Outside of the will of God there is nothing I want, and in the will of God there is nothing I fear. – A.W. Tozer

This quote resonates deeply within my being– so much meaning wrapped up in one short string of words.

It implies complete trust in the God of the Universe, total surrender to His purposes, perfect peace in His plans.

Oh, that I would walk with this kind of faith every day.

Walking in and being completely satisfied with living in God’s will has become the desire of my heart and my life’s goal.

Admittedly, it hasn’t always been so.

There was a dark season in my life when I chose to live outside of the will of God.

I followed my own desires and went the way of the world.

I blindly followed the crowd thinking I would find fun and freedom in the masses.

Instead, I found heartbreak, loss, and darkness with a few measly “fun” moments sprinkled in here and there.

Living outside of the boundaries God, which are only set up for my good, brought me a tiny bit of fleeting pleasure but cost me years of pain. Years that I cannot get back; damage that cannot be undone.

But because God is loving and rich in grace and mercy, I was given the gift of forgiveness and redemption. I was given the chance to come back into His Safe Pasture.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. | Ephesians 2:1-7, ESV

After I returned to His fold, God has been “restoring the years the locusts have eaten” (see Joel 2:25) and I cannot imagine a better place to be. After living on the other side of the fence, being inside my Father’s perfect will is exactly where I want to remain for the rest of my days.

How about you?

Are you living in the will of God, or are you flirting with the “greener” pastures on the other side?

Do the pleasures of the world tempt you to go too far? Even just going a little bit too far can lead you down a slippery slope, landing you in a place of heartache you never dreamed you’d find yourself in.

Or perhaps you find yourself rushing ahead into something because God seems to be silent, not answering your pleading prayers. Maybe you’re trying anything to fix a situation rather than waiting on God to move and give direction.

Friends, whatever the case may be, let me encourage you to seek God’s will for your life and stay there.

If you don’t know what His will is, search the scriptures and follow what you find in His Word. It is the perfect life-manual.

God has only established boundaries because He loves us and wants to protect us from the destruction that can so easily happen outside of His ways.

There’s no better place to be than inside the will of God.

Once we surrender our hearts to Him, if we can reach a place of complete trust in our Creator, when we can utter the phrase “Thy will be done” and truly mean it, we will find peace.

When our desire is only for God’s will to be done, it’s easier to hold our own agendas loosely and follow the whisper of His still small voice. His desires become our desires. He is The Good Shepherd and will never lead us astray. We have no reason to fear.

True, He might lead us to places that challenge us and make us uncomfortable.

He may even call us to do things we never imagined we would or could, but when we follow His plan and purposes for our lives, trust His boundaries, and remain in His will…then we will be truly free.

Related: You Must Become Captivated to be Set Free | Why You Shouldn’t Follow your Heart