“He has never given a command which He will not enable us to to obey. It is always possible to do the will of God.” -Elisabeth Elliot
There are so many questions around the will of God.
How do I know I am in the will of God?
What if I somehow missed what the will of God is?
What if I do something and it’s not God’s will? Is He going to be mad at me?
The pursuit of finding the will of God in our lives can be exhausting. The questions around it can scare us. Here’s the thing though, confusion isn’t from God (1 Corinthians 14:33). What is from God is peace, joy, and contentment. So when we begin to think about the will of God, here are two Bible verses I always go back to:
- “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2
When I begin wondering if I am in the will of God, I start asking myself some questions. Am I following what the world thinks is right? Am I being swayed by opinions that make sense to man? Or am I in the Word surrounding myself with God’s truth that doesn’t always make sense to man? Am I wanting to glorify myself or God? Am I renewing my mind to be closer to Jesus, or am I allowing myself be consumed by fears, anxiety or anger.
After I really put time and effort into the wisdom found in the above verse, I move onto Psalm 37:4-5
2. “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”
When my mind is constantly being renewed and I am not conformed to this world’s knowledge and logic, I can press even further into delighting in God. When I am completely in Him, I can fully surrender my way and will to Him. In that surrender to God is when He seizes the opportunity to use us to our fullest potential. He will begin to lay things on our hearts that lead us into His perfect will. Our eyes will be opened to things He is leading and calling us to because He knows we are not only willing, but truly desire to do whatever He wants us to. When we have our minds and desires in the right place we can move forward with a few different ways God works.
First off God has a plan for us all, but He specifically gave mankind two commands when He spoke to Adam years ago. He said this:
Be Fruitful and Multiply and Subdue and Rule.
He calls us to multiply the earth and subdue and rule it. Now I know we can’t all bear children, but there are always children in need of love. Whether it’s through adoptions, foster, or maybe being the most amazing aunt or “adopted” Grandma to someone. We are called to bring children into the world and love them. Whether that is our own or someone else’s child, we are called to be godly examples to children. The next command is subdue and rule. The Hebrew word for subdue is kabash which means to conquer, bring into bondage, subdue, bring into subjection. We are to conquer all evil and sin. We are to be a light that draws others into the heart of God. Everything we do needs to stem from these two commands. If we are neglecting these two commands, we need to go back to square one and see if our hearts are really in the right place. To accomplish these two commands God has given each one of us different gifts and abilities and has a plan for them to be used for the greater good of everyone.
Here is where it gets tricky. Let’s dive into a few different ways God works toward His will.
He calls us strongly to something.
This could be anything from the calling to be a stay at home mom to moving across the country as a missionary. It can be a call as small as taking a meal to a neighbor in need to as big as taking a step in faith when you are filled with uncertainty. It is that pull on your heart from either a strong thought that popped into your mind or multiple nudges in the form of signs. Or maybe it is as simple as a strong feeling of the presence of God all around you. The thing with God is, He doesn’t talk to each one of us the same. While He doesn’t speak to us in the same manner there is something we all need to have in common. We all NEED to be spending time with Him on a daily basis to hear Him when He does speak to us. If he strongly calls us to something, we can step confidently into that call knowing He will provide a way to accomplish it. We may not want to, but if we know without a doubt God is in it, we don’t need to be worried. If we truly trust and rely on Him anything He calls us to will be made possible by HIM.
I do want to add one caveat here, we are human and humans mess up. If we begin this work He has called us to and we realize we start neglecting the first two commands He gave all mankind (be fruitful and multiply–caring for His children, and subdue and rule–stamping out evil and shining our light) we need to reevaluate if it is something God wants us to continue in.
We make a choice when we are not sure or we are already in a choice we made.
Sometimes God doesn’t clearly call us to something. Sometimes we must make decisions based on what seems best, or what we personally would prefer. As long as we are in His Word, surrendered to Him completely, and living by His two basic calls, we wont make a “wrong choice”. We can go forward knowing that God will be with us wherever we go (Joshua 1:9).
What happens if we have already made a choice and now are wondering if it was really the will of God? Maybe it is a career choice, or school choice– whatever the choice, know this first and foremost: God can use you anywhere. He isn’t going to be this angry God who says “well you blew it”. No, He can help you where you are at, OR He can redeem this to be used for His glory.
It was the based on People, not God.
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we wonder if we listened to people too much and didn’t listen to God enough. Maybe we did something because we didn’t want to let someone else down, someone else thought this was God’s will, or we just simply wanted to be a people pleaser. Whatever the case, sometimes we can wonder if we are really in God’s will because we leaned to heavy on other humans opinions. Now it is critical to listen to a “great cloud of witnesses” but there can come a point where we are listening too much to people and not enough to God and His Word. If we find ourselves in this situation, remember God can redeem it, or continue to use it for His glory.
God doesn’t want us walking around worrying if we are in His will or not. He wants us to be in His Word daily with a desire to love Him more and more. When we are in His Word out of deep desire, we will be soaking in His truths and we wont be confused. Sure, there may be consequences for bad decisions, just like we discipline our children. However, just as we continue to love our children and help them, God continues to love and guide us. Don’t live in fear that you aren’t in God’s will. Dive into His Word and spend time with Him, He will strengthen and guide you into His perfect will.
