What Is God’s Will for Me?

Religion

A question that confronts each of us at various times in our life goes something like this, “How do I discover God’s will for my life?” Especially as young people become adults, or as we transition to new phases of life—perhaps upon finishing school, or changing careers, or getting married, or retiring. I’m told that church classes promising to help people discover God’s will are always filled before classes with almost any other focus. But for all the classes and books and sermons on the topic, we still hunger to know—and know that we know—God’s will for our life.Into this abundance of materials and multitude of counselors, allow me to make a couple of suggestions.

My suggestions are founded on three principles and one premise.

The premise is: When we ask this question, we are eager to do God’s will—whatever it may be.

The principles are these:

1. God is god. He is in control.
2. God made each of us just as He planned to make us. We are each uniquely designed to accomplish the purpose He has for us.
3. The last two statements (Principles 1 & 2) are true at any time in our life when we are willing and eager to do God’s will (that is, when the premise is true).

With that premise and those principles, I offer two guides—and an explanation of each—to knowing God’s will:

1. If time and money were not issues, what would you most desire to do?

Time and money are not issues in God’s Kingdom and are never a hindrance to what God intends you to accomplish. Hudson Taylor famously said, “God’s work, done God’s way, will never lack God’s resources.” Jesus accomplished His work and changed the world in about 3 years. Moses was 80 years old when God called him to lead Israel out of Egypt.

And your desires? Principle two (above) asserts that God made you according to His plan. Your gifts, abilities, passions, interests, and skills are His unique gift to you and through you to others. He delights in your uniqueness. And those things you love? He placed that love within you. Assuming the premise (your genuine desire to please Him) is true in your life, He will be pleased that you use your abilities to honor Him.

To the genuine seeker, eager to please God, the question becomes, “Given the way God made me, how can I use me to bring pleasure to Him?”

This leads to the second guide:

2. God wants me (and you) to be the kind of person He can trust to do whatever it is I want to do!

Assuming your honest effort to know God and His ways and your heart’s desire to please Him, God will delight in you and your work.

Like a parent, our Heavenly Father takes joy in our growth and maturity, and rejoices in our initiative. We are always to honor Him, obey when He clearly speaks, and always seek to understand His ways. Our purposes are His, our means and resources are His, and our goal is the advancement of His Kingdom. But given such a relationship with Him, He gives us great flexibility to do those things we enjoy. He delights when we use all that He has given us to bring Him joy.

Perhaps this brings a confession like, “But I haven’t pleased Him. I’ve wasted my abilities, my resources, and my time.” Principle three (above) addresses this with the knowledge that God can take us at any time or condition of life and still find joy in our desire to please Him from this day forward. Even the failures of the past uniquely mold us to accomplish things for His glory in the future. We may not now be able to do the things we once could have done, but we can begin today “making our Father proud” by becoming the kind of people He can trust to do what we want to do, because we only do those things that please Him.

Colossians 1:10 (ESV) …walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him

Please Note: This religious article originally ran on 7-29-11.

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