Three steps to know God’s will for your life

When I was very young, I remember going to the Christian book store looking for books about how to know God’s will for your life: I never found any.

I saw title after title but never anything that really answered the question for me.

Now, after several years of ministry, I have observed that many people have the same question.

There are several ways to know God’s will for your life. The first and foremost is, to be honest with yourself and determine whether or not you really want to submit your will to the will of God.

For example, there is a story in the Bible referred to as “The rich young ruler” He claimed to want what God wanted but when confronted with having to release what he held in high esteem, he gave it another look and chose to walk away. You can read about it in Luke 18.

After several years of ministry, I have observed that most people are like him. Most people want what God wants as long as what He wants aligns with what they want.

Being willing to sacrifice anything noteworthy for God is so foreign to our Western thought that it is difficult for the rest of us to envision what it even looks like: So here is an example of what I am trying to say.

So this article is written for the few who really do want what God wants and are willing to make some changes for it to happen.

God wants YOU!
There is so much involved in answering the question of how to know God’s will for your life that there is simply no way to properly address it in one article or even a short series.

Sometimes we don’t think a lot about our own “will”.  We might think of “God’s will” and, in America, we often think of what we want, but few of us really consider the infinitely, eternally profound ramifications of our own “will”. Besides all of our American distractions, I think part of the reason for that is most people have no idea how influential we really are.

Too abstract for you?
If all of this is beginning to sound unnecessary, let me assure you that it isn’t. For me, the evidence is clear that America has lost its way. We need to find it again. This is part of the way to do that.

In most cases, examining your own “will” really shouldn’t be that difficult. For the military and police work I was involved in I had to have physical examinations to ensure that my body could perform the required responsibilities.

I recommend you consider this to be like that: Something that you should do once, or maybe more if the need arises. Otherwise, just take care of your soul and be diligent with maintenance as you should be with your physical body. So here we go…

You are a spirit, with a soul housed in a body
Most people see themselves as a physical body. However, the Scriptures clearly reveal that you are an eternal spirit. You have a soul (mind, will & emotions), and you live in your body.

As a spirit, you drive the ship. Your will (choices, consciousness, desires, etc.) is a manifestation of the condition of your spirit.

Your will is a dramatic influence on how the choices you make impact your life. Every minute of every day, your will not only profoundly influences your own life, but also the lives of those around you.  

Even, or maybe I should say especially, apathy, choosing nothing, can have a very dramatic influence on your life, and even the lives of future generations.

Internal blockages
Internal blockages can prevent you from knowing your will even when you don’t realize it; and sometimes, internal blockages make it very difficult for you to exercise your will even if you really do know what you want.

Sometimes there are parts of us, hidden away, that influence our will. These parts are very real and might be fearful, sad, angry, offended, scared, skeptical, shamed, or any mixture of these emotions and more.  For a multitude of reasons, these parts may not want something that you actually do want, or they may want something that you actually don’t want, and so they may influence you from the back.

Holy Spirit, evil spirits and other influences
Sometimes our will is influenced by evil spirits who work to purposely derail us. This may be far more common then you think; even if you consider yourself to be a Christian. As indicated in the article linked above, evil spirits do influence Christians.

Our will might also be influenced by others; friends, family, parents, pastors, employers, et cetera. Hopefully, these are good influences, but sometimes they’re not.

Hopefully, we always yield to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to influence our will. Again, that subject alone is the subject of volumes.

Knowing your will
Having an awareness and consciousness of your “will”, and how you exercise it, can drastically alter your life both today, tomorrow, and for eternity.

For example, when I was mountain climbing, I considered even the socks I chose to wear to have a potentially, very dramatic influence not only on myself, but my whole team. It’s not that I am or was special. It’s just that we are all connected as 1 Cor. 12 indicates and the choices that each one of us makes effects others.

Praise God that Yeshua is always “willing”, and even eager,  to help us Luke 5:13.  

Exercising your will
Of course, exercising your will has substantial eternal ramifications as well.

The rich young ruler referenced above exercised his will by turning away as did many others in the Bible.

On the other hand, Praise God that most of the original Apostles were faithful as was Apostle Paul and many others in the Bible and since. These faithful ones provide examples for the rest of us (Hebrews 11)

How you exercise your will matters a great deal.

Three steps to knowing God’s will for your life: Sorting it all out…
1. Determine today that “Yeshua’s will” is your “will” and the deciding influence in every area of your life. There is no choice to make that is more important than that one.

We might need a little help to sort all of this out so that we can have confidence that when we make a decision it is only Yeshua that is influencing us.

However, with attention, this new way of life will become second nature and your life will be blessed beyond measure.

2. Once you determine what the will of God is for your life write it down. God told Moses to “write it in the book”. If not for faithful men of God journaling what God had told them and showed them we would be in a bad way.

3. Take a step. Take a step to walk out the vision that God has given you for your destiny. Seek out someone to help you. One of my favorite quotes is “There are lots of benefits to going it alone, survival isn’t one of them”.

 “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
Mt.6:10

Conclusion:
Contemplating all of this could be confusing; maybe even a little daunting or even scary.  It isn’t meant to be and if it is, please know that after you get a grasp of the situation it won’t be. It might be a little bumpy at first but the more you meditate on these realities, the more comforting it will be to know that, even if you make mistakes, every moment of every day you are making the conscious decision to move toward the destiny that God has for you.

Confession: I choose to align myself with Heaven. I have the mind of Christ. As I am in Yeshua, He is one with me.

Prayer: Father God thank you for giving me a free will.  Thank you that I know that You and I are in this relationship because we want to be.  Please help my will to be in perfect alignment with your will so that we can live life together in harmony.  Amen

Dr. Rayphe
God’s Kingdom Realm

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