But how do we get answers?
The original question can presume that you have no idea what to do next, or that your future is a complete blank. Or it implies that you know what you would do but you are not sure what God would have you do, as if they were two very different courses of action. But we can know quite a bit already about God's will when we start praying.
The Scriptures obviously contain many stories, teachings, opinions, instructions and commands of God about his will. Becoming a student of Jesus opens up the Scriptures for you, helping you discern what God has already revealed to humanity about his will.
By becoming familiar with the Scriptures as a student of Jesus, you can begin to more confidently discern what is God's will for your life. As you begin to see the arc of God's covenantal work in the world, you put pieces together about what God is doing and why. Scripture teaches us that God is in a covenant relationship with Israel and all who follow Jesus. For those in a covenant relationship with God through Christ there are many promises and pledges made to us. There are also many words of wisdom for how to live and what to live for. These instructions deal with the here and now as well as the looming future.
Maybe you've been reading the Scriptures as a student of Jesus and you're still not sure what to do or think or feel. That's where finding a mature Christian friend or pastor can be so helpful. Connecting with others who have spent much time and energy studying the Scriptures as a wise student of Jesus can be a way forward in clarity. Both by their experiences in life and prayer they can help you sort out decisions and the will of God. They will provide more perspective for your situation - not only theirs but the perspective of others that have shaped their life. These conversations can open up the Scriptures to you in new ways, helping you see more clearly what God's will has always been for humanity, and what it is for today.
In letting Scriptures and other mature students of Jesus helping you discern God's will for your life, you are drawing upon experience, history, tradition and reason. Clearly the emotions of the moment can cloud your thinking, so letting others use reason to help you sort out conflicting ideas and confusing experiences is a gift. But sometimes the logical analysis leaves you paralyzed, and a friend can help you tap into those inner desires and passions that you believe come from God. But this is within the context of how God has worked through the years, the decades and centuries and even millennia. We need that perspective and wisdom to better understand God's will for life.
You might have been hoping there was an easier way to know God's will for your life. Can't you just pray to God and he can just tell you the answer? If he knows the answer, and it's a good - even crucial answer, what kind of God would make you work for it or withhold it and make you wonder and wait? If God knows everything, and he sees so many people messing up, why doesn't he make his will more obvious and easier to access? Wouldn't people do the right thing more often if God was more obvious and effective in communicating his will?
That's where becoming with familiar with the Scriptures will give some insight into how humanity works. The people of Israel experienced God in mighty ways, they knew that their leader Moses was a friend of God, and yet they doubted God, rebelled against him, grumbled against him and tested him, despite the obviousness of God's provision and presence.
So it was again with Jesus - God in the flesh to teach us his will. Even when God became one of us, he was still misunderstood and mocked for his instructions about his will. And so we must learn from history and human reality.
The context for asking God what his will is for your life happens within the context of a covenant relationship. A covenant is where two people (or in this case God and Israel and the disciples of Jesus) commit to a relationship with certain terms. God initiated this covenant with Abraham, solidified it in stone with Moses, and demonstrated his determination to keep it and even renew it with Jesus.
The deal of the covenant could be summarized like this: God's part of the covenant is to bless Abraham and all his descendants (which includes all those who believe in Jesus). God will bless them, he will make them a blessing, and he will bless the world through them. What was Abraham and his descendant's requirement for the covenant relationship? To be loyal to God, to follow his instructions, and be faithful to the covenant.
So what is God's will for your life? To let God bless you, that you might be a blessing, and so the whole world can be blessed because of you. How awesome is that life?!
This obviously also means that God's will for your life includes wholehearted loyalty to Him and no other idols, that you will diligently understand and follow all his instructions for life, and that you will persevere in keeping your end of the covenant relationship.
In other words, love God, love your neighbor, and never give up on either.
Maybe you were looking for more specific guidance on particular current issues or complex problems affecting future situations?
In light of what we've just reviewed, let's be honest about the nature of what we tend to ask God when we seek his will. At one level we want assurance that we will be making the right decision for our success. But we ask out of fear.
We're afraid of making the wrong decision. Think about it: you are coming to God in fear that you will make the wrong decision unless he makes clear what he wants you to do. You then in your fear put the future decision in God's hands, relieving yourself of responsibility for it - if you make the wrong decision it's God's fault for not being more clear, and if it goes well, then clearly God answered your prayer.
But what is God's will for you? To trust him! How can you learn to trust him if you are asking him about your future in fear of failure?
We ask God's will for assurance in making the right decision. But, honestly, sometimes we ask God to reveal his will for issues and decisions that are pretty much about our personal ambition and accumulation of material goods that provide either more status or security. "Dear God, should I buy this house? This car? Go to this school? Take this job? Have kids? etc." If you want to know God's will so that you can get help in order to achieve the American Dream, then you may be on your own. God wants to bless you with something bigger and better then the American Dream. He has his sights on the Kingdom.
For a lot of people I know, asking God for direction and help is an act of desperate trust. It comes from lives that are trying to survive their way through the world as best they can, hoping God can maybe help them out once in a while.
All I can say is that God wants to bless you and use you to bless others. It may not solve all your problems or always make everything easier, but God's will is definitely rooted in love for you and loving others through you. What do you want in your life? Success? A life of ease? Less problems? Happiness? or Love? For those that want more love in their life - and the power and energy and vision to love deeply and richly - that's what God's will is ultimately for everyone.
At one level, it doesn't matter where you live, where you work, where you go to church, what you accomplish. If it is not done in love for God and neighbor, it will come to nothing. If you aren't seeking God's kingdom ahead of your own, you won't want God's will to prevail in your life.
But at another level, everything you do and decide matters. People matter. Life matters. Our world matters. Our society matters. Where civilization is going matters. How your city and country is doing matters. This is our Father's World, and we believe that Jesus is the Lord and King, working to set everything right. Our work as students of Jesus is to learn from him in how to lead and love in this world that he is rescuing from evil and redeeming for good. It's here that every decision matters. But rather then creating more pressure to do the right thing, it opens up a freedom known as grace and peace.
God's will is prevailing in this messy world through his love as demonstrated in Jesus. It's a messy world. If we're trying to avoid the mess and set ourselves up for success, we may asking God for direction that he's not interested in guiding. But if we're willing to let God use us to enter into the mess of this world - of our family and neighbors - with a commitment to upholding our covenant relationship of love, we will know what God wants for us. Once we gain clarity on the bigger picture, it will shine as light into our murky atmosphere.
Here are some wrap-up observations:
1. God will never reveal his will in such a way that it diminishes your trust in him. Whatever answer you are seeking from God, what he shares will then require more trust in him, not less. If you are looking for assurance for the present or future so that then you can go on your merry way and not really take God into consideration for awhile, well then you'll just have your luck to go on.
2. God wants you to dig deep and give more love to the people he has placed in your life. Whatever decision you are considering, is it motivated by love, will it enable love to flourish, or will it just help you get what you want.
3. Jesus is our best illustration of what God is doing in the world and what his will is for individuals and humanity. Bypassing Jesus and his life in the Gospels and just asking God for information - well it won't work. If you are looking for clarity for God's will in your life, but you aren't interested in learning more from Jesus, you misunderstand the point. God's will for you is rooted in following the way of Jesus. Will what you're asking for enrich your following of Jesus or just enrich you?
4. The Spirit of God that filled Jesus is present within us. We are not asking a God who is far away on the other side of the universe what he wants us to do now or next. We are pondering a decision with God who's Spirit is within us, making it's home in us. This Spirit of Jesus is who we are learning to let rule and lead our life. Which then means our questions about direction are more about submission then support for our ambitions. Which is it for you?
5. God's will for your life is that you will become more holy. When it comes to morals and ethics (money, power, sex, appetites, desires, lusts, vows, etc), God commands you to be holy. Not much squiggle room there. You'll know that you're resisting holiness when you're looking for loopholes. Or confident that you're more holy then everyone else. We can't become holy without God. He's the one who makes us holy. So if you're asking for wisdom on complicated and confusing situations, know that God wants to help you do more then just make the right decision, he wants you to desire holiness.
6. God's will for your life is to be full of thanksgiving in all circumstances. Every good gift is from God. When you begin to see how much good is already in your life, you'll see how generous and present and active God is already in your life. Which increases your confidence about what ever is next. Odds are you're confused about the present or near future because you're unclear about God's presence in the past. Begin to identify all the good that has been given to you - acts of grace from God that you didn't deserve but are from the one who is Love. (and if you think you're the main one responsible for what is good in your life, well then you probably won't like what God wants you to do next anyways...). As you begin to discern how big and beautiful this covenant relationship with God is becoming, how can you not be grateful always?
7. God's will for your life includes being a blessing for your neighborhood and city, your friends and all the people Christ has connected to you. If you get the answer you are looking for, who all will be better off because of that gift? God's will for Israel was to bless the world. God's will for the Church (all Christians) is to join Israel in blessing the world through Christ. Is the direction of your life one of blessing for your community? Do the day to day decisions and desires result in you bringing more good gifts to the people in your life, or mostly just for you? Is the holiness and gratitude that is pouring out of you like a redemptive blessing for your neighbors and family and friends and enemies?
Look: with a God like this committed to blessing you and blessing the world through you as he transforms you into a blessing, you can't go wrong!
He takes all your mistakes and sins and unholiness and he is the one that transforms it - that's what he promised to do. With the help of God's Sprit we daily choose loyalty, we can moment by moment choose obedience, and as we choose to persevere, we both learn our frailty and thus deep dependence on Jesus. But this adds a new kind of energy and hope and power from the Spirit of Christ which makes new things possible.
And isn't that what we really want when we wonder what is God's will for life?
A few more details:
* If you ask God what his will is for you in a specific situation, he will probably not tell you the answer in the manner or time-table you desire. But when and how he does it will be brilliant and on time. Never early though, nor late.
* God wants you to know and do his will for your life - he will test you to see if you really want to know it. The harder you fight for it, the more you'll value and do what you asked God to tell you. The bigger the issue, the longer you'll need to spend in prayer with God about his will. If you want the answer, put in the time and energy.
* God answers by his Spirit through Scripture, other Christians, experience and circumstances, reason and emotion. It can be a slow dawning of realization or a sudden burst of insight. It might be a whisper or a clear command of direction. It's up to God on how he communicates it. We can trust that he never has a problem making his will known.
* When you ask God to reveal his will, remember that he is your Father who is working for his will to prevail throughout all the universe, including planet Earth. He's hearing your prayers and a few billion more. And he's working to answer them all at the same time, knitting together an unfathomable number of hopes and dreams so that His Kingdom comes in their lives. Our lives.
Remember: what ever direction you want for your life, the answer he provides is somehow tied up with the prayers and future of others. Keep that in mind when you wonder why it's taking so long or why it turned out the way it did. The answer God gives is impacting many more lives then you envisioned.
So there you go. Now you know more about what is God's will for your life. But, you probably still have more questions. Post them below in the comment. I'd love to interact with you about them.
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