Let’s start with this truth, If you seek God’s will, He will put you in the right place at the right time. You will be the right person, at the right time, in the right place, doing the right thing, for the right reason and that’s called righteousness.

The best place for you to be is in the center of God’s will. When you are seeking God’s will and following His guidance with faithfulness good things happen, pleasing things happen, and perfect things happen. And how do I know that? Because of what God tells us in His Word in Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (NLT). If you seek God’s will, He will put you in the right place at the right time. It will be good, pleasing, and perfect. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, but it will be good, pleasing, and perfect. The best place for you to be is in the center of God’s will.

I can imagine that you are asking in some form, “What is God’s will for my life?” It may sound like this,

  • Should I have this surgery or not?
  • Should I apologize?
  • Should I buy this house?
  • Should I switch jobs?
  • Should I date this person?
  • Should I marry this person?
  • Should I divorce this person?
  • Should I get involved in this ministry?
  • Should I join this church?
  • Should I invite them to church?
  • Should I share the gospel with them, if so, how?
  • Should I… What does God want me to do?

We are in a series of messages helping us to understand God’s will and how to discover God’s will for our lives. God wants you to know His will. He is not trying to play hide and seek with what He wants you to do.

Even though God’s will is good, pleasing, and perfect, it is oftentimes difficult.

  • Jesus followed God’s will perfectly, but it was oftentimes hard.
  • The apostle Paul was often beaten, rejected, ridiculed and thrown in prison for doing God’s will. Doing God’s will is often difficult, hard, challenging.
  • Daniel was doing God’s will and as a result was thrown into a lion’s den.
  • Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were doing God’s will, and they were thrown into a fiery furnace. Doing God’s will is often difficult.

And it brings us to this truth, If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. The Spirit of God led the Son of God into the wilderness to face the enemy of God, the devil himself. When it was over, the devil fled. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

Some of you have been following God’s will and you have been faithful. You have been doing it right. You made the sacrifices. You have died to yourself over and over again. Your faithfulness in following God’s will has led you into a valley. Sometimes your heavenly Shepherd will guide you into some difficult places in life. Psalm 23 is about our God being our shepherd and we being his sheep and him guiding us and leading us and then when you get to verse 4 it says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (NASB). If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. Listen carefully, the will of God will not take you where the grace of God cannot sustain you. God’s will, will always lead you to a good place, a pleasing place, and a perfect place even though it may be a difficult place.

The Four Aspects of God’s Will

When you look at what God says about His will, you discover there are four different aspects of God’s will. These aspects of God’s will reveal God’s heart for you, His purpose for you, and His plan for you. Last week, I introduced the first two and today we are going to look at the last two. Let’s do a little review first. The four aspects are…

God’s Sovereign will

God’s moral will

God’s permissive will

God’s personal will

God’s Sovereign Will

Last week, we looked at God’s sovereign will. This is God’s unstoppable, unchangeable plan that directs all things toward His purpose. This is His ultimate master plan. This is that part of God’s will that is going to happen and no one can alter it, change it, influence it, or stop it. It will happen no matter what. You see God’s sovereign and prevailing will when He created everything. Nothing could have stopped that. You see it when He sent His Son to live a sinless life, die on the cross for our sins, resurrected from the dead, and scended to the Father. Nothing could have stopped that. You will see it again when Jesus returns and every knee and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. That’s God’s sovereign will. You also see God’s sovereign and prevailing will in your life. By God’s sovereign will, you were born when you were born, where you were born, the gender you were born, and the color you were born. That is God’s sovereign will.

God’s Moral Will

Then there is God’s moral will. This is God’s timeless truths revealed in His Word for how all believers should live. This is how God wants every believer to live. This is God’s will for how He wants you and me to live out our life. God’s will is revealed in God’s Word. God’s Word tells us that it is His will that we be holy (1 Thess. 4:3) and it is God’s will that we be thankful in all circumstances (1 Thess. 5:18).

We looked at all that in detail last week.

God’s Permissive Will

What do we have so far? We have God’s sovereign will. There are some things God has predetermined to happen, and no one can stop it. Then we’ve got God’s moral will. This is God’s will revealed to us through His Word that tells all followers of Jesus how to live.

The third aspect of God’s will is God’s permissive will. This is the freedom God gives us to make choices, even when they are not perfect. Here is where God says, “Here is My will for you, but I give you permission to choose it or not.” God says, “I’m going to tell you what My will is for you. I going to tell you what is the right and best thing for you to do, but I give you the freedom to obey or disobey Me. I ‘m not going to make you do this.”

The concept of God’s permissive will is seen in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 when Moses addressed the people as God’s spokesman saying, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life” (NLT). God’s will is where life and blessings are found. God’s permissive will gives you permission to o

bey His will or not. He has given you a free will to choose whether or not you will do what He says. So, when God gives us a command or direction in the Bible we can obey it or not, but we have to remember that our obedience produces life and blessing and our disobedience procures death and hurt in some way. There are sowing and reaping principles in effect here. There are positive and negative consequences to our choices, for us and those in our lives.

In 1 Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul is talking about the will of God in a certain situation, but in the middle of all this he says this, You say “I am allowed to do anything” —but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial (vs. 23, NLT). That is a true statement. You are allowed to do anything. You can commit any sin you want. You can commit any act of kindness you want. You can behave in any manner you so choose, but “not everything is beneficial” and “not everything is good for you.” Does God give you the freedom to choose? Yes.

  • Does that mean I can eat cheeseburgers for every meal? Yes, but that would not be good for you.
  • Does that mean I can be greedy with my money? Yes, but that would not be beneficial.
  • Does that mean I can have sex with whoever I want? Yes, but that would not be good for you.
  • Does that mean I can be mean to those who are mean to me? Yes, but that would not be beneficial.
  • Does this mean I can do whatever I want? Yes, but that would not be good for you nor beneficial.

There are things you can choose to do, but in the long run it will damage you mentally, emotionally, physically, relationally, and spiritually. There is a reason why God says don’t do certain things because of the damage it causes to you on the inside and to your relationships or future relationships.

God’s Personal Will

There is God’s sovereign will, there’s God’s moral will, and there’s God’s permissive will. There is also God’s personal will. God’s personal will is God’s unique and specific calling just for you. God’s personal will deals with you personally. Let me use myself as an illustration.

  • God’s personal will was for me to adopt Natalee and Emma Joy.
  • God’s personal will for me was to marry Holly.
  • God’s personal will for me was to be the pastor of Genesis Church.

God has a unique purpose, plan, and will for you that is different than anyone else on this planet. Let me show you some examples of God’s personal will from the Bible.

God’s Personal will for Jesus

Jesus went to the garden, this is right before Judas was to show up with a small army to capture Jesus. This is right before the trials, the mocking, the beating, the crucifixion, and Jesus being separated from the Heavenly Father and paying for our sins. In Matthew 26:39 we are told Jesus fell face down on the ground and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will” (HCSB). There was only one person who could drink the cup of God’s wrath for our salvation and that was Jesus. The Heavenly Father’s personal will for Jesus was to live a sinless life and become the sacrifice four our sins on the cross. The Son of God had to that, not you or me. That’s God’s personal will for Jesus. Only Jesus could do that.

God’s Personal will for Paul

God had a personal will for Jesus, but God also had a personal will for Paul. After Jesus resurrected from the grave and ascended to the Father, the church began to grow. There were some powerful people who did not like that and they began to attack and persecute the believers. One man in particular was leading the charge on persecuting the believers. One day on the road to Damascus to arrest more Christians he had a unique encounter with Jesus. This man became a believer and follower of Jesus. He stopped persecuting the believers and eventually, after some training, started preaching the gospel and making disciples of Christ. Eventually he became known as the Apostle Paul who God would use to write nearly half of the New Testament. Listen to what Paul says about himself in becoming an apostle in Ephesians 1:1, “This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus” (NLT). God had a personal plan and will for Paul. It was unique to Paul. Not everyone could be an apostle, but for Paul that was God’s personal will for him.

God’s Personal will for You

God has a personal plan for your life. God’s personal will involve some important decisions in your life. God has a personal will for you regarding whether you get married or not, who you marry, and whether you go to college or not, what church He wants you to be a part of, what ministry to invest your time in, how to manage the money He gives you, and where you should live. God has a personal will just for you. And God wants you to be in the center of God’s will in everything you do, because that is the best place for you to be.

After Easter, we will take a look at five Biblical principles that God gives us to determine what His personal plan and will for us is. These five principles will answer the question, “What does God want me to do personally?” These five biblical principles will make it clear to you what God wants you to do.

Conclusion

What is our response to these four aspects of God’s will?

  • We are to trust God’s sovereign will. There are people and situations we cannot control and we will have to trust God’s plan with it.
  • We are to obey God’s moral will. There are some things we need to do and some things we need to stop doing.
  • We are to accept God’s permissive will. Everyone has the freedom to obey God’s will or not. Let’s choose God’s plan and accept His guidance.
  • We are to walk in God’s personal will. Once we know what God’s will is for our personal life, then let’s embrace it and live in it.

Look at what Psalm 32:8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you” (NIV).

  • God says He will instruct you and teach you so you can live and walk the best pathway for your life.
  • God says He will counsel you and advise with His loving eye on you. He will lovingly watch your progress.
  • If you seek Him and listen to Him, you will hear His instructions to you and you will hear Him tell you what to do in His Word, and in your mind and heart. His will and way for you will become very clear.
  • Then you will know God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will for your life. If you seek God’s will, He will put you in the right place at the right time.

So, I have an important question for you. And I want you to take it very seriously. If you already know what God wants you to do, then why are you not doing it? For you to get closer to the center of God’s will for your life, what is your next step of obedience?

  • What is it that you need to say “yes” to when it comes to God and what is it that you need to say “no” to when it comes to sin and selfishness?
  • Your Heavenly Father will instruct you and teach you and counsel you with His loving eye on you that you will know the way you should go… so you will know what He wants you to do. Trust God’s will. Obey God’s will. Accept God’s will. Walk in God’s will. That is the best place for you!