As we grow in our walk with God, how to know God’s will is one of the questions many of us believers often ask, mostly when in a crossroad situation or whenever we want to make a big decision that is vital in our life.
And although we sometimes apply God’s will to mean what fate brings to us, like if God wills so, so, and so, will happen, we still long for how to know God’s will in decision making because deep down within us, we know that aligning with the perfect will of God is what we need.
We wish it could just be possible for us to easily grasp what is the will of God in our lives because we know how pivotal it is to fulfill the purpose of our higher calling.
So as Christians, whenever we are pondering on any of these questions, like how do you recognize God’s will or how to know God’s will for my life, the only place to seek answers is in the Bible.
God will not give you any direction or will anything for you as a single individual that doesn’t correspond with what is already written in the scriptures.
So the question to ask is, what is the will of God according to the Bible? Although we may never fully grasp the plan and will of God as stated in the Bible, the Bible clearly states what God’s sovereign, eternal and perfect will is for all of His creation, and it is the backdrop to knowing what God’s will is for every single individual, and how to know God’s will for yourself. To best explain how to know God’s will, let us briefly discuss what God’s will is and the types of God’s will.
What Is The Will Of God?
Suppose you are wondering what the will of God is; God’s will is about what God wants for humanity, and the core of it is that God wants to bring salvation to all of humanity and draw humanity back to Himself.
That none should perish, but all should come to eternal life through Christ (2Peter 3: 9). This is the core of God’s will and the answer to what is the will of God according to the Bible.
Every other stuff we know is based on it. It is a divine pattern, the only holy and right path to follow to eternity. It brings entrance into eternal life and strengthens us to abide in the way that leads to eternal life.
It is God’s will that makes us partakers of the inheritance of God, and it is interwoven with His attributes and characteristics, so it is supreme, sovereign, transcends time and space, and can’t be changed.
So God’s will is about bringing His plans to fulfillment in our lives. His will is salvation, and to draw humanity back to Himself, that is what God’s will is, and it is a backdrop as to how God relates with us.
Types Of God’s Will
When we talk about types of God’s will, it is not in the sense of difference in kinds; that is to have it in varieties.
Instead, it is about the difference in manifestation and the different ways it has been and will be fulfilled here on earth. So we’ll briefly look into three types of God’s will: God’s sovereign, eternal will, perfect will, and permissive will.
1. God’s Sovereign Eternal Will
God’s sovereign, eternal will are all of God’s eternal plans about His kingdom that are predestined to come to fulfillment, His supreme rule, and judgment over Satan and all of his minions.
In God’s sovereign, eternal will, there is an appointed time when this world will come to an end, and there are events that God has put in place that must happen before the world will finally come to an end; this day is also known as the day of the Lord
(Isaiah 13: 9 – 11; Zephaniah 1: 14 – 18; Jeremiah 46: 10). There are judgmental decrees and events as recorded in the Bible that must surely take place before the second coming of Christ (Revelations 6 – 10).
These must come to pass, and nothing can or will hinder it because it is on the level of God’s sovereign, eternal will. Everything God has put in place, everything in God’s sovereign and eternal will must come to manifestation and must always glorify God.
We fit in God’s sovereign, eternal will because He has called us to repentance, to be reunited back with Him so that we can escape the coming wrath of God.
2. God’s Perfect Will
God’s perfect will is about the laid down principles and commands clearly stated in the scriptures. We should follow and live by to guide our daily living and make our path straight with God as we have answered the call to repentance.
Remember that the core of God’s will is to save humanity and reunite us back to Himself. In His sovereign will, there is an unavoidable doom that awaits the devil and its minions and the final impenitent humans who have chosen the devil’s path, and a reward awaits those who accept the call to repentance.
God’s perfect will is the will of God in the bible, which is God’s precepts to follow, put in place, and ordained by God to help us lead the God-life. This life will cause us to stay closer to God, to manifest Godly virtues as we go through this life.
These laid down principles are stated in the 10 commandments (Exodus 20: 1 – 17 and Deuteronomy 5: 6 – 21), and then Christ came and summed it all up in Matthew 22: 37 – 38 (NIV) “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment.” These sums up God’s precepts and perfect will. To apply it to a personal individual level, as believers, we should always let our Love for God be the base of our actions. That way, we will always be in the perfect will of God.
3. God’s Permissive Will
What is meant by God’s permissive will is when we make decisions and choices that are not wholly in line with God’s perfect will, precepts, and laid down principles.
We expect God to approve and permit it because it pleases and suits our desires. God disapproves of it, but He sometimes allows it because He does not force anyone to keep His perfect will. There are two incidents in the scriptures we can use to exemplify this.
First, Israel demanded a king when God had already promised to be their King, but they wanted to have a human king over them (1Sammuel 8: 4-22).
When King Hezekiah was ill and told he would die, he prayed and begged God to add more years to Him, which God did (2Kings 20).
These are the few Biblical examples of what is called permissive will, but I’ll say as believers, we should strictly follow God’s command and live His perfect will for our lives; let’s see how we can apply this to how to know God’s will – 9 ways.
How To know God’s Will – 9 Ways
1. Let Go of Your Personal Desires
We all have dreams and goals, things we hope to achieve, and things we are passionate about, and our desires are channeled toward these areas. But unfortunately, there is a high tendency for these personal desires to interrupt how we walk with God.
It can hinder us from knowing what the will of God for us is under different circumstances because we won’t be focused on pleasing God, we won’t be focused on relating with God to know and to do His will, but instead, we will become selfish and will want God to do our desire for us.
So we should learn to always put how to know God’s will first, and then our passions and desires can follow. We shouldn’t be too ambitious, and we shouldn’t let our personal desires control us, no matter how good we think it is. We should always put pleasing God in front of all our decisions.
2. Study And Meditate On God’s Word
One of the vital things that are eminent in our Christian walk with God is to study and meditate on the word of God.
The word of God is the key that cracks open many puzzles and subjects which we hope to grasp in our walk with God. The word of God; the Bible contains the most profound content and intent of God’s heart and will for humanity and individuals.
To study and meditate on the word of God means reading the word, paying attention to several keywords, phrases, and clauses, scrutinizing and analyzing what you’ve read, considering and identifying with what you’ve read, and then creating a mental picture of it by seeing it play in your daily living.
When we continue in doing this, it causes our heart’s desires to become synced with God’s will. We begin to desire what God wants because we gain knowledge of what God’s will is for us as individuals and for the whole of humanity.
For further discussion on this subject, you can look out these two articles, How to Study the Bible and How to Meditate on the Word of God Effectively.
3. Strife To Grow In Faith
The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10: 17). In the Bible, whenever something is stated more than once, it is for the sake of emphasis. And when the Bible is emphatic on anything, we ought to pay close attention to it.
Here the Bible is saying to grow in faith, emphasis made is paying attention to the word of God. You pick up the Bible, read it aloud to yourself, and listen to messages from spirit-filled preachers to energize and enlighten your faith.
And to take it a step further, to grow in faith also means to put the word of God you have heard into practice. Let the word of God you have listened to be seen in how you interact and relate with people. Let it be what guides you. It is one of the ways how to know God’s will.
4. Strife To Obey God’s Command
Contained in the Bible (which is the word of God) are God’s commands and precepts, which are guides to knowing God’s will.
As we have earlier said, to know God’s will is to do God’s will. You cannot know God’s will if you are not ready to engage. Otherwise, it won’t make any sense to you, and you won’t have practical knowledge of it. So when you strife to obey God’s command, you will be engulfed with the knowledge of His will.
Knowing what God’s will is in every circumstance, you find yourself as an individual will become a part of your lifestyle because your focus is on how to obey God’s command.
5. Surround Yourself With Godly Company
Proverbs 13: 10 (NIV) “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” J. C. Ryle also said, “nothing perhaps affects man’s character more than the company he keeps.”
The kind of company we keep goes a long way to influence our lifestyle, our decisions, and our goals. So when we surround ourselves with Godly company, people with the same common goal as us, who want to know and do God’s will, it goes a long way to influence us to stay focused on how to know God’s will; it will be rubbed off on us.
That’s why as believers, we should not forsake the gathering of the brethren (Hebrews 10: 25); it helps us to grow and stay in faith and to have a focus on what God wants us to be. Proverbs 27: 17 (NIV) “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
6. Don’t Be Afraid To Take Steps Of Faith
There are times we’ll find ourselves in a crossroads situation when we have to make a big decision that is pivotal in our lives and in our Christian faith.
At this point, the choice we make that is born out of our faith in God, irrespective of the consequences that follow, is taking a step of faith.
Andy Stanley shared a story in one of his sermons about a youth in his congregation that resigned from his dream job because the job threatened his Christian faith.
According to him, he said the nature of the job might cause him to sin against God, so he tendered a resignation letter. And he said as of the point he was sharing the story, the guy was still jobless.
For the guy in this story, it was a job, but for you and I, it might be a relationship with someone. Maybe a relationship that leads to marriage, and the person is not a believer in Christ, and you know the Bible says, “do not be equally yoked with an unbeliever.” (2Corinthians 6: 14), deciding to follow the word of God is taking a step of faith. Sometimes it might even be just to cut ties with people, people that are influencing you negatively.
Maybe your relationship with them comes with enormous material benefits, but because the Bible says ‘evil communication corrupt good manners’ (1Corinthians 15: 33), you just have to cut ties with them. Remember, you are not the one to convert them; the Holy Spirit is, so don’t try to play the Holy Spirit here; just cut the relationship.
There are so many instances of this, but this is what taking a big step of faith means, choosing to follow God, choosing to reference God, choosing to put God first irrespective of what the outcome or consequence may be, thus taking a step of faith is one of the ways on how to know God’s will.
7. Exercise Patient; Wait On God
Exercising patience to wait on God in troubling and confusing circumstances is one of the ways on how to know God’s will because it helps us unlock God’s perfect will in our lives.
Patience as a virtue in this sense is not just an ordinary virtue but a spiritual virtue. It is one of the ways the fruit of the Spirit manifest. When we exercise patience, we are indirectly manifesting the fruit of the spirit, and displaying the fruit of the spirit is acting in the will of God.
8. You Must Be A Prayerful Christian
Prayer is a one-on-one dialogue between God and us. It is how we engage in discussion with God. It is the place of communing and summiting to God’s sovereign will. If this is what prayer means, we must be prayerful to know God’s will.
Prayer takes us to the throne of God and grants us the opportunity to get God’s attention. When we seek God’s attention, interceding on our behalf or behalf of others, it is God’s will we seek after and not our own will.
So being prayerful is one of the ways how to know God’s will.
9. You Must Have An Intimate Relationship With God
To have an intimate relationship with God means to have a close personal relationship with God. It is to be known by God and also to know God. For us to know God, we must be deeply rooted in scriptures, and our life must testify to our scriptural knowledge.
Thus, to have an intimate relationship with God, we must take time to study and meditate on God’s word and often engage in prayer.
When one learns and meditates on God’s word and prays regularly, and our intimacy with God grows, this brings us into the dimension where we become friends with God, and knowing God’s will becomes a part of our everyday life.
We begin to live a life that manifests God’s will in all of our actions. How can we apply these 9 ways on how to know God’s will to how do I know God’s will in my life?
How Do I Know God’s Will In My Life?
If you’re wondering and asking yourself, how do I know God’s will in my life, then look nowhere else than the Bible.
The Bible clearly states the core of God’s will for humanity. It vividly gives God’s sovereign eternal and perfect will, salvation for humanity and reunites humanity back to God.
So, how to know God’s will for your life and your everyday living is to link up your daily lifestyle with God’s Supreme Sovereign eternal will and God’s perfect will, which means patterning your life to follow God’s supreme sovereign eternal will and God’s perfect will as it is stated in scriptures.
This is because to know God’s will is to submit to God’s will, so how to know God’s will for my life means that I must be willing to submit to God’s perfect will for all of humanity, as clearly stated in the scriptures, because it is when I submit to God’s perfect will as expressed in scriptures that is when I can now know what God’s will is for me as an individual is because they are all interwoven together, they all converge at one point.
God’s supreme eternal will and God’s perfect will for humanity, as stated in scriptures, cannot contradict God’s will for you as an individual. It must all be in total synergy.
To give a more vivid and practical explanation to this, let’s briefly discuss see how we also apply this on how to know God’s will in choosing a life partner.
How To Know God’s Will In Choosing A Life Partner
If you are wondering how to know God’s will in choosing a life partner, the Bible gives a vivid and strict command to this.
From the Old Testament, God warned the Israelites not to marry from other pagan nations (Deuteronomy 7: 3: 1Kings 11: 2). In the New Testament time, the command is “do not be equally yoked with an unbeliever” (2Corinthians 6: 14).
We should have in mind that the nation of Israel is the church in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, the same command is given, not to be yoked with one who is not a believer.
So how to know God’s will in choosing a life partner is to follow these commands. Anyone who is a believer in Christ should not pick or accept a life partner from one who is not a believer in Christ, for what does light has to do with darkness (2Corinthians 6: 14).
Some may ask, even amongst us believers, how do I know who is the one, how do I know who God wants me to marry in particular. I’ve heard some people say follow your instincts, some say the spirit will guide you, some say be patient.
Fate will bring the person to you. But based on what the scriptures say concerning this, I believe in my spirit that every true believer in Christ that is single is a potential life partner to another true believer in Christ that is equally single.
So how to choose a life partner is to look for a single true believer in Christ, not follow our instincts or believe in fate. Someone may also ask, how do I know a true believer? Jesus, Himself says by their fruit you shall know them (Matthew 5: 16 – 20).
So in choosing a life partner, look for one that manifests the fruit of the Holy Spirit in their daily lifestyle. No two believers that daily manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit that is not compatible with living together in peace and harmony for their entire lifetime.
Conclusion
How to Know God’s Will is to live God’s will, which means the knowledge of God’s will is empirical knowledge. So when we strive to know God’s will in our lives, we must be willing to submit our own will and to carry God’s will and make it part of our everyday lifestyle.
Save this for later!
