A Facebook Conversation: What Is Truly Doing the Father’s Will?

After eating breakfast, Yeqi turned on her computer and logged on to Facebook. She looked up her friend Lina’s account, and as her fingers clattered across the keyboard, she asked, “Are you online? There’s a question I’d like to talk to you about. This morning, as I read my devotional, I came across this verse, ‘Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? and in Your name have cast out devils? and in Your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity’ (Matthew 7:22–23). I’ve been thinking about the Lord’s words, and I’m a little confused. Why did the Lord say that those who prayed, preached, cast out devils, and did wonderful works in His name not only didn’t have the Lord’s approval, but that the Lord actually called them workers of iniquity? What’s going on here? I realize that, in the past, just like these people, I’ve traveled to spread the gospel through wind and rain, enthusiastically expended for the Lord, and given a tenth of my earnings as tithes. I thought this was doing God’s will, and that I would ultimately receive the Lord’s approval. But now, I’m really not sure about these questions, and I don’t know how I should look at the issue.”