Second Friend Day - Elmer Towns

The will of God cannot be forced on the unyielded Christian, just as a boy's love cannot
be forced on the uninterested young girl. The will of God is revealed to those who wholly desire
it. It is found when you surrender your will to God. Jesus noted, "If any man will do his will, he
shall know of the doctrine" (Jn. 7:17). The student who wants to write the best term paper
spends endless hours in the library searching for material. Just so, the Christian who wants the
perfect will of God must search for it with his whole heart. Paul noted, "I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice ... that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:1-2). The word
"present" means to give. The father who gives a bicycle to his young boy has yielded it for his
son's use. You must yield your life to find the will of God.
You do not discover the will of God by idle curiosity. A little boy lived next to a
cemetery and was curious if there were ghosts there at night. One night he went to explore the
graveyard and ran when he thought he saw the ghost he knew wasn't there. In the same sense,
Christians run from the will of God. They are afraid that the will of God will hurt them, just as
the grown man is afraid of getting his tooth filled.
The will of God is found like looking for a job; you must be ready to go to work the
moment you find it. Most employers won't put applicants to work at their whim. God doesn't
show His will to those who just want to see it, only those who want to do it.
Almost every father in the world has driven a nail with his shoe. When his wife
announces, "Hang this picture," he looks for the nearest thing at hand because he is too lazy to go
to the basement and get a hammer. So drives it with his shoe because it's available. God doesn't
walk through the universities looking for the polished hammer. God is looking for available
people. Any young person who is willing to do anything can be use of God. Dwight L. Moody
had an eighth grade education. He shook America with one hand and Great Britain with the
other be cause he was willing to do anything that God want ed. When Curtis Hutson was a
postman he prayed "Dear God, ' you can have me from the crown of in head to my little toe."
Hutson built the largest Sun day School in Georgia with only a twelfth grade education.
Some people are faithful to God like the small girl who loved her rag doll. When she was
in her room, she hugged the doll and talked to it. But she cared for the doll only when it was
near. When she was gone, it was out of mind. People love God when they are singing in church
or praying with others. When the church is out of sight, the thought of God is gone.
3. Your motives must be absolutely pure in seeking God's will. Jesus noted, "The
light of the body is the eye: Therefore when thine eye is single thy whole body is full of light."
The word "single" means to look only one way. We must have an eye single for the glory of
God. When self gets mixed up, our eyes become blurry and we miss the glory of God. God
won't hear your prayers when you harbor secret impure motives.
In a recent Miss America pageant, a contestant was asked what she wanted to achieve.
"I'd like to be happy ... that's all." The will of God was never that you be happy, but rather that
you be holy. The Constitution guarantees you the right to happiness, but those who seek it never
find it. There is nothing wrong with being happy, but happiness is a by-produce of holiness.