Are You Bending TO the Will of God.. or .. Trying to Bend the Will of God?

Situations come up daily that should require us to ask ourselves this very question.. 

So many times we find ourselves faced with justifying our own needs in order to make it look right and thus removing our own blame or guilt in the process.  That is why we justify after all.  We have a tendency to want to bend the will of God more than bending TO the will of God.  Sometimes it really looks like it is the will of God when in fact it is not.

Point in case.. I use to attend a church where I wanted to get involved in the ministries there to use the gifts and talents the Lord has seen fit to bless me with. Naturally you would think that because it’s all about God that it would be easy to do but when it’s not the will of God it will not flow..and it didn’t flow. It was like trying to tread uphill in a raging river. You may get to take a few steps but then it’s going to tire you out and frustrate you.  The more you keep trying the more tired and weary you become. Then one day you look behind you and see that you’re just not getting anywhere. You’re still stuck in the middle of the river and now you’re just worn out from trying so hard. 

Sound familiar in an area of your life?

I think we experience this many times over in many areas of our lives whether at work, home, church, etc.  The common denominator is that “I tried” always seems to surface in each equation. 

Now let me share something that I’ve learned.. when God is in it.. YOU don’t have to work so hard at it.  You just have to be willing to let your “self” go and allow God move you and move in you.  When I finally looked at how hard this battle was, it was then that I realized that I wasn’t bending TO the will of God but was actually trying to bend the will of God. When I stopped and surrendered ALL of my desires in every area of my life, it was then that God was able to bring me to the place He wanted me to be and you know what happened?  I didn’t have to try hard for anything! God brought people and ministries to me.

The very thing I was struggling so hard with before just began to flow. I found myself in the same raging river but this time I was being lifted up and carried down the river to the beautiful and vast wide ocean of the unknown. Normally the unknown can be quite scary but when God is leading, it’s beautiful because you know that He is in control.

It is God that directs that currents flow and we can choose to go against it by trying to bend the will of God for our lives or we can choose to go with it and allow Him to lift us back up and carry us downstream into His glorious plan.  The choice is yours. 

Are you bending TO the will of God or trying to bend the will of God in your life?