South Korea recently suffered from drought due to the lack of rain. News about the drought kept pouring in every day, reporting that vast areas of rice fields were parched and cracked like the shell of a turtle and that water levels in most reservoirs had gone down to their lowest point.

When I heard the news about the drought, I thought, ‘People are eagerly waiting for rain. Then, why don’t they believe in God who gives rain on the earth and obey God’s word? Unless God gives us rain, who on earth is able to provide such a huge amount of water for the mountains and fields? People think they can do everything by themselves, but they can do nothing without God’s help. Although a man has so much knowledge, skill and experience in farming, he cannot grow any crops if it doesn’t rain. Considering this fact, we can realize again that our God is truly great because He created all sorts of plants and trees and makes them grow.

It seems that we have taken the grace and blessings for granted which God freely gives us every day. Realizing God’s profound providence and giving thanks to God all the time, we should always live according to God’s will, not our own will or thoughts.

Those with childish faith try to do things their own way

The words “according to my will” implicitly mean, “Follow my will.” On the other hand, the expression “according to Father’s will” shows our commitment to follow God’s will. Most people insist on their own way, instead of trying to follow God’s will, and want the people around them to follow their will. They easily fall into the error of trying to do everything their own way, although it does not benefit their souls.

It is our own evil desires that cause us to act according to our own will. When we follow the will of Father, not our own will and desires, we can be said to have fully realized the way of the new covenant. Which path should we take when we stand at the crossroads of our will and God’s will in our life? Let’s see through the Bible which path God wants us to follow.

1 Co 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

In the Bible, sometimes a child is described as a symbol of humility and obedience. However, “a child” in the above verse is not used in a positive context. Most children are self-centered, and they do not think about other people’s situations but just try to satisfy their own desires; when they are hungry, they start crying for milk; when they find their favorite toy or want to eat something, they keep pestering their parents to buy it right away for them; they cry while persistently asking for it. Like that, they try to get what they want, even hurting their parents’ hearts. In other words, they ask their parents to do everything according to their own will.

When we were children, we talked, thought, and reasoned like children, but when we became adults, we put childish ways behind us. When people become adults, they feel ashamed and guilty about the way they behaved in the past, always pestering their parents to buy them whatever they wanted.

We should not be childish in our faith. Children are to keep growing until they become adults.

Heb 5:13–14 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Although a man has been long in the faith, if he lives apart from the teachings of the Bible, regarding them as something alien, he is just like an infant who lives on milk and is not acquainted with the teachings about righteousness. Such a person always remains childish in thinking and understanding.

If we have wanted everyone around us to adapt to us in our life of faith, we should now throw away those childish things and become mature enough to follow the will of Father with an upright faith, having our senses trained to distinguish good from evil. Jesus Christ followed the Father’s will until the very moment of His death on the cross. In this respect, His life is a good example for us to follow.

Those with mature faith follow the will of Father

God came to this earth in the name of Jesus 2,000 years ago. When He came to this earth in the flesh, He showed us an example of how we should serve God the Father and God the Mother, as Their mature children.

Lk 22:42–44 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Luke 22 describes Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives at night after celebrating the Passover. In Jesus’ prayer, we can see two expressions: “my will” and “yours [Father’s will].” Jesus already knew that He would have to suffer on the cross the following day, but He only asked for Father’s will to be done, not His will.

Jesus is God in nature. However, He came to this earth in the flesh and offered up that kind of prayer to God, putting Himself in the position of the Son. It was because He wanted us to follow His example of prayer (Jn 13:15).

We are now dwelling in Zion where our Heavenly Father and Mother are staying with us and guiding us. However, we still need to refine ourselves in some aspects of our daily lives. Although we know that we should act according to Father’s and Mother’s will, if we try to do our will and only ask God to fulfill our own desires, it proves that we are still stuck in childish ways of thinking and remain incomplete.

From now on, we need to be mature enough to pray for Father’s will to be done, not ours, according to Jesus’ example of obedience to the Father’s will, even to the point of death. What if a grown man talks and acts like a child? People will give him a strange look. It is the same spiritually. Can we become mature naturally because we have long believed in God? Not at all. We need to throw away all childish things—speaking, thinking, and reasoning like a child. Only then can we become mature.

God’s people follow the Lamb wherever He goes

The Apostle John saw a prophetic vision of God leading some people on the path to eternal salvation—those who follow God wherever He goes.

Rev 14:4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.

The 144,000 are those who follow the Lamb wherever He leads them. None of them go ahead of the Lamb and make others follow their will.

Why do you think they do not seek their own will? It’s because they are the spiritually mature who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil, not spiritual infants anymore. If they each insisted on their own way, there would be 144,000 divided ways. However, they follow the will of Father, so that they can all become one. When we are completely obedient to God’s will like that, the gospel will be preached to the whole world.

2 Co 10:4–6 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

Our obedience to God’s will is an expression of our commitment to follow the will of Father, not our own will. I believe that when we all become mature enough to obey God’s will and think like spiritual adults, the gospel work will be completed.

Children always ask their parents to satisfy their own needs and desires. When they are hungry, they cry for milk, regardless of whether their moms are busy, hungry or tired. Those who perished in the desert were so immature like children. They asked God to satisfy all their needs. They grumbled about having no water to drink and about having no food to eat. If they had been mature, they would have patiently endured it all. In the desert, children keep crying for water when they feel thirty, but adults endure thirst until they find water. We must no longer remain as spiritual infants. If our faith is not mature enough to follow the will of Father, we will end up being destroyed as the Israelites were in the desert.

Reflect on yourself at the end of the day. ‘Did I try to do all things according to my own will or to follow the will of Father and Mother today?’ If you ask yourself these questions, you will realize whether you still remain childish in faith or you are mature enough to digest solid food and follow Father and Mother wherever They go.

The Bible says God will punish every act of disobedience once our obedience is complete. We ought to be born again through the new covenant. Those who are born again, those who do the will of Father, can see the kingdom of God (Jn 3:3; Mt 7:21).

1 Co 10:12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

In order to enter the kingdom of heaven, we should have mature faith. So, the Bible says, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” We need to examine ourselves to see whether or not we still insist on our own way with a childish mindset, and must have mature faith to live according to the will of Father, not our own will.

The providence of nature and obedience

I once read an essay. The following is a quote from the essay.

“Trees know their place and are satisfied with their given conditions. They do not complain about being what they are, and never say, ‘Why am I planted here, instead of out there?’ ”

Trees are content with themselves. Even if you plant a pine tree on a lonely island, the tree never complains to you about being alone. Every tree is content with where it is at—whether it is planted in a barren soil or fertile soil, and it never complains about being what it is—whether it is a pine tree, an azalea tree or a forsythia tree.

Not only trees and plants, but also animals like birds and fish never complain. All living things in nature submit to God’s providence. Obedience means to comply with the laws of nature without going against the given environment. It is not blind obedience or faith that God wants from us, but true obedience. God wants us to correctly realize why we should follow His will and believe in Him and to follow Him wherever He goes.

It is not easy for us to follow the will of Father while thinking, speaking, and reasoning like a child. So, efforts are required from us. Obedience is a virtue that we must have under the new covenant. Only when we follow the will of Father can we be given the testimony that we are “those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes and are purchased from among men.”

The proper amount of rain and sunshine, the moderately nourished soil, the adequate types of seeds . . . Through all these things God has given us, we get our food, don’t we? Without God we cannot live, and everything we have comes from God.

We should have the spiritual sense of seeing God who is so great. Let us become mature by having our senses trained to discern good and evil, so we can follow the will of Father and Mother in our everyday lives.

1 Co 4:7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

Remember that everything we have comes from God. If God turns off the sun right away, humans will become extinct. If God keeps the faucets in the sky closed for only a few weeks, the earth will suffer severe drought. No matter how much of an expert a man is in a certain field, he must realize that everything is possible in God.

Let us not boast about anything, but only about God. Now, let us examine ourselves to see whether we are following our own will or doing the will of Father in our life of faith. If we have insisted on our own way with a childish faith, let us now throw away childish things, so we can become mature and complete. I earnestly ask you all to seek the will of the Spirit and the Bride, our spiritual Father and Mother, and follow Their will with a mature faith.