Ask Your Preacher - Archives
“How To Know God's Will”
Categories: DOCTRINE, GOD, RELATIONSHIPS, RELIGIONSI am on a quest for truth... as are so many others. Upon seeking the truth, a question hit me and has continued to taunt me in my mind.
How is it that man differentiates his will apart from God’s? There is my will, and there is God's will.
I hear VERY MANY people say, "God's will for my life is to do this and that... " Then I think, well, “If God were not part of your life, I think you would choose that same career path and life plan anyway.”
John 6:38 makes me wonder, did Jesus Himself have a will of His own apart from God’s?
Sincerely, Seeking His Will
Dear Seeking His Will,
The only way you can know God’s will is if He tells you. Many people claim to have visions from God or to ‘know in their heart that God’s will is ________’, but that is not how God communicates with us. God communicates with us through His Word (1 Cor 2:9-11). It is through hearing God’s Word that we gain an understanding of how our lives should be lived (Rom 10:17). The apostles wrote down the mystery of God’s will, so that we also can know what they knew (Eph 3:1-4). God wrote down once and for all His will for mankind in the Bible (Jude 3). The Bible contains everything that pertains to how our lives should be lived (2 Pet 1:3). The only way to know God’s will is through God’s Word – everything else is man’s opinion.
Even Jesus recognized the need to submit to God’s Word above His own. In the garden, Jesus made it clear that He did not want to die on the cross, but that He would subject His will to the Father’s (Lk 22:42). When the devil tempted Him, Jesus stated that a godly life is built upon God’s Word (Matt 4:4). Jesus Christ let God’s Word decide His future… not His own personal feelings. We must seek to imitate Christ (1 Cor 11:1). In all that we do, we must seek Bible authority. Let us go back to the Bible for our answers to all of life’s questions.
