No Magic Formula

          I remember that my grandfather supposedly had the gift of healing. I had an earache one day and he came over and blew in my ear, said some words very quietly, and I never had an earache for the next 8 years. My grandmother said it had to be passed down from male to female, to male, etc and she showed the verses from the Bible to my Father. He forgot where they were, so it stopped with him. One of the things that is prominent in the life of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is trying to do the will of God in all things. A book came out in the early 70's entitled, “No Magic Formula.” There are no places in the Scripture where it says, if you do thus and thus you will know for sure what is the will of God. We sure would like to have a “magic formula” from the Bible, but there just isn't one. There are however, several times in the New Testament where it plainly says, “This is the will of God.” First Thessalonians, 5:18 says, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

         Well, there it is. You can't be too much plainer than that. There are several more examples where it clearly states, “this is the will of God.” Many books have been written that are designed to give you a scheme of things in order to find out what the will of God is for your life. If you ever had an opportunity to conduct a class or seminar on finding out the will of God and charged a lot of money for those to attend the class, you would probably have a profitable result. People really do want to know what God's will is for them in this life. Another verse that is prominent on this issue is First Thessalonians 4:3 which deals with our sanctification and that you should abstain from fornication. So we have come up with at least two things in the life of the believer that if you do them, you will be doing God's will for your life. The believer needs to give thanks in every thing and to abstain from fornication. We may think at this point that these two things are so easy for the believer but the problem still exist in our present age, in our culture and even in our churches. People, generally speaking, seem not to be very thankful for what is going on in their lives and the results of fornication are seen throughout the Christian community. You know what goes on in your own mind and your attitude towards others and it soon leads to trouble because we are failing in these areas among others. So, you see, there is no magic formula for discovering God's will. It is plainly written in His Word. When you want to God's will in your life seek to give thanks in all things and to work on your own sanctification which is a process of spiritual growth in which we are all involved. Praise God that He has given us the way in which we are to do His will.