Chapter 7

YOU’RE IT

God’s will is that you be saved, Spirit-filled, sanctified, submissive, and suffering. God’s Word makes all this clear. Do not read on until you have grasped these five principles.

You say, “MacArthur, you were going to tell me what school I should go to. You were going to tell me God’s will, specifically. You haven’t done it!”

Okay, let me give you the final principle, but hold on to your seat! You may want to jump up and shout! If you are doing all five of the basic things, do you know what the next principle of God’s will is? Do whatever you want! If those five elements of God’s will are operating in your life, who is running your wants? God is! The psalmist said, “Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4). God does not say He will fulfill all the desires there! If you are living a godly life, He will give you the right desires.

People say to me, “Why did you go into your present ministry when you had such an enjoyable ministry before in another area?”

I always answer, “Because I wanted to.”

“Aha. Self-will.”

I had a friend come to me and say, “John, I don’t know where the Lord wants me to serve.”

I said to him, “Marty, if you had your choice of any service in the world, what would you want?”

He said, “Oh, I have such a burden for my people Israel. I speak French fluently, and Paris is just loaded with Jewish people who don’t know Jesus. I personally would like to go to Paris as a missionary to the Jews.”

I checked him on the five spiritual principles and said, “Marty, have you done all these things?”

He replied, “Yes, I honestly believe that I am committed to Christ in these areas.”

I said, “Marty, good-bye, have a nice trip.”

He hesitated and said, “But I have to write to forty-two mission boards.”

I said, “No! Go.”

He said, “But it is only my desire.”

“Then trust that it is God who planted it. Get out of here.”

He joined a faith mission and signed up for France. We put up a big plaque in our church that read “Marty Wolfe goes to France.” He raised all of his support, and today he is serving Christ—in Canada!

What happened? Once he was the right guy, it was no big problem where he went. He is in the city of Montreal, working with French-speaking Jews. He had the right idea; God had a different city.

This brings up another crucial principle. Imagine trying to steer and change the direction of a stationary tractor-truck. Tough assignment. It would take huge cranes and chains to even budge it. But once rolling, a truck weighing thirty-six thousand pounds is not difficult to control.

Once Marty was rolling, God took over the steering wheel with the strong arms of His will, and it was easy. I suppose God could have hauled in His celestial crane, picked up and pushed Marty in the right direction, but He likes to use people who are already moving.

Listen to this commentary on one of the greatest apostles: “Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years, for he was paralyzed. Peter said to him, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed.’ Immediately he got up. And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord” (Acts 9:32–35).

This thrilling account records that God used Peter to heal a sick man and start a revival. What a blessed experience of serving in the Lord’s will! And neatly tucked into this event is a simple little thought: “As Peter was traveling through all those regions.”

Peter was already on the move, available for open doors. That’s when God directed him to Lydda. Remember, God has His richest ministries for His busiest saints.

We find in Genesis a fascinating illustration of the same truth: “He said, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the LORD has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers’” (Gen. 24:27). The servant was sent by Abraham to find a wife for Isaac. He didn’t even know who or what he was looking for. But he was involved in service, and the Lord took it from there.

Get into the mainstream of what God is doing, and let Him lead you to that perfect will.

On his second missionary journey Paul fulfilled the ministry God had planned for Galatia, a large province in the Roman Empire. He successfully strengthened, encouraged, and confirmed the saints. The job, for the present, was done. But Paul was not done; he was moving. He was a pattern of persistence.

Paul headed west, not knowing God’s will specifically, but rolling so God could steer him. The next province was Asia Minor with its cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Colossae, Sardis, Pergamos, and Thyatira. Paul moved with Silas and Timothy toward Asia Minor, thrilled with the prospect of bringing the gospel to the people there.

Suddenly, like a concrete wall on a highway, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel in Asia (Acts 16:6). We don’t know how God stopped them, but He did. The closed door changed their direction, and they went north to Mysia, hoping to enter the province of Bithynia. But “the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them” (v. 7). Another roadblock. They had been stopped from going north and south and toward Galatia to the east. What now? At this point, we might have said, “All doors are closed; we may as well go home.” But Paul didn’t say that. There was still the west! So they followed the borderline between Asia Minor and Bithynia leading west until they came to the Aegean Sea. They were at the beach town of Troas, and “a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us’” (v. 9). No longer would Christianity be thought of as another Asian cult. It was going to Europe, a whole different culture, a new world!

God wanted them in Macedonia all the time. But He never told them till they had proved their faith and persistence and couldn’t take another step.

Keep moving—what a principle! So many people sit around waiting for that celestial crane to move them, saying, “I don’t know what God wants me to do.” They need to start moving so God can steer them to that area of service He has planned. Knowing God’s will may mean pushing down a narrow line until you hit a dead end. At that point, God will open a door so wide you won’t be able to see around it—only through it!

What was Paul’s response? It is recorded in the book of Acts: “When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them” (Acts 16:10).

Paul responded immediately, and that is the only reaction when a persistent heart meets an open door.

I remember going to an amusement park when I was a boy and paying twenty-five cents to get lost in a maze. It was full of mirrors, open spaces, and clear glass. The idea was to find the open spaces and make your way out of the maze. One little kid gave up and stood in one spot, crying for his mother. Not I! I ran into glass and bumped into mirrors until I found the open spaces and emerged fifteen minutes later.

You may bounce off a lot of closed doors, but that is God’s way of forcing you into His open one. Get rolling! Be persistent.

You see, the will of God is not primarily a place. The will of God is not, first of all, for you to go there or work here. The will of God concerns you as a person. If you are the right you, you can follow your desires and you will fulfill His will.

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:1–2).

And whatever happens in your life, along the way give thanks, for “this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18). He’s using the experiences in your life to shape you into His will.