It is sometimes difficult for us to determine God’s will. God deals with each of us differently, so one person’s experience may not be the same as that of another. I am certainly no expert on God’s will so this is mostly a recounting of God working with me over my lifetime. As I see it, one of our main issues in seeking God’s will is that our will is present and we want God’s will to match what we want.

In Luke 5, Jesus was teaching the crowds and commandeered Simon’s fishing boat. After he finished teaching, he told Simon “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” He had been fishing all night and Jesus told him to cast the nets once more. Simon, the professional in this story, responded “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” Simon at this point was not a disciple of Jesus, but after protesting, he did what Jesus told him to do. At this point, I somewhat envy Simon. Face-to-face with Jesus, he did what Jesus said. There was no question in his mind about following Jesus’ instructions. Wouldn’t it be simple to have Jesus physically speaking to us, telling us what to do?

While I do not put down anyone’s experience with trying to discern God’s will, I am always somewhat suspicious when someone starts a conversation, saying “God told me…” I have known many people whose supposed words from God did not come about. We must, however, be flexible in how we respond to God’s perceived will.

When I was in high school, I was seeking to determine what my major in college would be. I happened to read an article about CPAs and the work of an accountant. At this point in my life, I did not know what a CPA was. But the article piqued my interest. I soon knew without a doubt that my major should be accounting. My senior year in high school, I took a bookkeeping course and I knew I was on the right track. I never wavered from that belief. My career did not turn out as I envisioned, but I was always involved professionally in the field of accounting. I believe God planned for me to read that article.

While in college, I sort of fell into becoming a journalist, first as Sports Editor for my college newspaper and later as Editor of the paper. I came from a long line of journalists (My grandfather founded a local newspaper that thrived for years and the whole family was involved in the business). I found out that I enjoyed writing and was pretty good at it. While in college I also had some sports articles published in the Asheville newspaper. But my writing took a backseat to my accounting career and it was neglected for years. In retrospect, I see that it was God’s hand leading me into writing.

Sometimes God speaks to us through other people. I met my first wife, Gloria while in college. Unbeknownst to me, she told her roommate that she was going to marry me. We were friends, but didn’t date at that point. After two years, she transferred to nursing school. We corresponded some, and she asked to be placed on the mailing list for the College newspaper of which I was the editor. She came back to campus to visit some friends and we got back together. We started dating and ended up being married for over 48 years. I’ve always been suspicious about the circumstances of that visit to her friends.

After college, I was employed in a variety of accounting jobs. One Sunday morning I sat beside a friend at church. We struck up a conversation and he mentioned that he needed an accountant to teach in the evening program of the local technical school. I asked about it, and he encouraged me to submit an application, which I did. He told me that he had found an accountant but to submit my application, as he was always needing an accountant. About half-way through the next semester, he called and told me his accounting teacher had been transferred to another city. Could I take over the class? I figured this was a great opportunity. If I did not do well, I could blame it on the fact that I did not start the semester and save face. I loved it and my students were very receptive. It did not take me long to realize I needed to be in teaching. I had no idea if I was qualified to teach in college, so I contacted Fred Bentley, President of Mars Hill College and sought his advice. He was very encouraging and gave me some tips on how to get a job. I would add that my years on the college newspaper put me in frequent touch with the President and we had become friends.

Fast forward a few years. Gloria bought me a book by Max Lucado entitled Cure for the Common Life. This book turned out to be transformational. In reading the book, I realized that writing was one of my callings, so I vowed to start writing again. I began writing academic articles related to accounting and was somewhat successful, having several articles published. I was also given the opportunity to write tax articles for the Polk County Business Journal. The writing enhanced my career as an academic and I found that I enjoyed it. I also was a frequent blogger for an online accounting site and also wrote my own blog “The TaxDoc Spot.”

In addition to teaching I also had a tax preparation business. As I approached retirement from academia, it occurred to me that I could begin a new line of business, giving seminars and consulting on the subject of church and clergy taxes. I prayed, consulted with a number of people and started Church Tax Solutions. This was an instance where I think my will overrode God’s. Although this was a good idea, it never got off the ground. In retrospect, I now see that I would need to devote time to caring for Gloria as her physical condition declined. In a related vein, I retired from academia just prior to Gloria needing me more.

After Gloria passed away, I realized that I don’t do well alone, so I started dating. Just as I was about to give up finding anyone, Heather walked into my life. The moment I saw her, I felt God telling me that we would marry. I did not tell her this at the time. But as things progressed, it turned out that marriage was God’s will and we are more certain of that every day.

I finally gave up my tax practice after much prayer and fasting. I never thought I would so willingly walk away from it, as it was something I loved. But God showed me it was time, and I do not miss my tax work.

I was no longer a professor, no longer a tax preparer. So what was next? As I contemplated this question, I realized a desire to write again. About this time, a friend who has a blog site invited me to publish on his site. This was different from my prior writing as I decided to write a faith-based blog. So that’s what occupies my time now. I enjoy it and hope that others can learn and be inspired by my musings.
We must never lose sight of the fact that God’s will for you will not contradict His Divine Nature. Ultimately He seeks:

1. Advancement of His kingdom. Daniel 2:44 “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be [a]left for
   another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.”
2. Salvation of His children through Jesus. II Peter 3:9 “The Lord is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
3. For us to do His work on earth. Eph 2:10 “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Over the years, as you can see, God has led me in many ways, not always by speaking to me. Sometimes when I wasn’t even seeking Him. What I have learned is summed up in Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.” When God is first in our lives, he will guide us abundantly. What place does God have in your life?

In a recent blog, I dealt with the topic of worship and how worship changes you. J. W. Tozer has said that worship is the missing jewel in evangelical circles. Tozer received his heavenly crown in 1963, so his observation is at least 60 years old. But I believe it is still true today. 

We often refer to what we do on Sunday morning as “going to church.” I submit that going to church and worshiping are not necessarily the same thing.  Worship is transformational, it changes us.  We can attend  “church” services and not come away changed. 

The difference, I think, is in our view of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What is missing in our attempts at worship? If we do not have a high, exalted view of God, we aren’t worshiping. I recall one occasion when my grandmother was preparing a meal which included her signature squash casserole. Those at the table complimented her on the meal but she felt that something was missing. As she went to clean up the kitchen, she realized she had not put the squash in the casserole. It was good, but it was not what it was intended to be. It was missing a key ingredient. Just like my grandmother’s recipe, there are ingredients that make up worship. If any of these are missing, it is not the real thing.

I think the first ingredient is praise. We can have praise for something without worshiping. But we cannot worship without praising. For example, Steve Jobs was a brilliant individual. I have a high regard for what he accomplished at Apple. But I don’t praise or worship him. Worship is praise carried to infinity. Our worship is unending. Only God is worthy of that worship, but do we praise Him as He deserves?  

The second ingredient is honor. The dictionary defines honor as “high respect or esteem.” We tend to honor people for their accomplishments. Excellent students are referred to as honor students, we honor someone for a great achievement or action. And there is nothing wrong with honoring deserving individuals or groups. But we must honor God, as we cannot worship that which we do not honor.

Passion or mystery is the third ingredient in worship. Passion is described as a “strong and barely controllable emotion.” When we have a Godly passion our human minds cannot comprehend the fullness of God. In relation to God, our passion should be infinite. If we are not passionate about God, if He doesn’t evoke a sense of awe and wonder we cannot worship Him.

Love or adoration is the fourth ingredient. We cannot worship if we don’t love. Adoration is deep love or respect, love taken to the highest level. When we are “in love” our love should be growing. A frequent saying on Valentine’s Day cards goes something like “I love you more today than yesterday, and less than I will tomorrow.” We love God with everything that is within us as it grows daily. 

Worship cannot be half-hearted. I can remember many times in my life when I looked around at the assembled congregation in a church and felt “I hope this is not what Heaven is. They all sound so bored and even apathetic.”  To combine a couple of current expressions we must be “all in” and “all the time” in our worship.”  Our lives, fully immersed in the glory and wonder of God. In Matthew 22, Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment. His reply “You shall  love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”   When this happens, you can experience worship.  As individual believers and as a church, we need to regain a vision of the Most High God.

Are any of these ingredients missing in your worship? How do you view God? Does your worship change you?

There is no doubt that we are creatures of habit. We get into a routine, maybe even a rut and we continue along that path. But sometimes we want to get out of that rut and make improvements or changes in our lives. Unfortunately, we generally do not do well in this regard. We make New Year’s Resolutions about what we want to change in our lives, maybe in the form of goals for what we wish to accomplish during the new year. Before long we usually fall back into our old habits.

I am not a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I believe that if I see something in my life that needs changing, why wait until January 1 to start implementing those changes? If you do a Google search on New Year’s Resolutions, you will find list after list of suggested resolutions. I don’t like these lists. While they may be somewhat helpful in identifying some areas needing improvement, I think that I (or a close friend or relative) know better than anyone else where I need to make improvements. 

There are keys to helping you achieve your goals. I would offer five important steps in regard to achieving resolutions

1. Plan – Make your resolutions specific and have a plan on how to achieve the goal.
2. Limit – Don’t try to tackle too much change. Too much, and you might get overwhelmed and do a “crash and burn.” Maybe undertake one goal at a time. Add more goals as you progress. You don’t have to finish one before starting another. 
3. Accountability – Have an accountability partner who will help keep you on track. It also helps to keep a journal to see how far you have come.
4. Process – Remember that achieving a goal is a process, it won’t happen overnight. If weight loss, for example, is your goal, it took time to put on the extra weight, It will take time to lose it.
5. Adapt – Don’t be so rigid that you don’t make adjustments to the goals when necessary. This will entail a periodic review of how you are progressing toward your goal.

Part of developing habits is to become more proficient at a task. Being regular in the habits of life is a good quality to establish. If you want to run a 10K road race, you will need to train, to regularly hit the roads so you can run the distance and run well. If you are trying to lose weight, it is not something you can casually pursue. You must be faithful in your diet and exercise routine to improve your health and well-being. Habits can be good or bad. It is good that I exercise, to keep my body healthy. However, a drug habit can be destructive. 

But good habits are for more than our earthly existence. I Timothy 4:8 tells us “for bodily training is just slightly beneficial, but godliness is beneficial for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

The habits of a holy life is one area in which Christians should become a regular part of their lives. This world, and our lives are made for regularity. There is a growing season for crops. Birds fly south in the fall. We can predict the tides, the rising and the setting of the sun. June – November is hurricane season in Florida. 

Regularity in the habits of the holy life should be cultivated. Bible study, prayer, giving, and church attendance are all a part of learning from the Holy Spirit how to be dependable, faithful, unselfish, and Christlike. 

I remember vividly the events of September 11, 2001. I was in my office at school, preparing for a class when I began seeing news reports of the attack. As a result of that event, many people prayed and attended church. Alas, the newfound religiosity was short-lived for many as most returned to their previous habits. With the help of the Holy Spirit our lives can become holy (wholly) regular. 

In reading the Old Testament, one can readily see how regularity is ordained by God. There are detailed procedures for the priests in the temple. Even the Genesis account of the Creation indicates that God’s creation was brought about in an orderly manner. I Corinthians 14:40 reads “Let all things be done decently and in order.” God obviously gives great value to order and regularity. 

Why not make time to evaluate your habits, especially Holy Habits.