Speaker: Sis. Techie Rodriguez ,Elder, The Lord's Flcok Catholic Charismatic Community

“Finding God's Will ”

I ntroduction : God created men as “free creatures who have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice [will] and preferential love.” (Paragraph 311, Catechism of the Catholic Church).

T he Holy Spirit – Our Advocate

G od has given men free will to decide for their lives. Because He respects men's freedom, He does not interfere with men's free will. But because of his supreme love for all of us, He has a divine will or plan for us. He sent the Holy Spirit to be with us as advocate, guide, counselor. “But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7). “ But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” (John 16:13).

G od's divine plan for us includes his sending of the Holy Spirit as our Paraclete and Counselor. He knows that we need guidance from the Holy Spirit. We are like sheep; without any shepherd to lead us, we lose our direction.

F or the Counselor to guide us, our obedience is very important. We should be ready to follow and obey the Counselor.

T he Holy Spirit guided God's people (the Israelites) during the time of Moses. His guidance continues until today . “I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be firm and steadfast . (Joshua 1:5-6).

T he Holy Spirit is also called Paraclete. Paraclete means “back to back” or “along side with”. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to guide and counsel us wherever we go. We should not be stubborn like horses and mules.

G od will not guide us if we do not obey . If we love God, we must obey and keep his commandments . (John 14:15). We should obey even though it is hard to obey. If we disobey the Holy Spirit, we begin to grieve him. He can release us. We may find ourselves alone after the Holy Spirit leaves us. The Holy Spirit is so sensitive that He is easily grieved if we do not obey him. He respects our free will and allow us to make our choice. Let us make sure the Spirit remains with us by obeying him. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to be our advocate, paraclete and counselor always.

K eys to Finding God's Will

G od has a will or plan for all of us. How do we find what is God's will for us. There are nine keys in finding God's will. The first four are the following:

1. TRUST IN THE LORD – Trust in the Lord is the first key in finding God's will. “Trust in God; have trust also in me.” (John 14:1).

T rusting in someone we see is easy but trusting in someone we do not see, like the Holy Spirit, is hard. Let us trust in the Holy Spirit. Let us trust in the Lord.

T he Israelites trusted in God who promised Moses: “ I will deliver to you every place where you set foot .” (Joshua 1:3). He said to Moses' aide Joshua: “So prepare to cross the Jordan here, with all the people into the land I will give the Israelites.” (Joshua 1:2). They trusted God's divine promise of assistance and took possession of the land. (Joshua 1:1-18).

L et us trust in the word of God . “Keep this book of the law on your lips. Recite it by day and by night, that you may observe carefully all that is written in it; then you will successfully attain your goal.” (Joshua 1:8).

L ike Moses, let us trust in the promises of God . “By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age – and Sarah herself was sterile - for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy.” (Hebrews 11:11). Let us have faith in God's word. What He says is consistent. Let us trust in the Lord and we will find God's will!

2. KNOWING GOD – The second key to knowing God's will is to know God personally. This is a pre-condition to trusting in God; in order to trust in the Lord, we must know who God really is.

W e know that God is a God of testings and He always tests our love for him. We know that God “makes a way where there seems to be no way.” We know that He sometimes acts on the eleventh hour. We also know we can always seek guidance from the Holy Spirit. God wants us to wait whenever our prayers are without answers yet.

I n order to know God well, we should fully develop our faith by hearing his word . “Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17).

W e should also study the Holy Bible that provides the truth (John 17:17 ) and the light. “Your word is a lamp for my feet , a light for my path.” (Psalms 119:105).

F or those who seek direction in their lives, the Bible is like a compass that points the right way and guides us in our journey . Let us trust and follow the compass of God's word. “Do not swerve from it either to the right or to the left, that you may succeed wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:7).

B y knowing and studying the Bible, we know more about God. By knowing God, we find his will and discover his plan for us!

3. HUMILITY – We should be humble if we want to unlock the will of God for us.

T he Lord taught the Israelites humility when they journeyed in the desert forty years, instead of only 11 days, to reach the Promised Land. (Deuteronomy 1:2, 8:2-5).

T he Lord humbled the Israelites . He also taught your Elder lessons in humility. In her old life, she was a very proud person who thought that she could do all things by herself. With all her achievements, she never depended on God but on her personal abilities. She forgot that all her earnings and everything else came from God. When the Lord tested her severely, she learned the hard way lessons in humility.

S cience makes great progress in many fields . We take pride in our abilities to solve our problems. However, we should not allow pride to shape our attitude of self-dependence. Only on God we should depend. Let us embrace humility before God. Let us humble ourselves by repenting for our sins, pride, and unforgiveness.

O ne way of curing our inflated view of ourselves is by having a good look in the mirror. The best mirror for this purpose is the word of God. (James 1:23-25).

?“For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned.” (Romans 12:3).

? “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3)

T here should be no pride in the heart of a follower of Christ. There is pride when we refuse correction or when we feel hurt after being rebuked. “He who listens to salutary reproof will abide among the wise. He who rejects admonition despises his own soul, but he who heeds reproof gains understanding.” (Proverbs 15:31-32).

I n our Community, some do not want to accept correction. Some get angry and feel hurt when reproved. Some do not want to obey. There is a warning: “Pride goes before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18).

L et us be humble always. “Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for; ‘God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble.' So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. (1 Peter 5:5-6). “Humility goes before honors.” (Proverbs 15:33).

L et us be humble like our Lord Jesus Christ. “He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8).

O nly if we are humble can we seek the Lord (Zephaniah 2:3) and discover his will for us.

4. PRAYER – P rayer is one of the most powerful tools in our spiritual life. It allows us to speak directly to the Lord. It is an instant key to finding God's will.

I f we encounter personal troubles, the best thing to do is to pray first and seek God's help. “Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray.” (James 5:13).

W hen we have personal problems, let us seek God's will before doing anything else. Let us not rely on our own skills and solutions. Let us consult the Bible. Let us accept God's will just like Jesus who prayed three times at the Garden of Gethsemane : “your will be done!” (Matthew 26:39, 42, 44).

W hen we are under persecution, we should have courage. “ Therefore do not be afraid of them.” (Matthew 10:26). Like the burning bush (Exodus 3:2), we shall not be consumed by the flaming fire of persecution when we pray to God.

B y praying, let us find out God's will and act rightly. If God gives something different from what we are asking, let us accept such a substitute. God knows what is best for us. It is in God's plan for us.