God's Will for Your Life

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

How many of us have had to make a difficult decision in our lives and just prayed that God would reveal the answer to us? What are some big decisions you have needed to make that you prayed for a great deal before you made them? We pray all the time that God will open the door for us, or show us which decision to make. We worry ourselves sick wanting to be sure God will be happy with the job we choose, what school to attend, what person to date and marry, or which house to buy. How do we know we are in God’s will when making these decisions?

Psalm 37:4 says to delight yourself in the LORD. Last week we discussed how you know you are a Christian. We love others, we obey His commandments and they aren’t a burden but a delight, we love reading and learning from His Word, etc. This is key in understanding God’s will for your life.

When you get up in the morning and go to eat breakfast, do you pray to God asking which cereal you should eat? When you pick out which clothes to dress in for the day, do you pray for God to reveal which outfit is his will for you that day? When you are driving to work, do you pray to God which route is in His will for you to take? What is the difference between these apparently petty decisions and the decisions that give us ulcers?

Searching for God’s will in the Scriptures reveal a few things:

1. Salvation (1 Timothy 2:3-4, 2 Peter 3:9) He wants people to repent of their sins and follow Christ.
2. Be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:17-18) He wants us to be controlled by His Spirit revealed through His Word.
3. Sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7) He wants you to be continually growing in Holiness. You should be sinning less as you live and learning more from His Word. You should be loving others and serving the body more.
4. Submission (1 Peter 2:13-15) God says you should obey the commands of those in authority over you. Listen to guidance from your pastors, teachers, parents, and government. You shouldn’t ever violate clear prohibitions in the Bible, but you should trust those God placed in authority over you before you make your own decisions.
5. Suffering (Philippians 1:29, 2 Timothy 3:12) We discussed a couple weeks ago that God promises His children that they must endure suffering for His name. We shouldn’t be avoiding God’s work so we can avoid suffering. When we make decisions, we must consider if we are doing it simply to make our life easier at the cost of serving Christ, we are making a decision against God’s will.

No Scripture says that God will “lay on our hearts” or whisper in a “still small voice” or give you a perfectly timed sign or signal for the right decision we are to make (divination is actually prohibited). If you wait for God to give you a supernaturally spoken voice to guide your decision, you are going to be guessing at which of the voices in your head is the correct one, which will make your decision even more frustrating.

Important Steps in Making Big Decisions:

1. Read the Bible – that’s where you find God’s revealed will.
2. Listen to Your Conscience – God’s Spirit will convict you of unwise decisions
3. Pray Without Ceasing – Be constantly asking God for guidance and keep your eyes and ears open for answers from unlikely places and people.
4. Look for Godly Counsel – We are a body together for one purpose. Together we encourage, rebuke, teach, support, and comfort. Pastors, parents, brothers and sisters, elders, and deacons are not here to just to have something to organize. Seriously consider their thoughts when they oppose what you think you want.

When all of these things come into agreement, make your decision assured you are in God’s will. Don’t disregard the people God has placed in your life. They are there for the benefit of the church (which includes you). If you dive into a decision without spending time in prayer, how can you be sure you have listened for God’s direction or searched for guidance from His Word.

There are no stories in the Bible that tell us how to buy the right car or house, which specific person to marry, or which job to take. There are principles that guide us in making all decisions that can only help us by reading the Bible to learn them and looking for guidance from your pastor or other people who can help you make godly decisions. When buying things we need to be sure we are not wasting money God has entrusted to us. When marrying someone we need to be sure they are a believer who is going to serve God with you in that marriage. When getting a job we need to be sure we won’t be forsaking our family and church responsibilities and that we are witnesses of Christ in the workplace. If you understand and obey principles learned from studying the Bible, God says in Psalm 37:4b He shall give you the desires of your heart. If you are conforming to God’s revealed will as discussed, He places in your heart desires that reflect His will and you can choose what you want to! If the Bible does not offer any guidance for your decision, and one choice is as good as the other, you are free to do whichever you want and God works out His plan through your desires. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil (Matthew 12:34-36) If you are renewed by the Spirit, cleansed by the blood of Christ, your desires are now to please Him and the majority of the decision you make throughout the day will reflect the new heart inside.