knowing the will of God for my life
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. NIV
Psalm 37: 1 Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 3 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: Psalm 37:23 If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; NIV
Success in life is
o Finding God’s will as early in life as possible
o Following God’s will consistently
o Finishing God’s will (faithful till the end)
Nothing is more important in a believer’s life than finding and doing the will of God.
Jesus said, “My meat is to do the will of God” [bread and butter]
God’s will for your life could be defined as: “you, as a believer, walking in the steps that God has ordered for your life.”
Another Def.: the will of God is what we would choose for our own lives if we had sense enough to choose it.
A Classic fear is: if I surrender, God will make me be a missionary to Africa, or make me do something I don’t want to do.
[If it’s God’s will, you’ll end up wanting to do that, if you’ve surrendered! He is the master of changing our “want to”.
- Some say: “God isn’t showing me His will!”
If God has a will for our lives, then it stands to reason that He wants to reveal it! - When I want Ulli to find her way around town, I don’t make it difficult, for her! Giving her latitude and longitude numbers. N/S/E/W
- I use sign posts, landmarks Tesco, Charles Bridge, etc…
- But you have to find it/seek it/want it! You have to know what and where the landmarks are.
Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. NIV
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. NIV
There are three key things that must be present in the life of a Christian before he can know that he is walking in God’s will.
I. First, “If the Lord delights in a man’s way…” Psalm 37:23
A. The Bible clearly teaches that the steps of a “good” man are ordered by the Lord.
We can divide God’s will into 2 parts: God’s personal will for my life [The where, etc..] and God’s moral will for my life [Who God has made me to be.] It is impossible to know God’s personal will for your life if you are living contrary to His moral will for you!
In other words--more important is first who you are then what you do…(gain the world and lose your soul?)
1 Thessalonians 4:3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: … NIV John 17 gives us a basic outline of what that means. We are not of this world, the word of God is our truth, we have a God given purpose, I am willing to live a life to be an example for others and not a stumbling block.
And one of the biggest mistakes you as a Christian can make is to try to make a decision regarding God’s personal will for your life, while you knowingly and willfully not walking in his moral will for your life.
Here’s why: because the channel of communication has been short-circuited (sin does that). [Spiritual earplugs/cataracts]
* You see, God does not reveal His will to us that we might consider it
* God reveals His will to us when He knows that we are willing to obey!
Why should God direct your future paths if you’ve purposefully avoided doing what He’s told you to do already…
If you want to know His personal will, you must first obey Him in His moral will.
II. Second, we must have a trusting heart. Ps 37:5 [commit, trust]
A. To yield means to surrender or submit to the physical control of another…to hand over possession of.
Are you willing to hand over control of your life to God and do whatever He wants you to do? Do you trust Him enough to do that? V. 3 and v. 5 say trust is the issue! [Prov. 3:5]
If you have trouble giving Him control it’s because you don’t trust Him enough…
“As we know Him, we come to love Him, as we love Him, we come to trust Him, as we trust Him, we come to obey Him, and as we obey Him, we are blessed by Him!”
III. Third, we need to stay with the basics! vs. 4 [we’ll look at…]
Delight Yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart!
A. There are three spiritual habits that Christians have built into their lives if they are delighting in the Lord. They are essential to knowing the will of God:
1. God leads through His Word.
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. NIV
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. NIV
The only thing that can divide the soul from spirit is the Bible! What’s the difference? Well, the soul needed to be saved, and it was saved by the Spirit of God, which resurrected our dead spirit!
- The soul part of man is “what I want to do” [MY dreams, MY goals/ambitions/desires] Before I surrendered, there were all kinds of things I wanted to do w/ my life.
- The spirit portion of man is “what God wants me to do”. There have been times in my life when my soul was tempted to do something else, but the spirit part of me knew better, and corrected the soul.
A big part of knowing God’s will is knowing whether the “peace” you feel is what YOU want or what GOD wants…and so you must immerse yourself in mega doses of God’s Word…OD on it! Only His Word can divide soul from spirit!
2. God leads through prayer.
Prayer is a 2 way street, if we will be still, we will hear His still small voice in our hearts! [not just talking AT God, or even TO God, but talking WITH God!]
3. God leads through preaching.
“The supernatural foolishness of preaching”—God uses the most unlikely things in powerful ways!
The most important decisions of my life came at the close of a service at the altar, not in private, but thru preaching!
Never underestimate the eternal value of any particular church service…you have no idea how many times there is a message specifically needed by someone and they were so weak that Satan, who knew the topic, was able to divert them from that life-changing message!
Some will find out in heaven just what God had planned for them on that Sunday morning! Some take advantage of tapes or transcripts, but for many, going to church is just a habit, a duty, if I missed, I missed…but the mature say, even if I couldn’t be there [work, sick, whatever] my church even has a way to help me not miss out on what God is doing thru preaching!
The preaching It’s a supernatural time when Heaven touches earth. And God always makes His Word relevant, never returns void…He applies it to every listening heart…I may be trying to make one point, but everyone hears it thru the filter of the Spirit!
Who would say, I’m guilty of making major decisions w/out really taking God’s will into serious consideration…seeking the face of God.