by William F Taylor
Doing God’s will in our everyday lives is a key to making our lives a symphony of praise to Him. God’s will for our everyday lives is expressed very clearly in Ephesians chapters four through six. Here God’s plan for our lives is revealed in three critical everyday-life areas; (1) my individual, personal life; Ephesians 4:1 – 5:21 (2) my life with my family; Ephesians 5:22 – 6:4 and (3) my life at work, Ephesians 6:5 – 9.
In a nutshell, God’s will for our personal lives includes honesty, clean talk, emotional control, kindness, Godly morals, and thankfulness. God’s will for our family life is to show His kind of love for one another. God’s will for us at work is to see Him at the center of all we do, and work in a way that will glorify Him.
These are very challenging standards to uphold. We are not dealing with short, casual situations we can bluff our way through for a short period of time. The “real person” shows up in these arenas.
Ephesians five gives some very important keys to enable us to produce the melodious concert of praise God desires to hear through our lives each day.
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:15-17
Knowing God’s will is a key to being able to do this. But we need more than knowing God’s will. This is not meant to be a struggle based on knowledge and will power. That is the Old Covenant way in which the mind is informed of God’s will and human effort tries to perform it. That always ends in failure. The next verse has a key.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18
We need enablement to do His will. This comes from being filled with the Spirit. The New Covenant way is based on faith. As we reach up to God in faith through Jesus Christ, there is a channel that not only flows from us to God, but from God to us. God channels His divine enablement into our lives. So then it is of faith.
And I will put my spirit within you, and CAUSE you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. Ezekiel 36:27
When we are filled with God’s Spirit, we have God’s enablement to do His will. This is not a struggle. It is just a result of what comes naturally for the new creation we are. Another key follows.
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus. Ephesians 5:19-20
A key to being filled with the Spirit is to be filled with “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. When His Spirit is filling us in this way, we will not find it difficult to walk in God’s ways.
Let’s let the concert of praise arise in the inner man, overflow upon our families and those in our workplace, and ascend to the throne. This is a life of praise!