Do you ever wonder whether you are following God’s will or plan for you?
Do you worry that you might be headed in the wrong direction?
Do you wish God would write His will for your day on your to-do list?
Yep, me too!
Since his ordination, Rev has received calls to serve at various ministries and I’ve had to decide whether I should go back to teaching full-time, part-time or if I should stay at home.
And work is just the beginning, isn’t it?
How many children should we have? Where should our children go to school or should we homeschool? Where should we live? Is that the right house for us? The right church family? When should I retire?
What should I do?
The questions go on and on.
Sometimes it’s easy to tell where God wants us, other timesare harder.
Life decisions cancause some of the greatest stress in our lives.
So the question we all want to know is…
How can you and I know if something is from God?
There are some things we can do totest a situation as we ask for God’s guidance and seek His will.
5 Ways to Know if Something is From God
1. Pray
Begin with prayer.Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It is.
Start by asking God to show you His specific will for you in this situation.
Pray that the Lord your God will show us what to do and where to go. Jeremiah 42:3
2. Glorify God
Ask – Does this glorify God?
God will never guide you to do something that will not give Him glory.
Ask yourself, “Does this bless my relationship with my family? Does it make it possible for me to serve others? What will my attitude be if I do this? Etc.”
Give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Romans 6:13
3. Agree with Scripture
Does it agree with Scripture?
God gave us His Word to showus His will. You and I can trust the counsel of the Bible.
You never have to ask God if it’s His will for you to embezzle from your employer or dish the latest dirty detail about your neighbor.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.2 Timothy 3:16
4. Be Willing to Wait
Be patient. God’s will is worth the wait. Trust His timing.
If something is God’s will, He will guide you while you wait and bring it to pass. Don’t rush it – when the timing is right God will let you know.
Wait patiently for theLord.Be brave and courageous.Yes, wait patiently for theLord. Psalm 27:14
5. Trust God to accomplish His will in your life
God will fulfill His promises and accomplish His will for you.
I’ll admit, I’ve gotten impatient at times. I want a clear answer and I want it now! But I’ve learned I can watch and wait . . . God will do what He says He will do, and He will accomplish His will.
Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:20
Not everything in life is clear. There will be times when you will do all the above and still be uncertain about God’s direction for you.
That’s okay.
You can trust that if God wants something specific in your life He will guide you to it.
If you’ve gone through the 5 step process and still have no clear answer . . . just keep moving. Make a choice. The good news is if you are trusting and glorifying God with your life you can move ahead confidently.
Rev and I have had times when the choice was clear . . . so clear in fact, we had to change our plansmidway.
We’ve occasionally used a “fleece” to ask God for guidance. You can read about Gideon and how he used a fleece to confirm God’s direction,here.No, we haven’t actually asked God to leave dew on lamb’s wool but we have asked Him to clearly show us His will through events that made it easier for us to make decisions.
And I will honestly tell you, there have been a few times when we went through our list of five and still felt uncertain about what we should do.
So, we just lived each day…
And you can too!
Trust God’s love . . . leaninto His grace and mercy. You can be confident that God will make any specific plans He has for you clear. You don’t have to live in fear of His displeasure when you seek His will through these 5 steps.
Pray, glorify God, study the Scripture, be willing to wait, and trust God’s ability to work in your life.
Your Fatheris with you.
He wants what is best for you and He is able to accomplish it!
Go for it! Live your life for His glory and honor. Praise Him!
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11–13
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