The Will of God in My Life

A perplexing question for many: How does God work to achieve His will in my life?

Having a mature understanding of God’s will (The Preacher and The Astronomer).

Do we really understand what we’re saying when we say: “It was God’s will”?

Let’s look at three aspects relating to God’s will.

The Intentional Will of God

God’s ideal will for you and me: absolute good!

God’s will is that not “one of these little ones should perish” ().

Matthew 18:14 NKJV

14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

God’s will is that all would be saved and none lost! (; ).

1 Timothy 2:4 NKJV

4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9 NKJV

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Everything that God has done for us – His Intentional Will – is for our good (; , ; , ).

Romans 8:28–30 NKJV

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Deuteronomy 6:24 NKJV

24 And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.

Deuteronomy 6:25 NKJV

25 Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

Jeremiah 32:38 NKJV

38 They shall be My people, and I will be their God;

Jeremiah 32:39 NKJV

39 then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.

The Permissive Will of God

God’s will toward us is only, absolutely, good!

But, it was, and is, our choice how we function in God’s creation (). [natural laws & free will]

Rejecting His will brought, and brings, serious consequences! ().

Romans 5:12 NKJV

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

All of the bad in this world is the result of abusing our free will – AND THAT’S NOT GOD’S FAULT!

The Ultimate Will of God

God intends only good for me, but I am permitted to respond to that however I want.

No matter what I choose, God’s ultimate will – His sovereign will – is unalterable by anything I can do.

It is God’s ultimate will to save those who conform to the image of Christ ().

Ephesians 1:3–14 NKJV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.