How Can I Know God's Will For My Life? Series

Intro

Continuing our series entitled… “You Asked For It” in which we have drawn topics from those submitted from all who gather throughout our four weekend gatherings. Today we are going to seek what God says to us about one of the most noted subjects among us… how to know His will. Here are some of the actual statements made:

Actual statements (top most related)…

His will - how to discern it

How to understand God’s will in my life

Figuring out a purpose in life God’s plan for oneself

Surrendering completely to God’s will - most challenging for issue

Know God’s purpose

How can we know when God calls?

Submitting everything to God first

Gaining God’s wisdom

Making decisions

How many people feel that the "light of God" is on them like a lighthouse on them… off them… on them… etc.

It’s only natural that we want to know what we should be doing with this thing called life… and if we discover that there is a God who created us and knows us… we want to know what we should be doing from His perspective.

There were two questions that Paul asked Jesus when Paul was struck blind on the road to Damascus. Many of you know the story. He is going to persecute Jewish followers of Jesus. He is hunting them down. He is breathing threats. He is gathering men, women and children and throwing them into jail. He is on his way to Damascus because he hears that there are Christians there and he is going to hunt them down.

Suddenly, on the way to Damascus, he sees a bright light in the sky. A voice speaks to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Jesus so identifies with His people that when His people are hurt, He is hurt. "Why are you persecuting me?" Jesus asks.

The first question the apostle Paul asks Jesus is "who are you?" That is always to be our #1 question in life. Who are you, Lord? How can I know you better? There is no higher goal than to know God better. But the second question that Paul asked after he asked "who are you, Lord?" is found in Acts 22:10. And it is "what shall I do, Lord?" What is your will for my life? Now that I know you, what do you want of me?

It is a question asked in every age and stage of life… natural for college students … middle-aged people who have to find a sense of priority in the frenzy of life … retirees who have completed their careers. They are saying, "What does God want me to do with the rest of my life?"

As I’ve considered this question… and how we approach it… I sense that we can become too casual in our concern… but also too anxious in our concern.

Some of us tend to be so confident in ourselves… that we think we should just live according to our desires and expect God to accept and help out. We manage our souls as a democracy and God is visiting royalty we love to make a show for… but then send him off so we can get back to ruling our own sovereign states. Others of us, or perhaps a part of all of us, can be so unconfident in ourselves, that we think we are too dense to really know God’s will… we just aren’t in tune enough… don’t seem to get the clear blueprint everyone else gets… or we probably went left when we were suppose to go right.

We can begin to overwhelmed by the question… how do I know what GOD wants me to do… in every choice in life. And God knows … there are a LOT of choices. Life in the 21st century western world is complex in it’s options. It’s the reason people like me should never go shopping… I hit the cereal aisle and I’m paralyzed.

> In a life of many options… we could naturally wonder if we are doing what God wants.

As I’ve sought what God sees and may be saying to us regarding His will… I sense He would say … “take it seriously and simply.”

If we take it seriously.. I think we’ll find some liberating truth about it’s simplicity. I think God has some liberating principles that I want each of us to consider.

Some Simple Truths Regarding Knowing God’s Will In Life

Six thoughts that can assist us throughout life in making godly decisions that will honor the Lord and bring blessing to you.

1. Our confidence should lie in God’s ability to lead and His desire to show us what matters.

Many of us have such a defective view of God that it is no wonder that we are afraid of missing His will for our lives. We may think that God is playing a giant shell game with us… seeing if we can follow where he is hiding something. Or perhaps we see choices like three curtains… and we have to discover some mysterious power to know which curtain leads to the prize.