Abounding in love

For several months now I have been toiling over the idea of discerning God's will. I have wracked my brain trying to figure out the balance between discernment and lack of faith. Like how do you make a right choice sometimes when there doesn't seem to be a bad choice, but you need to make a choice?
How do you know when to just sit and wait and trust or when God is calling you to step up and step out, to be bold and make a move? How do you know if you are where He wants you? Am I lacking faith? Am I not stepping out enough? Am I not being patient enough or trusting enough? So many questions can drive a mama cray cray!

Many times lately I have verbalized that I wish God would just write the answer to my questions in the clouds. I have even been so silly as to look for hidden messages in things thinking maybe they hold the key to what God is trying to tell me (You know you have done that too at some point. I have been desperate y'all!) As if God has to be sneaky about His will. I am sure he is cracking up laughing as he hides secret messages to me all around and sees if I can figure them out like Nancy Drew. Yea, I doubt it! The truth is though, I have been searching for answers anywhere I think I can find them. God is not some mystical fortune teller, he is not playing scavenger hunt with me. He is a pretty forward God.

The truth is, I have all that I need to discern what his will is for me. I have his word (the Bible) and I have the Holy Spirit (God within me) to guide me. I also have amazing family and friends who encourage and challenge me to seek Him more. Because the reality is, the more I seek Him, the more I will know Him. The more I know Him, the more I will want to look like him and act like him. The more I look like him and act like him, the more that I won't be waiting around for a sign. I am not saying we shouldn't be patient and careful and wise and pray about decisions we make, but if we are lining things up with God's word and really being led by the Spirit, it isn't so tough.

I have been reading in Philippians lately and this verse popped out to me and was kind of like my writing in the clouds, except it was in the Bible. Gee, who would have thunk it?

Philippians 1:9

"And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, SO THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO DISCERN WHAT IS BEST and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ---to the glory and praise of God."

The knowledge and depth of insight all stem from LOVE. Love helps us to discern what is best. Now I am not talking about love like we throw love around these days, "I love pumpkin scented candles," "I love pumpkin cheesecake," "I love pumpkin spice tea." (I may have a slight pumpkin obsession right now). We are talking LOVE like Jesus demonstrated. If I look at the gospel, Jesus' idea of love was a lot different than our typical idea of love. He was out there, loving on people, really seeing them and relating to them, responding to their needs, healing them, hanging out with those that people despised or didn't want to be around, serving, teaching, pointing those around him to his Heavenly Father, laying down his life. The more I love, the more insight I have to what God wants for me. Love God, Love People...simple as that!

So for me, it comes down to this: Am I loving like Jesus? Am I being bold and brave and really LOVING the way he loved, the way he loves? Am I risking it all for the sake of Christ? See when we start to love like the Father, the answers to our questions of God's will become more obvious, I just think sometimes we don't really want to know the answer because that makes us uncomfortable and sometimes that just totally jacks up OUR PLANS! I think if we were really filtering our questions/decisions through God's word, our lives would look MUCH different, don't you?

 I am no longer waiting for some answer in the clouds or trying to close my eyes and open my Bible right smack to the passage God wants me to read so I can have a definitive answer on the direction he has for us. My challenge to myself is to seek Him more, look more like Him, act more like Him, LOVE more like Him and I am confident that I will be right where He wants me...in His good and perfect will.