I believe that my working in a prison is God’s will. I believe it has been His will for me for over two decades.
Yet, I am not one-hundred percent sure.
The interesting thing is that we can do something for decades and figure that it is God’s will for our lives, but still wonder if it is.
So, how do we know with one-hundred percent certainty that what we are doing each day is God’s will for our life?
Well … it is actually quite simple. Do His will, wherever you are. That will take a lot of guess work out of it. After all, no matter where you are, if you wake up every day and you live in accordance with God’s will, then you are doing God’s will for your life. I know that seems like a play on words, but it really isn’t. God’s Word, the Bible is filled with very clear indications as to what His will is for every believer.
Here are some examples from Colossians Chapter three:
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Wow! Imagine doing these things every day, no matter where you are, or what you are doing. Could you then know, with one-hundred percent certainty, that you were doing God’s will every day? Absolutely.
Now I know that some of you are reading this and thinking, “But this doesn’t address God’s specific will for my life. I mean, what about what job I am supposed to work? Who I am supposed to marry? Where I am supposed to live? If I should have children? If I should go into “full-time” ministry?
I know. I know. Slow down. Take a breath…. and pray. Ask God to guide you in these matters. But such lofty considerations are not the point of this blog. The point of this blog is that we can spend more time and energy wringing our hands in trying to discern God’s will for us, than we do actually living out the will of God that we do know.
In closing, I am going to offer a very rough paraphrase of something I once heard Pastor Adrian Rodgers say. He said something to the effect of, “Many people come to me and say, Pastor Rodgers, how can I do God’s will when there is so much of the Bible I don’t understand? So, I say to them, “Start doing the part of the Bible that you do understand and then you will start to understand the parts of the Bible that you don’t understand. Understand?”
For Jesus,
Rob