Understanding God's Will

Fortitude:

Make the Most of Every Opportunity

Be Very Careful How You Live. We are talking about your progress in the world.

• Your style, your posture. Your walk is a description of how you roll in the world.
• You are paying attention to your manner of being in the world, your walk. You are being very careful, deliberate.

Not as unwise but as wise.

•  Live as children of light is about purity, righteousness.
• It is also about truth and the proper application of it. This is wisdom—aligning yourself with God’s character, taking all circumstances into account, and choosing the best path forward given the situation.
• Folly is defying God and departing from his ways.

Making the most of every opportunity 

• kairos is fitting time, proper time: redeeming time
• Strategy: You are seeking to maximize all circumstances for the advance of the Gospel of Christ.
• Focus: This intense focus in your life—pleasing God and doing his will—alerts you to the many ways in which you can respond in a godly fashion to doors that open. 

Because the days are evil.

• Some respond in a foolish way to evil in the world.
  • They give up because the days are evil. They let the problem of evil in the world discourage them, confuse them, and immobilize them.
  • They give in and become evil themselves, succumbing to the broken moral code of the evil world.
• Not so with the Courageous. Those with courage and conviction are motivated by the evil around them to do good everywhere they can, at every opportunity.
  • Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38) 
  • “And let us not grow weary in well doing” (Galatians 6:9)
  • “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds." (Matthew 5:16).

Altitude:

Understand what the Lord’s Will Is

Stop living so low. Do not be foolish. It is the fool’s way.

• The fool does not imitate God but imitates the devil who rebelled against God, who is the liar from the beginning.
• The fool does not seek to please God but only himself.
• The fool does not see God’s purpose in the world.
• The fool does not understand God’s purpose for his life. He is living the life of dissipation. 

Move up higher. Understand what the Lord’s will is.

• Move up higher. Get up above your current emotions.
• Seek the perspective of God on our world.
• Learn his purpose clearly so that you can write your own purpose in a sentence and communicate it to others.

Not earthly, but heavenly things.

• Philippians 3:19: "Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things."
• Colossians 3:2: "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

Attitude:

Be Filled with the Spirit

Not drunk with wine

• This leads to debauchery, which is sinful behavior.
• Or dissipation, which is the wasting of your life on frivolous and inconsequential things. A form of this word is used to describe the “prodigal son” of Jesus’ parable who left his father’s house to waste his life on wild living.
• This drunkenness stands in for many other things with which I could fill my mind and body and life. And all would be just as pointless as being a stumbling drunk.

Filled with the Spirit. This is the present tense, meaning it is continuous action. Being filled with the Spirit is not a one-time thing. It is something that continues throughout your Christian life.

• This is not a suggestion so much as a command. You are to put off drunkenness. You should never DUI—drive under the influence of alcohol.
• You are put on the Spirit of God. We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. You should always drive under the influence of the Spirit. It’s how you roll.
• The Spirit is not a liquid. He is Spirit. But just like the alcohol travels to all parts of your body and affects everything you do, so when you are filled with the Spirit of God, he is affecting your speech, your walk, your thinking. He is in you, working through you.

Speaking to one another—not just to God, but to one another. Our song is for each other as well as for God. Encouraging each other with our song is part of worship.

• You can speak to others through the songs and psalms and hymns of faith.
• Even if you cannot sing, you can quote: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

With psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.

• Psalms come right out of Scripture. The Psalter was the hymnbook of Israel. This would apply to other Scriptures as well. There are songs in other places as we will see in our Christmas series from Philippians. Many of our songs quote the psalms and other parts of scripture.
• Hymns are songs directed to God. We do this a lot. We sing, “Lord, you are more precious than silver. Lord, you are more costly than gold. Lord, you are more beautiful than diamonds. And nothing I desire compares with you.”
• Spiritual songs are the required expression of the heart and mind that understands and believes the gospel of Christ. If you cannot write your own song to God, you either do not understand what God has done for you or you do not believe it. Every generation must sing its own song to God. Only in this way do we realize that they both understand and believe the gospel.

Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.

• Can you do this? Will you sing and make music from your heart to the Lord?
• This is not about your vocal chords. It’s not about how well you sing or play an instrument. It’s about your heart. God cares about your heart. He made our vocal instruments variously. He gifted us with a diversity of talents, some being musical. But every human has a heart, and every heart can sing and make music to the Lord.
• Will you do this? It will change your disposition. It will change your focus. It will change your walk in the world.

Gratitude:

Always Giving Thanks

Always. Gratitude fits everywhere. It fits in the kitchen and the living room, in the bedroom and the rec room. It fits in the hospital and the funeral home. Gratitude fits always. There is no time in your life when thanksgiving is inappropriate.

To God. We are grateful to God.

For everything—“all things”

• There is a way to be grateful, to always give thanks, in every situation and circumstance. You need to find that way.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This may help. The work of Christ is always amazing. It is our ultimate appeal in every situation when we confront evil in the world. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.

• His name is above every name. It brings the house to their knees: this house and the Father’s house above.
• You speak the name of purity, power, and love when you whisper “Jesus.” This is the heart of eternal gratitude.

Do you claim this name? Then you are never without a thank you.