"God's Will"
"Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing . . . ?" (Genesis 18:17).
The Delights of His
Friendship…
Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with
simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being
so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you
His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing
the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith.
When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom,
liberty, and delight; you are God's will. And all of your common sense decisions
are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on
by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect
and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He
will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.
The Difficulties of
His Friendship…
Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking
the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly
to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we
stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, "Well, I don't know, maybe this
is not God's will," then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are
not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to
be ". . . that they may be one just as We are one . . ." (John 17:22).
Think of the last thing you prayed about. Were you devoted to your desire
or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or
to get to God? "For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask
Him" (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better.
"Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart"
(Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.
- Oswald Chambers