Page 55 - Personal Spiritual Life Syllabus w videos

Study Section 9: How to Find the Will of God

9.1 Connect.

I remember my first girlfriend. Her name was Nancy. I was a Christian and she was not. I
thought that perhaps I could win her to the Lord, but through our relationship, probably
the opposite happened. She sought to take me away from the Lord. At the time I was
trying to figure out my basic beliefs and how to apply them to my life. I remember asking
my mother if it was God’s will for me to have Nancy as my girlfriend.

The Bible clearly states God’s will to us in many of our life situations. This one was very easy. The Bible
states that an unbeliever and believer cannot coexist in an intimate personal relationship, so we need
to avoid such a union. God’s will was shared with me by my mother, but I really did not want to hear it
at the time. Sometimes we want to seek God’s will, but when we find out what it is, we reject it. But
God makes His will plain to see.

Today we want to look at some things that we know beyond a doubt are God’s will, and then see if we
can determine how to find God’s will in other areas in our life where the Bible does not specifically
address those situations. Sounds interesting, right? Let’s get started….

9.2 Objectives:

1. The student should be able to state the six major commands in Scripture that God declares
to us are His will for our lives.

2. The student should be able to explain that God can clearly reveal His will through the
desires of our heart.

1.3 How to find the will of God

(Portions of this information were taken from John Macarthur’s sermon, How to Know the Will of
God, November 22, 1972. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/1217/how-to-know-the-
will-of-god)

One of the most important questions we struggle with daily is, “How do I know what
God’s will is in this decision?” Let’s face it, many of the answers to decisions with which
you are daily challenged are just not found in the Bible. For example, “What should I wear today?”
“What should I eat for breakfast?” “What local church should I attend?” “I was asked to teach a class,
should I do that?” “What man or woman should I marry for life?” “What college should I attend?”
“Should I take this job?” And the list goes on and on.

Some people think that God’s will is some sort of mystery. “It may be lost, so I have to find it.” Others
may try to find God’s will by creating certain circumstances that may reveal it. They say, “If such and
such happens today, then I will know that God wants me to do this or that.” Maybe God is tugging at
your heart to become a missionary somewhere in the world, and you are trying to figure out where. So
you run down the street, slip on a banana peel, and land on a map of South America. You figure out that
God wants you to go to South America. But that night you see a special on TV about the needs in India

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