How
to Know What God Wants Me to Do?
Greg
Gwinn
We
all face important decisions. These decisions will often have a great
impact on us and our families. It may be a question about what job to
take, or where to live, or what school to attend, etc. What should we do?
Does God offer any help or guidance in making such decisions? We believe
the answer is YES! How does God give this guidance? In many ways:
1) Through the Word. The vast majority of
answers are here. There are positive commands that tell us what we should
do. For example, Matthew 28:19 instructs us to teach the gospel to others.
You don’t have to wonder if God wants you to speak to your neighbor
about salvation. He does, and He said so! There are also negative commands
that tell us what to avoid. If, for instance, you are praying about
whether or not you should honestly report your income taxes — save your
breath! God has already given that answer (Eph. 4:25). Don’t be looking
for additional guidance in areas where God has already said “no” or
“yes.”
2) Through prayer. Christians are to be
consistent in prayer (1 Thess. 5:17). God promises to answer our prayers.
We ought to approach Him with petitions for help with our important
decisions (1 Peter 3:12). If you don’t believe this will work, then
don’t bother to ask! (James 1:5-7).
3) Through circumstances. In the Old Testament,
Joseph suffered a number of awful and unjust things. In the end, he was
wise enough to realize that God had used those circumstances to accomplish
His will (Gen. 45:7,8). Be careful here - this ‘guidance through
circumstances’ is sometimes hard to detect, and some are quick to jump
to false conclusions.
4) Through the counsel of others. The many
commands that urge us to exhort and encourage our fellow Christians (Heb.
3:13, Gal. 6:2) demonstrate that God intends for us to help one another
with the difficult things in our lives.
