079 – How Do You Know if Something is God's Will

079 – Have you ever gotten yourself in trouble by doing what you wanted to instead of what God wanted?

All too often, we do what we want and them complain when things go wrong.

Or we tell God what we want to happen. And we tell Him exactly how it should happen.

We talk to God like He's an old man who is hard of hearing. We talk loud and repeat ourselves to make sure He hears our prayers.

How's that workin' for you?

There's a much better way to pray. It has to do with humility and listening for what God has in mind for you instead of what you want or think is best.

God's will for you

In this week's episode, I explore some ways to discern what God's will is for you. Whatever you have imagined and planned for yourself, God has something much better in store for you.

Here are some things that can help you discover what God's will for you is, both in the every day choices we all have to make, as well as the bigger choices that change the direction of our lives.

• Ask God: What do You want me to do?
• Be willing to let go of your personal opinions about what should happen
• Trust in God instead of your own abilities to find an answer or solution instead of trusting in yourself, your own abilities, your bank account, other people, etc.
• Does what you're praying for go against something Jesus said?
• Are you telling God what has to happen?
• Have enough humility to admit you don't know the answer/solution

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"

This line from the Lord's Prayer is a litmus test to discover if something is God's will or not. Look at your decision through this line of the prayer. Is what you are thinking about something that would be in obedience to God's will in heaven?

Woah! That's a pretty high standard, isn't it? It forces the question whether you really do want to do God's will or not.

But, assuming you really do want to do God's will, the Lord's Prayer as a whole is a wonderful way to figure out if something is God's will. Does what you're thinking of doing give glory to God and His kingdom? Does it acknowledge God as the source of your daily needs? Is there a spirit of forgiveness (if needed)? Do you ask God for help when you're tempted to do something wrong or do you just do whatever you want?

Why should we strive to obey God's will?

God has a bigger perspective than we do about what is good for us and what we are capable of doing. It may not always be easy to do what God wants you to, but the jo

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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life.

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