What’s So Confusing About God’s Will?

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, August 07, 2007 - What’s So Confusing About God’s Will?


One of the frequent questions I receive from listeners is how can they know God's will for their lives. Yesterday I pointed out that God's will is not a great mystery or a treasure hunt. He will make it more than clear to us when we meet the prerequisites.

Romans 12:2 says: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

If I want to know God's will in my life, in any situation, I must make certain that I am continually being transformed by a renewing of my mind. Now what does that mean to me in my everyday life? It means I must replace my own thinking with biblical thinking. How do I do that? I have to know the Bible, I have to stay in it daily, it must be my highest priority.

I know from 1 Corinthians 2:16 that as a child of God, I have the mind of Christ within me because His Spirit lives in my body. Therefore, the more I turn my mind over to the Spirit of God within me, the more I think biblically, the way Jesus thinks. Then, as Romans 12:2 says, I will be able to test and approve God's will for me in any situation. No mystery or confusion when I meet God's terms.

Another prerequisite, as found in Proverbs 3:5-6 is that we must not lean to our own understanding. We have to be totally open to God's plan, rather than ask God to bless our plans. Maybe you've been trying to figure it all out and then give God the game plan. Doesn't work that way; we can't lean to our own understanding.

First Thessalonians 4:3-7 tells us, It is God's will that you should be sanctified; that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God, and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him...For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

This makes God's will for my life pretty clear, doesn't it? I must abstain from sexual sins, control my body, subdue my passions and treat others fairly. That's God's will for each of us, and that will keep most of us busy for awhile.

Do you want to know God's will for your life? Start working on these prerequisites. I promise you, by the authority of God's Word, that when you are willing to live a pure life and you daily seek to have your mind transformed by the Word of God, allowing Him to set the agenda, knowing what God wants you to do will not be a puzzle or a mystery. You'll know the will of God for you.