Determining God's will for your life

Wouldn’t be great if we could just pick up the telephone, dial up heaven and say, “Hey, God, this is old preacher Jim and I just need to know what I am suppose to do now” … and he would tell us! Or, wouldn’t be great if we could pick up the Bible and open it to the New Testament and find a letter from Paul written specifically to us … and it would be telling us what our purpose in this life was meant to be? Wouldn’t it be great, but that isn’t how God works.

Recently, I’ve been in dialogue with a young person who is trying to determine his calling. Does God want him to do this or to do that? He is really struggling. That is actually a good thing – to wrestle with God over our purpose and direction. Well, for this young person God has been placing different individuals in his path that are meant to assist him in his search and spiritual journey. But, here is the clinker; this young person wants it only to be a “God thing” – just something between him and God. But that isn’t how God works. God works through people as in … his only voice is our voice and his only hands is our hands.

It is as if there is the huge party being thrown in honor of this young man. He enters the room and says, “No, everybody has got to leave. I only want God to be here.” So they all leave. When God does show up, he looks around and asks, “Where is everybody that I invited to your party?” “I sent them home,” he responds. “Why,” asks God? “Well,” responds the young person, “I want this to be just between you and me.” God slowly begins to shake his head, “Don’t you get it? I invited all these people to your party to speak for me.”

It is like a couple that I was counseling. A major part of the counseling sessions dealt with what God wanted them to do in their life. They were both miserable in their jobs and were trying to discern God’s purpose. Out of the blue, totally unexpected, his brother calls from Las Vegas and states, “All of a sudden, my business has gotten so busy that I cannot handle it any longer without help. I need you both to come out to Las Vegas to help run my company and I need you as soon as you can get here.” Their response, or should I say her response was, “No!” When asked why, she said, “God doesn’t want us to live in Las Vegas.” Really … how else can you explain this invitation to move across the country, with financial assistance to make the move, to two good paying jobs waiting at the other end if it isn’t a God-thing? They decided not to take the jobs and they continue to be miserable and as far as I know are still searching for God’s purpose in their life.

The “pat” answer in these types of situations is to say, “Pray about it.” Prayer is a good thing and can often be a determining factor in discovering ones purpose in life. But, if prayer is just a “you and God” thing then sometimes the answer could be misunderstood. Like the time the church I was serving was discussing the pros and cons of selling the church and moving to a new location. During the congregational meeting one woman, who saw herself to be the spiritual leader of the congregation, stood and said, “I’ve been praying about this and God has clearly told me that he doesn’t want us to sell and move. End of story.” She sat down and the majority vote was for the congregation to stay in their existing building. Neither she nor the majority understood my point when I asked, “Well, very good, but who else is God conveying that message to?” It was a sad day for that congregation and a missed opportunity to be about doing God’s will. The end of that story is that 10 years later, after the “spiritual leader” had become involved at the Presbyterian Church and there had been some strategic deaths within the congregation, the congregation has voted unanimously to move.

And so, given the gravity of this young persons decision, I’ve suggested, following the biblical suggestion that “where two or three are gathered together in my name I will be there,” that he gather around him a group of prayer warriors to help him discern God’s purpose in his life. Will it be easy? No. Will it be fruitful? By all means. Will the answer come quickly? Only time will tell. Will it be important? Yes.

Prayer is important. The other suggestions I’ve made to him is that he continue his extensive Bible study. Start to journal – writing down ones thought process and ideas can help clarify ones thinking. And, possible go on a spiritual retreat where all of these disciplines would be followed along with fasting.

What is abundantly clear is that all of those who read this blog please add this young man to your prayer list. Surround him with prayer, lift him unto the Lord, lay his needs before the throne of grace, ask for spiritual protection to surround him and for God to reveal his purpose as God opens the door to his future. Thanks for caring for a fellow struggler on a spiritual journey.

Quote for today: Discerning and acting on God's will does not mean you'll never have difficult days or feel lousy sometimes. But choosing to live in alignment with God makes you more joyful, compassionate, and peaceful, even on bad days. ~ Debra K. Farrington