God's perfect will & permissive will

God has a perfect will - that which cannot be changed.  God has a permissive will, whereby He allows for various things to happen and uses those things to further His Kingdom and His glory.

It is important when looking at God's perfect wil vs his permissive will, that I always seem to honour Him regardless of my circumstances.  A big part of this is accepting whatever He allows, or does not allow in my life.  I must NEVER wrestle against the Lord.  I must never seek my will, but rather, my desire should always be for His will to be done.  I must totally be surrendered to Him.  If I am not content in my circumstances then I am not surrendered.

In regards to His permissive will, I believe it is okay to seek His help and guidance in doing your best to accomplish goals that you have.  However, it is imperative that I do a couple of things when doing this.  First, it is important to seek God to ensure that the thing you are pursuing aligns with His will for your life.  Second, you must accept whatever the results of your pursuit is.

When pursuing goals that are honouring tonthe Lord, it is very important to ensure that I never wrestle against God.  I am definitely not surrendered if I do so.  I should seek His guidance and help when striving to do my best, and striving to accomplish things, but I should never wrestle with God for those things to happen.  It is always way out of line to try and make God do what you want.  It shoes incredible disrespect and shows that you are not surrendered.

While itnis never okay to wrestle with God, it can be okay to wrestle for God.  For instance, it can be okay to wrestle at trying to become more like Him and serve Him better.  This type of wrestling is me partnering with God, relying on His strength, and seeking Him as I work to become more like Him, serve Him, and further His Kingdom.

How to breakaway from the ways of this world

From Andy Stanley "Breakaway" series.

If I don't want to live a boring life thatnfalls into the patterns of this world, I need to do the following....

1. recognize that God is working in every circumstance I find myself in.  I need to therefore be seeking Him for how He wants to use me and be seeking to be a light for Him.
2.  Realize that my beliefs are what lead to my decisions and therefore outcomes in life from those decisions.  I therefore need to allow God to transform the way that I think.
2.  Realize that God always knows best.

3.  Do not follow my heart.  Follow God's wisdom and Word.  My heart will fool me and lead me astay.

4.  God has a purpose for my life.  I need to live in a way which is obedient to Him so as not to miss His plans and purposes for me.

5.  Be honest with why I want to do the things I do.  This will help me make wiser decisions and not justify poor ones.  Don't be foolish by justifying bad decisions which are sinful!