me warn you it may not be successful.
When God created man He gave us freewill. Consequently, we can choose to do whatever we want to do. God will not stop us (That includes our choosing eternal life through Jesus, or death, but that’s another post). Throughout scripture there are examples of people doing it their way with disastrous results. That’s why we want God to “co sign” what it is we want to do. That's the real reason we want God to say “My will is whatever you want to do”. That’s backwards….we need our will to match His will. I’ve written about how we do that in the blog series “God’s Will” and in my post “Faith is the Key to Obedience and Delighting Yourself in the Lord”..
How do You Know If I’m Acting In My Will Or God’s Will?
When trying to figure out if we are operating in God’s will or trying to make things happen ourselves and trying to get God to go along with them, ask Him these two questions.
- God, am I trying to do my will or Your will?
- God, am I trying to do things under my own power or Your power?
- My will and My own power- Results;: alienation, loneliness, butting your head into wall after wall,
- My will under God's power - Results: frustration, superstition, anxiety— God won't be manipulated this way! A lot of Christians think “if I just have enough faith” God will do whatever I ask.
- God's will but under my power - Results: burnout, putting God or others on my timeline, overplaying my role, messiah-complex ( messiah complex is a state of mind in which an individual holds a belief that he or she is, or is destined to become the one who saves the day….sort of like the Mighty Mouse song “here I come to save the day”) being judgmental toward others.
- God's will under God's power - Results: peace, sense of safety, perspective, poise, energy at the perfect time, just when you need it.

The first thing to remember is that you’re not powerful enough to really mess up God’s will for you.
Making a poor decision doesn't mean we're forever out of God's will. There are many examples, in scripture, of people who made bad decisions, but God still used them mightily. Just look at Abraham and David.
Abraham (Abram at the time) went to Egypt when there was a famine in the land God told him to leave his family and go. While there he lied to save his own skin while putting his wife, Sarah (Sarai at the time) in a compromising situation (Genesis 12:10-20). Later he and his wife decided to help God out in giving them a son by Abram sleeping with Sarai’s slave, Hagar, instead of waiting for His will to be done (Genesis 14:2-4, Genesis 16). Both bad decisions with bad results.
We all know about David’s affair with Bathsheba and the problems that caused (2 Samuel 11-12:23). The result of this decision by David was the murder of Bathsheba’s husband and the death of David and Bathsheba's child. He made another bad decision when he depended on his military might rather than God and that decision cost the lives of seventy thousand people (2 Samuel 24).
Both of these men did things clearly outside the will of God, but God worked through them to accomplish great things.
Galatians 3:13-14 (NKJV)13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Hebrews 11:8-12 (NKJV)8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude--innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
Acts 13:21-23 (NKJV)21 And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.22 And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.'23 From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior--Jesus--
God can use all of our decisions, whether they're right, wrong, in our will or His will. However there are consequences for all of our actions and those include the times that we operate in our own will and outside the will of God. The great thing is that the story doesn’t end with the consequences. The consequences may still be there but the story doesn’t end.
Romans 8:28 (NKJV) And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
You messed up; the consequences are real. But it’s not over. Trust in God.
1 John 4:8-9 (NKJV)8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
1 Samuel 12:20 (NKJV)20 Then Samuel said to the people, "Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.
Confess
1 John 1:8-10 (NKJV)8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
Confession is agreement with God that you made a wrong decision, but after you confess don’t go back the same thing that got you there. Move forward, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
The Lord Will Not Abandon You…You’re Special
Romans 8:31-39 (NKJV)31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
No God won’t stop you from acting in your own will but in doing so you will miss out on His will for you which is always best.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV) For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
You are only one act of confession and repentance away from being re-aligned with God’s will.