You hear people debating the difference between the permissive Will of God and the Perfect Will of God. They go on to describe what house they are to buy, what car they’re supposed to drive when the Will of God has absolutely nothing to do with anything materialistic. In the words of Pastor Tony Miller “If He hung the stars, your car payment isn’t a big deal.” When Pastor Miller made that statement, he was talking about our lack of trust in God. I say we have a lack in relationship with God because to have a real relationship with the Father means that you know you are His child and just like any parent, He will take care of the needs (not wants) of His children. My children have a lot of wants that are not good for them and so I do not give them their wants that would be to their detriment. I give them what they need.
But when my daughter wants to put on a pretty dress for church, does it really matter which one she puts on as long as it fits and is decent and modest? Her motive for the dress is the dance. She wants to wear a “sha” as she calls her dresses so when she dances during the Praise and Worship, the dress will “spin” (flair out) while she dances. She wants it to be pretty while she worships. My four year old daughter knows a lot more about worship than I do. She wants it to be beautiful for Jesus and that’s the only way she knows how and she’s completely not inhibited in her worship either. She goes to the front of the church and dances at the altar during both Praise and Worship time. She allows what’s in her heart to come out before Jesus, who she knows lives in her heart.
Why did I bring up my daughter’s dress at church? Because it’s a simplified version of the needs and wants of us so-called adult Christians. Does it really matter which house we buy as long as it’s within our need (not luxurious wants) and gives God glory? I’m tired of Christians seeking God for answers concerning which car to buy or what does God really want me to drive. “He loves me enough to buy me a Benz!” is NOT the heart of God. The heart of God is salvation, the restoration of a loving relationship with Him! God’s perfect Will does not lie within the materialistic wants of children, it lies within His heart in us being extended to others.
God’s Perfect Will is a perpetual state of giving our free will choices over to His Will of spreading salvation and love to others. God’s permissive will is when we are saved from our sins and have a relationship with Him but have not completely given up all of our selfish desires to make God’s Will here on earth our heart’s desire. Any time we say we live for Christ but follow after selfish desires, we live in His permissive will rather than His perfect will. When our thoughts and our minds are more consumed with money and things than the love and care of our Lord Jesus, we are in His permissive will and He allows us through His grace and mercy to live in permissiveness in hopes that we will soon see the truth about His will. We are truly children in our maturity with God while living in this state of permissiveness.
The condition of our heart’s desire and intent influences every decision we make, even our interpretations of dreams and visions. How do I know these things? Because God has given me visions, and I, like others, have completely interpreted them wrongly. We all interpret the dreams and visions we have from our own heart’s desire. In other words, a person could receive a vision of materials falling out of a window in the sky and a six month calender, semi-transparent so that the person is seeing the stuff fall from heaven through the six month calendar. What does it mean? From a selfish heart, it’s interpreted as being debt-free in six months. But from a heart whose free will is completely turned over to God, would see a warning about the economic turn in six months. How do I know? Because I was guilty of this misinterpretation. Exactly six months after I had this vision, the stock market took it’s plummet – the 777 points down that began the economic turmoil we currently live in. The good news about this though, is that this vision was given to me at the Jewish calendar of First Fruits and I was able to deliver a message of sowing that would cause not only me, but others, to sow seed that would sustain us in these hard economic times. I may have missed the ‘debt-free in six months part’ but God still honored all those who sowed seed in storing up for these hard times by sustaining us.
The Perfect Will of God means to live in a state of perpetual giving over of one’s free will to serve God’s Will: the salvation of souls and building the Kingdom of God, even if it means complete-self-sacrifice, like Jesus demonstrated on the cross. We are supposed to take up our cross daily. God’s perfect will has nothing to do what house you live in, the car you drive, the restaurant you frequent the most. These are materialistic things that are completely detached of God’s agenda. Sure, we use these things to serve the kingdom, but one must evaluate the motive of the heart when they ask God for something. Are you asking for that house so you can do Bible studies in it? I mean, really? Or are you asking God for it so you can slap a flag on it “God Did It!” and all your motive for it is simply so you can have it. Do you really care how you got it just as long as you got it? Wouldn’t giving God the credit for it only be a small price to pay just as long as you have it?
I recently saw a car with “God Did It” on the front of it as she whipped in front of someone and took the parking place without any regard to the people around her. If God did anything at that moment it was grimace and be in disgust as one of His so-called children just acted out in selfishness with His name tagged on the front. I’m sure a good spanking would surely follow and then we ask ourselves why are we going through the things we go through? The truth is that we brought it on our ourselves by our selfish actions. When God said in the garden that if you eat of that fruit you will surely die, it didn’t necessarily mean that He would kill us. Our desire to be God, through independence and selfishness, kills us. When will we learn that true life and true freedom is found in the dependency upon and relationship with God?
We all have a tendency not to want to think that the things we go through, we brought it on ourselves. We are pathetic at taking responsibility for our actions, so much so, that we either blame the devil for things we do and God as well. Sometimes we make a decision and we say “the Lord led me in that direction” and the Lord had nothing to do with it. We hide our selfish actions behind the guise that the Lord is leading us when the truth is, God was far from the decision.
My husband and I were prophesied to that we would live in a four bedroom house. Not too long ago, we had that opportunity. The bank was going to lend us the $250K to purchase the house that was closer to our church and work and make our lives much easier, or would it? After careful prayer, we decided not to buy the house but to refinance the duplex we were in simply because we felt it was just wise. I mean, does God really care what house we live in as long as our heart’s desire is for His Will? If my husband and I had purchased that house, we would live daily struggling to work longer hours, missing time with our children – which is not God’s Will. The underlying decision must be made with Kingdom Principles in mind. We could have purchased the house and said “God Did It” and He would be sorrowful that I’m sacrificing valuable time with my children daily in order to pay for it. By deciding to stay where we were, we chose the Kingdom over our personal wants, even though God said it through a prophetic word which we believe was from God but for purposes of testing us, which happens you know. Sometimes God will test you to show you the condition of your heart. Not every prophetic word from God is meant for you to follow, it’s a test. Did you pass?
Are you living in the Perfect Will of God or His Permissive Will like a child who knows nothing except selfish desire? Are you living every day to the fullest by sacrificing all of your self will to His Will? Are you looking for the answers to your decisions that will most benefit the Kingdom of God? Are you looking for recognition of your sacrifice? If so, what was the point? If you can live your life with your true heart’s desire as His desire and not seek recognition or reward for it, you have found the heart of God and His Perfect Will.
