One of the most common questions I hear in Christian circles relates to finding the will of God. Have you asked or heard someone ask questions like, How do I find the will of God for my life? What is God’s will for this relationship, job situation, major purchase or any number of life’s questions that people struggle with. I had a man tell me that he was afraid of giving in to a Christ centered life because God’s will might require him to go to Africa. How do we find God’s will for our lives? Hopefully this study will help you in your efforts to find God’s will in your life.

I believe finding God’s will is a lifestyle we must choose and not just looking for a single answer to a problem. I don’t think you can ignore God until you are faced with a hard decision or struggle and then seek God’s will, then put God back on the shelf like a ‘magic 8-ball’. (If you don’t remember those, it is a liquid filled 8-ball with a window on one side. You ask it a question and shake. The window will show one of 8 or so answers that say ‘don’t bet on it’ or ‘sure thing’, etc.) We have to remember that our savior should also be our Lord. If we don’t consider His will for our lifestyle to be important, how can we seek His will in a single choice?

I saw a prayer request where a woman was asking for God’s will for a relationship. She said that this was the second request and she didn’t have an answer yet. It is hard for us to see a clear answer from an emotionally driven question. It is hard, to put the emotions aside and look for a logical answer when we already know what we want. If we are not dealing with something we desire, we have little trouble reasoning that it is not God’s will. If we want the relationship, we are looking for a ‘yes’ answer and can’t set aside our desire for this relationship long enough to look clearly for the right choice. I have seen many men and women ask for prayer about God’s will in their possible dating or marital choices. Almost always the prayer request is made because the person they think they love is not a Christian. God has shown us His will on this subject. The answer has already been given. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers". The will of God is clearly stated. But still we pray for another answer because our emotions are doing our thinking. We don’t get a clear answer because we don’t want to look at the answer that doesn’t suit our wants. Feelings of love should be set aside and we should pray fervently that the person we care about might come to know Christ. If there is not a clear conversion, we should be willing to walk away from the relationship. If you reject God’s will, you will not have a marriage that falls into God’s plan. This is not only true in relationships, but in all areas that we approach God looking for answers.

How do we get beyond looking for a yes and start seeking for His will? Seeking God’s will starts with a commitment. God has shown us much of His will through His word. I have found that God only shows us one step at a time. If we are faithful, He will show us more of His will as God leads us in our daily walk with Him. Jeremiah 12:5 says, "if you have run with the footmen and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?" In other words, if you can’t stand strong and be faithful in the little things, how can God trust you with the big things? God honors faithfulness. If you can’t be faithful, you will never know the will of God for your life.

God has a plan for each and every life. We all have dreams of what we want our lives to become. God’s vision for your life is far better than anything you can dream up. When you accept Christ into your heart, God places His Spirit within you and you are born into His kingdom. From that point on, God calls you and guides you to follow His will. Finding God’s will starts with the little things. Romans 12:1-2 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ²And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Here we see clearly how the beginning of finding God’s will. The first step is obedience. Promises always follow obedience. The obedience is presenting yourself to God as a living sacrifice, not to be conformed to the world but transform yourself by renewing your mind. Renewal is a continual commitment. Renew means to restore. The daily bombardment of the world’s values takes a toll on our minds. If we never renew, our spiritual lives will begin to break down. When we choose to follow God, we live by a completely different set of values. The world lives for here and now with no hope of eternity. We live based on an eternal focus with the joy of God’s blessings now and the hope of eternity that lies ahead. We should base our lives and values on eternity. If we adopt the world’s values, we loose our eternal perspective. But once we place our focus on God, commit to living our lives for Him, leave behind the worldly values, renew our minds daily, then we will know the perfect will of God. It is part of the process of living a lifestyle according to God’s plan. It is not taking only what fits while we still live a worldly lifestyle. I believe God’s will is all or nothing. If we present ourselves to God, we get the blessings that come from living a godly lifestyle. If we choose the world, we can’t see God’s will, even at the times when we realize we want it.

Look at James 4:2b-4:

You do not have because you do not ask.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Adulterers and adultresses! Do you knot know that friendship with this world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

1 John 2:15-17:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

The passage we looked at in Romans 12:1-2 tell us how to begin searching for God’s will, the passages in James and 1 John tell us why we can’t find God’s will. James 4:3 says, "you ask and do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives…" I don’t believe God will give any blessing that draws us away from Him. I believe God will never give you anything that you place as more important than God – whether that be a possession or a relationship. If we want to fulfill a desire that is self-centered, you will ask, but will not receive. I believe God desires to bless us beyond what we could want, but He can’t because of our flesh nature. It is far too easy to get too comfortable and begin to ignore God. When we get spoiled, we also begin to feel self-sufficient. This is especially true when we ask of God when we are not seeking Him in our daily lives. If we exclude God from our lifestyle, then seek Him when we want or need something, how can we expect Him to give us what we ask? All we will do is fulfill our desire and go back to our old lifestyle. No, I believe that we must live in His will if we expect to find His will.

To live in God’s will, we must commit to a lifestyle centered around Christ. The lifestyle that centers around Christ, I believe must focus on three things.

1. One you must yield to God’s will. This means you must choose. The choice is the world’s system of the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life, or obedience to God and committing to living life His way. Having a home, car and goals are not sin in and of themselves. It becomes sin when we make these things our first love. When a man or woman has to put God aside to work for material success, they must reject God’s principles to pursue a material centered life. God exalted Joseph from slavery and made him the most powerful man in Egypt for the purpose of using Joseph’s position to glorify God. So we can see that success and power are not bad in themselves. But Joseph never sacrificed his values to get ahead. Instead he sacrificed his power in order to honor God when he refused to commit adultery with his master’s wife. He suffered for His commitment and spent years in prison because of a sin he did not commit, but he never abandoned God. Because of his faithfulness, God honored him by making him the highest ruler in Egypt only answering to pharaoh, and God used Joseph to deliver his people from the a famine. Joseph did not force his way up the ladder and did not sacrifice his love for God to get ahead. Power belongs to God. If Joseph had given in to temptation, God would have never exalted him. I believe God will indeed exalt some Christians according to His will, but I don’t believe success should be placed as a higher priority than living for God.

2. Second, trust God and live by faith. Romans 1:17 tells us that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith and that the just shall live by faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, "without faith it is impossible to please Him". Faith is believing in God, believing that God has a plan for our lives and trusting in that plan. We show prove our faith by putting our trust in God knowing that He knows what He is doing. Our problem is that we don’t really believe God knows what He is doing and we want to take control of our lives from Him. It is easy to trust when things are going the way we want and there is no discomfort. But as soon as see something we want or we hit the rough waters of life, we want to retake the controls. That is not faith. Faith is placing the controls in God’s trust even when we are afraid or when we don’t know what God is doing or where He will lead. We need to commit to Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.

Sometimes we don’t understand what He is doing, but we must learn to trust Him and acknowledge His direction and His right to direct. Then we have the promise that He will direct our paths. God doesn’t promise to direct us when we won’t follow Him. God will never force you to follow. God will never take the benefits that we would gain from following Him and force them upon those who will not follow. But when we place our complete trust in Him, He promises to lead us and work all things together for our good. Very few ever come to the point of trusting God with all their hearts. I believe that is why so few Christians can claim they live victorious lives. The ‘spiritual giants’ aren’t people who have it all together, they are people who have learn to trust God. Only in God’s presence is fullness of joy.

3. The third commitment is renewal. We must renew our minds daily. We are daily being reprogrammed to think like the world and act like the world. If the world is the only input we are getting, that is how we are going to think and our focus will begin to shift toward the world. No one is an exception. We all begin to loose strength and focus without renewal. The stronger nature will be the dominant nature. We were born with the flesh nature and when we were born into God’s kingdom, we were given a new spiritual nature. The flesh has become strong and the only way to shift that strength to your spiritual nature is to feed the spiritual nature. We will never fall into righteousness. We will never fall into a close relationship with God. That takes commitment. To live as God commands we must take steps that build that relationship. To live like the world, just do nothing. You don’t have to decide not to live for God, just do nothing and you will drift away from Him. To fall into sin, just let go and let sin guide you. Going with sin is easy and effortless. The results of sin may not be so easy, but getting into the worldly lifestyle is very easy. If you aim at nothing, that is exactly what you will achieve. Renewal takes commitment and dedication. The godly plan takes putting into action what we commit to accomplish. Saying we want to live for God is not enough; there must be an effort to put our words into action.

It takes no action to drift. Drifting and sliding always take you downhill. Never will you slide uphill or drift upstream. We don’t want to go downward but upward. Psalm 24 says "who may ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol and has not sworn deceitfully." To ascend is to climb. During the times when the Psalms were written, idolatry was a major problem. Everyone was doing it. Just go with the flow and descend down the same river as the world. To stand takes courage and commitment. To climb takes effort. We may not worship stone statues, but we have many other idols in our world. Most are related to materialism.

Renewal takes a commitment to a lifestyle that climbs that hill of the Lord. Renewal requires time with God. Only He can renew us. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us to study to show ourselves approved. When you study for a test, you don’t just read and forget. You read and commit to memory what you think is important. The bible is no different. Studying the bible is to dig for the treasures that fill the word of God. When you find a treasure, commit it to memory and review so you will never forget the word you memorize.

Prayer is critical to renewal. Pray daily. 1 Thessalonians 5 tells us to pray without ceasing. Giving thanks in all things is also a part of praying. So is interceding for others. In 1 Samuel 12, Samuel says that ceasing to pray for others is a sin. We often forget that we are commanded to pray for others regularly. I believe God renews us when we pray for and reach out to help others. God did not call us to be islands. Why should God invest His power in someone who will not be willing to touch others? God wants to reach others through your life and the if you want to see the power of God in your life, minister to others through prayer and through actions. Prayer should be a daily routine just as study should. But there must also be an extended time with God. As often as possible, we should take an hour or longer just to pray and be alone with God. Those who live empowered lives take this time with God.