Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12: 2 (NIV)
Scripture: Ephesians 4: 17-24
There are times that we wish God would just flat out tell us what He wants us to do. Instead, we have to determine what His Will is. This devotion looks at what God’s Will means and how we can discern it for our lives.
Nuggets
- There are some things that God has predestined; there are some things that we have free will to decide for ourselves.
- The Bible clearly lays out God’s Will in the do’s and don’ts.
- We can use what we learned about God’s Will in those circumstances to apply it to situations that are not addressed in the Bible.
- It is easier to find God’s Will as we grow closer to Him.
To read devotions in the What It Means to Be a Believer series, click the appropriate button below.
We are usually familiar with the “living sacrifice,” “do not conform,” and “be transformed” parts of Romans 12: 1-2 — even if they are confusing. It is a daily task to do those things.
We are a little less familiar with the second part of Romans 12: 2 being in this verse. It talks about finding God’s Will.
Unfortunately, finding out what God’s Will for our lives can sometimes be difficult. There are so many times I have cried out to God, “Just show me what You want me to do! I don’t know what You want me to do in this situation.”
I knew God wasn’t playing Hide and Seek with me. I was just having trouble hearing what His Will was for my life.
God always wants us to know and do His Will. But what is that, and how can we do it?
What Does “God’s Will” Mean?
The will of God has a couple of facets. There are some things that God has predestined; there are some things that we have free will to decide for ourselves.
Acts 4: 28 says, “But everything they [Herod Antipas and Pontius Pilate] did was determined beforehand according to your will” (NLT). Some things are going to happen because He is Sovereign God, and it is His Will that they happen.
Other things, we get to choose. We have to choose to remain in God’s Will.
Case in point. I think God had it predestined that Adam and I were going to go on this mission trip to Toronto. Too many things just fell into place for me to think otherwise.
How we actually got here, I think, was left to be more our decision. I had originally planned to go sightseeing first by going through Pennsylvania and then coming north. Adam wanted to do that after Toronto.
So, I planned on making it to Toledo, Ohio, the first night; Buffalo, New York, the second night; and Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the third night. That was the plan when we left the house on Wednesday.
What actually happened was we got to Toledo, and Adam wanted to go on. We made it to Avon Lake, Ohio. We got to see the sunrise on Lake Erie and get some fabulous pictures (some that you have seen already).
But that meant we got to Buffalo really early. So, we went on to Toronto.
Some day, I want to go back to Toronto and do it right. Driving around with Gwen (our GPS) not having Canada maps and Google Maps down because the international plan on our phones did not include data was not right. It was frustrating.
We came on to Oshawa. God may have really wanted us to get here two days early, or that may have just been the consequences of our travels.
Adam got to chill before the actual mission trip started. We had a really good conversation with the lady who checked us out of our hotel. We told her that everything happens for a reason. We were there for a reason — it might even have been her reason.
Some things that happen are God working in this world. Nothing is going to change it or stop it from happening. We really don’t need to know what is going to happen when — we aren’t God. We just have to have faith that God will take care of us in whatever happens.
When we say we have to find God’s Will for our lives, it is more we have to find out how He wants us to live. How should we conduct our lives that falls in line with how He wants us to live?
How Do We Find God’s Will?
We already know that there are things God wants us to do, and some things God doesn’t want us to do. The Bible clearly lays out God’s Will in the do’s and don’ts.
The Ten Commandments, given in Exodus 20: 3-7, guide us. The Book of Deuteronomy is a restatement of the law given in Exodus. Jesus clarified many of the laws in His teaching.
But God doesn’t talk about everything in the Bible. What do we do with our important questions? What job should I take? Who should be my friends? Who should I marry? There are some things that we can do to find out what God’s Will is.
We need to work on our relationship with Him. If we don’t spend time with God, we aren’t going to hear His voice telling us what to do.
We have to let God call the shots. We have to surrender completely to Him.
We need to process what God is telling us while we read His Word. Then we just have to obey and do it.
If we have trouble processing what God is telling us, we can discuss things with mentors or other believers. God can use others to talk with us.
What It Means to Have Your Mind Renewed to Find God’s Will
So, we said in the last devotion that renewing your mind was learning more about God. It will take hearing His Word, reading it, studying it, meditating on it, and memorizing it. All through that, we need to be in prayer, asking God to provide the meaning.
To read Has God Provided Everything We Need?, click the button below.
When we are doing all of those things, we are not only learning more about God and how He wants us to live, we are also growing closer to Him.
As we grow closer to Him, He tells us more about His plan for our lives. He tells us His Will.
We learn about what God specifically said in the Bible. By applying what we know about the character of God, we can make decisions on circumstances that are not addressed in the Bible. Since we know Him so well, we should know what He does and doesn’t want us to do.
Making the Connections
Knowing God’s Will is connected to how well we know Him. The more we know Him, the easier it is going to be to discern His Will.
We just have to make sure we are not trying to learn things we don’t need to know. We are not God; we don’t need to know everything He does.
How Do We Apply This?
We need to know what the scriptures say — all of them. We need to know how they connect.
We have to know what the word says for the times we don’t have to think or get to think about what we are doing. The do’s and don’ts need to be so ingrained in us that we automatically react according to His Will.
This is easier when we have the fruits-of-the-spirit pure heart. If we react in love, for example, we will react in His Will.
To read How Should We Give Thanks to God?, click the button below.
Making Connections for Job Duty #1
Let’s try to tie all of this together for job duty #1. We are called to be living sacrifices — to worship Him and to live the way He wants us to live so that we can witness to others.
We are called to live different lives than those who hold a worldview. We do this by looking to God in faith, trusting in Him, and living with joy in our hearts.
We renew our minds by learning more and more about God. This will help us discern His Will for our lives.
To me all of this just screams “focus on Him, not us.” Job duty #1 is really Ten Commandments #1: “You must not have any other god but me” (Ex. 20: 3 NLT). Yes, God wants that to be our priority.
Loving Heavenly Father. You want us to live for You. You want us to do Your Will. You will help us to accomplish that. We know that Your way is best. Help us to grow closer to You so that Your Will and Your ways become our norm. Forgive us when we take the focus off You and put it on us and this world. Grow us to prepare us for living with You throughout eternity. Amen.
What do you think?
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