Hi readers. Beginning from this piece, I will be kick-starting on a three-part series titled: Submitting to The Will of God. It is going to be a three-part series and I will just walk us through what the Lord will be leading us through in this series. There are five areas of submission that is essential to everyone that wants to come in tandem with the will of God. If the will of God is what you desire, if the will of God is what you seek, then there are five key areas of submission that is required for you and I. These areas are broad and there are a lot of things embedded in them. But these are the five broad areas we must consider seriously if we truly want to submit to the will of God for our lives.
But starting today, we will be looking at two of it tied into one, but let me quickly give us a rundown of these five areas before we proceed. Number one; submission to God’s purpose. Number two; submission to God’s principles. Number three; submission to God’s plan. Number four; submission to God’s promises. And number five, the last one; submission to God’s process. So, these are the five broad areas that holistically make up our submission to the will of God. When you submit to His Purpose, principles, plans, promises and process, that means you have submitted to the will of God. So, in going ahead and starting, we will be looking at Submission to God’s Purpose and Plan. Why this is important is because, the plan of God and the purpose of God are intertwined. You can’t talk about God’s plan and not talk about God’s purpose. You can’t talk about fulfilling the plan of God for your life and you won’t start talking about the purpose of God. Why? Because every time God shares His purpose with any man, it is in relationship with His plan. So, there is no purpose in God without a plan.
Every purpose of God has been pre-planned, pre-ordained, pre-determined. So, I want us to look at the definition of plan and Purpose because it will guide our understanding. What is plan? I am going to show us two definitions because I believe they are so central to our discourse. Another word you can use for plan is design or agenda. So, a plan can be a design or agenda. Plan as design talks about a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something. Plan as a design talks about a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something. So, It’s a proposal, it is not something that has materialized, it is something in the pipe line. It is a design and you will see that design is what we can use to replace plan. Plan as an agenda talks about an intention or decision about what one is going to do.
So, what is your agenda? Your agenda is your intention or decision about what you want to do. So, God has an agenda, God has a plan, God has a design. But for the plan of God, the design of God; for the agenda of God to materialize, to be achievable, to be doable, to come to fruition, there is something called purpose. And what is purpose? I am going to give us two definitions on purpose that will guild our understanding. Purpose talks about the reason for which something is done or created. So, what is the reason for God’s agenda? Purpose! What is the reason for God’s design? Purpose! Purpose brings about that.
Another definition is one’s intention and objective. So, your purpose is your intention as a person. So, when we are talking about God’s purpose, we are talking about God’s intention and objective. The last one I am going to give us is; Purpose is a person’s sense of resolve or determination. So, if we are going to look at synonyms of purpose, we look at objectives. What is your objective? So, when we talk about the plan of God, the plan of God covers the how, the when, the where, who and to whom questions of life. I am talking time to give us this background because when we go into Scriptures we can see these things coming up in Scriptures, helping us understand the plan and the purpose of God, and how we can submit to it.
So, when we talk about plan, plan is always talking about how, when, where, who and to whom questions of life. So, when there is a question of who is going to do this thing? You are planning. To whom is it to be done? You are planning. How will it be done? Where will it be done? These are plans of God. But when we talk about Purpose, purpose covers what God wants to achieve, what He is making. That is the purpose of God. So, anytime God starts talking purpose with a man, God starts talking what He wants to achieve, what He is making. So, when there is a conversation around purpose, it is a conversation of what God wants to achieve and the making of God.
Now we are going into the Scriptures, we will start from Genesis chapter 1, we will read from verse 26 to 28. “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” I want us to pause there. Remember everything we have been talking about? It says; let us make man in our image, in our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, is the plan of God or the Purpose of God? Is it a picture of God’s plan, or God’s purpose?
We mentioned and I don’t want us to forget it. The plan is about an agenda, it’s about a design, it’s about the how, the who, the where, the what and the whom questions of life. That’s plan. It talks about a detailed proposal. That’s plan. But when we come to purpose, it talks about what He wants to achieve. It covers what He wants to achieve, and what He is making. So, Genesis 1 verse 26, is it a plan or a purpose? Let us read Genesis 1 verse 26 again, because I want us to get it. Then God said; let us make man in our image according to our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over [g]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Is it plan or Purpose? It’s a plan, it’s a detailed proposal.
God has not done it. He said ‘let us’. It’s about what He is making, it’s about what He wants to achieve. The plan of God talks about the how, where, who, and to whom. Who does God want to make? He wants to make man. Where will make the man? On the earth. What will the man be doing? He will have dominion. God detailed His proposal in Genesis 1:26. That’s the plan of God. Now we will see the difference. Let’s go to 27 and 28. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful. I want us to the difference between 26 and 27 to 28. In Genesis 1:26, it was a proposal. God had not done it, God had not achieved it, because the plan and Purpose of man is different from the plan and purpose of God.
When a man plans, he designs, he has an agenda, it’s in the physical realm. The purpose of God, the Bible says; we will go to that Scripture that makes us to understand. It has already been established, that’s the difference between the purpose of God and the Purpose of man. The purpose of man is about what he is going to still do, it’s still in the pipeline. But when God says something, it’s as good as He has done it. That’s why I said we are looking at the plan and purpose of God together. Because when you understand the plan of God, and the purpose of God comes to bear, you will see that they are one and the same. So, verse 27 to 28 says; “so God created”
So, what God has planned, God did it, He achieved it, He made it. “Then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful.” In the plan of God, what God is going to make happen, a detail of what He is going to achieve is what is in His plan. But in the purpose of God is where you and I are made to fulfill what? The agenda of God. The plan of God is the agenda of God. In the plan of God there is man, we will make man, in our image, in our likeness, that’s the plan of God. When it trickles down to the purpose of God, God starts becoming more specific. Male and female He created them and God blessed them. The blessing is always in the Purpose.
The plan of God is about the detailed proposal of what God wants to achieve, His agenda, His will, His desires; that’s the plan of God. So, the plan of God for you and I is good, it is to give us a future and a hope, that’s the plan of God. But when we come to the purpose of God, there is now specifics of how that future will look like, what the goodness God wants to introduce into your life would look like. And that’s why the Bible says; and God blessed them; be fruitful and multiply. In the plan of God all we saw was dominion. How the dominion will come to pass, we did not see in the plan of God. But in the purpose of God, we are able to see that this is how the making will happen. That will cumulate into the fulfilment of the plan.
The plan of God for you and I; God said in Jeremiah, God said I know the thoughts that I have towards you, they are thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. That’s the plan of God for you. But what is the Purpose of God for you? The purpose of God for you is in your making, it is in how God will make you in such a way that you are able to have a good future, that you can have hope. That’s purpose. Genesis 1 26 to 27 is the only place in the Scripture where you will see a difference between the plan of God and the purpose of God clearly spelt out. After this event when God started communing with man, God started talking about His purpose and His plan together.
When God appeared to Abraham, I want us to see that Scripture because it’s good for us to take an example, when God appeared to Abraham in Genesis 12 verse 1 to verse 3, “Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.2 I will make you; I will make you is a statement of what? Intention! I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Is this a plan or a Purpose? This was the plan of God for Abraham. What happened to Abraham after receiving this? Because we must understand this; it’s not enough to say but I submit to the will of God, anything God says to me I believe it, when God says I am the head and not the tail I believe it, but how come we don’t walk in the purposes of God?
How comes the purpose of God does not materialize in our lives? Now when God comes, He comes with His plans, this is an agenda, this is a design. Abraham, I will make you a great nation. This is my plan; this is the thoughts that I have towards you. So, the plan of God is the thoughts of God towards you. So, what’s the purpose of God? The purpose of God is now the making process. So, what did God say beforehand? Get out of your country? How will these things be? Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house. How will this purpose materialize, how will this plan come to pass? By fulfilling my Purpose for you. And my purpose as it stands today, as am speaking to you as Lord to son is that you get out of your country. Are we seeing the difference? God has a proposal. When God meets every man, God meets every man with a proposal, God will propose to you what He wants to do, God will propose to you His agenda, God will propose to you what He is about to make on the earth.
Usually it doesn’t have the name of any man in it. The plan of God, the agenda of God, the design of God does not have any man’s name affix to it, It’s a proposal. What happens when the proposal is accepted? You now become a man or a woman of God’s purpose. What makes you a man or a woman of God’s Purpose is that you are submitted to His plan. See verse 4 of chapter 12 of Genesis. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And the Bible continued to verse 7. Abraham started moving in the purpose of God. Because the purpose of God is what gives birth to our making process. The plan of God is not what makes us, what makes us is the purpose of God. The plan of God is a proposal, a blue print, an agenda, a design, this is what heaven wants to do on earth. So, the proposal is submitted, there is something called offer and acceptance. So, when God comes with His plan, He is offering you a part in His blue print, in His design, in His master plan.
When you accept the offer, you become a man or a woman of God’s purpose. So, it’s not everyone that is a man or a woman of God’s purpose. The first step that qualifies you for purpose is your submission to the plan of God. Until you submit to the plan of God, submission means accepting the plan of God. There was an acceptance by Mary; Mary said let it be unto me according to your word. What was the word? I want us to go to that Scripture. There was a salutation and good news was brought to Mary in Luke 1, let us read from verse 26, it says;
“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” 29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”
Everyone that God comes with a proposal to is a favored one. Because it means the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the mighty one is offering you an assignment, He is offering you a space in His blue print. And the Angel said that to her, in verse 30;
“Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I [g]do not know a man?”
Verse 33 backward is the plan of God, it’s a proposal. Mary God wants to do something on the earth, God needs a body, God needs a virgin. You are favored that this proposal is coming to your table. This is what God wants to do, and the angel gave her a detailed proposal. Then Mary said how can these things be? How can I become a woman of God’s Purpose? How can I carry this plan? How can this plan materialize? God using me as a vessel. And the angel replied her;
“And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.” 38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord!”
This is what? Acceptance! So, what we are offered is the plan of God. Until we submit to that plan, we cannot become a man or a woman of God’s purpose. When Mary submitted to the plan of God, she became a woman of God’s purpose. She said; let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. And what happened thereafter? Mary started experiencing, Mary started walking in the purpose of God for her life. So, what is the first step in submitting to the will of God? You must submit to the plan of God. What is the proposal that has been offered to you? All through the Scriptures has made several offers to mankind. And I summed the offers of God into three, the things that God offers to mankind, the Holy Spirit helped me to capture them into three;
#1. REDEMPTION. The offer of God will come in the form of redemption. What is the offer of God? John 3 verse 16, for God so loved the world that He gave, He offered His only begotten Son, that whosever believes, whosoever accepts the offer, will not perish but be redeemed. The number one offer of God is redemption. So, if you have been asking? How do I submit to the will of God? Number one submit to the redemption plan of God. Submit to the redemption plan of God. Until you submit to the redemption plan of God, you can’t step into the other offers that God has for you. God had a plan all through Scriptures, God had scripted down His redemption plan for mankind. From Abraham to the time of Noah down to David, God had scripted His redemption plan and God achieved it.
Jesus came in human flesh and died on the cross of Calvary and everyone that buys into that plan has submitted to the will of God. Anyone that accepts that offer, because what God makes is an offer. He offered His Son according to John 3:16, that whosoever will accept that offer will step into His purpose. So, the first thing that qualifies us for the purpose of God is the offer of God concerning redemption. You can’t fulfil the will of God; you can’t submit to the perfect will of God for your life if you have not accepted the offer of redemption.
Number two; the second offer that God gives to us. Now, this offer comes to different people in different ways. But I believe this is the holistic or three broad offers that God gives to mankind. Number one redemption, number two RESTORATION. Ephesians 2:10, God offers restoration. Restoration for all mankind. Bible says; all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, so there is nothing any man can do until he becomes one again with God in Christ Jesus. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ for good works which God has prepared beforehand that we should work in them. I want to read that Scripture again so that we will understand it. What God had prepared that we walk in, is His plan. But how do we walk in it?
We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. We are restored for good works which God had prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The second offer of God is restoration. I don’t know what the devil has stolen from you in Adam or through your family lineage, God offers restoration in Christ. Until you are restored in Christ, you cannot become a man or a woman of God’s purpose. Because submission to the purpose of God must first come. What precedes it is submission to the plan of God. Until you are submitted to the plan of God, you cannot step into the purpose of God.
Number three; The third offer and this is like the one that tops the chart; it is REIGNING-DOMINION. God offers every man, every woman dominion. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9, “But you are a chosen generation; why? Because you have been redeemed, and you have been restored. What are you restored to? Dominion! You have been restored to reign, you have been redeemed to reign. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” In Revelations chapter 1 verse 6, it says; He has made us kings and priests unto our God and we shall reign. That’s the offer of God. When any man submits to the will of God, you are submitting to the plan of redemption, you are submitting to His plan of restoration, you are submitting to His plan of your reign on the earth. That was dealt extensively with us at the Evening Bible School.
We are here to reign, not to mark time. There is an agenda of God, until we understand the agenda of God we cannot be men and women of purpose. There are many of us that we just feel that God just wants to bless us for blessing sake. God just wants us to get married for marrying sake. No! God has an agenda, a design, a blue print, there is a master plan of God and God is saying come and partner with me. The Bible says we are co laborers with God. Meaning there is the same labor. We are co-laborers. We are laboring together with Christ on the same God mandate, on the same God agenda, on the same God blueprint. You are not called to be born again so that you can just warm the chair and look pretty.
There is an agenda, there is a will of God to serve. A lot of people pray about this; Lord help me to fulfil your purpose and God is looking at you, you have not even submitted to my plan. The reason why so many people are finding it difficult to become men and women of God’s purpose is because the first thing has not been taken care of. Have you become one that is submitted to God’s plan? Have you submitted to His plan? Any one that God will use, the litmus test is your submission to His plan. When you are praying for God to lift you, God is looking at your heart, to what end? What is the agenda? Do you understand it? If you go through the book of Psalms, you will see why Joseph was actually sent ahead to Egypt.
Joseph was having dreams, of how all their sheaves were bowing down to his own sheaves, how the sun, moon and stars were bowing down to him, beautiful dreams right? Meaning he was going to be in a position of prominence, meaning he was going to be an important person. And Joseph was so excited about the dream, Joseph was so excited about the plan, God is going to make me great, God is going to make my name great, and he was so fascinated by it, in fact he was enraptured by that dream. He said the dream to the point that his brothers became offended. But God was looking at him; is that all? There are sheaves bowing to your sheaves, do you think that’s what I want to achieve? Do you think that’s all to it? No! Joseph you are going ahead of an entire nation, into a foreign nation to take a strategic position for their coming. And until Joseph could understand the agenda of God and submit to it, he was not going to become prime minister.
So, when God brings an offer to your table, it is not so that you can now feel good about yourself, and say your village people are in trouble, and God is looking at you and saying do you think it is to that end? Do you think it’s your village people that are so important that I will invest heavenly resources on your life just for your village people? Until we understand the agenda of God, the plan of God, there are certain things that we will not step into. I want us to see a Scripture in Ecclesiastics 3:1, “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” Every Purpose under heaven has a time, but the man and woman that would become a man or a woman of God’s purpose is the one that understands the timing.
We must come into full realization of what God’s plan is; because for every purpose of God there is a plan. So, when God starts speaking to you about your future, understand that there is a plan backing up that purpose. So, it will be foolishness to be carried away in purpose and neglect the plan of God. Because the plan of God is always taking care of the ‘why’, God now that you have given me these gifts, why? Does are the questions for those that want to walk in total alignment with God’s plan. God to whom am I sent? Where am I sent? What am I supposed to do there? Until we get these things right we cannot walk in the perfect will of God.
There is an agenda of God, until we come into full realization of what the agenda of God is, we cannot become a man or a woman of God’s purpose. It looks as if I am repeating it but that’s what the Holy Spirt wants us to get. He wants it to seat deep in our spirit. For the Purpose of God for my life, there is a plan backing it up. When God shares His purpose with you, remember He has a plan. It is maturity to understand the plan of God, and that’s why we are starting with this. Starting with this is giving us a solid foundation of what submitting to the will of God is about. We can easily get carried away with promises, but there is a plan. Bible says surely there is an end, and the expectation of the righteous shall not be cut short. Surely there is an end, the end of every matter is the plan of God. The end of your beauty is so that the glory of God can be seen, the plan of God can be achieved. There is an end, and it is important we understand this.
Jeremiah 29 verse 11, we are familiar with that Scripture, “for I know the thoughts that I think towards you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future” in my plan you have a future and there is hope for you. Until we carry in our spirit, we are able to receive the plan of God, we cannot fulfil the purpose of God. You keep praying Lord I want to fulfil your purpose for my life; do you know his plan, His design, His agenda, His blueprint? Do you know it? It is important. It is possible to reject the plan of God; it is possible to say Lord you know what? Keep your plan let me do mine, it is so possible, but what happens when a man rejects the plan of God? It is that the person has no space, no room in the Purpose of God. Once you say no to God’s plan, you have automatically said no to God’s purpose.
So, you can’t be in rejection of His plan and accept His purpose, it doesn’t work. So, for us to truly become men and women of God’s purpose, we must respond and accept His plan. Lord what is your plan? There are some of us now, you are saying God can’t you see the insecurity in Nigeria? God just speak your word and I will relocate and God is looking at you and saying; if only you are seeing my plan you will see that leaving Nigeria is not in my purpose for you, because what I want to do with your life, you need to be here. God told Abraham, leave your father’s house, my purpose cannot be fulfilled in your father’s house. In fact, not just your father’s house, leave your country, because my Purpose for you cannot be fulfilled for you in your country. And a man called Isaac wanted to go down to Egypt and God said no! stay here and sow in the land. And there was famine. And in the same year he reaped a hundred fold. Why because there is a plan.
You cannot say you want to fulfill all that God has for you when you are saying God why me look for somebody else. Must it be me? That’s why many prayers we pray go unanswered because there is no correlation between what is in our heart and what is coming out of our mouth. You can’t lip service God; God knows your heart. God said I have found David a man after my heart. It was not about what he was saying, it was about what was seated in his heart. That why the Bible says; seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and every other thing shall be added.
Seeking first the kingdom is seeking first the plan of God. That’s why when Jesus was teaching His disciples how to pray, He said in these wise pray; our Father in heaven hallowed be your name, He said let your kingdom come, let your will be done on the earth as it is in heaven. Submission to the will of God starts with submission to the plan of God. When you submit to the will of God you now become a man and a woman of God’s purpose. What does God do when you are in His purpose? He makes you. He said I call a man that will execute my will from a far country, calling the bird of prey from the east a man that will execute my will. I make him to come from a far country. So, in the Purpose of God is your making and your blessing. But it starts with your submission to the will of God.
Are we ready to submit ourselves to the plan of God and say Lord let your will be done? What is your plan? what is your agenda? What is that thing you are doing on the earth for such a time as this? Lord I release myself, Lord I am available. God is not looking for beautiful vessels, He is looking for available vessels, God is not looking for already made vessels, God is looking for available vessels. Because if the vessel is available, He will pour. What happened between the widow and prophet Elisha, He said go and borrow vessels not a few. As long as the vessels were available there was a pouring. And when there were no longer available vessels the oil ceased.
God is not miserly in terms of making men and women for His Purpose, but God is looking out for men and women that has His plan in their hearts. If I lift this one will he remember me? If I bless this one, hope he will not forget me? When I give to him treasures; hope he will not make them the focus of his life? And God is looking. The Bible says God is looking down upon the earth looking for a man, a man that will do his Will. Why? Is it that we don’t have people that are praying? We have people that are praying but we don’t have people that long after the heart of God, that long after the plan of God, that say Lord whatever you are doing this season, I am your errand boy, I am your errand girl. Lord I am available. This your blueprint, this your agenda, I will carry it and run with it.
