The Will of God

This is an excerpt from my journal where I wrote about the will of God in this situation. I thought it may be a blessing to someone so I am posting it here.

Dear Lord,

After listing to a sermon by Doug Batchelor on the Your will I wanted to go through and apply the criteria to our situation with the baby. I pray for your guidance as I go through and consider each of these items. May you bring additional clarity and wisdom to this situation through this process. I will list these as bullet points and comment on each one in turn:

• Be surrendered and willing. John 7:17; Is 45:9; Ps 25:9. Lord we have surrendered to you in this situation and we continue to do so with your help. We recognize you know what is best and You desire our happiness more than we do. Please help us to continue to let You lead and guide.
• Consult the word of God. Ps 119:105; Ps 40:8. James 5:14 clearly states that if there is anyone sick among you they should call for the elders to pray for them. Though our unborn child cannot call for the elders we are interceding on his behalf. In addition, the scripture says that Christ is not willing that any should perish. Further this child has been knit together in Carey’s womb and is fully known by God. It was never God’s will that this child be sick, He has only allowed it to happen because of sin. He is capable and willing to use this situation for His honor and glory. O Lord, let your name be glorified in all of this.
• Be faithful to God’s revealed will. John 12:35; Matt 13:12; 3T 425; Ed 211. In getting pregnant and living our lives we have tried to honor God by being healthy so we could pass on healthy genes to our kids. We have also prayed over this child. Lord we are willing to follow. We recognize there is still more we can do and we pray for your grace in applying all we know to our lives.
• Obtain Christian counsel. Prov 11:14; 1 Cor 15:33; Ps 73:24. We have been seeking the counsel of Christian friends who have been through similar situations. We desire to gain their perspective and listen to their counsel. So far they have affirmed our decisions and been very supportive of us.
• Observe Providence. Ruth 2:20; 2 Cor 2:12. O Lord, this is one of the first things we did when faced with this situation. We recognized how you had put people in our lives, how you had arranged our schedule, how you had made provision for us even before we knew this problem existed. Please help us to keep our eyes open to your providential workings.
• Pray. 1 Jn 5:14,15; Jn 15:15; Gen 18:17. Lord, we have been seeking your through prayer and we need to do more of it. I am comforted by the words in first John that when we ask according to your will you hear us and give us what we ask for because we are asking for your will in our lives.
• Pray and Fast. It is necessary to fast on occasion so we may clear our minds to be more receptive to God’s leading. Our physical health affects our spiritual perceptiveness and at these times of great need we must do all we can to be able to hear the Word of the Lord. I have begun that cleansing process and I pray for strength and leading over the next 11 days as I allow my body to be cleansed and my mind to be cleared of the clutter.
• Have faith. Prov 3:5,6. Lord God you know we are trying to muster as much faith as we can to go through this process. We believe you are able to heal our child and we believe you desire to do it as it was always your will that we have a healthy child. However, in faith we submit to you knowing that your ways are so much higher than ours and there may be another outcome that would bring more honor to your kingdom and in faith we submit to you on this.
• Do the safe thing. I am not sure how this applies to our situation completely, but we have consulted the doctors and we are not taking any unnecessary risks by continuing the pregnancy. When it comes to the available alternatives they all have risks and we have chosen to go through the natural process which was designed by God.
• Make sure the decision brings glory to God. 1 Cor 10:31; Matt 6:33. Lord you know we have said this all along and I say it again here. Our desire in continuing with this pregnancy is that you might have an opportunity to heal this child by performing a miracle. We have spread the news of our situation widely so that however you decide to handle this situation your name may be glorified by the outcome.
• How does this decision affect others? Rom 14:7; Gal 5:14. To the best of our knowledge our decision is not impacting others in a negative way. Our decision to carry the child certainly requires the support of many good friends, but it is support that has been given willingly out of love.
• Be guided by the Holy Spirit. Is 30:21. O Holy Spirit we pray for your continued leading in our lives and especially in this pregnancy. We have been at peace with our decisions so far and we pray that should we make a decision that is contrary to God’s plan that you would bring us distress that we might know to turn from it.
• Be patient. James 5:11; Luke 21:19. There is no other option in this case because you cannot speed up a pregnancy and hope for positive results. However, we recognize our need to take each day as it comes and not to stress about what lies ahead. Lord God we know you have already made provision for us and we ask that you would help us to honor you by being patient.
• Tally the evidence. We continue to try and count our blessings each day. We have been writing down specific instances where we have observed God’s leading and even in this list that I am going through right now I have not been convicted of anything that is out of sync with our decision. This brings me courage because it affirms the promise that as long as I am living in God’s will I will have peace.
• What is your hearts desire? 1 Chron 17:2; Ps 21:2; Ps 20:4; Ps 37:4. Our desire and our prayer is that God would perform a miraculous healing on our baby boy. We are asking for this and we are submitting to His will. I will end by claiming Ps 37:4 – Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Thank you Lord for this time together and this affirmation of the path we have chosen to follow. May you continue to pour out your grace upon us that we might live for you. Amen.