What is God's Will?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

How are you going to get there?

What school are you going to go to?

What classes are you going to take?

Who are you going to marry?

How are you going to meet that person?

What car are you going to buy?

What city are you going to live in?

Do these kind of decisions make you anxious?

Why do we get anxious about the future?

Perhaps because we really don’t know what the future may hold.

The closer we get to having to make the decision the more stressed and anxious we get.

What is the “WILL OF GOD”?

A famous Gospel Tract opens with the statement “God loves you and has a plan for your life.”

That is good news, but how do we know what that plan is and how to accomplish it?

What if I make a wrong move, miss a sign, choose the wrong option…?

God’s will is ultimately what God has planned to happen.

So can we find God’s will?

Or is it possible to miss God’s will altogether?

Or only get a part of it?

In order to understand what the phrase “the Will of God” means we have to break down how it is used in the bible and in culture.

1) God’s Will of Decree`

Everything that happens in our world is under God’s decree or control.

God’s knowledge is unending and He literally does not NOT know anything.

Also God has a plan for everything

Ephesians 1:11 NLT

11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

He works thing according to his purposes and according to the counsel of his will.

Matthew 10:29–30 NIV

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

God knows and is in control of everything in this world, even the simple things.

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Isaiah 46:9–10 ESV

9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

God’s will of decree is God’s sovereign purpose all around us.

2) God’s will of Desire

If the will of decree is how things are, the will of desire is how things ought to be.

God’s will of decree —what He has predetermined from eternity past—cannot be thwarted. God’s will of desire—the way He wants us to live—can be disregarded.

1 John 2:15–17 ESV

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

“whoever DOES the will of God abides forever”

In this case, the Will of God is doing the things that He desires for us to do.

It isn’t concerned as much with our future or getting on a particular path.

It is concerned with how we live our lives based on God’s design and expectations.

God wills that we remain pure, that we love other people, that we are generous.

Those aren’t things He makes us do, they are ways we are to live according to His expectations.

3) God’s Will of Direction

This is the most common way we think about the Will of God and it is the one way that is not in the bible.

This is the heart of the questions I asked at the beginning.

Does God have a plan for my life that I must seek out and try to find, but may end up missing it if I am not careful or too aggressive?

The answer is no. And you cannot find anything like that in the Bible.

The question may come “But if God has a plan for my life how do I know if I have found it?”

The answer: You don’t find God’s Will for your life, you LIVE God’s will for your life.

No decision we make surprises God, He knows all and is sovereign over all.

This conventional understanding is the wrong way to think of God’s will. In fact, expecting God to reveal some hidden will of direction is an invitation to disappointment and indecision.

What does this mean for you?

Stop worrying

stop wandering

stop waiting

start seeking

start stepping

start being