Discovering God’s Will For Your Life – Part 1
Are you seeking God’s will for your life? If so, you are not alone. Questions regarding God’s will are among the most frequent ones I encounter as I minister around the world. It seems that, regardless of the country, continent, race, culture, gender or age, people everywhere are searching for, and desiring to fulfill, God’s will for their lives.
Generally I have found that these seekers fit into one of two categories, and I would like to address each one separately over the next few days
The first category is those that have no idea what God’s will is for their lives.
First I would ask you a simple question: where do you fit?
I encountered one young man several months ago. He was actually a Bible college student nearing graduation. He had been seeking God’s will for many years, but still had no direction. He said to me, “How can I figure out what God wants me to do with my life?” We were standing next to a lamp and I noticed that it had been unplugged. I pointed to the plug lying on the ground and said to him, “How do you know what that three-pronged contraption is for? Should I stick it in my ear or use it to comb my hair?” “Of course not…it goes into the electric socket”, he replied. How did he know that? Because of it’s shape. That plug fits so perfectly into that electric socket that there is no question that it was made for it. Even a child, who had never seen a plug or socket before, could figure out that they were made for each other.
This is one way that you can know what God wants from you. Where do you fit? What is it that you enjoy? What brings you satisfaction. I have heard people teach that God’s will always be difficult and hard. It will always be a sacrifice and you will have to die to yourself in order to be obedient. But I have seen that the most effective people in ministry and in life are not the ones forcing themselves to do some dreadful task because they feel it is the Lord’s will. Rather it is the ones that are doing something that they enjoy so much, they feel guilty taking a salary for it. When you find something that makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning, when you find something that challenges and thrills you, when you find something that you sense you were made to do, chances are, you are getting close to discovering God’s will for your life.
Continued Tomorrow…..
If the harvest is ripe in suriname what must we do? john 4:35
It’s a wonderfully practical advice! Bitterly funny, raised in old Pentecostal environment, I thought that people, who try to discover the specifphics of God for them, tend to believe that true will of God is always obscured, unthinkably hard to understand and complicated. Now, after some time in humble ministry, I realize one thing for myself – sometimes I do not know quite presizely what, when, how to do it; but I do know what we cannot do – we do not have the luxury to do nothing! Then, if we are to do anything, we can only accomplish it with Christ.
Thus, if we truly want to know the Lord’s will, He will definitely show us something, this way or another.
“for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose”. (Philippians 2:13)
As far as I can remember I always wanted to be a foreign missionary but had no desire to learn foreign languages. To my great surprise, one day I felt a strong desire to learn English and soon was provided with everything for it. “Oh, God must have a special plan for my life”, I thought. I tried to figure out where He wanted me to be. When I finally got the answer to my prayers I was quite surprised to hear that the Lord was going to send me to a place I’d never thought about…
Maybe Peter and Andrew enjoyed fishing but the Lord actually wanted them to be fishers of men. (Matthew 4:19). As we know, Jesus first tested, trained and equipped His disciples well and then sent them to preach the Gospel. Din’t Paul spend three years in Arabia as preparation for his ministry as an Apostle? I can tell you from my experience that Jesus treats us the same way today.
Ok. I think you will agree with me that we should seek God’s will before taking any important step. The Bible tells us that things went well for David when he asked the Lord what to do. But when he made his “right” decision (1 Samuel 27:1) he faced big problems aftewars. Apostle Paul made a similar mistake – he decided to consult “great” people instead of the Lord. (Acts 21:23-24)
May God help us to seek His will for all that we do!
YES!!!God’s will for your life!!!
Hi Jenny. These are some very good and valid questions you’ve raised. I hope that the coming posts will adequately address some of these issues, but if not, it would be great to have a dialogue about it right here…Im sure that others would find it helpful as well. Blessings!
Good information… looking forward to the series. My dilemma is not trying to figure out what I enjoy and what I feel tugging me it’s finding the time and resources to accomplish what I love. I’ve heard the saying, “God has given you everything you need to accomplish what he has called you to do.” Because of those words, I believe there is a time & season for everything. I do feel like I’m swimming upstream a lot of the time trying to reach my destiny. There is also a feeling that if what you’re doing is not directly related to the five fold ministry that you have somehow missed it… “How can you enjoy life and your lives work if it’s not directly related to soul winning”? So much to contemplate and maybe I’m over thinking things. Sorry for the long reply. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.