God will come out stronger for you, the longer you have to keep on standing there, as you are waiting on Him. Remember that He has to test your faithfulness to His word. Abraham’s faith was tested before he was found faithful. So keep on standing by faith. When you are walking in total and complete obedience to His voice to you, then you are in the perfect will of God.
There is the good, the permissive or (acceptable) will of God; and there is also the perfect will of God, in every act of faith that you take.
Paul advised us about this in the Message translation of the Bible, when he says:
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
Romans 12:1-2 MSG
The Amplified Bible translation puts the same scriptures in this way:
“Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].”
ROMANS 12:1-2 AMP
A permissive or acceptable will of God will be, anything that you are doing in the kingdom of God, which God permits you to do. And as long as it pleases God, He will always allow it. But we do know that faith is the only thing, which pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). An acceptable or permissive will of God is therefore anything, that you are doing with your faith in God and in His promises to you. There may be nothing scripturally to support it; and it is not necessarily evil, neither does it do you or others any harm at all. It may not be His very best for you, but it is acceptable to Him. It may not be necessarily well pleasing to Him, but He permits it because He loves you. God’s love towards you as His covenant child, covers every action of faith that you may be taking before Him.
But God’s permissive will can’t stand as a substitute for His perfect will for your life. You’ve got to always aim for His perfect will in the ministry. The blessing of the Lord will come upon you once you are in His perfect will.
So stop referring to the crumbs that you have now, as the blessing in itself. The best of God is yet to manifest in your life and ministry. There are many little blessings that, the Lord will allow into your life; because you are in His permissive (or acceptable) will. But He really wants to give you much more than that, as you position yourself into His perfect will.
The Syrophoenician woman
Do you remember the Syrophoenician woman who once approached Jesus, to come and heal her daughter (Matthew 15:21-28)? That woman was in the permissive will of God. She was not a child of Abraham. She was a gentile; but she desperately wanted the blessing of Abraham through Christ Jesus to heal her daughter. She acknowledged that she may not be qualified for the blessing of healing before Jesus. God will always move to act on behalf of anyone, who will dare to put his faith in Him; even though they may have no covenant basis to receive anything from Him. Faith will move God to act on behalf of anyone.
Jesus would not even acknowledge this woman, until her faith got a hold on Jesus, and moved Him to show her compassion. Jesus declared the perfect will of God in His earthly ministry to this woman:
“He answered, “I was commissioned by God and sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
MATTHEW 15:24 AMP
This was the perfect will of God for Jesus. He was focused on His calling, and would not allow anyone or anything else to distract Him from it. Then Jesus reiterated to this woman; as her stubborn faith will not let Him go:
“And He replied, “It is not good (appropriate, fair) to take the children’s bread and throw it to the pet dogs.”
MATTHEW 15:26 AMP
The blessing for healing is the “children’s bread”. It is the perfect will of God for every covenant believer in the name of Jesus. But the woman’s faith responded from the permissive will in which she stood, for that perfect will of God for healing:
“She said, “Yes, Lord; but even the pet dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their [young] masters’ table.”
MATTHEW 15:27 AMP
Her faith moved her from the permissive will of God into the perfect will. She wanted just a taste of healing for her daughter. Her faith wanted part of the blessing of healing that Jesus was giving out to God’s children. She called it the “crumbs from the young masters’ table”. She needed the crumbs that falls from the table of the least in the Kingdom of God. That’s like a mustard seed faith for anything to get her daughter healed.
Eventually Jesus told her:
“…Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.”
Matthew 15:28 NIV
Jesus called the faith of this non-Jewish woman “great”; because of her stubborn and unyielding desire to get what she was pleading for. Her faith kept on demanding for the perfect will of God (the healing of her daughter). And she got it.
When you are in the perfect will of God, you are operating then in your calling within an area where you have God’s protection. Satan fears you when you are in God’s perfect will. You can use your faith to get anything done in the perfect will of God.
But in the permissive will of God, you are vulnerable to any attack by Satan. He will look for any slightest mistake on your part, to attack you in the permissive will of God. And in God’s permissive will you are not protected. It is a spiritual realm from which unbelievers also operate from. So strive to be in God’s perfect will in all that you do for Him. His perfect will is where your blessing is located. You will be glad to be in it.
Great expository on the permissive will and perfect will of God
Thank you for your post on the will of God. How do I live in God’s perfect will?
You live God’s perfect will says by doing exactly what it says.