Following God is challenging. Even without temptation and sin, just knowing what God wants us to do is hard enough on its own. We are bombarded with choices every day. Choices to go to certain places, choices to react in certain ways, choices to pursue desires, choices to wait.

And with every choice we have the opportunity to follow God’s will or follow our will. It’s easy to see a task and run ahead of God. It’s easy to get comfortable and lag behind God. In other words, it’s incredibly easy to get out of step with God.

So what should we do? In Colossians Paul gives us some insight:
Colossians 1:9-10
“9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.”

The first step that Paul points out is to know God’s will through prayer. But this prayer isn’t just a brief morning or evening prayer. Paul says he “continually” asks God to reveal his will to the Christians in Colossae. Paul wants them to know that if they truly want to know God’s will they must be in a constant state of prayer. When we do this we will pay attention to small details around us and reflect on our circumstances and our feelings. But this is easier said than done. If we’re going to be in constant communication with God we must constantly rely on God for strength and guidance.  

But Paul then teaches us that it isn’t enough to pray and “know” what God wants us to do. Verse 10 encourages us to “live a life worthy of the Lord.” Knowing God’s will is meaningless if we don’t do God’s will. We’re called to live in a way that will please God. We are called to bear fruit in “every good work.” In other words, when we follow through with God’s will, we will make an impact. We will see the fruit of our labor. Or rather, the fruit of God’s labor through us.

As we prepare to continue the conversation about What’s Next with Ministry and Buildings at Angier Baptist, keep praying and living into God’s direction.

In Christ,
Pastor Thomas