Q

How do I know the will of God for my life?

- John Q.

A

Dear John,

It is a difficult thing indeed to discern the will of the Lord. The important thing to remember is that for most of the things that we experience day-to-day the will of the Lord is something that can be discovered objectively by acquainting yourself with his word. On the one hand, he gives us many explicit commandments in his word that will tell us how he wants us to behave in so many circumstances. For this reason, I know that it is not the will of the Lord for me to rob a bank, or murder somebody who offended me. The usefulness of God's word is not relegated to explicit commandments; as we study his word rigorously, we get to know him personally and come to understand the way he thinks. As I begin to understand the heart of God, and, as his Spirit works to apply his word to my heart, I begin to understand the kinds of things he would have me do in most situations. For example: there is no explicit commandment telling me not to flip people off when they cut me off on the highway, but I, nonetheless, understand that that is not the will of God for my life, because I understand that he doesn't like that kind of stuff. Most of the decisions we have to make in life can be determined by a simple understanding of God and his character, there are however some decisions that go beyond. I know, for instance, that God wants me to share the gospel (Matt. 28:19), but if I walk into a crowded coffee shop with the intent of obeying the Lord's command, I might find myself asking myself whom the Lord would have me share with. Another example can be found in the fact that although the Scripture and the character of God reveal to me that it is the will of God that I marry a believer, it is not clear which believer he wants me to marry.

One thing to understand is that God does not speak to us audibly in the same way we speak to each other. He doesn't just shout my name when he wants to speak to me; this is not only true today, but it was so in the days of the prophets as well. In Numbers chapter twelve, God tells Aaron, Miriam, and Moses that he will speak to prophets throughout history in dreams and visions, but that to Moses alone he speaks like a man speaks. To Moses alone, God spoke audibly and out loud. That being the case, we cannot expect that God is just going to start speaking to us out loud from out of the heavens. For this reason, I recommend a few principles to consider when trying determining the will of the Lord. As you do this keep in mind that the number one thing that will benefit you is to know the Lord intimately. Good friends know each others desires, and often know what the other one is thinking. As you get to know the Lord better you will learn to discern his voice in your life. Keep in mind that the best ways to cultivate these in your life is through prayer, the reading of the Scriptures, and obedience to the Word. The Lord teaches us obedience in a step-by-step process. If we are not faithful to obey given the things he has revealed to us, he will not break in and give us new revelation. He won't give us new commands if we don't even follow the ones we've already been given. Also keep in mind, as you consider these principles that the Lord uses His Spirit, The Word, prayer, our circumstances, and others in the church to reveal his word to us.

Here are a few things to keep in mind in trying to discern the will of the Lord:

1. The first thing to remember is that our own hearts intentionally deceive us; i.e. they purposefully try to lead us astray. Jeremiah 17:9, tells us, "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" This passage tells us that our very own hearts will try to lead us astray, and that they will do so more than any other thing. Genesis 6:5 also tells us, "then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." These passages warn us that we may think a path is proper, or that the Lord is trying to guide us in a certain direction, when, in actuality, it is our own wicked heart leading us. When you feel like the Lord is saying something to you, check your heart prayerfully to see if it might be leading you astray. This can be a very practical exercise: check to see if you can find any selfish motives that might be influencing you. If you can, then it's possible that that you are being deceived; and if so, don't act immediately upon your impulse, but wait for the Lord to confirm the word using some other circumstance. Make sure to spend time in prayer, asking the Lord to reveal the truth to you.

2. Proverbs 24:6, tells us that it is wise to have as many people as possible counseling us in our decisions. The more counsel, the more likely we are to make wise choices. I point this out to say that it is always important to turn to wise men of God to seek their help on discerning the Lord's voice. You are not the only person with the Holy Spirit. God has not chosen to reveal truth to you alone. The truth is that there are many who know the Lord better than you, and who have walked with him longer than you, who have much wisdom to impart to you. You shouldn't reject their advice totally without having a good reason.

This being said, keep in mind that like you and me both, people are wicked and deceitful as well, and their hearts don't always tell them the truth either; thus we should always check other people's advice against other evidences. Read Romans 3:10-18 to see that people are inherently evil, and do not naturally seek after the things of God. It may be hard to tell whether a person is wise or not, so it is important to take the time to get to know your counselors; those who show themselves to be faithful men of God and who demonstrate the gifts of the Spirit, should be trusted for sage advice.

It is important to note here that the Church is meant to be a discerner of the Lord's will to a certain degree. Church leaders definitely make mistakes, and none of them are to be considered oracles of God, speaking his word and will infallibly; but God has given people to the church to perform various roles, one of which is to discern his will about a great many things. In Acts fifteen, we see the elders of the church gathering to determine whether one needs to be circumcised and follow the whole law to be saved (not that they determined this doctrine, but they were trusted with the ability to interpret the Scriptures carefully and correctly). We also see the church playing a role in determining the ministry and the calling of certain individuals, as in Acts 13 where God spoke to a bunch of the prophets and leaders of the church at Antioch to send Paul and Barnabas as missionaries to Turkey and Greece. We don't simply see the Spirit speaking to Paul and Barnabas; we see the Spirit speaking to Paul and Barnabas through the Church. We cannot consider the determinations of the Church to be perfect or infallible in any sense, but we should recognize it as authoritative to a certain degree.

3. James 4:1-4 gives some stirring advice regarding prayer. It tells us that divisions exist in the Church primarily because people are lustful and covetous. He then tells them that the reason they do not get the things they want is because they do not ask God for them. This, of course, raises the question of why we often do not get the things we ask of God. To this James replies that we "ask and do not receive, because [we] ask amiss, that [we] may spend it on [our] pleasures." (vs. 3) This passage does not speak about how God speaks to us, but it does reveal a very important point: we are driven by our pleasures. The passages that speak about asking God for things in prayer teach us a great deal about the will of God because, as we will see in the next point, God grants our prayer requests according to his will and not according to our own. So we need to know his will if we are to have the Lord grant our requests. James 4 points out that we will not get what we want when we ask the Lord for things that fulfill our filthy lustful desires; this tells me that lustful desires will not be granted by the Lord. So, in principle, if I think the will of the Lord is focused on indulging my desires, I am probably wrong.

4. We must check everything we think we hear against what is revealed in the Bible. God gives no contrary revelations. We know that he spoke to the prophets and the apostles, so we can know that whatever they say about him is right. If somebody supposedly receives a word from the Lord that contradicts the Bible, you can be certain that that word is wrong. God does not change his mind and he does not contradict his word (Malachi 3:6, John 10:35, II Timothy 3:16). So the fundamental principle here is too keep studying the Word. Learn it front and back.

5. In I John 5:15 we read, "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." The Bible teaches us that we will receive whatever we ask of God if we ask according to his will. How does this help me? Since I cannot seem to discern his will, this promise seems impractical. As with the James 4 passage quoted above, this passage is discussing prayer, but, as I said earlier, as we learn about prayer we learn about how to discern God's voice. This is the most important point of all: the main way that we learn to discern the voice of the Lord is to get to know Him. The longer I walk with Jesus: the more I read his word and the more I pray the more I understand what the will of the Lord is. Paul points out in I Corinthians 2:16 that we have the mind of Christ if we have the Holy Spirit, which means that we think like the Lord. As you walk longer with the Lord, you will begin to see that you hear his voice more and more clearly, and you will get to the point where you receive an impression and automatically know that it is of the Lord because you know him; you know the way he thinks; you know the way he works. Furthermore, you will become more familiar with the voices of the flesh and of the evil one, because they will so clearly contrast with everything you know of the Lord.

6. Keep in mind that the Lord does not speak audibly to people in general. This is not to say that it is absolutely impossible that it could happen, but there is nobody that he has that kind of relationship with. Numbers 12:6-8 tells us that Moses alone was able to speak to God audibly. We do, however, see the Lord speaking to many people throughout the Scriptures: Gen 12:1-3, 17:9-14, 22:1-2, I Sam 3, I Kings 19:11-18, all of the prophetic books in the Old Testament (i.e. "The Word of the Lord came to me..." etc.), Acts 13:2, 13:4, 15:28, 20:23, and 21:11. Take special notice of the passages in Kings and Acts. These passages show God talking to people other than Moses. Some of these are in dreams and visions, but some of them are messages delivered to waking people. How are they delivered? It is hard to say, but I imagine that it is communicated directly to the heart and mind of the hearer in what seems to be referred to in the Kings 19 passage as a "still small voice". This is the kind of voice we should expect to hear.

7. It is important to recognize that God does speak to us through our circumstances. He knows how we will react in a given situation, so he knows how to arrange our circumstances such that we will do what he wants. It's a crude picture and certainly not in the right spirit of what God is doing with us, but I often picture a person directing a bug by cutting off his path. The bug is heading north, so the observer sticks a piece of wood in the bugs way causing him to turn to the right or to the left. I imagine God doing something similar (although his reasons for doing so are good, beautiful, and just allowing at the same time for the working of our own free will) (see Acts 17:26-27). Now it is important to note, however, that, even though God speaks to us through our circumstances, the fact that circumstances are difficult does not mean that the Lord is prohibiting a certain course of action. Many of the things in life that the Lord calls his people to are difficult. They may even seem impossible, but that does not mean that the Lord would not have us follow that course of action. See Matthew 7:13-14, Acts 21:11-14, II Cor 1:8-11.

8. We need to believe that God still speaks. Romans 12:6 tells us that if we are to prophesy it must be in proportion to our faith. We can only obey the voice of the Lord if we first believe that he speaks to us. So we need to believe that he does so and act accordingly. Those who do not believe that he speaks will not hear his voice. Unbelief creates a lack of prophetic voice: 1 Sam 3:1

9. Not all people are prophets. The gift of prophecy is distinct from the mere hearing of the Lord's voice, but it is akin. Prophecy comes when God gives a message regarding future events to his prophets and equips them to proclaim that truth. We need to remember that the office of prophet is legitimate, and, in proportion to our faith, we need to act in accordance with prophecies as they are delivered. I Thessalonians 5:20, warns us not to despise prophetic utterance; we need to recognize that God speaks through his people and act upon it. At the same time we need to remember that there are false prophets, so we need to learn to distinguish between the two. A good test of this can be found in Deuteronomy 18: 20-22: if a person prophecies in the name of the Lord and what he says does not come to pass then he is a false prophet.

10. The Lord doesn't speak in all situations, and, when this is the case, it is o.k. to make our decisions based on reason and not on the voice of the Lord. There are people who will not do anything unless they feel that the Lord has spoken to them. I've even heard of people who would refuse to get out of Bed until they heard the distinct voice of the Lord telling them to do so. This is sheer nonsense. God gave us minds; it is o.k. to use them. (See Acts 15:25, 28) Well, these are the things that I can think of regarding the voice and the will of the Lord. I hope that these points are helpful. There are many far more able to speak on this topic than I, but these are the things I've learned over the last few years as I have tried to understand how to discern the voice of the Lord. It has been a blessing to share with you. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

Blessings,
Thom

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