We continually are moving toward that place in Christ in God where we are dwelling in untroubled rest in God's will. It is not that we lose our will. Our will must be kept strong and decisive if we are to serve the Lord. But the goal is union with God through Jesus Christ so that the will of the Father prevails at all times.

We are never to stop in our pursuit of Christ until we are one with all saints in Christ in God. This is the rest of God, a major part of our land of promise.

Right now, during our present life, we are to seek to live in God's will. If we do so, then, when the Lord returns, we will be an integral part of God through Christ. We will be a pillar in the temple of God forever. We have put the "treasure" of our will in Heaven, so to speak, and now it has been returned to us in the Day of Christ. We are in perfect peace at last.

But if we do not obey Christ by putting the treasure of our will in Heaven, insisting on preserving our right to exercise our own will, when the Lord returns He will leave us bound in our self-will. We will be in the state of torment that is true of Satan, who is hideously bound in his self-will.

We will not be a part of Christ in that day. We have chosen to be a self-willed creature, another god in the universe. This is exactly how we shall be treated—as a little god in rebellion against the Father. We shall walk through dry places indeed.

We may never get another chance to be God's servant. Think of it!

If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 1:19,20—NIV)

If you are having trouble putting your will in the bank of Heaven as a treasure to be given to you at the coming of the Lord, ask God for help. He has fires hot enough to burn the self-will out of you and me. Stay in the prison where the Lord places you. Remain faithful to death, and you will be given that greatest of all gifts—the ability to be at peace in the center of God's Person and will.

The Kind of Person We Are

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:29—NIV)

It is fashionable today to say "I want to be me."

Pray to God earnestly that this fate does not happen to you—that you do not remain "me" when the Lord returns.

Our life as an adamic soul was not meant to be an eternal state. Rather our life today is an arena of testing. We are brought through a wilderness of problems and temptations that God might know what we will do when we are brought into our inheritance as sons of God.

To be continued.