Paul addressed the Church in Colossi ans 1:9 (Amplified) saying, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep, and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom, in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things."
God's will for the whole Body of Christ, is that we "be filled with the full knowledge of His will." In the life of the individual Christian, the plans and purposes change according to God's calling and ministry of that person, but His will for them has never changed. In order to minister to the saved or unsaved persons, we must know what God's will is. Does God want only certain persons to be healed, filled with the Spirit, delivered from the enemy, hear His Voice, led by the Spirit, walk in the Blessing, be empowered by His indwelling Spirit, understand His Grace and operate in faith? Or, is this God's will for His entire family?
God's will was to deliver us from the Law and the penalties of the Law and to bring us back to Grace. Romans 4:16 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith in order that it might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all."
This isn't a list of things we must do, but of what we must know. There's no list of things we must do, in order to deserve God's Blessing, but what we know about God's Grace for those who will only believe His Grace. Romans 4:22 (Amplified) says, "That is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God)." Abraham did nothing to deserve or obtain the Blessing and covenant with God. He was only required to believe. This is what our new creation man is supposed to do...believe.
One cannot do anything to become righteous in God's Presence. The only way to be righteous before Him, is by faith, receive the righteousness He provided for us through Jesus. This is God's Grace and His will for all the Church and the world. We must simply believe. The Blessing of Abraham that is our inheritance, is one of Grace by faith. When we try receiving it by works, then Grace stops working in our lives and we're left to our own human devices. Paul writes to the Church in Galatia, saying in Galatians 3:3 (Amplified), "Are you so foolish and so senseless and silly? Having begun your new life spiritually with the Holy Spirit; are you now reaching perfection by dependence on the flesh?"
Paul goes on in Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) saying, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through your faith. And this salvation is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving), but it is the Gift of God."
We had to do nothing to be saved, except to believe. Our faith in His Grace, is all that God's will and His desire is for us. We must simply believe. The problem hasn't been in our believing, but with what we're hearing. Romans 10:17 (KJV) says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." If we don't hear Grace being preached, then we have nothing to put faith in. We don't need to do anything more to walk in healing, then we did to be saved...only believe. Grace has covered everything that was needed, to bring us into God's Presence as His Own righteousness and family.
We've never learned or heard God's will being preached, so our faith has been limited as to the Truth of Grace. Grace isn't an opportunity to deliberately live in sin without consequence. Grace is receiving everything needed from the Father that is sufficient for our every need. The misunderstanding of God's Grace was a matter of debate in Paul's ministry. While preaching the Good News (the Gospel) to the Gentiles, Paul ran into opposition from the enemy. His heart was right and His mission was made clear to him, but in the midst of doing God's will, Paul was confronted with opposition from seemingly everyone and everything. Satan was intent on stopping Paul's preaching at all cost and assigned a personal demon to thwart him. Being frustrated, Paul called upon the Lord to "deliver him" from the opposition. The Father's answer has baffled the Church for many years. Some even believe that God was working against Paul, in order to humble him.
Paul declared that it was "a messenger of satan, sent to buffet him," until he quit spreading the Gospel. God answers Paul's prayer for deliverance in 2Corinthians 12:9 (Amplified) which says, "But He said to me, My Grace, (My favor and Loving kindness and mercy), is enough for you (sufficient against any danger) and enables you to bear the trouble manfully, for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in your weakness."
Paul had forgotten what God's Grace was all about, in his own life. He had learned of Abraham and how Grace delivered the Israelites from Egypt to the edge of Canaan. Paul knew about how Grace fed, watered, protected, delivered and provided for their every need, but now in his personal conflict with demonic opposition, Paul found that what he had learned by the Law couldn't deliver him from the warfare he was involved in. His teachings of the flesh could not overcome the spiritual warfare he was in. God didn't tell Paul that He would make everything go away. God told Paul that, "His Grace would provided, when Paul's flesh was too weak."
This isn't any different from those in the Wilderness who looked to the flesh and saw the flesh was too for to stand against the giants in Numbers 13-14. The flesh didn't deliver the Israelites, but it was Grace that made the way. The only thing required of the Israelites, was that they believe what God had said and trust in the same Grace that had already brought them that far. This is what angered the Lord in the Wilderness. After seeing what God's Grace had done through 40 years, the people still didn't trust Him and they returned to their own weak flesh.
Paul finally decided that he didn't care any longer about his own ability and found that in his weakness of the flesh, God's Grace would put him over in such a way that everyone knew it was God Who did the work and not him. Jesus said the same thing that, "It's not Me, but the Father in Me Who does the work."
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