Discerning God's Will |
by David A. DePra |
| How can I know the will of God? How can I know His mind? |
| And how can I be sure of His leading? These are all questions |
| which need to be answered, for they greatly affect the everyday |
| life of the Christian. And thankfully, the Bible answers all of them. |
| There are several passages of scripture which answer the |
| above three questions directly. First, how can I know the will of |
| God? |
| Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable |
| to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed |
| to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, |
| that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and |
| perfect will of God. (Rom. 12:1-2) |
| How can I know the will of God? Present my body as a living |
| sacrifice. In other words, I come to know the will of God by |
| unconditionally surrendering to Him. This surrender will result in |
| a heart attitude able to discern the will of God for myself in |
| specific situations. |
| Jesus agreed. He said, "If any man wills to do His will, he will |
| KNOW..." (John 7:17) Jesus clearly says that the prerequisite for |
| knowing the will of God is to surrender to God. If I am |
| unconditionally commmited to doing God's will, then I will have |
| the heart attitude necessary for knowing it. |
| Most of us have this backwards. We think the way we know |
| the will of God is if God TELLS us. Then, we think, we can |
| surrender to it. Thus, many Christians frustrate themselves trying |
| to force God to tell them things; to "lead" them in their walk. All |
| the while God is saying, "It pleases Me that you want to know My |
| will. In fact, I want you to know My will more than YOU want to |
| know it. But it will not profit you if I simply TELL you My will. |
| What you need is more than information or direction. You need |
| to BECOME My will -- through surrender. Then, knowing My |
| will shall be natural for you." |
| Knowing the will of God is supposed to be a natural |
| by-product of knowing God Himself. It is supposed to be a |
| natural part of what it means to grow in Jesus Christ. But being |
| human as we are, we like short-cuts. We'd like God to by-pass |
| all of that and just hand us information and direction. Then, we |
| reason, we could obey. But the Truth is, we would NOT obey. If |
| God actually told us His will, rather than require us to BECOME |
| His will, we'd eventually develope a self-centered Christian walk. |
| Whenever God's will clashed with ours, we'd say it wasn't His |
| voice. And we'd never grasp the real essense of God's |
| purposes. |
| There is no question about this. Some Christians today are |
| doing this very thing. They insist that God lead them specifically |
| and overtly in every decision. They pray for what amounts to |
| signs and wonders from God -- calling these "leadings." But if |
| the will of God includes a Cross, something which would cause |
| them to BECOME His will, well, then it's not God. |
| God knows our flesh and our tendency to preserve ourselves. |
| That is why He often will not tell us what we want to know. He |
| wants US. And if we will surrender to Him, then we'll grow to |
| truly know the will of God, because we'll know God Himself. |
| The Mind of Christ |
| Second, how can I know the mind of God? Paul writes: |
| Be anxious for nothing, but in everything through prayer and |
| supplication make your requests known to God. And the |
| peace of God, which passes understanding, will keep your |
| hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. (Phil. 4:6-7) |
| Paul also writes, "We HAVE the mind of Christ." |
| The clear indication of these verses is that rather than ask |
| God to speak to us His mind, we already HAVE the mind of |
| Christ. As new creatures in Christ Jesus, we possess -- |
| potentially -- the ability to views things the way Christ does. |
| The mind of Christ in us is ours automatically through the new |
| birth. But just as the mind of a physical baby must grow and |
| develope, so does that of a babe in Christ. The mind of Christ in |
| us will grow to see things as God sees them if -- again -- we |
| surrender to Him. |
| Instead of constantly needing God to speak some sentence of |
| instruction to us in our head, we already HAVE the mind of |
| Christ. As we pray and surrender ourselves to God, He will keep |
| our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. We will, as a by-product |
| of surrender, develope the mind of Christ, the true knowledge of |
| God, and as a result, a specific sense of knowing His will for us. |
| This doesn't mean that everything we think is what Christ |
| thinks. It doesn't mean that everything we feel is what Christ |
| feels. It means that through surrender to God, there will come a |
| growing knowledge of God. And if we know God, we will |
| certainly know how He views things. We'll know His will. |
| Being Sure of His Leading? |
| The third question is: How can I be sure of God's leading? |
| The uncomfortable answer to this question is that we CAN'T |
| always be sure. What? How can that be true? |
| This statement is true, not because there is some failure on |
| the part of God to be faithful to us, but because of the nature of |
| our spiritual walk. Christianity is a walk by faith, and not by sight. |
| This means that we are most often going to have to walk with |
| God NOT knowing His specific will. But we'll have to trust Him |
| anyways. Things will become clear in time. |
| This might seem strange to some. But it is the Truth. We |
| often say, "God, if You will just tell me Your will, I'll follow." God |
| says, "My will is silence. I will not tell you anything. Will you |
| surrender to that? Will you stand by faith in My silence?" |
| Standing by Faith |
| Spiritual growth is the result of standing in the Truth by faith, |
| and refusing to be moved by that which contradicts it. This |
| "stand" will involve many moral choices, both inward and |
| outward. We must choose to surrender to God and to keep |
| surrendered. We must choose to obey God. We must choose to |
| believe God -- regardless of personal cost. And, if necessary, |
| we must do all of this despite the absolute silence of God. |
| Two things happen if we stand by faith regardless of cost. |
| First, we'll be reduced and depleted of our own strength. In other |
| words, we'll die. But secondly, we'll grow in the grace and |
| knowledge of Jesus Christ. And out of that knowledge of God |
| will come a growing sense and discernment of His will. |
| Can we see how impossible growth would be if everytime we |
| wanted God to tell us something, or lead us, He just handed us |
| the information? We would never need real faith -- the kind of |
| faith which will make manifest the death and resurrection of |
| Christ in us. We'd have lots of information and leadings, but God |
| would not have US. |
| Not only is God sometimes silent to us when we ask Him to |
| lead us, but sometimes He even allows CONTRADICTION to |
| come to our faith. He may allow fear, condemnation, defeat, and |
| unbelief to take their best shot at us -- all the while He remains |
| silent. He says, "I'm not going to speak to you about this. It's |
| time to move on to something greater." |
| Knowing God |
| In the final analysis, we grow to know the will of God by |
| becoming the will of God. This process is the result of a |
| continual stand by faith; a continual surrender of myself to God. |
| God offers us no other path. |
| God can and does speak to His people today. And while we |
| cannot create a pattern for God to lead us, neither can we restrict |
| Him. God does what He pleases in His eternal wisdom. |
| The Bible, however, is clear as to the normal way in which |
| God leads people. The book of Hebrews perhaps sums it up |
| best: |
| Many were the forms and fashions in which God spoke of |
| old to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days |
| at the end He has spoken to us by a Son -- a Son whom |
| He appointed heir of hte universe, as it was by Him that He |
| created the world. He, reflecting God's bright glory, and |
| stamped with God's own character, sustains the universe |
| with His word of power. (Heb. 1:1-3) |
| If we want to know the will God we need to grow to know |
| Jesus Christ. Through that intimate knowledge of the Son, we |
| become equipped to discern God's will for us in each situation, |
| even if His will is merely that we stand to the death by faith, that |
| we might live in Him. |