God's Will

All of us seek to know what God would have of us.  Yet, too often we mistake God's will with believing we can know the future.  We want to know who to marry, what job to take, what school to attend. 

God is not in the prediction business with man anymore.  He gave his prophets of old that calling and it usually meant death, destruction, and mayhem!

God's Word is adequate for our knowing His will.  We just don't bother to take the time to read it.  Admit it, how many new TV shows did you watch this week?  Compare that to your Bible reading.  Sucks doesn't it!

The little book of James towards the end of your New Testament is the Proverbs of the New Testament.  In chapters three and four he gives us tremendous help in knowing God's will.

Specifically, at chapter three and verse thirteen James asks his readers who among you is wise?  Isn't that what we truly want when we say we want to know God's will?  We want God's mind, God's knowledge of what we should do.  And you know we are secretly blaming God for our failures because we think, "Well God, you weren't clear on my marching orders." 

God doesn't care so much about you doing the right things as He does with you obeying Him in that instant!

James answers his own question by saying, He (you) should show his (your) works by good conduct with wisdom's gentleness.  He goes on to say that we are NOT to have any envy or selfish ambition in our heart.  Does the decision you need to make stem from envy or selfish ambition.  That is an honest question we must ask ourselves.  Next, James tells us, but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy. 

Pure. 
Does your desire come from innocent motives?  Is there a secret agenda that fulfills some selfish lust?

Peace-loving.
Will the choice you make bring peace?  Peace to your soul? your families souls?  your spouse's soul?  We are to pursue peace with all men, even our enemies.  Will your choice bring a win for everyone involved?

Gentle
Like a mother gently holds and supports her newborn infant will your choice gently hold and support you?  Will the people involved support you? 

Compliant
Could you see Jesus making this decision?  This wisdom from above will not be out of Jesus' nature.  If you can see Him doing this then you should or can.  Remember, though, to answer this question you must have a solid understanding of Scripture and how God acts.  We don't like to think of God as dangerous, but He does do some pretty amazing things throughout Old Testament history!

Full of mercy
What is mercy?  It is NOT recieving punishment that we deserve.  We should see our decision/God's will as merciful.  You should be amazed that God would give you another option that keeps you from making a bad one.  If you have two options on the table you should be amazed that one of them is full of mercy. 

Good fruit
What will be the result of your choice one year down the road, five years down the road, twenty years down the road?

God's will isn't really that hard to figure out.  It simply takes knowing His Word, which is His mind.