Are you as a child of God
doing the will that God has laid out for you do you know what the will of God is for your life
do you without any doubt know this is God's will for me now God has a will for each and every one of us
but yet everywhere I go when I talk to people do you know God's will for your life
they say well I I hope so kind of somewhat maybe I think so I'm told from all of the people that they
poll that the number one question that Christian counselors get all the time is how can I know
the will of God for my life I see it in the bible and I want it and I know I've been bought with a
price and I'm therefore to glorify God in my body and in my spirit how do I know the will of God
let's read what it says in the book of Proverbs chapter 3 many of you have these verses memorized
starting if you would please at verse 5 trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not
unto thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path
do you understand God says I'm giving you an absolute promise if you trust in me with all
your heart and if you will stop leaning on your own understanding I will I promise you direct your
path this promise is in the ongoing continuum that means God says I'll do it and keep doing it
I will direct your path now God either means that or his word's not trustworthy but his
word is trustworthy he does mean it well brother Gibbs I try to seek his will and major stuff no
no that's not all your ways God says I want you day by day moment by moment to be in my will
brother Gibbs couldn't I just play this little game with God how about you just kind of show me
and then I'll let you know if I'm interested but you will never know the will of God playing
that game in all thy ways acknowledge him all that was and he shall direct thy path
you see God wants to order all your steps every day and he's promised to do it
but he says I want you to understand you can't figure it out I don't know who the most brilliant
man or woman here is but I promise you it's not in us to do our own steps our steps will lead
us astray and that's why we got to come to him and say I trust you I trust you you lead
we sing this great song where he leads me I will follow
follow on follow on do we truly mean that yeah but no no see we have a trust problem now you're
trusting him to go to heaven and boy should you but now that you're saved he says trust me
he loves you too much to have anything that's not in your best interest and he says trust me in
everything everything if you want to hear one thing today his will is what's always
best for you he loves you too much to give you anything that's not in your best interest
anything um the most important thing in the world is knowing Jesus Christ but second to that
is knowing God's will for your life knowing why you were created in your mother's womb
there was a poll done years ago and they asked people if you could only ask God one question
what would you ask him and the number one response was why am I here what's your will for my life
good thing about God's will for our lives is God's will for our lives was established in our
mother's womb and has never changed God doesn't have like plan a and plan b God just has plan a
our mistakes and the devil's attacks don't cancel out God's will for our lives
and I know that that some of us here you know you would say Jimmy I'm sure that God made me in my
mother's womb but when God made me in my mother's womb you know I was a little innocent baby but
I've had a lot a lot of hardship since then and I've done a lot of things wrong since then
and I'm sure that even though God loved me then I mean I've gotten off the path
and I've spent a lot of a lot of time off the path so you might say well Jimmy I've I know
that God created me in my mother's womb and he has a will for my life but unfortunately
I've made a lot of mistakes every time you make a mistake God recalculates a way to get you back
and it's never too late and you say well why shouldn't I just keep making mistakes
because your best life is in God's will not making mistakes
God will turn your messes and turn them into a ministry
the bible tells the whole story on everyone read your bible some of the people who did
the greatest stuff did the worst stuff and God didn't throw them away and God didn't reject him
he loves you more than you love yourself
he'll bless you more than you'll ever bless yourself
his will for your life is much better than yours
his will for your life will blow you away
I believe anybody who genuinely wants to know the will of God for their life God will show them but
the question is is this consistent with what God says you say how will I know that you turn to
the word of God is this decision consistent with or in agreement with the word of God
is this decision you're making is it an agreement with word of God
and you and I can think of a lot of things that are not in agreement with the word of God that
people practice this is a part of confirming his will via life if we're not going to study the word
we're not ever going to know what God wants because the word is a a light to our path
it's a lamp to our feet it keeps us out of trouble keeps us safe directs us guides us
you got to know the word and it's going to take time
and it's some of the best time that you can ever spend in your life so the best time you can ever
spend knowing the word of God will set you free and it doesn't just set you free magically what
it does is it shows you the right thing to do and then as you do it you'll be set free
he will never tell you to do anything that's contrary to the word of God
never the scripture says thy word is a lamp unto my feet a light unto my path God says
I want you to get into my word and let my word talk to you and God says that word will confirm
what I want you to do God's never going to give you permission to do no matter how you push
to violate what his word commands you to do
you confirm things with this word the word of God is eternal and it's where you get your direction
Jeremiah 33:3 call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and
mighty things thou knowest not when's the last time you said God talk to me
prayer is not just you talking to God it's God talking to you I get so busy I run to
the Lord here's my list and I'm working my way through and it's me talking to him me talking
to him and God says I want to talk to you and I will confirm things for you Mark chapter 11
Jesus with his followers and his disciples answering saith unto them have faith in God
now not in your talent not in your ability
boy the gravest problem is when we think I don't really need God for this I know how to do this
your experience and your talent is nothing compared to you knowing the will of God
trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not unto your own understanding
in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path the two big misconceptions that I
want to deal with I think dangerous misconceptions having to do with understanding God's will
and how it works out in our life is number one the idea of God's will being a path for my life
and if I get off that path I'm just you know I'm I'm lost for the rest of my life so like
when I was you know when you were 18 and you were agonizing oh God what college do you want me to
go to what college do you want to go is it this one or that one well you know what you pick the
wrong one forget it man you're off God's path you're off God's will for the rest of your life
I believe that that is a harmful way of thinking about God's will and it's a very
it's a way that really amplifies the pressure upon you I got to get this right or my life is
ruined if I make the wrong choice about what God's will is
the other big misconception I think people have about God's will is they think that um if
I do if I pick God's will for my life that it will mean my life goes pretty smooth
you can be 100 percent in God's will and still be having a very tough time at something
it's not this idea that if you're in God's will everything goes smooth
not at all I love the illustration from the gospels where Jesus specifically directed the
disciples to get into a boat and to go to the other side of the sea of Galilee
and they came into a life-threatening storm along the way they were totally in God's will they were
doing what Jesus told them to do and they were still in a life-threatening storm so this idea
that if you're in God's will it preserves you from discomfort and pain it's not true
really people don't really get it that God has an appointed place for affliction
and suffering in our life and it's not because he hates us it's because he loves us
surrender your life stay in his word and then just follow wherever God leads you
now now for some of you this is totally inadequate as an answer you say no no way
because David how am I going to know is it to be this job or that job this graduate
program or that graduate program this girl or that girl you know that that's the one
these are the things that's not giving me enough guidance listen listen
surrender your life stay in his word make a decision
so about that job
about that person about that school about that ministry opportunity all right Lord I've put
myself in the right place I've sought you I've done all these things I've surrendered my will
then now according to the best of my judgment and my ability and I'm gonna make a decision
what do you do once you've made the decision then say all right
Lord I've made this decision now I surrender this decision to you Lord give me your heart and your
mind about this decision and he says and if your mind is at peace your heart is at peace doing that
then proceed forth look I don't know about you but there's been a lot of decisions that I've made
where when I think about them I get filled with anxiety I get filled with apprehension with
nervousness when I pray about them all of that disappears and it's like whoa there's something
to this I think about it and I get freaked out I pray about it and I feel it complete peace
but it comes back to this the will of God is for you something good and wonderful and perfect and
he wants you to prove it to live it out stop asking God to help you to live by certainty
so David you got to make this decision by faith and then every day afterwards you need to walk in
faith and trust me along the way that kind of certainty argues against a life lived
by faith and that's what God has for us now when I say faith I don't mean foolishness
but I'll tell you this even the times when you get the will of God wrong he'll use it
listen um some of you have the conception that God is like um all right they wanted to honor
me in this they wanted to serve me this but they got it wrong now they're going to suffer
you know what that is not the God we serve
if you follow the methodology we've talked about here and if you make the wrong decision
do you know what's going to happen a loving heavenly father will walk you through it
and guide you to the best place in his will after that you don't have to sweat it it's not
like God's going ha ha they chose the wrong one now I get to nail him it's not like that at all
God's plan for your life is abundant life joyful life fulfilled life I believe it completely
God has a plan a purpose and a desire for your life
and he's all for what's best for you he's all for what's good for you you trusted him with your
eternity if you can trust God for that which is an eternal decision
can you not trust him for daily decisions that are not nearly so important yes you can God has
a purpose of playing a desire for your life are you willing to say to him Lord I want your will
I I want you I want I want your best plan for my life whatever that is and I'm willing to surrender
whatever needs to be surrendered will it change whatever needs to be changed but I want your best
would you be willing to tell him that that's the wisest decision you can make Lord I want your will
whatever that requires and I want to live in it the rest of my life