What is God’s will for my life? This is one of the most prevalent questions people ask me as a minister. This is because there is something innate inside of all of us that knows we were made for a divine purpose. The challenge is we often struggle to know what that purpose is.
Before we go further I want to ask you a question:
Do you know if you are in God’s perfect will for your life?
Anytime I’ve ever asked that question when I’m ministering publicly most people will not raise their hands to say they are confident they are in God’s will for their life. To me, this is a tremendous problem. I can’t think of anything more tragic than running a race and winding up at the wrong finish line. This is exactly what we are doing when we don’t know God’s will.
Usually when people think of God’s will for their life they are thinking about subjective matters like which career they are called to, which city they should live in, or who they are supposed to marry. These are subjective because there isn’t a scripture any of us can turn to in order to tell us the name of our spouse, the career we are called to, or the city we are supposed to live. God’s will is unique for all of us in those matters and we have to seek Him in order to find His plan.
There are things, however, the Bible is very clear about. These things are what I would call the objective will of God because they are true for all of us. An example of this is 1 Thessalonians 4:3:
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality.
According to this verse God’s will is that we remain sexually pure. The Bible is clear about that. Most people will say that is obvious, but then ask the question, what does that have to do with me finding God’s will in areas like my career, where to live, and who to marry?
That’s a great question. My response would be to look at Joseph. We all agree that Joseph fulfilled God’s will for his life as far as the appropriate career; governor of Egypt. Prior to becoming governor, however, he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife to commit adultery. Joseph resisted and fled temptation. Potiphar’s wife then claimed he raped her, which led to Joseph’s imprisonment.
While on the surface it doesn’t appear like Joseph’s sexual purity and career are linked, can you imagine what would have happened to Joseph if Potiphar would have caught him in the act of adultery with his wife? He would have killed him. Most scholars believe the reason Potiphar put Joseph in prison instead of having him killed was because he doubted his wife’s claims.
Joseph’s purity preserved his life and God used the prison where he was incarcerated to be the stepping stone for his destiny. Joseph’s sexual purity in the objective will of God positioned him so God could place Joseph in God’s will for his career, city he was supposed to live in, and wife he was supposed to marry.
If we will learn to find and do God’s will in the things God is very clear about, many of the things we are pray about such as career, city to live in, and who to marry will become obvious.
Over the next several weeks I’m going to release a new blog every week about finding God’s will in the objective areas where the Bible is very clear. These include being a living sacrifice, living out of our identity in Christ, being thankful, staying sexually pure and so on. I believe as we take each of these things and learn them and do them, God will clarify many of the questions we have about things we don’t have a clear biblical word from God.
I want to close with Romans 12:2, which says:
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
This verse is clear that God’s will for our lives is that we transform the way we think and when we do we will actually prove out God’s will for our lives. The word prove in this verse is the Greek word dokimázō which means to test or discern. The process of mind renewal is the first place any of us learn to discern God’s will for our lives. When we do this we will verify his good, acceptable, and perfect will for our lives.
I’m excited to begin the journey of finding God’s will for our lives as we explore the word of God together over the next several weeks. If there is anyone else you know of who is lost about finding God’s will for their life, I’d ask that you email or Facebook message this article to them. I believe the truths contained in the word of God will transform all of our lives and I want to see them get out to as many as possible.
As I close I want to encourage all of us that God is more invested in us knowing His plan for our life that any of us are in knowing it. He invested Jesus to win us back to Himself. If He invested Jesus in redeeming us to Himself, we can relax and know that He will make it very clear what His will is for all of us. All we have to do is seek Him. The rest is His responsibility.
