What Is God’s Will for Your Life?

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

I’m going to start trying to summarize each week’s sermon on here, as a way to distill the teaching and keep myself accountable to it. Our church is fortunate to have an interim pastor who is a gifted speaker and teacher, and I want to try to make the most of it. (Plus, this way I can have one less piece of paper around to clutter my desk.)

Ephesians 5:17 says “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Without getting into complex theological explanations, the speaker first talked about what God’s will is not.

God’s will is not determined by your feelings. When the speaker accepted Christ at age 15, he did not feel any special emotion. Yet he knew he was saved, and that he made the right decision. There was a girl he asked to the prom in high school months in advance. When his best friend asked the girl to the prom later, she responded, “I’ll think about it.” When he found out, he confronted her, saying, “Didn’t I already ask you to the prom?” She said, “I had a dream where God told me you were supposed to ask me out, to be your girlfriend.” He was astonished. Also, he had a friend who decided not to become a pastor because he didn’t feel as passionately about it as another Christian described in his book. He made a major life decision based on his feelings, or lack thereof. Feelings are not indicative of God’s will.

God’s will is not determined by your circumstances. Don’t let someone you barely know interpret your circumstances, especially those with a different worldview. Even if they have the same worldview, don’t consult them if they aren’t involved in your life and don’t know or love you. See if they follow up on how you’re doing. There was a woman who came up to our pastor’s soccer group at the airport when they were about to fly somewhere to compete. She clung onto their coach and said, “God told me I would find the symbol of the Holy Spirit here at the airport, and that I am supposed to take you home with me.” The symbol of the Holy Spirit is a dove, and the team was wearing a shirt with a falcon. The coach refused of course, and she had to be dragged away by airport security.

God’s will is not a formula. We’ve all seen formulas promising to reveal God’s will, such as certain prayers, actions, rituals, etc. In fact, God’s will is dynamic. Even if you make a mistake, it does not disqualify you. All Christians make mistakes, even the heroes of the Bible. There are no mistakes that God can’t take into account in your life. God’s will is bigger than your sins, mistakes and humanity.

God has three types of “wills” – (1) His sovereign will (what God wants us to know, and there is much that he does not reveal), (2) His moral will (how to live, revealed in the Bible), and (3) His individual will for each person.

And the punchline of the sermon…

God does not want you to know his individual will. Rather, God wants you to know his moral will, and know how to have a relationship with God and keep it vibrant.

God’s will is relationship with him. If you knew the future, you wouldn’t need faith. God had a meticulous individual will for Joseph of the Bible, but Joseph did not know until 25 after his enslavement that God had sent him to Egypt to save his family and all of Israel from famine. He only knew how to walk in obedience. If you don’t have a relationship with God, you cannot know his will. On the other hand, if you maintain your relationship with God, you will automatically be walking in his will. There’s the saying, “Love God and do what you want.”

If you knew God’s individual will for your life, it would mess up your relationship with God. Abraham was faithful, no doubt. He had to take that first step of faith and leave his homeland in order to know what was next. But he knew that God promised him descendants that would outnumber the sands of the earth. He focused on the promise instead of obedience, and it caused him to manipulate things. He was so focused on the promise that he lost focus on the promisor. The test of the sacrifice of Isaac was to stop Abraham from obsessing over the promise.

It’s a good thing you don’t know God’s plan, because if you did, it would blow your mind. It’s too big a burden. We are not called to manipulate our circumstances to come out ahead in life. Just walk with God day by day and He will make sure you come out ahead. It’s God’s job to do the manipulating.

Practically, to know God’s will, you need:

1. Relationship with Christ
• 1 Timothy 2:3-4: This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
• 2 Peter 3:9: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2. To fill your mind with God’s Word

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