What is God's Will For My Life?

Transcription

1 What is God's Will For My Life? Sharon by L. Flesher

2 God's Will What is God's will for you and for your life? Odviously, there are two areas of discussion here and that is, a specific will and an overall will that God has towards you and for you. First let's get an understanding of what the word 'will' means in this application. What is God's will (hearts desire) for you? We have our own desires or wills for us and for life, but what is God's desire for us? Our hearts often wonder, "Am I living and doing what God wants me to do? Does God have a specific thing He wants me to do? If so, how can I know what it is?" A desire is something we wish for, want, or seek in order to attain. God has his own wishes, wants, and things He desires for us to be and do. Often times we will find we are not on the same page with God, but how can we know whether we are doing or not doing what He wants? As He is Creator, He knows what is best for us. We know this and the thought of having a specific will excites us. Are we designed and created for a specific purpose? If so, how can we find out what it is and do it? What is on God's heart when He looks at you and what is behind all that He does for and towards you? Let's begin with God's point of view of you and why He made you. God's Point of View

3 Rev. 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. This is God's plan for mankind, for you. He desires to dwell with you and to take care of you. You are His creation, His child. Rev. 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. God the Father, creator of all things, all powerful, wants to call you son! This is His will towards you. To dwell with you and call you son. So here we see the overall will of God. Everything God does towards you is based on His desire to dwell with you. Everything He does in your life will be to bring about the well-being, growth, and salvation of your soul, to establish His plan of eternal existence with you. He wants to call you son. He cannot do this to a demon! We have to go from unsaved to sanctified in order to go to heaven and to be called His son! You see, demons don't go to heaven and when you aren't saved, you are the same as an unclean spirit. Unclean spirits don't walk with God and Jesus doesn't call them brother, sister, and mother, okay? I may be repetitive here, but please understand that this is God's overall view of you and plan for you. All His thinking and actions towards you stems from His desire to be your Father and to dwell with you, to walk and talk with you. Our Point of View For most of humanity, our point of view is different. We see our life as our own

4 and seek an awesome destiny for us, not only in this life, but the next. We certainly don't want to die and go to hell, so for many this is the foundation of their salvation, 'the great escape from hell'. However, this kind of attitude will not spare you from hell fire. Please realise that if this is your reason for 'believing' then you still are serving yourself, but just doing it in His name. For a clearer view of salvation please read booklet "Salvation 101". The way people tend to think of God is that if we jump through His hoops, we get the prize. If we follow all of His strict rules and abstain from being bad, whether we want to be or not, that God will reward us with eternal life and happiness and escape from the pit. This is NOT how it works! That is what religion is and it will kill you. It is the same thing the pharisees and sadducees had and Jesus called their father the devil! Following rules and hoop jumping is how the demonic realm works, it is not God's heart (will) for your life for you to serve Him out of fear and trembling while you have no understanding or relationship with Him. Yes, there is a healthy respect of who He is, but He wants to be a Father to you, a friend, not a bully or cruel unreasonable master. If we would stop and realise God's perspective and then take a look at ours, we might soon realise that we aren't on the same page. Many times what is best for us, isn't what we want at all and we are seeking that which would destroy us completely! Should God give it to us? Would you give your kid something that would kill him? God gave us two very valuable things, a will and a measure of faith (Rom. 12:3). Deut. 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: Here we see that God's heart towards us is good. He wants you to choose life and blessings. So it is God's will for your life that you live and live abundantly and are blessed (John 10:10). So we know now that God's will for us is to have and life and blessings abundantly

5 and to dwell with Him forever. Here we see another glimpse at God's heart, "That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days:...deut. 30:20 Why obey and listen? Because He is life and without Him you can't live! He wants you to live. If you follow those 'other' voices, you are going to die. All that He does towards you, in your life, and around you will be for the salvation of souls, yours and others. This is God's top purpose and reason for all He does in and around His creation. He loves His creation, his children. Jesus came for this cause, to save man. He is our Savior. God Himself, walked and talked in the garden with Adam, his son. This is what He desires to do with you. He wants to walk with you, for you to know Him, and for you to live with Him forever. God's will for your life is to give you life, to make you His son, to live and dwell with you, and to spend eternity with you. This is His heart, this is His will concerning you and is the basis of all that He does toward you and for you and around you. Knowing this, we now see the conflict between the Holy Spirit in us and flesh (demons) in us. They aren't speaking or doing the will of God in your life, they are only interested in disobedience and taking you straight to hell with them! They want you to listen to them and to do their will. What is your will? Whose thoughts are you thinking? Do you live to dwell with Him? Or are you living to dwell with demons? How do you live to dwell with Him? How can you become the son He's looking for, be the kind of person He'd be able to walk with and talk with? How do you turn from one to the other and vice versa?

6 Becoming the Son This happens when you and God have the same point of view. You see your sin and know you are wicked and are sorry (convicted) by His Spirit. God sees your sin, knows you are wicked, your heart has been corrected through conviction, He forgives you. You are both on the same page. It is truth being acknowledged in your being. This is how salvation came to you. It is still how He comes to you. Salvation is you giving your life to Him. Some of us need a reminder as to what that means. It means that you are not your own boss anymore, are not looking to take care of yourself, and are not doing things for yourself anymore, why? You have given your life to God. Anyone who thinks they are saved, but are disobeying God won't make it to heaven. Matt 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Let's look at why. Why must we do His will? Is God a bossy tyrant? Hardly! There are absolute solid reasons why God does everything He does. He never acts or moves out of a wicked heart even when pouring out His wrath! God is good, pure, holy, and without sin. He is love, all that is right, justice, mercy, goodness, kindness, truth...he is all those things. Only those things are allowed into heaven because all darkness flees from His presence. If you are 'dark' you won't be able to stand before Him and dwell with Him. Let me repeat myself, only that which is good and pure can enter heaven. If you aren't washed in the blood of Jesus, have your sins atoned for, and living unto God, you are not going to be able to stand in God's presence. It isn't that He is picking on you or being in the slightest way unreasonable. He knows you are born

7 into sin and that demons are messing with you and probably have since the moment you were conceived. He knows how hard it is to find your way. That is why He made it simple for you and within the reach of every human being. His own arm brought us salvation. Isa. 59:16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righeousness, it sustained him. God's arm, Jesus, came to earth, bore your sin and sickness, took your punishment and death and became the light for you to follow. When you choose life, Him, He will put His Spirit, His Holy Spirit, within you. He will teach, guide, and deliver you from the evil one. Here is what God has done: Eze. 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. God puts a new spirit and heart within you when you give your life to Him and begin to put your trust in Him and not in yourself or others. For it is by faith you are saved. Heb. 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: God has given us a conscience and a knowing, His heart and mind. We are to follow it. We are to follow His words that He has written in our hearts and our minds. This is how we become His sons. We believe the gospel, the good news that Jesus died for our sins. We become His kids when we asked Him to forgive us, we, by His Spirit turn from our wicked ways and do His will.

8 If we are His obedient kids, we will continue to repent as we continue to see our wrongs. We are to grow in our faith and He grows in us. We will begin to forsake anything He continues to show us that is not good or of Him. For He is our Father, and we are to eat from His table only. All that is not of God, not good, we are to abstain from for it will separate us from our Father, the one we adore. Separation from God, Truth, is imminent death! What do you think God would do to 'keep' you? What happens to us when we stray from Him? God does discipline wayward children. Why? Once again, His focus is on you becoming a son. What does it take to create sons and daughters of heaven? I'm going to tell you something that may shake your boots off. If you turn a rebelious heart to God after salvation, God may very well spank you soundly and continue to do so until He's got your attention! He will take the most effective path to get you corrected that He has. For some this is patience, some he'll punish, some he'll repeat Himself till you finally get it. He knows your heart and knows what it takes to reach you. However, He gave you a will and you can lose your salvation. It is wise to listen. After all, it isn't likely that God will change to suit you. He is perfect in all His ways and you and I have somewhat to go. How does this apply to your life? How does knowing all this help me to know God's specific will for my life? Moment by Moment So how does this play out in your life? What is God's specific will for you right now? I'm going to tell you something that may surprise you. How your life turns out, largely depends on you and the choices and decisions you make. What will you do for God, love, truth, and all that is good? We are used to thinking from a demonic point of view. Someone in control who makes us do things. This is the demonic view. The viewpoint that those who are bigger choose our destiny, but

9 that is not what God said. He said, "I set before you life and death" He expects you to choose! You do this moment by moment throughout each and every day and one path will lead to the next and create your destiny. God may intervene at times, but the choices and things you do are for the most part allowed by Him to be your very own doings. Why? How else will you learn and grow? I want you to think about this parable: Matt. 25:14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. This is Jesus giving us the saved, His children, the keys of heaven and earth, the authority, the gifts, the Holy Spirit the whole kit and caboodle! He has gone to heaven to make a place for us and will return and receive us unto Himself. Notice, it didn't say, he followed them around and told them what to do every second of the day! v. 15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. There is no one who is without ability from God and no one without a responsibility to do something for Him. I want you to stop and think about this. No where does it say that He told His servants to goof off and do nothing for Him. No where did God give a servant nothing with which to invest! God was fair. Every person got from God exactly what they were able to use. v. 16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. Notice that Jesus isn't telling you how or where to invest what you've been given! God expects you to do that!

10 v. 17 And like wise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. We see here an example again that we are to go and do, we are to take what He gave us and go do something with it. Did God give you the gift of healing? He expects you to use it! Did God give you a sweet family? He expects you to raise them up in a godly manner. A farm, then be kind to the animals and live unto God. v. 18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. The only reason you would dig a hole and bury the money is fear of losing it and laziness of having to go do something with it. What has God given you and are you multiplying it or ignoring it? v. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. God is patient, but He is going to speak with us about what He commissioned into our lives. He is returning to speak with you! If you don't know where and what your 'talent's are and aren't increasing what He gave, you you are going to be in alot of trouble! You need to find out what those talents are, get those talents out and invest them! You have got to take what He has given you, use it, and increase. v He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

11 This is what we want to hear, "Well done, thou good and faithful. We want and need to be gaining more of what God has given us and increasing it. So what are talents? What has God given to you? What does it mean to increase what He's given you? How do you become ruler over many things and enter into the joy of the Lord? Finding Your Talents Lets begin by recapping what we've already learned. 1. God's will for your life, is obedience unto righteousness. He wants to live and walk with you. You must become holy, for He is holy. How can two walk together unless they be agreed? Right? You have to come to see things in the light of truth. This is the basis of all that He does in your life. He is creating Sons. 2. God gave you a will. He wants you to choose life. 3. Every person has a measure of faith. God is fair. No one will be able to say they were treated unfairly. 4. Every person must be saved to be His, must have a new spirit and heart within them. 5. God has given us, His children, something we know we are to increase. In the parable a talent represents 'that which God has given you'. What has God Himself comissioned into your life? We tend to think of this in complete physical terms or titles. I'm a preacher, a prophet, or a teacher etc. These may be jobs He

12 asks you to do once you get to know Him, but job descriptions are not His complete will for your life. Look again at the list above. What has God given you? God has given you Himself! You must increase what He has given you of Him with more of Him. If you go and bury Him away in the world then you will by held accountable for that! Matt. 25:24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou are a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. When you take what God gives you, don't increase it, and simply give it back to Him, He's not going to be happy with you. He expected you to take it and increase and do something with it. He blessed you and honored you with Himself. If you discard it without so much as a blink He will not be happy with you! People do this for a variety of reasons, some are afraid of what the truth might do to their lives, their bank accounts, or their friendships. Being fearful of what others might think of you or how persecuted you might become or how much you might have to give up, will cause you to go and hide what God gives you. Many can't let go of themselves. They love the lies they have been told and believe about themselves, that they are in control and god unto themselves. They are in fact serving themselves and are only looking for ways to make themselves look better and be more important. If you are like this and continue to be like this, then God is going to reckon with you. Look what He says to those who do this... v His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed: Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

13 God is saying to you, "If you don't take the truths and all that I give you, the gifts, the Holy Spirit, your life, and grow in righteousness I will take what I gave you and give to someone who will." When God shares Himself with you it is a sacred thing and He doesn't do it lightly. Notice that this parable is about His servants. God is speaking to those who are saved, not those who aren't. God is saying to all those who call themselves by His name, "increase what I give you or I will cast you from Me." How is this instrumental in finding God's specific will for your life? Because His specific will for you is found in the obedience of what He has given you right now. If you aren't faithful in the least, how will you be in the greatest? God isn't going to say, "Go tell China about Me!" if you don't even know who He is! 'Go to China' is a job He may ask you to do. We aren't our jobs, okay? If you are faithful in what He gives you today, in the few, then He will give you more. One day, this may very well include some important jobs or He may lay His burdan on your heart for a certain task, but it starts with being faithful now in what He gives to you in the burdans and tasks He has placed on your heart right now. The wicked servant said, "I knew thee" and God confirmed that this servant indeed did know Him. This was the servant's crime. He knew who God was! In Luke the same parable reads like this: Luke 19:22 And he (God) saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere (strong, tough) man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: It is in knowing the Truth in your heart, God revealing Himself to you, and what He wishes for you to do, it is when you turn your back on it to follow the 'other' voices in your head that you become this unprofitable servant. In Luke Jesus tells why the man hid what God had given him and refers to this

14 man as an enemy of God and tells the fate of this kind of person... Luke 19:27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. Who are God's enemies? They are those that oppose Him. They are those who practice ungodliness and serve someone else. They are not allowing God to rule over them. What is God? Amongst other things, the bible says that God is love and truth! These must be reigning in you. Who is reigning in you? Rom. 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Col. 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. This is how we become the unprofitable servant, cast from God's presence into outer darkness, when we follow demonic thought and work wickedness. We are increasing what the demons have given us! We have become their servants! We are working the will of Satan! We are bowing our knees to the serpent and calling Him King and eating from His table and we have hidden that which the Holy One gave us and we have turned our backs on kindness and love and chosen hate and cruelty. We have done whatever it took to get what we want, blinded ourselves in order to not hear our own conscience, searing it with a hot iron. We have loved the lies over the truth and we have given allegiance to another! Becoming the Faithful Servant A servant may do many tasks for his Lord. We are His faithful servants only if we

15 obey Him. When you take the path of obedience it will lead you to all the things God has prepared for you. It will fulfill the will of God for your life, both in general and specifically. We are never our jobs. Titles are for pride and pride is for man's flesh. You are a son of God! God won't call you Pastor or Teacher! He will call you by a name that He Himself has given you, that is just between you and Him. That is how precious you are to Him. He doesn't see you as a 'thing' in His life, but a son and His family, His friend. What kind of friend are we? To show you what I mean, take a look at the disciples. Jesus came up to each one of them and 'offered' them a job, "come follow me and I will make you fishers of men", but they aren't fishing for men now, they were faithful in that job but now the will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22:30). If you are faithful to hear him, faithful over the few things He has put in your life, He will also bless you in your next job. But realise that we aren't our jobs. We are sons of God if we continue in the faith. So how do you find the things that God wants you to do with your life? God's instructions, wisdom, and all that He has for you will be found in the present moment you are in, right now. God is always in the 'now'. You can only find Him and fulfill His will by living in the 'now'. Dreams and memories and distractions are for fools and thats where fools live, letting others who are already dead live through them. You see, God is not there. Where is He? God lives, speaks, and dwells in the 'now'. This is where you will hear Him and find Him. This is where you must learn to live. Heb. 3:15-19 While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they

16 could not enter in because of unbelief. Paul is saying to you, if you don't hear God and you harden your heart you provoke God. It didn't make any difference to God if they were Egyptian or one of His children, what mattered was that they didn't believe the truth and they didn't follow it, but out of fear they buried their little coin and God would not let them enter into His joy, into Himself! They died, their carcasses fell in the wilderness. This is what will happen to everyone who follows Him but then chooses to provoke Him by hardening their hearts, burying their coin. So, if you truly want to hear what God has for you, His plans, His heart? You must come to 'Today'. You can't live in day dreams, the past, worries and plans of the future, and happy or painful memories. You must come to the moment, now, where He is and listen, obey, and come into the Truth. You have to be faithful in each revelation, in each moment, to Him to get the next one from Him. If you become hard hearted, stubborn, or resist Him, He will work with you, but understand that you have provoked Him and are fast become your own road block to what He has prepared for you, His will for your life, and are in danger of falling in the wilderness of this world. This is how it works... Rom. 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. This was God's goal for the Israelites as they wandered through the desert. They never made it to a renewed mind to do that which was good and acceptable. Their carcasses fell in the desert.

17 It is by this renewing of the mind, this choosing life (God's words and ways) over death (demon's words and ways) that you find God's will for your life and in each moment. It is a continual process that is ever changing, increasing and growing. Paul said that he was an apostle, "by the will of God". Was it was Paul's zealous faith in doing what he believed was right that made him usuable? Whatever the case, we know that God knew what it was going to take to reach him to do a job He needed done. Remember, God has one overall goal in mind for you,...eternity with Him as His son. You will have many jobs and titles, some you may not even recognize as being significant...father, mother, sister, brother. You must be faithful in what He has given you to know, practice and do now and then He will give you more when you are ready. I want you to read the end of Eph. 6:6 to show you where the will of God for you comes from. Remember, God said I will put a new spirit and a new heart within you. Eph. 6:6...doing the will of God from the heart. This is where the will of God will emanate from. From the heart and spirit He put within you. From the Holy Spirit who teaches you all things. Php. 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Here we see that it is God, the Holy Spirit that is doing the work in you.

18 Doing God's Work God's will for your life, is that you through salvation and sanctification become a son. His ultimate aim and goal for your life is that you depart from any form of evil and seek Him continually. This will be the basis and foundation of all that goes on in your life. Everything else will just be 'jobs'. If you are faithful with the knowledge and understanding that He gives you. He will place things in your heart that is of Him. You must move on these things and be faithful in them and not regard nor pay heed to the demons instructions screaming in your ears. Once you learn to 'hear' Him, then the job descriptions will begin to change and differ and you will receive more important missions. Imagine you are head of the CIA and you have a highly classified top secret mission that needs done. If this mission isn't carried out properly many could be injured, lost, and killed! What kind of person do you look for? Would you pick the guy that keeps taking instructions from your enemies or from anyone who stops to whisper in his ear? Would you even tell Him what the mission was about? This is how we are when God says love one another and be kind to one another. Don't be greedy with what you have. Don't speak evil of one another or delight in anothers problems. If you're not listening and able to obey Him on the little things, odds are He isn't going to say sell everything you have and give it to orphans and live in the jungles of Africa, okay? It would be better for you to never have known that this could happen in your life then to have the orders from God to do it and then disobey! Remember what happened to Moses after he received his orders and instructions from the Angel of the Lord in the burning bush and he questioned them?

19 Exo. 4:24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Why was God so angry? He showed Moses His power, told Moses what He was going to do, and Moses tried to make an excuse to get out of it. He made a cheap flimsy excuse about his speech impediment because he was afraid of the people who were trying to kill him. God was angry for his lack of faith and his heart of fear and was just about to go get someone else to do the job. If it hadn't been for Zipporah his wife, Moses would be dead and God let him know that he would have had no problem using Aaron. The point is that if God came to you and gave you specific instructions like you think you want, then with that comes a weighty responsibility. He would rather you grow and increase in Him and move into things when you are ready. He does expect you to increase daily in what He gives you to do. If you are lazy, slothful, and willfully ignorant and are going to spend your life listening to other voices, He will cast you from Him and call you an unprofitable servant. If you don't listen, all your life you will be stuck like the Israelites in the desert, going round and round the mountain. Don't harden your heart, listen to it. For the bible says, it is obedience unto righteousness. 1 Thess.4:13 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification... God cannot join demons. If you entertain demons, love their ways, and cling to them you are increasing what demons give to you, not what God has given you. Doing the work of God, means that God is working in you.

20 Paul said in 1 Cor. 7:24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called therein abide with God. That means don't do anything unless God puts in in your heart to do it. Follow His leading only. Don't go to be a missionary just because Aunt Ruth thinks it is a good idea! Your talent, the ability that God gave you may not be in that area. So to find your way you have to... a. begin to increase in Him by obeying in yourself what He has already shown you b. be faithful in what He has given you right now, do those things c. Ask, seek, and knock for the doors to open to you Things that will hinder you: a. listening to and obeying demons (excuses, reasonings, ignoring God) b. being lazy, not caring (hard hearted) c. seeking your own fame and fortune and glory (selfish) Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. This is how you find and fullfill God's will in your life. Deny the demons voices, take up the cross (what God has given you to do that day, and follow Him in it). You will find that right now you have a God given ability. You are able to do every day something for Him with what He has given you. If you are faithful in it, God will increase it, and you will do more. It will all be according to your faith and

21 obedience and the need at hand. God doesn't give you a 'calling' just so you can feel important and never do anything with it. Why would he demote you? You are a son of God. The only thing higher in title is the Throne where God Himself is sitting! Everything else is just tools (gifts) and jobs. He gives you jobs and tools as you are able, willing, and as needed. His field where He sends His workers are the souls in this world. If you aren't interested in His field, He isn't going to send you. If you don't have a burdan for the souls of others, what in heck are you doing? Look into your heart. What has He given you to do right now? What burdan from Him is on your heart? Be faithful in that. Everything He gives to you both physically, financially, and spiritually, you must be faithful in it for Him to increase you in that area. Someone is increasing in you right now. I hope you choose wisely. All contents are copywrited. Reproduction is prohibited.