DREAM International Creative Ministries

Jump Start: So, you want to know God’s will for you?

January 13, 2010

God's Will Over the last several months, more than ever before, I have been grappling with the whole issue of God’s will for my life. See, I am, like any average Christian, very willing to do God’s will, seeing that Paul talks about it as being “good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1). So the issue for me has not been whether or not I want to do God’s will; the issue has been, how do I grasp it with absolute certainty?   

 

Now, this can be a very broad and scary subject. For some, they wish to know God’s will for them as it pertains to what career they should choose. For others, they wish to know what God’s will is for them as it pertains to who they should marry. I, however, wish to focus more on how Christians can understand God’s will for their lives. What requirement does one need to fulfill in order for this happen?     

  I have come to understand that part of what needs to happen to those who are seeking to know God’s will for their lives, is that they have to let God fundamentally change their character and generate a dynamic spiritual growth even as they fully utilize the gifts that He has given them.   

  Paul, in Romans 12, addresses this issue. This is a very familiar chapter to many, especially the first two verses. However, sometimes we often miss another meaningful perspective that Paul offers to us, especially in regard to those who are seeking to know God’s will for their lives.   

  Paul offers two tips that I wish to highlight:   

     First, he says, “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Have you ever wondered what Paul is talking about? As you read the whole chapter, you will discover Paul is talking about using talents and gifts that God has given us. From verse five to verse eight, he admonishes the church to accept the diversity of the gifts that they have been given and use them in love. He employs such language as, “Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy….or ministry…or he that teacheth….according to the proportion of faith;….”(KJV)   

     Therefore, for us to know God’s will for our lives, we need to be active in using our talents and gifts fully to the glory of God. God’s will is not revealed to those that sit and wait. It is, rather, revealed to those who are fully engaged in ministry putting to use those gifts that God has given them.    

  The Messenger to the remnant church, Ellen White observes that “Action pervades the whole creation, and in order to fulfill our mission we, too, must be active.” 1   

     Second, once we are fully committed in His service, it is then we go through a fundamental change in our minds; for he says in verse two, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”   

     The phrase “that ye may prove” seems to imply that a requirement has to be fulfilled in order for something else to happen. The Greek word that Paul uses for “transformed” is metamorphoo, from which we get the word metamorphosis, which implies a fundamental change taking place. Not one that is superficial, but one that affects the person in toto, entirely.  According to Paul, we get to prove or know the will of God after we have been changed.      

     Just as a butterfly goes through a metamorphosis from being a caterpillar to being an adult, our minds need to go through that similar change. This takes place as we engage our God given talents and gifts in noble service. It is hard to imagine a well balanced christian growth experience without use of talents and gifts for God.   

   In the epistle to the Ephesians while addressing the subject of using spiritual gifts in relation to spritual growth,  Paul sought to bring their attention to this fact when he wrote, “And He gave some, apostles and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and some teachers…Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”( Ephesians 4:11,13).    

  In summary, God’s will is revealed to those who growing spritually in Christ even as they utilize the spiritual gifts that have been endowed to them.   

  In conclusion, what opportunities has God presented before you at this moment, in which you can use your gifts for Him? What do you sense God is calling you to do right now? Is he calling you to be a missionary in a distant place or right at home where you are? The fact is, we are all called to do something NOW.    

   So, as you seek to know God’s will, there is one question you have to ask, at least according to Romans 12, and that is, ‘Are you growing in Christ, even as you wholly utilize the gifts that God has given you now while you seek His will for your life?’    

notes
1 White, Ellen; Education (Everlasting Gospel Publishing Association; Seoul South Korea:2009), 204



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