Discerning God’s Will

Introduction

Imagine a pilot announcing over the intercom: “I have good news and bad news. The bad news is we’ve lost the use of one engine and our direction finder. The good news is we have a tail wind and where ever we’re going we’re getting there awfully fast.”

I don’t know about you, but that news would be pretty disturbing. And yet people—including many Christians—often fly along like this plane, with no direction, no idea where they’re going, swept along to wherever circumstances happen to take them.

When I graduated from college, all I knew was I wanted to write. I applied all over the place, with newspapers, magazines, TV stations and radio stations. I ended up working for an ad agency—not because it was where I really wanted to work, but because it was the only place that was willing to hire me to do the sort of work I wanted to do. As I look back at my early work career, there was no real pattern. For the most part, I drifted from job to job, depending on how much they were willing to pay and whether I could put up with the work.

In short, I had been like that plane, riding along in whatever direction life happens to takes me.

The early part of my career was largely a result of chance. When I became a Christian, that bothered me more and more. I wanted to do God’s will. I want to work where He wants me to work. I wanted to do what He wanted me to do, not what circumstances decide for me. I wanted every decision—especially big decisions—to be God’s will. I still do.

Cecil Rhodes once wrote, “If there is a God and He cares for men, then the most important thing in the world is to find out what He wants me to do and to do it.”

In Ephesians 1:1 Paul said that he was “… an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” Paul knew that God wanted him to be an apostle. He knew what God’s will was and we know from Scripture that he did God’s will.

How can we know what God’s will is for our lives? If you’re like me, sometimes it seems like His will is a mystery or a secret. When we read the Bible, however, we find out that God wants us to know His will. He doesn’t want to hide it from us or frustrate us.

Psalm 143:10 says: “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God…”

Maybe you’re seeking God’s will for something today. Something big. A major decision.

“Should I change jobs? Should I make a career change?”

“What does God want me do in the church? I know He wants me to serve, but what should I do?”

“How can I share my faith with my family? What’s the best way?”

“Should we buy a house? And if we do, what part of town should we live in?”

“Should we have another child? Is it God’s will for us to have another child?”

“Is God calling me into the ministry? How can I know for sure?”

Whatever your question is today—and I suspect that each of us has at least one big question or major decision in which to make—we’re all searching for God’s will. What does God want us to do? How can we know what His will is?

In this article I want to talk about how each of us can find out what God’s will is for those big decisions we’re facing right now. My goal is to be as practical as possible, so by the time you’re finished reading this, you’ll have a game plan on how to discover—and hopefully do—what God wants each of us to do regarding that big decision that you’re facing, whatever it may be.

The game plan for knowing God’s will is going to be brief and easy to remember. It’s a three-step process. We’ll also talk about a list of questions we can ask ourselves—regardless of what we’re seeking God’s will on—to make sure we’re making wise decisions.

How can we know God’s will for our lives? We’ll find out in this article.

We Must Be A Christian

God’s will in a general sense is the easiest for us to know. The Bible is clear on what God desires for all humans. What is God’s will for all of us, for people throughout the world, past, present and future?

First of all—and most importantly—God desires for everyone to be saved.

2 Pet. 3:9 He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

1Tim. 2:4 says that God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

Not only does God want us to be saved, we must be saved in order to know His will.

John 10:4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

An unbeliever can’t follow Jesus’ voice. He doesn’t even recognize the Lord’s voice.

1Cor. 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

If we’re not a Christian, we will not know God’s will for our lives. God’s ways and the Bible are “foolishness” to unbelievers. Step number one for knowing God’s will for our lives in a personal way, is to know God’s will for us in a general way. He wants us to believe that his son Jesus died on the cross and took the punishment that we, as sinners, deserved. He wants us to accept Jesus as savior and Lord. There’s no other way to make peace with God and to have the promise of heaven. That is God’s will for all humans.

Step number one in knowing God’s will for our lives and for those big decisions, is: We must be a Christian. It’s non-negotiable.

We Must Be Filled With The Spirit

Acts 1:8 says that at salvation we will “… receive power when the Holy Spirit comes … ” on us. Romans 8:9 says that as Christians we “… are not controlled by the sinful nature but by the Spirit…”

The Bible is clear that being indwelt by the Holy Spirit—as all Christians are—is different than being filled with the Holy Spirit.

And that’s step two in the three-step plan in knowing God’s will. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. That’s God’s will for all believers. Ephesians 5:18 tells us to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.”

All Christians have the Holy Spirit and we all have access to the power and wisdom of God. But how can we tap into that power? How can we be filled with the Holy Spirit?

Peter is a great example of what being filled with the Spirit of God can do for a believer. So much of the time, when the apostle was near Jesus, he displayed tremendous power. In Matthew 14, Peter walked on water. When the soldiers came to take Jesus by force in the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26, Peter whipped out his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus.

Peter’s courage and power seemed to disappear, however, when Jesus wasn’t near. When Jesus was on trial, for instance, Peter denied knowing Him three times.

When we read about Peter in Acts, however, he’s a whole new person. Once again he shows tremendous courage and perseverance. In Acts 2 he preaches one of the greatest sermons ever recorded. In Acts 3 he’s healing people, and in Acts 4 he withstands intense persecution.

How did he do it? The answer is found in Acts 2:4. Peter was one of the disciples who was “filled with the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit changed Peter’s life. The Spirit of Christ, as it is called in Romans 8:9, had filled Peter. Peter was close to Jesus once again. He tapped into the Lord’s power and grace.

As fellow believers, we’re also close to the Spirit of Christ. Scripture says He lives in our hearts.

Simply put, being Spirit-filled means living as if Jesus is with us—which He is— and yielding every decision to Him, the way Peter learned to do after the Lord rose from the dead and sent His Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. It’s submitting to God in every way. We must live in the conscious presence of the indwelling Christ, the Holy Spirit.

Remember the verse from Ephesians 5:18, “filled with the Holy Spirit?” The Greek word for the word “filled” is the same word that’s used in: John 16:6, when the disciples were filled with sorrow; in Luke 5:26, when the crowd was filled with fear after Jesus healed a paralytic and the pharisees and scribes were filled with rage; in Acts 4:31, when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit; and in Acts 6:5, when Stephen was full of faith.

In each of these examples, people were under the control of whatever filled them. Being Spirit-filled and Spirit-led means being under the control of God.

Step number one for knowing God’s will and for making those big decisions, is to be a Christian. Step number two is to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led.

But how do we put ourselves under God’s control? How do we become Spirit-filled and Spirit-led? How do we become obsessed with God and how do we get to the place where he dominates our lives and our decision-making?

Let me suggest three ways:

1. Read the Bible

2. Obey the Bible

3. Pray

Those who put God first, whose lives revolve around God, whose lives are committed to God in every way, those are the people who have the power, those are the people who are Spirit-filled and Spirit led.

There’s no magic formula, no easy solution to being spirit-filled.

We have to saturate ourselves with the Word of God. Colossians 3:16 says to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly …”

We have to talk with the Lord regularly in prayer. Ephesians 6:18 says to “… pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”

We have to obey God and live a holy life. 2 Peter 3:11 says “You ought to live holy and godly lives…”

And finally, we have to commit ourselves to the great commission to make disciples of every nation. 1 Peter 3:15 says to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” That’s not saying we all have to stand on street corners waving our Bible in people’s faces and shouting repent. What it does mean, however, is we have to be open to sharing our faith in whatever way we can.

Only doing things that God wants us to do, only doing things His way, will achieve the kind of relationship that’s necessary to tap into the power and wisdom of God.

In order to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led—step two in the process of knowing God’s will for our lives and in making wise decisions—we have to read the Bible, we have to obey the Bible and we have to pray.

If we do these things, very soon we’ll discover a very important key in knowing God’s will: we’ll find ourselves seeing things through His eyes instead of our own.

For instance, when we see somebody on the street, we’ll wonder whether she’s saved or not. When we hear somebody using the Lord’s name in vain, it will turn our stomachs. When we see some of the sex and violence on TV we’ll turn it off and make sure our kids don’t watch it either.

And God’s will for every facet of our personal lives will begin to unfold. We’ll see things clearer than ever before.

Discern God’s Will For Our Lives In A Personal Way

And now, finally, we’re down to the nitty gritty. How can we know if we should change jobs? How can we know what we’re supposed to do to advance God’s kingdom? How can we make the right decision? How can we know God’s will, so that we can do God’s will?

At the beginning of this article I promised you a three-step plan for how to know God’s will for our lives.

Step one is absolutely essential: we must become a Christian. If we don’t, we will never know God’s power and plan for our lives. Never. We’ll end up making decisions—big decisions with potentially devastating and long-term ramifications—based solely on human wisdom. Flawed human wisdom.

Step two is also critical and requires a tremendous commitment on our end: we must put God first in everything, we must get to know Him and submit to His authority in every way. We must be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led.

So, if we have done God’s will and become a Christian, and if we are Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, then, and only then, are we ready for step three. And step three is probably the easiest step of all.

Step number three in how to know what God’s will is this: do whatever we want. That’s right. Step three in knowing God’s will is to do whatever we want.

That probably surprises some of you. It surprised me a lot when I first read it in a book by John MacArthur, but I believe it’s a solid principle, providing we have done the first two things. These are two big ifs in this three-step process. We must be saved and we must be led by the Spirit of God.

Think about this for a minute: If we’re Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, if we’re obsessed with God and we see things the way He sees them, His will in many ways becomes our will. We’ll like the things He likes. Because our mind will be thinking like His, we’ll be right smack in the middle of His will.

Let’s face it, though, we’re still human and we’re still prone to making mistakes, so this is not—and can never be—a perfect system. We can’t forget that.

However, I firmly believe that if we’ve met the first two criteria in knowing God’s will—being saved and filled with His Spirit—we can make decisions with confidence.

A Checklist For Discerning God’s Will For Our Lives

Having said all that, I’d like to suggest a checklist of sorts to use once we’ve reached this point in the decision-making process. Ask yourselves these eight questions:

1. Am I Christian?

Yes or no. I keep mentioning this one because it’s critical to knowing God’s will.

2. Am I reading the Bible regularly?

Am I saturating myself with His Word? Is God giving me answers or guiding me through Scripture? I have a friend who jokes that he uses a single Bible verse to guide him in decision-making. He says he’s a living example of Proverbs 18:2 “A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.”

Fools are people who don’t read the Bible and so don’t have understanding. Wise people read the Bible and allow God to guide them through His Word.

3. Have I been praying to God regularly and asking for His guidance?

I remember when I was a member of a pulpit committee searching for a senior minister position several years ago. At one point well into the process somebody wondered out loud if we were heading in the right direction and making good decisions. Then a man on the pulpit committee spoke up and said, “Look, we’ve been praying all along for God’s wisdom, haven’t we?” And that ended our doubts. He was right. God hears and answers prayers.

Consider fasting as well. In Matthew 6:14 Jesus says “When you fast…” He assumed His disciples would fast, and I believe that assumption is for us, too. Prayer and fasting go hand-in-hand.

4. Am I sure that the decision I’m about to make doesn’t contradict biblical principles in any way?

Is my conscience clear? I know a man who quit his secular job because he felt called into the ministry. Unfortunately, his decision left his family high and dry financially and they suffered a great deal. We know from Scripture that God’s will for husbands and fathers is to provide for their families, so it’s very doubtful that God wanted the man to go into the ministry the way he did.

5. Have I thought through all of my options?

Get a piece of paper and a pen and write down all of your options. List the positives and negatives. Don’t make a hasty decision without thinking through all of the decisions you could make and what the ramifications of each would be.

6. Have I sought out advice from Godly people?

Go to the leadership of your home church or to someone else who’s spiritually mature and ask his or her opinion. Don’t ask just anyone, however. The person has to be a mature Christian whom you respect.

7. Are circumstances pointing me in a certain direction?

Before I found Kirkwood Road Christian Church, my home church, I was searching all over town for the church God wanted me to go to. After attending several churches over a period of about a month, I still hadn’t found the right church. I kept praying.

Then one day I was at work and got in an elevator with another man. As the elevator started to go up, the man, a total stranger, turned to me and asked, “So, what church do you go do?” I was astounded! And yes, after he found out I was looking, he told me to try Kirkwood Road. I believe with all my heart that that was providence. God sent that man to lead me to the church where He wanted me to serve. He manipulated circumstances to guide me.

8. And finally, do I have peace about the decision?

Do I want to do this? Does it seem like the right thing to do? Are there any hesitations? Uneasiness, doubts, second thoughts and indecision are signs that we need to sit tight, pray and seek God’s will some more. That’s not always possible, but if you don’t have to make the decision right then, don’t. Wait until you have peace about it.

Once we’ve gone through the three-step process and double checked ourselves using these eight questions, we’re ready to make our decision. We’re ready to do whatever we want!

And if it’s truly God’s will, it will clearly be the right thing to do. In many cases, I believe it will also be something you want to do, and quite likely be fun and enjoyable.

In Romans 15:20, the apostle Paul said this:

“It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.”

It was Paul’s ambition, his passion, to be a missionary to the gentiles. Is it a coincidence that God wanted Paul to the very same thing? I don’t think so.

Remember Philip the Evangelist in Acts 8? God sent him to witness to the Ethiopian eunuch. Did you know that the Greek word for Philip means “lover of horses?” Is it a coincidence that God sent Philip, who apparently loved to evangelize, to witness to this man, who just happened to be in a chariot pulled by horses!?

Scripture doesn’t say, but I suspect that Philip, the evangelist and lover of horses, had a great time evangelizing the Ethiopian eunuch and being near his favorite kind of animal!

I believe that when we’re in tune with God, doing His will, it will likely be enjoyable, and clearly the right thing to do.

Flexible Planning

Now that we know God’s will for that big decision we’re facing, let’s not forget to do God’s will! In some cases, following through on the decision will be easy. Just do it. In other cases, like changing careers, there’s more work that’s required. We’ll need to pray about it and think through how we’ll get there. We’ll have to plan.

In Acts 16, Paul and his companions tried to enter Asia, but the Holy Spirit wouldn’t allow it. Paul had made plans, he was moving, he was acting on his goal in life, to bring the Gospel to the gentiles. That was good.

But on the other hand, we can’t be locked into our plans. God wouldn’t let Paul carry out his plan to go to Asia, although the Lord did direct him to Macedonia to evangelize gentiles there.

James 4:13-15 says:

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

So it’s okay to make plans—1 Corinthians 14:33 says that God is not a God of disorder. The Lord gave us brains and the power of reasoning and He expects us to use them. But we must be flexible like Paul was and as James tells us to be.

Make plans, move out as Paul did in trying to go to other countries, but know that we might have to change our plans, either because we misread God’s will or God’s will for us has taken a new and different turn.

Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you could wind up someplace else.” Even Yogi knew that we have to have a plan in order to achieve our goals.

Make steady progress towards your goal. In order to make it happen, we have to have a plan and be flexible enough to change it if necessary.

When I first felt called to preach several years ago, and, I prayed about it for three or four months and talked about it extensively with my wife. I finally got to the point where I believed I needed to seek out some advice.

So I called a local Christian college and set up a lunch with the president of the university. He said that even though God could use me as I am, his primary advice was for me to consider going to school to prepare myself for full-time ministry.

I thought about that and prayed about it for a few weeks, and then felt like God wanted me to seek out more advice. So I called a well-known local preacher, and his advice was pretty much the same. God can use me as is, but strongly consider going back to school.

The problem was, I wasn’t interested in school at all. I’d always liked to learn, but had no urge whatsoever to go back to school. Almost as important, we certainly couldn’t afford it and I didn’t know where I would find the time.

So the months went by and I kept praying about it over and over again. My prayer was basically, show me what to do, God. If you want me to go to school, put it in my heart and I’ll do it. I know you can work it out.

Eight months later I had a sudden change of heart. I wanted to go to school. God had shown me that that was the way He wanted me to go. God had also providentially arranged a big raise for me at work, and, even though I was busy being a husband, father of three children and an elder at church, I had peace with the decision. I knew God wanted me to go and so I knew He would work out all the details. So I enrolled at my local Christian college and did well and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

After completing a semester, however, I got a new job at work, and then, a week after that, I got yet another new job. The latter job was widely regarded by my co-workers as the worst job in our area. It was a very stressful and demanding position, one with no room for failure of any kind. Nobody in my division wanted the job, and we had all positioned ourselves far away from that job as our area reorganized.

My prayer during that time, however, was that God would put in the job where He wanted me, whatever job that might be. I didn’t feel strong about being put in any particular position and so I didn’t actively campaign for a specific job.

Guess where God put me? You guessed it, He put me in the one position that all of us dreaded. Long hours. Lots of stress. A political nightmare. I was given four hours notice before beginning the job, moving my office to boot.

I was absolutely miserable. The pressure was more intense than anything I had ever faced before. Eleven and 12-hour days were the norm. Finally, after about three weeks on the job, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Despite tons of prayer and Bible study, I wasn’t sleeping, my self-esteem was lower than low and I was at the point where I couldn’t function anymore. I couldn’t think clearly. I had to find a way out, a way to release the pressure.

I concluded that I couldn’t quit working—I had to support my family. I couldn’t quit as an elder at my home church—I had made a commitment and, at the time, we were very short on elders. One had moved and two others had resigned for personal reasons. The only thing that would give was school. Even though I was getting straight A’s, I had to quit school. All of my spare time—I mean all of my spare time, when not sleeping or trying to sleep, was spent doing homework. To my wife and kids, I only earned money and slept there. Our relationships stunk.

After a lot of prayer and crying out to God, I quit school. I kept telling God that that I didn’t understand why this had to happen. I knew He had wanted me to go to school. I believed God had made it clear that school was the path to where He wanted me to go. And yet, now his will was for me to be in this job, this horrible job in the secular world, that was forcing me to quit. I didn’t understand. I still don’t understand why things have worked out the way they have.

And yet, I had total peace about my decision to quit school. It had to happen that way. But why God allowed it to happen, I don’t know.

It wasn’t long after that experience that the Lord took me on another adventure: I concluded that I should look for a full-time preaching ministry. Even though I didn’t have a lick of experience—I had only preached a hand full of times in my home church—off I went, applying to churches in the area.

In all, I was offered three jobs, but, once again, the Lord led me in another direction. None of the offers seemed right. I didn’t have any peace. To this day, I wonder why the Lord had me do all of that. Why would He put it on my heart to look for a full-time preaching ministry only to have Him close all of the doors? Perhaps He wanted to see if I would do what He wanted. Or maybe He was testing my trustworthiness, to do what didn’t always seem logical.

I truly believe I followed His leadings, most of which seemed to result in dead ends. It wasn’t long, however, before the Lord began leading me again. He began opening up many doors for me to preach, many of which came about as a supply preacher through the local Christian college. To date, I’ve preached in 13 different churches, including one ministry that lasted almost 18 months.

Over that period of time I’ve grown a lot and have learned to trust Him much more than I used to. Will I preach at another church soon? I don’t know. Will I ever preach full-time? I don’t know. At this point in my walk with the Lord, I’m not about to try and guess!

What I do know is this: I’m currently doing what He’s asking of me, writing sermons and posting them on this Web site. I’ve gone through those steps and know that I’m doing what the Lord wants me to do. And let me tell you, there’s nothing better than being right smack in the middle of God’s will! If you haven’t experienced that kind of peace and satisfaction, I sincerely hope you apply what you’ve learned today and enjoy being used by God.

Conclusion

Before we close, let’s review what we’ve talked about.

In order to know God’s will, we must first of all commit ourselves to the Lord and become a Christian. We will never know God’s will for our lives without responding to His free gift of salvation by placing our faith in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord.

Second, we must be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led. We must submit ourselves to God in every way and commit ourselves to prayer, Bible study and obedience.

And third—the most amazing step of all—if we are truly born again, and if we are Spirit-filled and Spirit-led—those are two big ifs—then we can do whatever we want to do.

Before taking that final step, however, we need to get our checklist and ask ourselves seven questions to better ensure that our final decision is really wisdom and guidance from God. I listed the questions above, but here they are again:

1. “Am I a Christian?”

 2. “Am I reading the Bible regularly?”

 3. “Have I been praying to God regularly and asking for His guidance?”

 4. “Am I sure that the decision I’m about to make doesn’t contradict Biblical principles in any way?”

 5. “Have I thought through all of my options?”

 6. “Have I sought out advice from Godly people?”

 7. “Are circumstance pointing me in a certain direction?”

 8. “Do I have peace about the decision?”

Finally—and we don’t want to forget this part—we need to do God’s will. It’s sad to say, but some Christians discover God’s will for them in a big decision but fail to follow through on it. They’re either afraid, lazy, stubborn, disobedient or experience a lack of faith.

I’d like to add one more thing. I’ve learned two valuable lessons from my own experiences. The first is to be patient. Remember that 2 Peter 3:8 says that “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”

It’s easy to let our emotions rule the decision-making process. Sometimes we have to make a quick decision, but if it’s a big decision—and I mean a really big decision—don’t let anyone or anything rush you. Wait for God to make it clear before making that decision.

The second lesson I’ve earned firsthand is to obey God’s leading, even when we don’t understand what He’s doing or why. I can’t tell you how many times He’s had me do things that seemed too unbelievable, too difficult, too incredible for me to do.

There’s only one thing that any of us can be assured of when trying to make a decision according to God’s will, and that is that whatever God wants us to do is what we should do and we should do it, no matter what it may be. Philippians 4:13 says we can do all things through Him who gives us strength.

Lesson number two, then, is do whatever God wants us to do, no matter how crazy it is. God’s will for Abraham was to leave his great life behind, pack up and move to a new country. God’s will for Nehemiah was to leave his cushy job in the King’s court and rebuild Jerusalem. And God’s will for Isaiah was to walk around naked for three years! (That’s found in Isaiah 20, by the way, for those of you who are interested in reading that passage.)

1 Corinthians 1:20 says that “God made foolish the wisdom of the world” and God says in Isaiah 55:8 that “…my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.”

So, be patient and wait for God to make things clear to you. Psalm 37:7 says “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” And when the Lord makes things clear for you, do what He tells you to do.

A television program during the 1988 Winter Olympics featured blind skiers being trained for slalom skiing, impossible as that sounds. Paired with sighted skiers, the blind skiers were taught on flat surfaces how to make turns.

When they mastered turns, the blind skiers were taken to the slalom slope, where their sighted partners skied beside them shouting, “Left!” and “Right!” Amazingly, by following the commands to the letter, the blind skiers made it all the way to the bottom and across the finish line. They either trusted or they would fall.

In many ways, we’re like those blind skiers. We have no idea what to do or how to do it without God’s guidance.

If we, as Christians, ask God for guidance and follow His leading, we’ll be able to negotiate through those tough decisions that we face everyday. We will know God’s will.