From the Word… Series: You Asked For It !
How Can I Know God’s Will for My Life?
Brad Bailey - May 25, 2008
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.
Liberation concerning the will of God starts with a basic knowledge of how committed God is to working with us. God is always working out His will
Philippians 1:6 - “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:28 (NIV) - “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
This often quoted verse doesn’t say all things are ultimately good… there are many things that we can be certain are far from the perfect will of God… but as God works to redeem us in the midst of a fallen world… where evil is at work…He is able to work good… that is His sovereign will… it may involve allowing bad things to happen… because He has not yet brought the full judgment of eveil…. But He is ALWAYS able to work good. (Example of recent cyclones that devastated Myanmar or earthquake in China… or a friend who had a heart attack which they survived… and gained some valuable perspective from.) The point is this…God is sovereign and able to work good through ALL things.
Similarly we can find confidence in what a good leader Jesus is. Listen to what Jesus says in …
John 10:14; 3b-4 (NIV)
"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.
He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”
Jesus went on to say, ’The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.’" He goes on to say in v. 27, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."
Do you understand what Jesus is getting at here? Throughout the text Jesus is saying that He takes the same kind of responsibility for His people that a good shepherd takes for His sheep. Part of the responsibility of a good shepherd was to lead the sheep where the sheep needed to go. And a good shepherd in ancient Palestine wouldn’t just race up ahead and basically say to the sheep, "Hey, you guys better keep up with me. If you wander off and nibble grass in another pasture and don’t keep up with me, forget you. You will spend your life at the bottom of a cliff somewhere or stuck in some thorns or brambles." It was the responsibility of the shepherd to make sure his sheep got to where he was leading.
And he would take whatever measures necessary short of killing the sheep to lead them safely from one pasture to another. If a sheep was straying from the fold, shepherds in ancient Palestine used to use a sling and a rock and fling it right by the nose of the sheep so that the sheep would be startled and race back to the fold.
I love the fact that Jesus compares His leadership to being a shepherd of sheep. Not the fox master of foxes. Sheep are the proto-type of stupid animals. They are exceedingly stupid. They have no sense of direction. They can scarcely find their feet without the help of the shepherd, much less find their way. And so when Jesus wants to communicate this principle that God takes both the initiative and the responsibility to get through to you however stupid you are, however lost and directionless, He uses the image of a shepherd and a sheep.
My confidence in living in the will of God is not based on my gifting… but his gifting. It is based on His incredible leadership. I am not so confident in my capacity to hear, but I am very confident that my leader, Jesus, can speak loud enough so that I will get the message.
Do you understand that you don’t have to be a super hero to find God’s will? All you have to be is a sheep, just a follower. If you begin to allow your heart to rest on a solid knowledge of who God is then you can be free from so many different fears and bondages concerning the will of God. You asked to do His will; you were willing to do His will; you are a sheep; it is His responsibility to guide and to initiate and give you the information that you need for the decision.
Listen to the words of Jesus…
Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV)
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
You say, "Well, if God is so willing to lead me, why is it such a problem for me to get clear on what He wants?"
2. God’s will is more focused on the person we are becoming than the plans we are making.
The issue of knowing God’s will is raised most commonly around the issues of career and marriage.
The idea that God has a job to give us and a mate to guide us to is comforting… but I believe very misguided.
God is not the genie in the bottle or the wizard behind the curtain… but divine parent who cares that we become in essence who we are more than what we do.
God knows better than us that we are more than human doings… we are human beings. We are not machines simply to program for fulfilling a function… but persons who develop a living nature. So he is raising us as his children.
Would a good parent simply tell their child who to marry or how to marry? Would they tell their grown child what job to get… or how to be a good worker?
God is generally more concerned with the ‘how’ than the ‘what’ of life’s morally non-absolute choices.
Personal examples:
Marriage: The day I had planned to ask Leah to marry me. I was driving back from teaching at a conference that morning. Felt very settled and secure in my decision… but I realized as I was driving… I had some quiet time… this was a big decision… and I should seek any greater confidence from God. So I simply tried to dial down my spirit… and ask… “God , is Leah the one I’m suppose to marry?” As quickly and clearly as I’ve ever heard God speak within me, I heard “You are ready to commit the rest of your life to someone.” That wasn’t an answer to what I asked. But let me tell you… I knew immdediately… that it actually was. God had spoken to the deeper issue. I sought information… the ‘what’.. but God spoke formation… the ‘how’ of this decision.
Vocation: Similarly… when a former pastor of this church needed to step down... it led to a lot of questions of what role I should consider. I asked God… should I stay and seek to lead Westside Vineyard? God showed me standing before the congregation… but my hands were behind my back and full of stuff. He made it clear I had too many things I would have to let go of first. I had been in training and working as a marriage and family therapist as well. I had certain missional ideas. I would have to be free and give myself more fully before I could serve with integrity. Again, Gods answer was more about the how than just the what.
Bobby Clinton wrote a book several years ago called The Making of a Leader. In this book he goes through the formative steps that God uses, the processes that God engages in, in making someone into a leader. And he says that from his studies of hundreds and hundreds of people most of what God is doing with people in their 20’s is tons of integrity checks. He is forming character for a lifetime of service. He is calling you to deal with issues of integrity where you cut corners, where you quit when it is difficult, will you be faithful in little, can you deal with life outside the limelight, outside the spotlight, do you always have to get credit, do you always have to get a pat on the back, do you always have to be thanked for everything, do you always have to get your own way, can you submit to someone else, can you follow someone else’s vision, even though it is not your vision?
If we desire to know God’s will… we do well to expect and accept that while we may pursue him for information, He is going to press in on our formation.
We may want a map… but God’s will most often gives us a compass.
3. God’s will is generally consistent with our deepest desires and spiritual gifts.
Some people think that God’s will for their lives must be the exact opposite of their deepest desires. They think that God’s will and their sanctified desires, I am not talking about your worldly, unregenerate, not soaked in the Bible desires, but your deepest spiritual desires regarding God’s kingdom and life, some people think that God’s will and their deepest desires will never coincide.
I believe the real issue in not living out God’s will is in not really taking hold of the good desires that we have… not seeing our good desires as that which God has given us.
Philippians 2:12-13 (NLT)
“Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Paul is affirming our need to obey God… to have a reverent desire for His will…. why? Because if you are redeemed God is at work in you creating desires for His wil. It is not just that God’s will is out there, abstractly, and that you have to run after it.
That word "for work" in v. 13 where it says, "For it is God who works in you…" that word in Greek is Energeo from which we get the word "energy" from. Paul is literally saying that God is energizing you on the inside in the direction of His will. He is motivating you. He is giving you the inspiration that you need to desire to agree with His will.
And I believe all of this comes back to this view of God. In John 10 he says, "I am not a thief. The thief comes to kill and wound and destroy. But I came to give life and to give it abundantly." Do you think, "If I really open my life up to Jesus and really surrender everything He is just going to steal stuff. He will rip me off. He will take my deepest desires and just frustrate them. I will spend my life doing what I don’t want, but I will have to do it because it is right."
Someone once said, "Jesus is the exact opposite of a thief. When He breaks into your house, He leaves stuff behind." He puts a nice clock on the mantel over your fireplace. He sets up a vase of flowers. You open up your refrigerator - "Wow, there is a pie in there. Who left that?" Jesus left it because he comes to give and not to steal. Anytime you let Christ in he is coming to give.
See, part of knowing God’s will is examining your gifts. How has God gifted you? What is your deepest desire? That is one thing you should ask when you are trying to figure out God’s will.
This is what the DISCOVERING YOUR MINISTRY class is all about.
One of the things that you will want to do is just look at where you experience great joy and effectiveness…. favor and flow. Where do you experience joy? What makes you go off like a bottle rocket in ministry, in job skills, in thinking? Where is your joy? Where is your effectiveness?
4. God’s desires others to help provide clarity and confirmation in the process of decisions… but not to make the decisions for us.
God loves the power of diversity… the dynamic of being united in a complimentary way. It’s the very natue of God who is revealed as one in three persons… Father, Son, and Spirit.
This bears out in how we live. God sees that clarity… wisdom…. draws upon others.
Listen to the wisdom of the Proverbs…
Proverbs 13:10 (NIV)
“…wisdom is found in those who take advice.”
Proverbs 12:15 (NIV)
“The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.”
Proverbs 15:22 (NIV)
“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”
There are so many proverbs on getting counsel that we need to see that counsel is one of God’s prime ways of guiding us. Now, some people teach a chain of command type perspective on counsel. If a parent tells a child, no matter how old the child is, what they ought to do the child needs to obey. If a church pastor or someone in leadership tells a church member what to do, they need to obey. I believe we are to honor leaders and honor parents and weigh what they say, but if you are well into adulthood you are not required to obey the counsel of anyone else on matters that are beyond God’s clear teaching. You are responsible for your life and no one else is responsible. You are responsible to stand before God.
Now, having said that, if three, or four, or five people who have no personal gain from your decision, who don’t stand to gain one way or the other by the decision you make and who are known for spiritual wisdom, who know God well and who know you well, three, four, or five people all give you the same kind of counsel, you would be foolish not to weigh that very seriously. I would say that the burden of proof is on you to show why you are going to disregard their counsel. I think of this particularly regarding marital decisions.
One of the questions that we take up in the pre-marriage process is asking what one’s family and friends think about their relationship. If I hear back, "Well, a number of people are upset that I marrying Sam. They think he is not right for me, but honestly no one sees in him what I see. They don’t see his sweet side the way I do. They don’t see that underneath his violent outbursts is really a kind heart. And underneath his seemingly lazy, absolutely ambitionless, directionless, lostness is really a puppy that just wants to love." I’d say that your friends may love you more than you love yourself… so listen to them.
When Jesus calls a person He doesn’t just call a person to Himself. We live in such an individualistic time that a lot of people feel called to Christ but don’t feel called to the church. The body can offer significant help in assisting us in making a decision.
It is here that I want to speak about the role of prophecy in assisting you in making your decision. You know, in the Bible many decisions were encouraged through prophetic words.
Now, prophecy can be one of the greatest blessings but it can also lead to some confusing experiences. I think there is a good reason why Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5, "Do not despise prophecy." That is because after you have gotten burned several times with bad prophetic words where someone has led you astray through a prophecy that you would tend to despise it. The fact is prophecy is always going to be mixed. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that "We know in part and we prophecy in part." And we have to test all things (1 Thessalonians 5:19). We have to test all things and hold fast to that which is good.
So, how do we sort through all of this? How do we think about prophecies that were spoken over our life in the past or may be spoken over our life in the future? As a general rule, and you can write this down;
Personal directional words of prophecy ought to be followed only when they underline or confirm what God is already saying to you.
Rich Nathan says he thinks of prophecy as being like a yellow highlighter. God is already saying something. He is speaking to you through your desires, through counsel, through your giftings, or you have been praying about something, you have an inner impression that this is what God wants and then that word of prophecy comes and it highlights what the Lord is already doing. It communicates, "this is me" - it is not just you, son. It is not just your desire, daughter, it is me. It is like God just lights it on fire.
Again… we have the final responsibility for our lives. You are responsible for what you do with your life and what you do with the talents that God has given you.
While the emphasis here is on the wisdom that comes from others… I don’t want us to miss an even more basic point here.
5. It is God’s will for us to think and to apply wisdom before we make a major decision.
Some people confuse the idea that ‘God’s wisdom is above ours’ to mean that our own practical wisdom cannot help us discern God’s will. While it’s true that our minds cannot understand what only God can understand… and that unless redeemed they are particularly limited in understanding God… the Bible equally affirms that even natural wisdom comes from God.
Certainly you need to think with a sanctified mind. Certainly your thoughts need to be soaked with the Bible concerning what your priorities ought to be. Certainly God’s will is not simply a matter of weighing the pros and cons. And certainly there is more than just our understanding at hand… but we don’t need to set the mind against the spirit.
That idea goes back to the ancient Greek heresy called "dualism." Dualists were people who thought that your mind was bad and your spirit was good. But the biblical and Jewish frame of mind is that all that God has created is good and nothing is to be rejected as long as it is received with thanksgiving and presented to God, yielded to God and God’s directions. You are to love God not only with your heart and your desires, but with your brain.
What are we to do with our minds? We are to surrender them and surrender our thoughts about life to God. And make sure that they are lined up with God’s word. We need to carefully and honestly, with a sober mind. (Rom. 12)
And in regards to basic wisdom, let me suggest that…
A wise person doesn’t tend to think of themselves as an exception to the rule.
So often we make really foolish decisions because while we agree that the general rule would apply to 99% of the people, the general rule doesn’t apply to us. Oh sure, generally, you shouldn’t get married after only knowing each ether two weeks…. when everyone in the world tells you it is a bad deal. Everyone else shouldn’t get into debt, but it is OK for me because this is what God said. General wisdom principle is that you are probably not an exception to the rules. The point is that we shouldn’t despise wisdom… we should welcome it… with all it’s limits.
As I said at the start.. a part of us become too worried we will miss God’s will because we can won’t be able to know it.. hear it. We need to relax in God’s ability to lead as needed.
The most primary issue for us is simply deciding if we really have made a decision to submit and shape our life by it.
So the final point is this…
6. The most fundamental issue for walking in the will of God is submission of our own will and sovereignty.
When we entreat the Almighty for His Kingdom, are we truly ready to surrender ours?
How much we really want to be in the will of God will be reflected in how we value the general will of God.
If a child claims a desire to obey their parent’s desires… saying “I just need you to tell me what to do…” there are related issues that come into play. One is that they will have to accept that they will never understand all that their parents will want them to do…it won’t always make sense. Secondly, the claim will only reflect a worthwhile venture to the degree that they have shown such a desire in following what they have already been told. It would be natural for a parent to say, “Well I’ve already said that the first thing to accomplish is your homework and chores… so until those are taken as valuable… there is little no basis for adding new directives.”
He who is faithful with a little will be given more. (Luke 16:10, cf John 7:17)
I want to conclude with evaluating where we find our own hearts… our inner disposition. Here is where we need to be as honest as possible with ourselves… and with God.
Are we like the foolish false democracy who welcomes the king for a visit… honors him with some songs… then bids him adieu as we send him off so we can continue to reign and rule?
Or do we understand that this is his land… that we do have a level of power to reign and rule but ONLY as we become once again fully submitted to him? We are not sovereign. We are marred and only he can help us become what we were meant to be… not simply what we may think we should be.
I want to close hearing what God said to the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was depressed and disappointed. Israel the people whom God had chosen, and moulded for His purpose, had resisted and rebelled against God. In Jeremiah’s depressed condition, many thoughts were passing through his mind: What was God going to do with Israel? Would God cast Israel aside?
Jeremiah 18:1-6 (NIV)
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message." 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
God has something good for each of us. Every turning of the wheel and every touch of His hand has been to mould and make us according to the Divine pattern. God’s ideal for each of us is for us to become more like Christ. God wants to make the very best he can of each of us.
God is calling for marred vessels to be placed in the potter’s hand. So many today have been marred by sin, but God is saying just come to the potter’s house.
Just imagine there is a big sign out there with hands beckoning, marred vessels are welcome here, at the potter’s house. Whatever you might consider to be marring your life, the potter can help you, so come to the potter’s house. Every flaw, every disfigurement, every problem is welcomed at the potter’s house.
"And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again another vessel.."
Conclusion…
I want to close with a few moments for each of us to quietly consider the condition of our own hearts. Lets consider these questions…
• What has the condition of your heart been becoming…softer or harder?
• What direction in relationship to God have you been walking…towards or away from Him?
• When you ask for God’s reign, are you truly ready to surrender your own?
As you come into the potter’s house, as you come to the Master potter, today you can say,
"Spirit of the living God, Fall afresh on me, Spirit of the Living God, Fall afresh on
me. Melt me, mold me, Fill me, use me, Spirit of the Living God, Fall afresh on me."
(Much of this message was drawn from Rich Nathan’s notes from: Liberating Thoughts Regarding God’s Will for Your Life. While large portions of his text are incorporated into these written notes, I do not actually teach directly from the manuscript…. So they were more a resource of thought. I’m indebted to his shaping of points that reflected the pastoral wisdom that comes with years… and I drew from those points I held the most similar sense about in addition to some of my own points.)
