I would honestly venture to say that God's will for each and every human life is to conform more to the image of Jesus Christ (Rom 8:29). If this is the case, then questions like, "Does God want me to go to this school or that school?" are not really the right questions. So when you find yourself in any situation where you're not sure what God's will is, here are some questions to consider:
Will option "x" increase my faith in God?
Will option "x" make me more loving?
Will option "x" make me more forgiving?
Will option "x" make me more humble?
Will option "x" make me more merciful?
Will option "x" make me more of an evangelist?
Will option "x" make me more bold?
Will option "x" make me more gracious?
etc.
Basically, because it is most definitely God's will for us to become more conformed to the image of Christ, we can say that whatever option we have that God can (and probably will) use to transform us more to the image of His Son is our best option and more often that not will be God's will.
Clearly this "formula," which I hate calling it, has boundaries. For example, it would make me more like Christ to stop world poverty, cure all diseases, encourage every believer, and still have time to watch The Office, Thursdays @ 9pm on NBC. But clearly, this is not God's will for me. There's no possible way I could tackle all of these in one lifetime. (I could however pursue one or more of these little by little)
The only thing that may be stopping us from finding God's will this way is that we don't fully know who Jesus Christ is, or maybe we forgot. Either way, READ THE GOSPELS! Be always finding out who Jesus is.
There's also another "formula" that can be included in the "conform-to-the-image-of-Christ" formula which I heard from a greatly respected pastor, Pastor Vance Pittman (if you ever read this, sorry if I butchered this...), who laid this out: when you have a word from the Word, peace about a future decision, when you have prayed (earnestly), and when situations align for a particular decision, then you probably have found God's will.
Did we all get that?
We must be in the Word; the Bible! if we want to hear clearly from God
We must have a "peace that transcends all understanding" (Phil 4:7)
We must be in PRAYER about our decision (Phil 4:6)
Finally, situations must allow for us to make the decision (1 Cor 16:5-9)
God works powerfully through each of these.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
More thoughts on God's will
Posted by As Christ Lives In Me at 10:45 AM
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2 comments:
Okay! So this really explained a lot more of what the will of God is looking for. Wow do I feel stupid, I didn't read this before I called you, then I read it after I got off the phone with you and it was pretty much all you said to me! ha I feel retarded but oh well! Thanks! can't wait to see more blog! (:
that is really cool. i hate to jump the gun, but it is like vancouver, however, vancouver is kinda like this because of all the things that happened within a 24 hour period of time. on the other hand it could be an oppurtunity to really bless someone else by giving them the money, i am open for whatever really
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