THE FINAL WORD ON KNOWING GOD'S WILL
Do you know what God's will for your life is? Do you know how to find God's Will? Do you think it's possible to know with absolute certainty what God would have you do with your life? Many Christians today struggle to find the center of God's will for their lives. Despite the many books written on the subject, there still seems to be confusion as to how exactly to know the will of God. You may have heard preachers teach on this subject. They may have given certain steps you need to follow in order to ascertain God's will. They may have said that in order to find the Lord's will you need to interpret your circumstances. The idea is that somehow you're suppose to look for clues that God places in the details of your life. Once you determine that a particular event or circumstance is from God, you then are supposed to determine what the clue means and make decisions accordingly. Another idea is that the Lord will guide you by speaking to you either audibly or in your thoughts. Some people talk about getting inner impressions or promptings in their heart. They say that they know the Lord is guiding them because they feel led. They feel His presence. Are all of these things ligitimate ways God leads a believer today? Are they a reliable source? Can you ever be certain of the trustworthiness of these methods? Is there a better way? I believe there is! Rather than producing confidence and certainty in what God is doing in their lives, the above mentioned techniques tend to promote doubt and uncertainty. The Lord doesn't desire you to live in doubt and confusion as to what He is doing today. He wants you to learn His will and to have absolute confidence that you are doing His will. First of all, we need to have the right perspective. The focus should not be on knowing God's will for our lives. The focus should be on knowing God's will, period. God is accomplishing a purpose today. Once you find out what God is doing, you then can begin to do God's will. But how can we determine what God's purpose is? There is only one answer to that question. The final word on knowing God's will is found in the Word of God! The Bible is the only absolute and final authority we have. It's the only thing that can give us maximum certainty in an uncertain world. We can be confident that when the Bible speaks, God speaks. When we read it's pages, we are reading none other than the very words that came out of the mouth of God (II Tim,. 3:16). Jesus Christ said in Matt. 4:4 "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God". The only way for us to know what God is saying to us is to look into His Word. The way to know God's wll for your life is to find it in the pages of His Word. There is nothing that the Lord needs to tell you that He has not already told you in His Word. If the Lord were to actually appear before you and directly speak to you, He wouldn't tell you anything that is not recorded in the scriptures. God's Word is complete and it is sufficient. There is no additional information that you need to know in order to live your life in accordance with God's purpose. The Word of God fully equips the believer to do the Lord's will. II Tim. 3:17 tells us that the scriptures are given "that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works". Many people talk about God's will as if it is a mystery which is revealed to us gradually over the course of our lifetime, but consider Eph. 1:8,9 which says "Wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself". Notice the verse says that the mystery of God's will has been made known to us. We don't have to try to learn God's will for our lives in any way other than from God's Word. You don't need some kind of special revelation or personal instructions. All of the revelations have been given and no more instructions are needed. Let's consider some scriptures that specifically tell us what God's will is I Thess. 4:3,4 says "For this is the will of God, even y our sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour". It is clear from this verse that our sanctification is important to the Lord. The process of sanctification is a life long process that occurs through the renewing of our mind. The Lord wants our minds to be conformed to the mind of Christ. Now consider Rom. 12: 1,2 " I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God". Notice that we are to prove what the will of God is. How do we do this? We are to do it by a renewed mind. How do we get a renewed mind? A renewed mind comes only from the intake of sound doctrine from the Word of God. I Thess. 5:18 is another scripture that tells us what God's will is. "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you". Notice the verse says that we are to give thanks "in every thing". God's will then is that we have a heart of gratitude no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in. In order to do this we must live our lives on the basis of the renewed mind, the mind of Christ. These verses that we have considered so far are enough to keep us busy for a life time. Let's consider one more verse which tells us about God's will. I Tim. 2:4 says "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth". We see then that God does not desire that anybody perish. His will is that all men would be saved. Furthermore, it says that God then desires that they come to the knowledge of the truth. The Lord wants saved men and women to then be established in sound Bible doctrine. He wants them to be grounded in the truth from the Word of God. We then a believers should be about the business of sharing the Gospel with the lost and building them up in the faith. Are we doing this? Are we worring about how to figure out what God's will is for our lives or are doing what the Word of God clearly tells us the will of God is? Our christian life should not operate on the basis of ignorance and it doesn't have to because God has given us all the wisdom we need in His Word. Let's get into the book and find out what God is doing today and then go do it. The reason I entitled this pamphlet "The final word on knowing God's will" is because the written Word of God is the final word. If God's Word is indeed the final word, then what else do we need? God's full and complete will has already been revealed. My prayer for you is ..."that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God" (Col. :12). The only way this can be accomplished is through being grounded in God's will which is found exclusively in the written Word of God.