June 11, 2001

"For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat." Hebrews 5:12

"I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions,…" 1 Corinthians 3: 2-3a

When determining if we are in the will of God for our lives, we need to look at two things—calling & character.  We can be in the will of God for one and not the other.

Godly character is the way God tells all of us to live.  We read in His Word that we are all to walk in love, to live a holy life, to put away the things of the flesh, to be led by His Spirit, etc.  How we handle the day to day situations of life shows how far we’ve developed in Godly character.

We see in the above scriptures that our spiritual maturity is based on how well we are putting the basic principals of the Word of God into practice in our lives.

We may be right concerning what our calling is but be immature in the development of Godly character.  Character is the foundation our calling is built on and if we don’t build our calling upon the foundation of Godly character then what we’re trying to build will fail (It may appear to be successful outwardly, but it could be a failure in God’s eyes).

On the other hand, we may be in the will of God as far as our character is concerned but out of His will concerning what He’s called us to do.  There comes a time when we need to step out in faith and do what He’s called us to do.

We all want to know our calling is and what the Lord wants us to do in the earth.  But we must begin with being in His will concerning spiritual growth and the development of Godly character by abiding by the Word of God in our daily lives.  Then as we begin to function in what He’s called us to do, we will be successful according to God’s standard of success which brings the great joy into our lives that comes from being in the will of God!