HOW TO FIND GOD’S WILL
Some of the high school bunch
were crowded around a table at Jim’s
The
others munched on their French
fries and waited for her to continue.
“I mean,
they give you all those tests to figure out what your abilities are and what you’re
interested in. Then you’re expected to look through a lot of college catalogs,
compare and think about curriculum and quality and faculty-student ratio and
dozens of other things.” She paused for a sip of her Coke. “After all that, my
head swims, and I still don’t know what to do. If I only had a computer, I
could just give it all the facts and let it come up with some answers!”
“But what
if you didn’t like the answer your computer gave you?” asked Pete.
“Well”,
sighed Sue, “I’m not getting any answers I like on my own either.”
Dave, swirling
his Coke, said, “You know gang, we all have that problem. Making decisions is
never easy. I don’t know if a computer would really help. After all, it only
knows what you tell it. But I’ve been thinking about what that youth leader said
a couple of weeks ago at our Teen Life meeting.”
“You mean about praying and asking God to show you what to do?” asked Joe.
“Yeah… maybe he’s got something
there.”
No wonder
Sue wants a computer to help her out! Finding the right college, choosing a
career or life partner, all the big decisions in life are hard to make. But
Dave was right – the computer only knows what you tell it. And in this confusing world, we need something
better than that.
And there is something better! Many teens have discovered
that God Himself has a personal
interest in their lives and will give that guidance they
need.
God says,
“I will instruct you… and guide you
along the best pathway
for your life; I will advise you and
watch your progress” (Psalm 32:8, Living Psalms).
Have you ever driven down a country road in
the dark? You can’t see very far ahead,
and beyond the reach of the headlights
there’s only darkness. God’s guidance is like that. He doesn’t give
a preview of your future.
He does give enough light on the road to keep you moving, but you don’t get to see the whole
trip at a glance.
Another
important thing: you have to really want His guidance, and you have to accept it
ahead of time, sight unseen, in order to get it. Some people think they want to find God’s plan
for their life, but they don’t realize that they’ve put some qualifiers on
their acceptance, little things like “I’ll go anywhere but
Some
young people think that the minute they say that, they’ve abandoned all hope
for happiness. But God’s love is so big, that He wants to give you a wonderful
life.
It’s
true, there are some people for whom God’s will means doing without luxuries or being far from home, or working long
hours with little reward. But these people will tell you they have an inner
satisfaction that makes it all worthwhile.
But, how
do you find the course He has charted for you? Here are five steps that will help:
1.
ANALYZE THE CIRCUMSTANCES.
Start
with yourself. What are your interests and abilities? What possibilities are
open to you? Say you’re considering college. One school offers just what you
need, but it’s too expensive. Another one isn’t quite as good, but it offers
you a scholarship. Take all the facts into consideration. If something looks impossible,
it just might be. But on the other hand, nothing is too hard for God. Sometimes He takes over
“impossible” situations and works them out in demonstration of His power.
Maybe you
have an opportunity to be taught and trained by an experienced, spiritual
leader or Christian group who specializes in equipping Christians to do God’s
will of evangelism, of building up other Christian’s lives spiritually, and of
growing into Christ-like character yourself. It’s hard to find doctrinally
sound individuals or groups who specialize in such training programs. So you
may want to take advantage of such a program while the opportunity is there.
Remember
that God’s will is that we do things excellently (2 Pet. 1:5; 1 Pet.
2.
STUDY THE BIBLE.
The
better you know God’s Book, the clearer the channels for God’s communication to
you. In your regular times of Bible reading, be alert to anything that really
relates to the decision you’re facing. But be careful not to wrench verses out
of context.
The Bible
has general guidelines that express God’s revealed will for every Christian.
Are you obeying these? If not, you can’t expect God to give you special guidance in other matters. For example, if
you’re not evangelizing (seeking to save
the spiritually lost, Matt. 28:19, 20; Lk. 19:10; 2 Tim. 4:5), or helping
to spiritually build up other Christians (Rom.
14:19; 1 Thes. 5:11; Gal. 4:19), or growing into Christ-like character
yourself (1 Pet. 1:14-16; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1
Thes. 4:7; Matt. 5:48), then you can’t expect God to show you anything more
of His will (Lk. 8:18 and the last part
of 12:48).
But if
you feel you’re living by the revealed guidelines, then you’re ready to ask for
specific guidance. Set aside a time to study what the Bible says about God’s
will and how to find it. Here
are some passages to look up as
a starter: Eph. 5:17; Prov. 3:5, 6; Matt. 28:19, 20; 2 Tim. 4:5; Eph. 4:11-13; 1 Pet. 1:14-16; 1
Thes.
You also
need to discover as much as you can in the Bible that applies to your
particular situation. It won’t say to you whom to marry, if you should even get
married (1 Cor.
Of
course, if there’s a question of something that is clearly against a biblical
principle, you’ll see that you’ll have to pass it up. For instance, you
wouldn’t go to a college or accept a job that would require you to be dishonest
or compromise your faith.
3.
PRAY ABOUT IT.
You should be praying throughout the whole
process of looking for guidance.
Talk to
God about everything, just as you talk to a friend. Tell Him all the circumstances
and how you feel about them. Let Him know you’re trusting
Him to guide you (Prov. 3:5, 6; James
1:5).
4.
ASK FOR ADVICE.
Talk to someone you can trust who knows the Bible very well, has been a Christian for a number
of years, has been and is an obedient-to-the-Bible Christian, is Spirit-controlled,
and is an experienced, mature, godly person. This person’s experience,
obedience, and understanding can help
you avoid booby traps.
You can generally figure that if the person you are seeking advice from is not obeying the clear
commands of the Bible regarding evangelism, building up believers spiritually,
and living a Christ-like in character life, then you can’t expect that person
to advise you correctly because in doing so, he/she would condemn
himself/herself and be a hypocrite for not doing and being what the Bible
teaches. So whom you ask advice from is very important.
5.
USE YOUR HEAD.
What do
you think of the situation? The Lord expects you to use the brains He gave you. A helpful device you might want to use
involves a piece of paper and a pencil. Draw columns on the paper to represent
the choices open to you – say, three different colleges. Then list underneath
the heading all the reasons for
that choice. Also, add a section for the reasons against each choice.
Analyze
this list in light of the question, “How can I be most effective for God, doing
and being what He wants (what His Word
teaches/commands)?” Common sense and the process of deduction should reveal
the best choice. But remember
that God might overrule this choice for reasons only He knows. If He has something else in mind, He’ll let you know.
Now,
after you’ve followed these five steps, try to forget the whole thing for awhile. Give your unconscious thoughts and the Lord a chance to work on it together. You may find that the next time you think about it, the answer is surprisingly clear.
But in other
cases, the answer may not come that way. Maybe God wants you to make up your
own mind. Pray that you’ll make that right decision, then go ahead and decide.
After you make the choice, then trust your heavenly Father that He has guided
you in the right way. Later on you may clearly see that it was the right
decision.
What’s
the next step after you know what to do? DO IT!! Then you’ll be ready for the next
hundred yards of light on the road ahead.
Whatever
you do, do not go by your feelings or emotions as to whether or not something
is God’s will. Do not go by whether or not you have peace about the decision.
Do not go by whether or not you have peace about something being God’s will.
Use your brain, not your feelings. Let’s take a look at some biblical examples
of God’s will and whether the people who were told God’s will had either peace
of mind or peace of circumstances about God’s will.
First,
there’s Jeremiah. In Jer. 1:4, 5, God tells Jeremiah that it’s His will for
Jeremiah to be His prophet. But in Jer. 1:6;
Second,
there’s Jonah. In Jonah 1:1, 2, Jonah is told by God what His will is, but
Jonah does not have peace of mind about it (1:3).
Third,
there’s Moses. In Exodus 3:1, 4, 10 – 4:17, God tells Moses His will, but Moses
does not have peace of mind about it (3:11,
13; 4:1, 10, 13, 14; 6:30), nor peace of circumstances (5:2, 4-23; 6:9, 12).
Fourth,
Stephen didn’t have peace of circumstances when he chose to do God’s will (Acts 6:8-12;
Fifth,
Paul didn’t always have peace of mind when he chose to do God’s will (1 Cor. 2:3; 2 Cor. 7:5), nor did he
always have peace of circumstances when he chose to do God’s will (Acts 26:12-26; 2 Cor. 4:8-11; 11:23-28; 1
Cor. 4:9-13).
Sixth,
Jesus tells His disciples that when they do God’s will, they won’t have
peaceful circumstances (Matt.
Seventh,
Proverbs 28:26 states that the person who trusts in his own heart/feelings is a
fool. So don’t trust in feelings of peace as to whether something is God’s
will. Rather, go by the commands and principles of Scripture, God’s Word, in
determining God’s will, for Christians should walk/live by faith (in God’s Word, the Bible) and not by
sight (i.e., circumstances or feelings),
2 Cor. 5:17.