God's Will

God knows the end from the beginning, but He does not give us all the details at once, except as they are necessary for us for His purpose to be worked out.

Praying according to God's will is sometimes ambiguous. Yet as we respond positively to His covenant, He reveals more and more of His secret plans.

Determining the will of God is difficult to do unless we know the character of God. Holiness is the foundation for all of the other traits of God.

Richard Ritenbaugh, reminding us that before our calling we were clueless, in a state of spiritual darkness, unaware of a better life, states that our lives after our calling could be considered a night and day difference, a flipping of poles from negative. . .

God does not like to inflict punishment on people, but because of sin, He is obligated to correct. But as quickly as God punishes, God restores and heals.

Most converted Christians realize that God is sovereign. But sometimes the Bible reveals something about God that makes us uncomfortable. Can we accept it?

One aspect of sovereignty that causes some confusion is predestination. God's sovereignty does not remove a person's free moral agency — we must still choose.

In the example of a child summoned by a parent to clean up his room, the child's dawdling and complaining are not predestined nor are they part of God's will.

Those who emphasize one trait of God, or one doctrine, at the expense of the others run the risk of distorting the truth, creating a grotesque caricature.

Consider two end-time, dominant forces: the Beast power of Revelation 13 and God. To whom will we yield to in the coming years?

God has consistently moved His creation toward its ultimate purpose, setting the bounds of nations, motivating rulers to pursue a certain course of action.

Even though the way God exercises His sovereignty is inscrutable to us , calling the foolish to confound the wise, all He does fits perfectly into His plan.

Those who have made a covenant with God can be corrupted unless they make a concerted effort to know God, realizing He has the right to do as He pleases.

Nothing and no one can thwart God's purposes. We need to develop the faith to yield and conform to His will as clay in the potter's hands.

We are assured that even though inexplicable things happen in our lives, God is still sovereign. We must develop childlike faith to trust in Him for solutions.

We have to exercise faith, realizing the timing will be right for us, enabling us to accept His provisions and decisions for us without fear or anxiety.

John Ritenbaugh emphasizes the value of understanding sovereignty as a basic foundational doctrine, providing a link between knowledge and practice as well as providing motivation to yield and conform to God's purpose for us. Understanding sovereignty (1) . . .

The purpose of prayer is not to overcome God's reluctance, but to help in yielding to His will. 'Prayer changes things' is only true if it conforms to God's will.

Martin Collins suggests that Generation X spirituality is an eclectic, syncretic, self-centered perverted attempt at displacing God's will with self-absorbed human will, attempting to arrogantly make God's will subservient to theirs. God, demonstrating num. . .

Is God sovereign over angels? What about mankind's choices? God's sovereignty is absolute as He directs events toward the culmination of His plan.

Where does real power reside? All power has its source in God—and not just the kind of power we typically think of.

God's children should never emulate the self-willed attitude Frank Sinatra's song "My Way" glorifies. Human nature and godly character are polar opposites.

Praying without gratitude is like clipping the wings of prayer. Thankfulness is not natural to carnal human nature which loves to grovel as a timid worrywart.

Martin Collins, reflecting that the human conscience can be incrementally conditioned to tolerate sin, decommissioned, and ultimately put to sleep, asserts that God can restore it to usefulness as He did in the lives of Joseph's brothers, by forcing them t. . .

What does Scripture say about free-moral agency? Are we human puppets on a string, manipulated from above? How does free will relate to God's sovereignty?

Most professing Christians agree that God is sovereign, but there is a wide range of beliefs with regard to just how involved God is in their lives.

God desires far more for us than mere satisfaction: He wants to give us real contentment, a state that comes only through a relationship with Him.

Jesus Christ has full control of the church. Everything of consequence, including the development of our character, is engineered by Him.

All the medieval 'seven deadly sins' could be categorized as a facet of lust. God designed us to have proper desires, just as His desires are always proper.

Richard Ritenbaugh, reflecting on the pop song "My Way" composed by Paul Anka, written for and made famous by Frank Sinatra, observes that to the carnal mind, this song represents a triumph of the human will and a declaration of pride, a determin. . .

In this message on God's promises of protection and healing, Richard Ritenbaugh identifies several conditions for receiving them, including God's sovereignty, God's purpose, and one's level of growth. A way to see things "God's way" involves repl. . .

John Ritenbaugh, continuing his comparison of the timid, insignificant sparrow with the virtually unnoticed, timid Church, reiterates that God has complete oversight over the awesome plan of creating offspring in His image. Consequently, we should not fear. . .

John Ritenbaugh, cuing in on three scriptures, Psalm 11:3-5, Luke 12:7, and Philippians 4:19, reflects on a frightening earthquake in 1971, in which he realized that he was in no way in control of the alarming situation, a relentless shaking that threatene. . .

The Father and the Son are two distinct beings, not co-equal as the trinity doctrine proclaims, but with the Son deferring to the Father in all things.