What is God’s will?

What is God’s will for your life? How can you know? What should you do to find out?

Contrary to what people might say or how you might feel, God’s desire is not that you walk through life aimlessly and confused about His will. Rather, He has revealed Himself to us through His Son Jesus Christ and through His Word – the Bible.

The problem we have in learning God’s will is not with His plan but rather with our pursuit.

God’s plan is perfect. Our pursuit, though, is flawed. We are sinners, and when we find ourselves confused, uncertain, scared, or uncomfortable, we tend to look everywhere except to God and His Word for answers. Yet, His desire is that we pursue and trust Him.

What is His specific will in your specific situation? You will only find the answer with the proper pursuit. Above all, pursue the Lord in two of the most basic but important ways possible…

1. PRAY TO HIM

On Sunday morning, Lord willing, I will continue my sermon series through Acts and preach through Acts 1:12-26 on “Prayer & Provision for Our Purpose” (available before Monday HERE). One of the most important things we can learn from the early church in the book of Acts is the importance of uniting together in prayer.

Seek the Lord by praying to Him. Pray to Him with your family. Pray to Him throughout your day. Pray to Him with your church.

Sadly, we are tempted to only resort to prayer before a big decision when we are unsure what else to do. Why not begin with prayer and continue in prayer?

Wrongly, we are tempted to think of prayer as a last resort when everything or everyone else has failed. Why not begin with prayer and continue in prayer?

Let us continually depend on the Lord in prayer, seeking and trusting Him for His provision. He is faithful, and what He said is true: “You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13).

Are you seeking God with all your heart? Are you surrounding yourself with others who are seeking God with all their hearts? A sincere pursuit of God in prayerful dependence on Him is worth the regular, continuous commitment.

2. LISTEN TO HIM

While sincerely pursuing God in prayer, you might hear from Him through the conviction of His Holy Spirit, an overwhelming sense of peace and direction, and/or a clear desire He places on your heart. Are you listening to Him?

Most importantly, though, how we listen to God (and can be certain we are listening to and hearing from Him) is by listening to His Word – the Bible. Are you spending regular time in God’s Word? Are you talking with others about God’s Word? Are you listening to the preaching of God’s Word? Are you studying God’s Word? Are you praying God’s Word back to Him?

We are so incredibly blessed that God has preserved His perfect word for thousands of years so that we can know Him and follow Him!

So often, the very simple answers to our questions about God’s will are found in God’s Word. Pray for His help to understand, and listen to the truth of His Word.

Far more often than not, when people come to me for pastoral counsel and advice, the answers to their questions and concerns are abundantly clear in the Bible. Of course, I am grateful for that because I know that God’s Word is perfect and true, so any advice I give by sharing God’s Word is great advice because it is not from me.

Sure, there are plenty of questions we have that the Bible does not address, but the Bible does address the most important questions (Who is God? Who are we? Why are we here? Who are we to be?). For everything else, if you are sincere in your pursuit of God, you will not regret the results.

“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires” (Psalm 37:4). Are you delighting yourself in Him? Are you depending on Him in prayer? Are you listening to Him through His Word? Are you seeking the counsel of godly friends and leaders who are listening to Him through His Word?

What is God’s will? His will is that you “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Praise the Lord!

Before you can begin to know and understand God’s will for your life, you must have a right relationship with Him. To learn more, check out The Story.

Purpose & Meaning

Last day of school!

Our oldest four children had their last day of school Thursday. Another year in the books! I am thankful for their school and for the education they are receiving. I am also thankful, though, that they don’t find their purpose and meaning in their education.

After talking about our need for following God’s direction according to His Word, Solomon said, “But beyond these, my son, be warned: there is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body” (Ecclesiastes 12:12).

The reality is that if we try to find purpose and meaning in anything or anyone besides our Creator, not only will be be disappointed; we will fail miserably and for eternity.

“When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

This morning I preached on the “Futility of Life,” challenging those in attendance to look to God’s Word for their purpose and meaning. You can listen to the message and/or others by clicking HERE.

In what or whom are you finding your purpose and meaning? You’ll never be satisfied, and more importantly, you’ll never be right with the One who created you with purpose and meaning unless you surrender to and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Wisdom isn’t enough.

The Bible calls us to pray for and to pursue wisdom. How much do we rely on wisdom, though? How much should we rely on wisdom?

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon clearly illustrates that wisdom is good, but he also cautions his readers not to rely on wisdom too much. More specifically, he cautions against relying on wisdom, particularly your wisdom, in ultimate things, such as life and death.

Just like everything else, wisdom is absolute futility apart from God.

This morning, I preached from Ecclesiastes 7-8, challenging my hearers to consider the importance and yet the limits of wisdom. You can listen to this and other messages by clicking HERE.

Recently, our daughter, Zoe (as seen in the picture below with our son Micah), was coloring a picture and writing a thank you note to her teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week. While Zoe has learned a lot and is beginning to write many things on her own, she was far from ready to rely on her wisdom and knowledge to complete this note in a way that would truly express her thanks to her kindergarten teacher. Well, at least she couldn’t do so in a way that her type-A dad would approve. She needed some help with spelling, grammar and punctuation.

In a much more important way, we need God’s help in everything. Yes, we should pray for, pursue and obtain wisdom, but we will never have the wisdom necessary to do anything apart from God. He is wisdom, and we will never grow in such a way that we no longer need Him.