God's Perfect Will vs God's Permissive Will

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what's God's will is-his GOOD, PLEASING and PERFECT will." (Romans12:2, caps mine)

Have you ever went to God and prayed like this, "God, I really really really really REALLY want to date this person", and then you pray this prayer for many times. But each time God says 'No', and then you pray again. After a few times, do you know what God will say? God will say this, "Okay, go ahead, if that's what you want." If God's people pray and ask for things to be a certain way, even if it is not God's perfect will for them, God will often permit it. Don't believe it? A lot of people don't. They claim, "But if God permits it, it has to be His perfect will."

Let's read 1Samuel8. In 1Samuel8, Israel asks for a king. God didn't want the Israelites to have a king like all the other nations. God wanted to be their king. But the Israelites insisted, and so God relented. He said, "All right, go ahead. You have my permission to have a king." But from that point on, the Israelites were never in the perfect will of God again, even though God blessed them and helped them as much as He could.

This is where many people have missed it. Many times God has dealt with them and told them what His will is for their lives. But they keep after Him, praying out of their natural understanding for something they want. So finally God says, "Alright, if you want it that way, go ahead." You see, God is gentle, and He will not force His way around. He will reveal to you His will for your life, but it'll be your decision to follow in His ways.

A lot of times, our prayers have a lot to do with how far we go in our destiny. Do we pray selfish prayers, whereby our wants take priority over God's will? There was a farmer who always prayed, "God, bless me and my wife, my son John and his wife-us four and no more!" Most of us may not say those exact words, but if we would examine our prayer lives, we just might find that our prayers are just like the farmer's, 'praying with our own understanding'. In other words, most of our prayer time is devoted to praying about matters that concern ourselves and our loved ones. In short, our prayers are often selfish, where our wants take priority over God's will for us. Think about it, when was the last time you prayed, "God, your will be done".

Friend you and I need to pray like Jesus did at Gethsemane. "'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.'"(Matthew26:39) and again in Matthew26:42,"'My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.'"

I don't know about you, but I'd rather live in God's perfect will than in God's permissive will. It's your choice to make.

Many people, after living in God's permissive will, encounter difficult situations and then wonder why God ever allowed them to go through what they did. But the thing is, it wasn't God who got them into the mess! You see, when we insist on something, God will say, "Okay! Okay!If that's what you want, go ahead", but He will never say, "This is my will, walk in it and be blessed". John15:7, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. The key to abundant living is constant abiding in God's will, not our wants/desires! That's why it's so important to get the Word of God in us first before we pray. We need to ensure that God's Word is abiding in us. We need to start praying scriptural prayers, not human-understanding prayers. Friend you and I must never get out of God's Word when we pray. Build a strong foundation of the Word in your prayer life. If you don't have that foundation, you may go off after a desire that's not God's will for you, and that is very dangerous.

I don't know about you, but I'm not satisfied with God's permissive will or with His second best- I want God's very best! His will before mine in every circumstance, throughout earth and eternity.

No eye has seen no ear has heard
The good that the Lord has prepared
For those who wait on Him
To hear His voice
I am the Potter and you are the clay

Jesus take me in Your hand
And make me all that You want me to be
Jesus help me understand my purpose
And what You can do through me
Fulfilling my destiny