How Can We Determine God's Will? Series

For example, many years ago the board of my church decided that my family and I could not go to a certain country as missionaries, and they gave several reasons: The country that I wished to go to was closed to any new missionaries, there were severe food shortages there, and I had been unable to raise our fares. I looked at all those "closed doors" and agreed that that country wasn’t the place for us to go. Then right about that time, the Lord opened the door to another place of service where there were millions of people who needed to hear the Gospel!

Open and closed doors: Which way does God seem to be leading? Where do you have open doors of service? Where have you got a possibility of a job? In which direction does it seem that God is providing the way and the means? That’s one way to find out the will of God--the circumstances and conditions, the open and closed doors.

6. Burdens (The Witness of the Spirit)

That leads us to number six: the witness of the Spirit--a certain intuitive conviction that gives you faith. You just know that a certain course of action is the will of God! The Lord may not tell you in an audible voice or give you a visible sign, but you know from that still, small voice in your heart (1 Kings 19:12), that inner conviction. Some people refer to this as "burdens."

I don’t like to go by feelings, because sometimes feelings can be wrong. They can be the wrong feelings from the wrong spirit! Nevertheless, some feelings are put there by the Lord, as one indication of His will for you. The Spirit of God speaks to your heart about a decision you face, and gives you an inner conviction about what God wants you to do.

Sometimes the witness of the Spirit may be a warning not to do certain thing--that it’s not God’s will. Your heart or spirit hears a voice saying, "Stop, don’t do that! Watch out!" The Holy Spirit doesn’t even have to use words, but you get the message!

So that’s the sixth way to find God’s will: the witness of the Spirit.

7. Fleeces

And finally, what is the seventh way to know the will of God? Sometimes you can ask for a specific sign. This we call a fleece, a term taken from the story of Gideon in the Old Testament (Judges 6:36-40). Gideon wanted to know the Lord’s will about a matter, so he spread out a fleece of wool on the ground one evening and said, "Now Lord, if tomorrow morning the fleece is wet from the dew and the ground all around it is dry, then I will know that You have been talking to me and I’m supposed to do such-and-such." But even when the Lord met that condition, Gideon still wasn’t sure, so he asked the Lord to do the reverse. "Now Lord, tomorrow if the fleece is dry and the ground is wet, I’ll believe that You want me to do such-and-such"--and the Lord did it! So if you resort to fleeces, check and double check.

I like to get a sign from the Lord, a confirmation that I’m on the right track, and that’s one way. I’ll ask for a sign, I’ll "put out a fleece" by asking God to meet certain conditions.

God doesn’t necessarily follow any particular order when revealing His will through these means. He may speak to you through a prophecy first, and then you may confirm that prophecy by the Word. Or He may speak to you through the voice of His Word, and then you search other Scriptures and see what the Lord generally has to say about the subject. We can’t put God in a box and say He’s got to speak to us in this or that way, or in this or that order. But these are ways we know He works, not only from our own experience, but also from what He has said in His written Word.