(posted : Monday Mar 7, 2011)
I was speaking recently with someone who said, "Well, we just have to see if we can find God's will...." That got me thinking. Is God's will lost? Is God's will really hard to find? Is it like Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster and Leprechauns with a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow? Is God's will some great mystery that only the super spiritual get to decipher? Is it something that we continually search for but never find?
I was speaking recently with someone who said, "Well, we just have to see if we can find God's will...." That got me thinking. Is God's will lost? Is God's will really hard to find? Is it like Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster and Leprechauns with a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow? Is God's will some great mystery that only the super spiritual get to decipher? Is it something that we continually search for but never find?
If God's will is elusive, and if God's will is something we never really discover, then God does not really love us. If His will is hard to find, then we have a God who likes to play with us, who likes to frustrate us, who likes to torture us.
That is not who God is. God is love. God is kind. God is mercy. God is grace. God is righteous.
So how can we know God's will? When I was in Bible school at Word of Life Bible Institute, I was told something that I will never forget. It isn't a magic formula, it's not even flashy, but it is true. "If you want to know God's will, you have to know God's Word." So simple, yet so profound.
Here's the problem: I suggest that most Christians in America today spend more time brushing their teeth than they do studying God's Word.
When we read God's Word we see things like this:
~ Refraining from sexual immorality is God's will (1 Thess. 4:3)
~ Giving thanks in everything is God's will (1 Thess. 5:18)
~ Doing good, which silences evil men, is God's will (1 Peter 2:15)
~ Having our minds transformed from evil to righteous is God's will (Rom. 12:2)
~ All things that are done in Heaven are God's will (Matt. 6:10)
* Examples of things done in heaven:
- Worship of God
- Communication with God
- Fellowship with other believers
- Unwavering obedience
~ All men turning from sin and turning to God so they do not perish is God's will (2 Peter 3:9)
* If it is God's will for people to repent and turn to Him, then any action that we take to further this (we call it evangelism) is clearly God's will.
Every time that I share this with people, they say things like, "Yeah, but I mean, what is His will for me. Not just general principles." In other words, people want to know, which college to go to, who to marry, what job to take, what house to live in, what church to join, what choices to make, etc. These are valid questions, and very important to make sure that we are making the right choices. But it simply goes back to knowing God's Word in order to know God's will. When we align our hearts with God's, the path is made evident for us, but it is made evident to us just one step at a time. God is not going to send you an email with the next ten years laid out in front of you. He wants you to trust Him step-by-step, day-by-day. We call this faith. If we had the whole plan laid out, then we would have no need of God.
Want to know God's will? Spend more time getting to know God's Word, and trust Him each and every step of the way.
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