Pulling Away To Know His Will
Devotional Contributor: Pastor Mark Krieg
Matthew 12:50 (NASB) — For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus is saying that if we do our Father’s will, we are truly His family! In John 6:38, Jesus said that He didn’t come down from Heaven to do His own will, rather He came to do our Father’s will which includes loving God and loving others, practicing mercy and forgiveness, doing justice, and spreading the news about our Father’s Kingdom!
In His humanity, Jesus modeled for us what it’s like to do the will of our Father. The scriptures say that Jesus “pulled away” and spent time praying and communing with Father. If Jesus needed to do this during His earthly ministry, how much more so for each of us.
When we “pull away” and spend time with our Father, we gain a Heavenly perspective about our lives, jobs, relationships, and the difficult things we carry in our hearts.
But what does it look like for us to “pull away” and spend time with Him? A religious spirit makes us feel a need to read a certain amount of scripture, pray for a certain length of time, fast for a certain number of days, and then makes us feel guilty when we fall short of these perceived requirements. But the Holy Spirit makes this “pulling away” time a special encounter with our Daddy. If you’re a father or mother, you know what a delight it is when your kids come to just spend time with you. Sure, we’re glad to help them with things and meet their needs, but the most special time is when they just desire to be with us. And the older our children get, the more precious these times become.
Through growing our intimacy with our Father, we begin to “see” what He’s doing and join Him in doing it. We begin to “hear” His voice and speak what we’re hearing. And we join Him in seeing the Earth overtaken by the Kingdom of Heaven!
The very things Jesus did (being kind and loving to others, being a friend to those outside of God’s kingdom, giving to those in need, healing the sick, and casting out demons) we get to do! And THIS is the will of our Father!
This is a principle, throughout the scriptures, that if we initiate seeking our Father He responds.
Here are a few of those scripture references:
Jeremiah 33:3, James 4:8a, Psalms 145:18, Isaiah 55:6, Zechariah 1:3, Malachi 3:7b, Deuteronomy 4:29b, 1 Chronicles 28:9b, 2 Chronicles 7:14,15:2b, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:2c, Luke 11:9–10
So, during this time of corporate prayer and fasting, I encourage you to initiate some time to “pull away” with our Daddy. Ask Him to show you what He’s doing. Ask Him to let you hear what He’s speaking. And do His will!
