In Mark 1 it tells us the desire - the disciples were in a midst of a revival Jesus was having. You know what they wanted? They wanted Jesus to come back out and do the same stuff He did yesterday. He said no, actually we've got a bigger plan, and it involves the rest of the nation. We're not going to stay where you want me to stay. What about Peter? Peter desired that the ministry influence he had would expand, and extend right through the nation, so when Jesus started to talk about a cross, he said forget crosses, crosses aren't in the deal. Man, we're just pumping. We haven't got room for crosses in our ministry direction. We're so set on success, we can't see where crosses fit in anywhere. Jesus said, get behind me, and rebuked him as having a demonic source operating, through his desire to look after himself. This is what goes on, so there's so many of them.
What about David? David had a desire to build a house for God. God said plainly no. What about the desire; was it a good desire? It was a good desire. Was it a godly desire? Oh, it was a godly desire. He wanted to build a great house for God to dwell in. God said no, you can't. Someone else is set to do it - it's not going to be you. He accepted that, and he co-operated with God's plan, harnessed his desire, and provided all the resources. So your desires sometimes can actually be out of sorts with what God wants. How about this one with Paul? Now this is a good one. Paul wanted to go on a mission journey, to a place he'd been commanded to go and preach the gospel. He wanted to go, he'd been commissioned and sent out, and he tried to get to the place, and the Holy Ghost forbade him to go there. Now what do you make of that? It was a great desire, great dream, great vision, but it's just not in what God had. God had a bigger plan, so all of these things are written in the Bible, so that we can understand just because we desire something, doesn't mean to say that that's in the plan of God for our life. You have to temper it with something else, and it's the something else we want to find out about. Amen, okay.
You notice even Jesus, in Mark, Chapter 14, notice His great prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Father, all things are possible to You. In other words, oh God, You're a great God. You can make anything happen. He said, take this cup of suffering from Me. What I really want is, not to go through with the cross. Then He adds in, but if it be Your will, not My will, but Your will be done. We're here because He did that. What was His desire? His desire was to not have to go to the cross, naturally no one would want to do that, but through prayer and surrender, He found and obtained the will and mind of God, and actually then had a much greater impact. Now these are the kinds of things you need to see. We live in a culture where people do what they feel, do what they want, come into church, and then want to use God to fulfil their own desires and whatever. Now you've got to match this with finding what God - God is still God, and so we've got to match this one up.
Okay then, so let's have a look in Ephesians 5, and we'll get started, Verse 15. See then, that you walk wisely or carefully, not like a fool. He's talking to Christians - but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. In other words he's saying, this is about how you run your life, and he's saying what I want you to do, is to run your life wisely, not like a foolish person, and that means you need to understand the importance of time and using your time, investing it in the right things. Now notice what he says; therefore because of that don't be unwise, but understand what the will of God is. To be unwise is to be without a mind, to be ignorant, to not have any idea whatsoever what the will of God is, and he's saying don't be unwise, but I want you to understand or have insight to what God's will is for you. So very clearly he's saying, don't be a dummy! Christians, don't be a dummy and walk foolishly! Man, you've got one life, don't blow it with foolish decisions that take you off course. Rather, you need to know what the will of God is.