Mission Venture Ministries

“Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35)

It is important to know God’s will. Jesus said that His true relations are those who know and do the Father’s will. Jesus says this while His biological family is outside asking for Him. He is not dismissing family relationships; rather, He teaches that a deeper spiritual family is formed among people who respond to God with faith and obedience. Therefore, those who do God’s will are received as a brother of sister belonging to Him.

The first and most important point in obedience is to believe in Christ. Having faith that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins and was raised again gets us in to God’s family. Obeying God in other areas gives evidence that we are in God’s family (James 1:22; 2:18).

There might be a lost family member or friend that you are praying for. So, please do not give up and remember that God can, and does change minds as He did with Saul who became the apostle Paul. Others believed timidly, like Jewish council-member Joseph of Arimathea (John 19:38). All are welcome in God’s family, and the angels respond with joy when they come (Luke 15:10).

It is significant that Jesus includes “sister” in His teaching, since He has many women among His disciples (Luke 8:1–3), and even more go on to build the church (Acts 16:14–15; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15). Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Women are an essential part of any family, including God’s. Jesus’ deliberate inclusion of women is, for that time period, highly remarkable.

At its most basic, the will of God is to repent of our sin and trust in Christ. If we have not taken that first step, then we have not yet accepted God’s will. Once we receive Christ by faith, we are made God’s children (John 1:12), and He desires to lead us in His way (Psalm 143:10). God is not trying to hide His will from us; He wants to reveal it. In fact, He has already given us many, many directions in His Word. We are to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). We are to do good works (1 Peter 2:15).

God’s will is knowable and provable as Romans 12:2 states, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” As we see, a child of God refuses to be conformed to the world and instead allows themselves to be transformed by the Spirit. As their mind is renewed according to the things of God, then they can know God’s perfect will.

Please understand that knowing God’s will is at times difficult because it requires patience. It’s natural to want to know all of God’s will at once, but that’s not how He usually works. He reveals to us a step at a time; each move is a step of faith and allows us to continue to trust Him. The important thing is that, as we wait for further direction, we are busy doing the good that we know that we are to do, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10)

At times, we want God to give us specifics, where to work, where to live, whom to marry, what car to buy, etc. God allows us to make choices, and, if we are yielded to Him, He has ways of preventing that we make wrong choices as He did with Paul and his companions (Acts 16:6–7).

If we are walking closely with the Lord and truly desiring His will for our lives, God will place His desires and directions in our hearts. The key is desiring to do God’s will and not our own, as Psalm 37:4 states: “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Remember, that the one who has a growing, loving relationship with Jesus Christ is one who does God’s will and therefore, is a brother or sister of Christ (Mark 3:35).

*******