Understanding God's Will

[Music] 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 you want me to go to what college I'm gonna go is it this one or that one well you know what you picked the wrong one forget it man you're off God's path you're off God's will for the rest of your life that's it you know this this this person usually usually when people want to know God's will for their life that can be code word for they want relationship guidance or advice you know what's it gonna be what's again and if you pick the wrong one forget it man you're toast for the rest of your life that's it you picked wrong 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 gotta get this right or my life is ruined if I figure out 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 if I do if I pick God's will for my life that it will mean my life goes pretty smooth that difficulty and pain in life comes from not going in God's will for your life now can we agree that there is difficulty and pain in your life that comes in your life from not going God's will absolutely but you really need to understand this I mean I think you do but it's it's worth me repeating it you can be 100 percent in God's will and still be having a very tough time in 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 into 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 him 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 there's gonna be a measure of that that you're gonna have to deal with anyway now it may save you from unnecessary discomfort in pain but you know the Bible and this is kind of something that we need to regain in the Christian world and Christian life is come to a better theology of suffering I think this has really been neglect neglect 'add in Christian circles 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 but again we we we do a really good job and when I say we I mean me of preserving ourselves from as much discomfort and pain as possible I mean that's kind of a life strategy I have but there are times and places where God permits it and it's for good it's not for evil okay let's get to this idea of God's will of Romans chapter 12 verses 1 & 2 I beseech you therefore brethren that by the mercies of God you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service okay just stop right there we'll get into verse 2 in just a minute so you have this amazing idea in Romans chapter 12 that comes of course after eleven chapters of Paul laying out this marvelous doctrinal system Romans is one of the most remarkable books in the New Testament because it's one of the books that Paul wrote that was not trying to fix problems at a church off the top of my head there's only two letters of Paul in the New Testament that are like that romans and ephesians first corinthians second corinthians colossians philippians first second thessalonians of all of them are written try to fix problems there's problems going on through men we got to fix this Paul's gonna speak to it Romans and Ephesians are different they really weren't written to fix particular problems but to teach about God's big truth in his big plan of the ages and Romans does this in a brilliant way I mean chapter after chapter the first three chapters or actually I could say the first two-and-a-half chapters of Romans spell out the problem beginning in the middle of chapter three he begins to start spelling out the solution what God has done for us in Jesus Christ and how we can receive it by faith and by faith alone then Romans chapters five six seven and eight sometimes I think that that is just the core of the core of the Christian life man I tell you you want to understand the Christian life in a deep in a profound way you give yourself to study and deep thought about Romans chapters five six seven and eight it's all these marvelous truths about what we have and who we are and what God has given to us in Jesus Christ then you get into Romans chapters 9 10 and 11 where Paul's dealing with a theological problem and the theological problem is whoa now wait a minute you've just told us in the first eight chapters of Roman how Romans how amazing God is and how God will never forsake his people but it seems to me like maybe God forsook Israel talked about that Paul so in Romans chapters 9 10 and 11 Paul's explaining how even though it might seem that God forsook Israel he has and it's he's working it all out according to his plan okay so that's nine ten eleven starting Romans chapter twelve now he gets into the last section of the book was talking about practical living in light of everything that we've heard in light of all that we have all that Jesus Christ has done for us in light of his never-ending and never failing plan for his people and for Israel all of that combined how are we supposed to live look at it again chapter twelve verse one I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God by everything that God has done for you through and by the way did you know is I beseech you man talk about kind of anak a ik word you know I beseech you dear fellow you know can you fetch me I don't know something like that what what does it mean to beseech it means to beg I'm begging you I am begging you to do something what's Paul begging us to do looking at there in verse one that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service you surrender to God you surrender to God in your body I'm fascinated by why Paul wrote that well obviously he wrote it by the inspiration the Holy Spirit I'm not acting like this is Paul and not God speaking no this is God speaking but he's speaking through the Apostle Paul why did God ordained and guide Paul to use that word bodies I think this is why why didn't he say present your soul a living sacrifice to God why do you say present your spirit a living sacrifice to God why do you do that I think it's because Paul understood this whatever you want to define and think about your soul or your spirit they are in your body you present your body you're presenting the whole thing it's all unto God because your soul and your spirit are included in their present everything you are to go as a living sacrifice which you have to say is almost an oxymoron living sacrifice the idea of a living sacrifice in the Old Testament is almost nonsensical sacrifices were killed they were slaughtered that was a point of it but no Jesus Christ has fulfilled all that sacrificial system the Old Testament now God's looking for living sacrifices surrendered lies and if you've ever heard somebody preach on this they probably used a little saying and you know it's a cliche but it's a good cliche the problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar that's what it does right so yeah just keep presenting yourself a living sacrifice keep doing it okay present yourself a living sacrifice now check this out he says verse 1 holy acceptable God which is your reasonable service verse 2 and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind okay I'm gonna deal with that right now but I just want you to pause and think about this what does this have to do with the will of God this is like a bait and switch David told us he was going to talk to us about discovering the will of God and now he's talking about you know the surrendered life and sanctification you I don't know if you've thought of it or when's he gonna get to talk about with the will of God okay hold on I'm getting to that I haven't forgotten that but notice what he says here in verse 2 do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind I can tell you how huge this is the world out there demands that we conform to it now I am NOT gonna say that the world and the culture outside the Christian community I'm not gonna say that it's wrong about everything there's certain places where the world gets it right and at least in some approximate measure they share biblical values but that doesn't really matter it doesn't really matter for this reason is that the way the world wants us to conform unto itself it demands everything it's like the way that the Lord said I'm a jealous God you will have no other gods before me that's kind of what the culture around us says so if you say I agree with you on these three points but not the fourth you can get just as soundly rejected as you would is if you disagreed on all four points I like this image from the Book of Daniel do you remember in the Book of Daniel when the Jewish young men well forget about the Jewish young men all the Empire was demanded to bow down before this image of Nebuchadnezzar and there were three Hebrew young men who would not do it they refused to bow down I see that is a picture of how we are expected to bow down before this idealized image of who we should be in this world what we should be the world wants to tell you look men the world tells you what you should be now it's not a universal message it's like this pocket the world says you should be like this this pocket of the world test you shouldn't be like this this but it's out there and they say this is what you should be now that's true for men come on isn't even more true of women it isn't there just like this unified voice in the world that says to women this is what you have to be conformed to this conform to this standard of beauty conform to this standard of style conform to this standard of attitude of personality that's it and we are all being commanded to bow down before this statue and it's our place as believers to have just some holy rebellion in us I mean look you are a rebel by nature and and God can actually use that to some good effect because there are some things you should repel against and you should rebel against every effort of the world the flesh and the devil to get you to bow down to some stylized vision of who you should be and instead you should say no I am NOT going to be conformed to this world but I'm gonna be transformed not conformed transformed and how am I going to be transformed now I'm not saying that Paul gives us the only path to transformation here in verse two but he gives us the predominant path to transformation verse two what is the path to transformation that Paul describes in verse two that you would be transformed by the renewing of your mind it's so funny we so little think that our minds need to be renewed we don't usually run there where do we usually run we usually run to the thought that it's my actions my deeds that need to be renewed okay do my actions need to be renewed you better believe they do but I'll tell you what's first the battleground is really the mine it's how I think this is why effectively spending time in the Bible is so transformative if you effectively spend time in the Bible and what I mean I mean reading it the way that it should be read I mean reading it the way we talked about last night when you effectively read the Bible it has a transformative work on your mind every day now it just might be a little bit it might just be like one little stone in a pathway that's being built that goes a long way but it's a little bit it's good day by day stone by stone step by step you are building a transform line that begins to see the world and think about the world the way that God does your being transformed by the renewing of your mind and if there's ever a need among believers today it's a renewed mind sometimes the loudest voices in the Christian world show no evidence of a renewed mind their thinking just like the world does just like the culture does not the way that the scriptures would direct us to think so man this gets back to this vital vital idea of why it's important for us to read the Bible the way that it should be read the way we talked about last night and very much saying I want my mind to be transformed to be renewed to be made new we again often so often just get back to actions we're such a pragmatic practical people in some sense this is the glory of American culture and I'm talking about the last 200 years when Alexis de Tocqueville came and analyzed America one of the things he said is that they are a pragmatic people they're all about what gets done the action what results in action and in some ways in America that's our glory but it's also our pitfall sometimes we're only concerned with actions but the transformative work of Jesus Christ has to extend to our minds I want to challenge you with the thought there's some of you many of you here today you need to isolate sinful patterns of thinking you need to repent of them repent of thinking I want to challenge you on that idea let me take you back to the day of Pentecost day of Pentecost who's preaching Acts chapter two who's preaching Peter who is he preaching to you see here's the thing here's the thing the answer is so simple that you're thinking it's a trick it's a trap it's a trap who's he is he preaching to Jews or Gentiles Jews he's preaching to Jews who are there at festival time some of whom were the same ones that sent Jesus to the cross is he preaching to a small crowd or a big crowd how do we know it was a big crowd yeah because 3,000 people respond to the message and presumably there were many people there who didn't respond to the message he's speaking to thousands of people Jewish people at least somewhat devout Jewish people and you know what he did he challenged them to repent that's part of his sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 let me ask you a question what did they have to repent of what was their substantially different in the moral conduct of a faithful Jewish person in Jesus's day with a moral conduct of a believer in Jesus and Jesus today well what's the difference did they have to repent fundamentally of their moral conduct no there wasn't assuming these people were faithful Jews there wasn't a big gap between their moral conduct and Christian moral conduct you know what they had to repent of their thinking they previously thought that Jesus Christ deserved death on the cross that Jesus Christ was a guilty condemned criminal who had the curse God upon him and that's why he went to the cross what Peter challenged them to repent of was you used to think this way about Jesus repent of that now think this way about Jesus and I want to challenge you this there may very well be within you right now sinful patterns of thought that the Holy Spirit helping you you need to grab hold of those shine the light of God's word upon them and repent of them and say God help me to think your thoughts after you when we as Christians are only focused on the actions we never get to the root of the problem I'm not saying God's not worried about your actions obviously he is but don't end it there don't be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and again I can't emphasize enough how much God's Word has an essential place in all of this I'm not saying it's the only place but it's an essential place that God's Word hasn't this okay now we get to this whole thing in when are you gonna talk about how can I know God's will for my life this is what you want to know well right there it's at the very end of the verse you see what it says what's it say there at the end of verse 12 that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God and I want to introduce into you a paradigm shift I want you to stop thinking about discovering the will of God I need to find the will of God I need to discover it I'm not saying that's completely a bad concept I just want to challenge you to try a different concept stop thinking about finding or discovering the will of God like the dear brother said and weren't you grateful that he mentioned a magic 8-ball just like I did last night is that not the sign of God all over this thing stop thinking about the magic 8-ball kind of thinking you're not trying to find or discover with what you're trying to prove the will of God in your life look I've got a basic understanding for how you can understand the will of God how you can know it you ready 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 gonna 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 the one these are the things that's not giving me enough guidance listen listen when you surrender to God when you're walking in his word God will guide you along the way and don't be surprised if there's times and places where God says to you do whatever you want to do now sometimes we think that finding God's will for our life means a total suspension of our own Faculty of choice but see what Paul says in that verse proving the will of God figuring out what it is you just live your life and you'll prove it out what your life is I look at my life and critical choices that I've made in my life and not all of them been great not only gone well collectively all of them have been folded into the will of God for my life I just see it now in a way that I never saw before so I'm not worried about God like giving me unnecessarily said now there are times when God will do that there are times when God would say do this and not that and thank him for it but I'm not waiting on that I'm seeking God I'm living that live I'm in his word I'm following after him and he's guiding me along the way now keep that in mind I want to go over with you a list from a guy named George Mueller anybody know who George Mueller is George Mueller was an amazing man of faith who some a hundred and fifty years ago by faith established orphanages in England his orphanage were mainly in South West England in the city of Bristol and he housed hundreds of orphans completely free of charge and the whole work was supported simply by faith and by prayer and Muller made it a vow before God that he would never ask people for money he did make needs known but he would never ask somebody for money he just said I'm not gonna ask you for money I'm gonna ask God for the money and if God talks to you about it then you'll give now over the course of his ministry he saw in modern terms more than two hundred million dollars come into his work all just by faith never by any kind of Appeal or request for funds an amazing kind of thing George Miller was such a remarkable man of faith one of the things he did in this book that I read was he laid out a several step plan for discovering the will of God for your life would you be interested in that all right here we go here's a several step plan number one completely surrender one's will to God surrender your will to God in other words Lord show me what your will is but I'm really only interested in doing it if the answer is this that's not surrending your will to God surrendering your will to God is just another way of doing what I just read to you about in Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 present your body a living sacrifice to God God which you want whatever I'll do what you tell me to do I have to say to really do that that requires faith and for some of you it requires repentance and here's the repentance that you have to offer up before God you got a repent of having a bad opinion of God you think that if you really surrender to God he's gonna guide you in a way that you'll hate and like God's plan for your life is misery say well come on David didn't you just tell us that you know there's a theology of suffering and we have to understand that no no you misunderstand me completely God's plan for your life is abundant life joyful life fulfilled life I believe it completely but that doesn't mean every day is wonderful there's going to be pain and suffering and difficulty along the way but I tell you if you believe that it's dangerous to really surrender your will to God I don't say this to condemn you I just say it to really help you out you need to repent of that you're accusing God of being some kind of monster a being abusive because it's the abuser who says surrender to me and it's gonna be good for me and not for you God says surrender to me and it's gonna be good for you I'll always have your best purpose in mind and it's also trusting that God knows us better than we know ourselves have you really thought about that you have an estimation and I'm gonna be talking about this in our fourth session you have an estimation of your gifts your talents maybe you have a sense of your calling or not I don't know we'll talk about that in the fourth session but can you allow for the truth that God knows your gifts and talents and calling even better than you do and when you really walk in and live in fulfillment of your gifts and talents and calling there's nothing greater in the world nothing not not an experience of life okay so that's number one that Mueller listed completely surrender your will to God now look don't get all philosophical on me what I mean by all philosophical is this say even how is it possible for me to completely surrender my will to God I am an imperfect being I can't do anything perfectly and there may be things in my life that I haven't surrendered to God that I don't even know I haven't surrendered to God how you're speaking existentially it's impossible for me to completely surrender my will to God okay just forget all of that and surrender your will to God now maybe there is an area of your life that you need to surrender that you're not aware of okay great when you are aware of it surrender that to God just surrender all you know don't hold back a known area of resistance to God surrender it to him that was the first thing on Muellers list second thing I'm you is list number two he says don't leave the results to feelings or simple impressions if so I make myself liable to great delusions don't do it just by feelings or simple impressions the dear sister in the video spoke of the postcard that she found with Croatia on it now if they would have left going to create Croatia only upon that they would have been fools so was it an indication yes but it was not a determining indication you wouldn't build it on that that's kind of a lure oh it makes me smile and okay God maybe you're in this but that's not deciding it for you say no I'm not gonna go on feelings I'm not gonna go on simple impressions that was number two from okay are we clear on the first two so far any questions about the first two now's your chance all right number three seek the holy spirits will through or in connection with the Bible this is what Mueller said quote the spirit and the word must be combined if I look to the spirit alone without the word I lay myself open to the great delusions or I lay myself open to great delusions also so seek the Holy Spirit's will but not necessarily through an ecstatic experience seek the Holy Spirit's will in and through his word I'm not trying to say that the Holy Spirit won't do some remarkable things in and through his word or in and through the word then oftentimes combining it with the Word of God one of the greatest experiences we ever had when I say we I mean my wife and I in receiving guidance in God's will had to do with exactly that point I was a pastor in a community in Southern California this was a church that I had planted I had been the pastor of her for 14 years the ministry was going well we were happy and blessed there our kids had grown up in this community things were going great and then kind of out of the blue for your few conversations my wife and I just started praying and I could say half-heartedly praying we are praying about the idea of going to Germany and starting a Bible College campus there and which would have been kind of crazy things are going great there in California I've got the church going the ministry is blessed everything's good why would I leave this why would I take my family to Europe and do this well we started praying about it and I tell you when we start praying about it God started stirring our hearts we're like whoa this this might be the will of God we kept praying the more we prayed the more we felt confirmed but we weren't gonna go off and do it rashly I kind of consider this the more people a decision affects the more you need to be confident it really is God's will things that don't really affect many people well you know what you don't need a lot of evidence that it's God's will for you or not but if it's gonna affect a lot of people not just you then be confident and look this decision was not only affect my wife and my kids and my extended family obviously this decision was also gonna really affect my church I was gonna have to leave my church so I better know that it's the will of God so we were gonna go to Europe that summer for a family reunion with my wife's family in Sweden we structured it out and we went anyway we said let's visit Germany where they want me to come and start this Bible College campus and visit there we visited Germany we went to that church and when we were there God stirred our hearts even more it was like whoa God's doing something here let's see what God's doing we we left those couple days in that city in Germany thinking even more this is God's will when we got home from that European trip we're thinking this really seems like the will of the Lord for us we should do it but this is what we said we said no no let's not be in a rush about this this is a big deal let's give two more weeks to really seeking the Lord and trying to discern his will because you know what I mean maybe let me put it this way I think it's possible to miss here God's direction in other words maybe God's telling us to go to Europe but maybe not there maybe God's telling us he wants to do something else let's let's give it two more weeks to really seek the Lord and really do this okay in the midst of those two weeks my wife who's generally more spiritual than I am she says we David we haven't fasted about this at all I said you know you're right so we decided that the next day we were gonna give over to fasting to seeking God's will in something that we already felt like we had a direction a determination the day that we were fasting seeking the Lord's will about it a phone call came in for me I was out of the office at the time they took a message and they said David a call this lady and the message was there for me when I came in so I come in I look at the message and look I'll just be honest with you it's not necessarily my habit to return a call right away you know maybe I think okay I'll get to it later this afternoon or something like that if it doesn't seem urgent why should I say okay I got to do it right now but for some reason I looked at this and I said hey I'm gonna call it right now so I sat down and of course I recognized the name this was a name of a lady who we knew was a friend we're on good terms but they had stopped going to our church a year or two before we're going to another Church no problem with it it was completely cool it's completely good but they were just going to this other church but what I'm sure says we hadn't had any contact for at least a year or more with this gal so I call her up her name was Karen hey Carn this is David return your call what's going on she says David in my devotional time this morning I feel like the Lord gave me a word for you of course I know all the circumstance our life right now she doesn't know a thing because nobody knew a thing we had not spoken a word of this to a person in our church because we wanted to be more sure of the will of God before we revealed anything nobody in our church much less someone we hadn't seen in a year or two she didn't know a thing about it but I knew that we were really seeking God's will that day so David I think God spoke to me this morning in my devotions for you and I just want to tell you do you want to hear it I said yeah sure go ahead so she said this is the verse God gave to me for you and it I think it's Deuteronomy chapter 2 verse 4 it says something like this you've made your way around this hill country long enough now head north now where we lived Simi Valley California is completely surrounded by Hills it's a valley with hills all around it matter of fact just before I made the phone call we were looking at a new logo for the church and it incorporated the hill design in the logo so I mean it was very much a moment we were in hill country and again the verse says is from the NIV you've made your way around this hill country long enough now head north and where we wanted to go was not directly north of us but it was definitely north I mean it was north by maybe even a thousand miles from where we lived in California so instantly I knew that that was God speaking to our situation but man I played it cool I gave no reaction I go wow that's an amazing no just cool us anything I said wow Karan that's quite a verse what do you think it means and she says do you really want to know I said yeah I want to know tell me what you think it means she took a deep breath and she said this she said I think that God is telling you guys to go to Europe I think he's telling you go right away and I think God's telling you that his blessing is really going to be upon it and again I didn't react because we didn't want anybody to know but I mean inside I'm like wow that was the Holy Spirit speaking in and through his word so I just played it close ed hey well thanks a lot Karn that of course later maybe was there I said God really use it but this one don't you understand please understand how that miraculous word of God of guidance worked into the whole thing number one it was confirmation we were already in the direction in other words if God's guidance began with that word from my friend I I don't know if it would have gone anywhere because people have come up to me and give me all kinds of weird prophecies about stuff I should be and stuff I should do and I'm just like yeah whatever when God says that to me I'm with you okay so understand how this fit in it fit in in the course of God's work in my life as confirmation of what God is already saying it was a very powerful confirmation but it was confirmation of what God had already been saying and understand this too I think God gave us unusual confirmation because he was telling us to do something that would affect so many people and he was giving it to us so that when we told the story to other people they would know that it really was the will of God can I speak honestly with you of course I can it's funny how we as we use these rhetorical questions that are really kind of silly oh we did not need that dramatic word of confirmation we didn't I'm not saying that to be boastful but God had already spoken to us so much that we didn't really need it but you know who needed it the people in my church needed it my family needed it other people needed it and I'm not trying to say that it was of no benefit to us but we probably would have gone even without that word of confirmation but it still had an essential role in our lives but notice that was the Holy Spirit working in and through his word if you want to know God's will get into his word that was a third one from George Mueller okay so first one completely surrender your will don't leave the result of feelings or simple oppressions third seek the Holy Spirit's will through connection with the Bible number four take into account providential circumstances look if it's God's will he's going to open some doors and close some others providential circumstances are not the only measure of whether or not something is God's will but I like how George Mueller phrase that how do you say it take them into account take them into account if it's God's will take into account providential circumstances next ask God in prayer to reveal his will to me have you missed out on that one just a very simple asking Lord reveal your will to me pray about it and then this is number three four five six and this is the one that's gonna trip you up hey ready you've done all that by the way pretty much what I've all stated this the first five points of Mueller's things is this anything radical that you've never heard before you're like yeah roll your eyes yeah David same talk I've heard from all my youth leaders on how to know the will of God nothing boring when's it going to be something new okay here's the new one rating for this to me this was the gem of what Muller shared number six through all of the above make a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge after I've done all those above things make a decision that's what you don't want to do you want God to force a decision upon you you don't want to be responsible for a decision and so you avoid it now look when we had that Bible College in Germany that was we started it in 2003 so what's that 15 years ago we were there seven years so that's eight years ago things may be different among young people today so don't take what I'm gonna say about young people then to necessarily be true of you guys today but if the shoe fits wear it we saw people young people when it came to romance they were way too spiritual in other words it went like this it was I know how God's gonna bring the woman I'm supposed to marry to me I'm just gonna pray and seek the Lord and he's gonna say that's the one and then I'm just gonna go to her and maybe I won't say to her that you're the one cuz it'll creep her out I'll save that like for our third conversation you know first one it would just be too creepy and you know and God's will is God's will and that's the one and he's making the choice for me and boom that's it we encountered a lot of young people who came into our Bible College with that kind of general mentality and what it did was I I think that there was actually not really a spiritual reason behind it I think there was some kind of psychological thing going on in him I think a lot of these kids came either from broken homes themselves or they saw a lot of it around them and they number one they said I want to be sure that it's the right person and the only way I can be sure is if God says it if I leave my choice completely out of it oh no it was nothing having to do with me matter of fact I don't even like this person but it was God's will for me that shows how purely it was God's will I can't stand them but I married them no I mean it almost would get like that so that's good they felt more secure if they could tell themselves I had nothing to do with it number one and then number two they were just they were just scared to go forth and put in the work it takes sometimes vulnerable work to get to know somebody and to see if they're the kind of person that you might want to spend the rest of your life with not only is it work it's vulnerable work it's work that sometimes ends in disappointment and if I can find a shortcut around that but just saying God shine this shaft of light from heaven upon that one if she's the one then man boom that's easy listen I find so much wisdom in what George Muller says and I think it matches up perfectly with Romans chapter 12 verses 1 & 2 put yourself in the place where you're seeking God your surrendered to his will you're doing what he wants you to do you're all that and then live out your life and make choices let me read you the line from Mueller once again because it's so good he says it exactly like this he says through all of the above make a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge now when you do that is it a hundred percent sure of being right no and and if you are so risk-averse that that's kind of what you demand all I can say is you're going to be in a lot of trouble you're never going to be able to make decisions okay so Mueller says that and then the next points that he makes I like just as much check out what he says next you would think that would be the end of it wouldn't you okay great I made my decision that's it it's done no that's not the end of it here's the next point he makes he says continue to pray about it two or three more times and if the mind is at peace proceed accordingly so about that job about that person about that school about that ministry opportunity all right lord I put myself in the right place I've sought you I've done all these things I've surrender my will then now according to the best of my judgment and my ability I'm gonna tile that's it and I'm gonna make a decision what do you do once you've made the decision then say alright two or three more times I'm really gonna seek the Lord about this 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 at complete peace I like that methodology from George Mueller 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 and by the way I understand it how we want that more than ever when it comes to relationships we just say Lord is there some way you can guarantee me that it'll never go wrong with this person and you know what I think if God were to give you an honest answer what would he say no so David you got to make this decision by faith and then everyday 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 don't you see there's a pretty big difference between all that I've talked about here Romans 12:1 in to the George Miller thing there's a very big difference between that and and hey I'll do whatever I want and God bless it along the way and well maybe it's good maybe it's not I mean there's a pretty big difference between the two but I want you all to be absolutely freed to recognize number one your mind your heart your life can be transformed by what God and His Word does in you that's number one number two that renewed man or woman that you are you really can walk in the will of God are you gonna walk in it perfectly no there's nothing perfect beside of eternity we get that I'll tell you this even the times when you get the will of God wrong he'll use it remember we're not talking about having to repent of the idea that God doesn't want the best for you you need to come back to that idea listen um some of you have the conception that God is like all right they wanted to honor me in this they wanted to serve in this but they got it wrong now they're gonna 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 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 we serve a loving father with that [Music]

Channel: David Guzik

Views: 19,032

Rating: 4.8431373 out of 5

Keywords: god's will, knowing god's will, david guzik, guzik

Id: tcrOrnWEMiw

Length: 53min 42sec (3222 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 03 2019