How do you know the will of God? Anybody ever tried to figure that one out? How do I discern the will of God? How do you know of a will of God? That is a skill that you want to develop. That is a skill that you can learn.
Many of us have learned the hard way to be a bit more careful and develop this skill in our life because mistakes hurt.
And mistakes are humiliating. So we’ve learned, sad to say, too many times by trial and error. We’ve learned to develop this skill, how to know the will of God. Well, I wanted to give an expanded answer to this question this morning,
God has a will and desire and purpose for each one of us.
We must discern it and do it all the days of our life. In fact, if that doesn’t cross our mind. If that’s not a desire in our hearts, I think we’ll stumble around all our days because the reason why we are here is to discern and then do the will of God, the God who made us.
We must discern it and do it. I’m not sure if in all the minor details, whether God has a distinct wheel in every single thing we do. I kind of tossed that back and forth and sometimes I say Yay, and sometimes I think, well, maybe not. But as you consider the subject of walking by the promptings of the spirit of God, it gets down to some pretty small details at times.
But this I do know, I’m very sure on the major decisions that God has a will for me, that if I need to make a decision, I should not be making that decision without being able to walk through some clear steps that will put me in tune with the heart of God in his direction for my life and my family.
“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,” Matthew 6:10.
God has a will for our life, our desire and a purpose for each and every one of us. We must learn to methodically discern the will of the Lord for major decisions. Major changes in our line. I’ll move to another place, a change of jobs, a property to buy, our business to start or stop, our courtship.
These are just a few examples of things that I’d like to lay out that we dare not just go and do something. The Apostle Paul would not go to Rome on the good idea.
He wouldn’t do that. He knew that he was a man of like passions just like we are, and he knew that he had lots of good ideas or they were good things that he wanted to do.
Colossians 1: 9-10 we get a glimpse into Paul’s heart concerning the subject for the Colossians.
He says “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
Paul is simply saying there in Colassians, “I want to see you live out the word of God, the of God for your life, and I’m praying with a great desire in our hearts that you will be able to discern the will of God, that God will fill your heart with his will, with the knowledge of his will, and you will increase in that knowledge of his will more and more.” That’s what Paul wanted for the Colossians.
Of one of his fellow travelers who labored together with him in his church planting work, Paul says, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always
That was Paul’s desire. That is my desire, that each one of us would stay and perfect. Someone wisely said,”The will of God is the safest place where you could ever be.“
Doesn’t matter where it is, it doesn’t matter what the circumstances are. If you’re in the will of God, you’re in the safest place where you could be on this side of heaven. Your life may be in danger, you may be naked, hungry and without companionship, yet it is still the safest place you will ever be.
Paul said it this way, “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,” Romans 15:30.
I want you to notice the flow of these words here. He’s coming down to the end of his epistle to the Romans, the church at Rome, and he’s beseeching them for prayers on his behalf. I want you to see how his desire for the will of God comes out in these verses.
Paul says, “That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints,That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed” Romans 15:31-32.
“By the will of God,” that was Paul’s burden. I want to come. Pray that I’ll be able to come to you by the will of God in God’s time and God’s way by God’s meeting. When God opens up the door, that I will come to you by the will of God. That was his desire.
Paul recognized that he could also do the same thing, not by the will of God. He could go to a certain place and be in the wrong place. There were places as you read through the book of Acts where he said, “we desired to go here, but the spirit wouldn’t let us. I think we tried to go over here and we were hindered by the spirit.”
“Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,” Acts 16:6.
Hebrews 13:20-21, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever.”
And Paul brings that out, “working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ.” We see this theme all the way through Paul’s writings. He keeps moving the people in the direction and creating a desire in their heart to do God’s will.
I want to be in God’s will. That’s the way we are. That’s our desire, but yet many times we make moves that we should remake and it’s something major. We shouldn’t do it until we have proved the will of God through good, clear principles revealed in God’s word. That’s my burden.
Consider David, “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers,” Acts 13:36
By the will of God, not by the will of David, not by the good ideas of David, not by the desires of David, but by the will of God. David served his own generation. Every one of us are called to do the same thing. We may live in our generation. We are alive and well and God wants us somehow to serve our generation while we’re alive. We need to know what God’s will is so that we can serve our generation.
Every one of us
In Acts 22 God is speaking to the Apostle Paul, when he met the Lord on the road to Damascus, he was speaking to him and revealing things to him. And in chapter 22 verse 14 we break into the middle of Paul’s testimony and find these words, “And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.“
He said “Paul, God arrested you on the road to Damascus and he has chosen you show that you might know his will.”
I would say to each and every one of us, it is no less so, for any of us. God has arrested us on the road of life. God has arrested our attention. He has grabbed us. He has gripped us for what? That we may know the will of God for our life.
We are here to do God’s will. We have been saved to fulfill God’s will in our life.
So how can I know the will of God? We’ve seen all these scriptures. We can see what God’s heart is by looking at these scriptures, but how do I get from point A to point B?
Yes, I have a heart. My heart wants to do God’s will, but how do I get that simple heart, this desire to do God’s will worked out in everyday life where I have decisions that I need to make, where I’m facing things that I’m not sure what to do about? How do I know the will of God?
There are five steps to this skill of discerning God’s will, and by the way, this is the method by which George Mueller used to discern the will of God in his day. Remember, he served God from his conversion at about 20 years old till his death at 95, discerning God’s will for his life. I think we ought to listen to him and this method that’s George Mueller used.
He got it out of the word of God because he was a man who read his Bible. He read it over and over and over and over again, and when he was done, he started over again and he didn’t get tired of reading it. It was always new and fresh to him and he read it over so many times in his 70 plus years of his Christian life that he’s heart was full of it.
George Mueller used these five points to discern God’s will in his orphanages and in every major area of his life.
Point number one, the foundation of knowing the will of God. This is number one. If you don’t get this, you might as well throw the rest of them away, you will end up in utter frustration. If you skip point number one, if for whatever reason you don’t want to reckon with point number one, you can skip the rest of them. It won’t come out right for you. Point number one, the foundation of knowing the will of God is an absolutely, totally surrendered life.
The foundation of knowing the will of God is an absolutely, totally surrendered life.
You cannot discern the will of God in any particular situation if you’re not all on the altar.
These verses in Romans are probably the clearest definition of discerning the will of God that you can find in the New Testament. They all packed together in two verses. We must begin here if we have a major decision that we need to make and we’re not willing to reckon with this point right here. It may be the reason why we are being frustrated and confused and just wandering around and wondering why this thing is so hard. We must begin here.
“I beseech you
I want that good and perfect will of God for me. Listen to what God says. God was a thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in his sight for you. I’m not going to settle for anything less.
So what does that have to do with the will of God? Well, you know, sometimes, and it’s this way with God’s will. You look down the road with the eyes of your heart. You look down the road and you, you sense things, you see things, but there are a bit blurry and you’re not sure what it is. We want to know the ending of the journey. We want to know where God is taking us, but sometimes, it is not clear.
So we have to walk today in the known will of God and two months from now, we will see where this was leading. That’s number one – a surrendered life.
Number two, this is the tough one. “Not my will, but thine be done,” Luke 22:42. This is the hardest part.
Many times God’s will is tainted by mine. Will George Mueller said, “My will was 90% of the problem of discerning God’s will.” That was George Muellar.
Ninety percent of the problem of discerning God’s will was my will, and again, we’re talking about a godly man, a dedicated man, a man who was filled with all kinds of good desires. But good desires are not enough. It’s got to be God’s desire for my life, and Muellar testified that his will was 90% of the problem.
Many times we desire something with sincere hearts. It’s not an evil desire. It’s a good desire, but good desires are not enough. When we are are discerning major changes in our lives. A good desire is not enough. There’s lots of good desires. There’s lots of things we can do, but I don’t want to just do lots of things. I want to be in the will of God.
Let me say this. God does not hide his will from his people. How many ever felt like God was hiding his will? God does not hide his will, but sometimes we think, “Lord, what’s the deal? How come this is so difficult?”
God is not hiding his will from you. It’s because of my own desires that are in there that it becomes a bit grey to see exactly what God is saying to do. We look a long time to try to see exactly what God wants us to do, but our vision is blocked by our own will, desires and ideas. It’s what God says and what God wants versus what do I want.
On this second point, Muellar was saying that he cannot go any further until he gets his heart to the place where his heart is totally, absolutely given up on everything that he may want.
“Not my will, but thine be done,” is the greatest challenge of discerning the will of God for our life.
Remember, God does not hide his will. He is not in that business. He’s not holding it over here and watching you run around in a frustrated way trying to figure out what you’re supposed to do. God does not do that. He is not that kind of a God.
Point number three, the witness of the spirit. What is the spirit of God’s saying in my heart?
With these next few points, we’re talking, about checks and balances. None of these stand all by themselves. And if you let one stand all by itself, you will stumble and fall, but if you will bring all of them together, you will find that God in his wisdom from his word, has given us a checks and balance to see if we are properly discerning his will.
What is the witness of the spirit in my heart concerning the will of God?
Romans 8:12-14 “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
Now here we see very clearly in the word of God that God leads his people by his spirit. God’s spirit bears witness with our spirit. This is usually how the will of God begins to unfold. Maybe we’re sitting in our quiet time, maybe we’re having a time alone and then we’re driving somewhere and, it’s quiet and we’re just thinking and we hear the voice of God begin to speak to us about a change of direction in our life.
What is the spirit of God saying in my heart? And it’s at this point, that it’s not what I think in my head. There is a difference between what I think in my head and what the spirit of God is saying in my heart. And the difference is 18 inches.
My head might be saying many things, but I must be wise enough to stay clear enough with God and get alone with God long enough to hear the voice of God above all the other voices saying, “this is the way. Walk you in it.”
I know how Christians can be. Lots of Christians would just as soon go ask the pastor and then just do what he says. That’s safer than just shooting out all on your own and skipping many of the points that I’m sharing, but you know God would have you discern from the depths of your own heart, by the voice of his spirit, speaking to you personally about God’s direction for your life.
Some of us need to grow up a bit. The witness of the spirit of God in our hearts, George Mueller discerned God’s will this way, hundreds of times. God used him to channel $50 million through his hands, $50 million. Why would God channel $50 million through his hands? Because God knew that George Mueller is not going to get a big pile of money in his hand and say, “Oh, now let’s put it over here, or let’s give it over there, or let’s send it here.” George Mueller didn’t do that. When he found a big pile of money in his hand, he fell on his face before God and said, “what is the spirit of God’s saying to do with this money?” He supported tens of thousands of bibles and supported missionaries all over the world.
He did.
What is the spirit of God’s saying in my heart? That’s point number three.
Point number four, the witness of the word.
What does the word of God say about this direction that I think that God wants me to go. What does the word of God say? These two points, number three and point number four agree in one. The witness of the spirit and the witness of the word are one. You can count on that.
God’s spirit will never lead you to do something that is contrary to God’s word. Many a young lady felt God was leading them by his spirit and married an unbeliever, hoping, trusting, that they’ll be able to win them to Lord afterwards. That was not God’s spirit, but it happens all the time. Sometimes it turns out all right. Most times, though, it’s a life long spanking.
God’s Word and God’s spirit witness together concerning the direction we should go in our lives. So if you find yourself in a place where you are needing to discern the will of God immerse your heart and mind in God’s word. While you are discerning God’s spirit through his word, he will speak wisdom and direction to your life.
When it’s time to discern the direction in our lifeit’s time to come to the word of God with a searching heart. I’m searching God’s heart concerning the direction that I need to take. If you come to the word of God that way you will be amazed how many verses God will speak to you out of in every different place in the Bible. That’s why I like to be reading in different places at the same time. God brings them all together and you begin to see what the will of God is concerning a decision you need to make. Stay in the word of God. If you’re trying to make a decision and you don’t take time to read the Bible, I think you’re gonna make a mistake.
Sometimes when I need to make a decision and I’m searching the heart of God through his word, I’ll sit down and read the Bible several hours a day, for several days. That’s a long time. So are the mistakes we make when we don’t. They’re long too. And I don’t want to make a mistake.
Please don’t get me wrong. I’ve got my share of mistakes behind me, I’m just saying, there’s wisdom in God’s word. There have been times when I went to the word of God to discern the will of God and I thought I had it all straightened out myself and by the time I finished, I discovered I was wrong and God was right and he changed my whole perspective on some dumb thing that I was going to do.
The witness of the word, God’s word will check you. Remember we spoke about checks and balances.
If you just take point number three and skip the rest of this study, you can really sound spiritual. The spirit of God said to me today, “Do this and this.” I don’t feel that’s very spiritual if you don’t back it up with some checks and balances. If you don’t compare it to God’s word.
I’ve watched a lot of shipwrecks in the last 20 years of my ministry where the spirit of God told someone to do something, but there were no checks and there were no balances. People, good-hearted Christians, even pastors and missionaries wanting to do God’s will felt the Holy Spirit was directing them, but they didn’t spend time in the Bible before making their decision. Something sounded good, it felt good and they mistook it for God’s will. We need those checks and balances. God has put them right here in the Bible.
So what is the spirit of God saying and how does the word of God witness in my heart? It’s about seeking out his will for me and discerning that direction from the principles in the word of God. That’s a wise thing to do.
Number five, the witness of godly counselors.
I want to remind you now, George Muellar, this man who heard the voice of God above so many other in his day, never made a major move without the witness of godly counselors.
Proverbs 11:14, “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”
The Book of Proverbs says you need to hear what somebody else has to say. You know who your counselor is. Your ministers, mature Christian friends, your husband or your wife; these are your counseling team. We need to go to them and say, “here’s what I think I’m hearing from the Lord. What do you think?”
Go to people who know you. Go to people who love you. Go to people who want the best for you. Don’t make the mistake of going to those who will tell you what you want to hear. You will always find somebody who will tell you what you want to hear.
That really seems spiritual. You go there and you get your catalog of those who will say, “Yes, do that.” But the ones that you know will probably say, “I don’t feel good about it.” You don’t go to them. Don’t do that. You’ll never discern the will of God that way.
I’ve learned through the years, God’s spirit bears witness in the hearts of godly men and women and lays out a clear path of God’s will and direction in my life.
The witness of Godly counselors? You say, “I don’t want to go there. He, he won’t tell me what I want to hear.” You should go there. Absolutely. If you know someone who disagrees with what you’re doing, that should be one of the first places you go. Hear another side, be sure you are not missing something.
So we have five things to guide us as we seek God’s will in our life. And there is great blessing in finding and abiding in God’s will: 1 John 2:17 “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
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