“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” — Matthew 6:10

“What is God’s will for me?” 

Gosh, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked this question…probably hundreds! I’m sure you have too. Frankly, it’s a great question. In fact, it’s the right question, the most practical extension of praying “your will be done.” It says, “God, I want your will to be done in me and through me. I want to listen to you and to do what you say.”

But what is God’s will? How do we know it? 

I could tell you some crazy stories of times when God made his answer as obvious as if he’d sent me a postcard. But I could also tell of times when I had no clear path, just a bunch of good options all laid out before me. Which one was the right one? In those moments I often wonder if God might just let me flip ahead in my story to see where each path would take me, like a choose-your-own-adventure book. The truth is, we don’t always get the postcard answer. What do we do then? We’ll come back to this question, but for now I have good news for you. 

You have everything you need to live inside of God’s will.

As I wrote this month’s Bible study, I saturated myself in what Scripture says about God’s will. And there were five passages that each gave me a helpful principle for discerning God’s will. I’m going to synthesize them here for you, but I would strongly encourage you to spend some time really studying them on your own (get the study here for help doing this). 

5 Biblical Principles for Discerning God’s Will:

1. Include God in your plans. As simple as this may sound, how often do we just go about our days without even considering God’s good plan for us? James 4:13-17 warns us against this arrogant perspective and challenges us to submit our wills to God’s will for us. 

2. Avoid things that are clearly not God’s plan. You know this, right? If it’s a sin, then it’s a no. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 for a representative passage about what isn’t God’s will for you. At all. Ever. 

3. Be in the habit of living inside God’s will. God is pretty clear about his will for you in all situations. It’s his all-of-the-time plan for you, and your habits should align with those ways of living. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 is a good representative passage of three things you should always do to be in God’s will. And when you live like this generally, you are prepared for times when you need to discern his specific will for you. 

4. Filter your plans through God’s bigger plan. God has an ultimate plan for all time, and he has revealed it to us…which is mind boggling! His final plan for all time is to unite all things in Christ (see Ephesians 1:8-10). And we get to be a part of that beautiful, restorative plan—bringing his kingdom here on earth as his helpers and ambassadors. We should always be asking how our right-now plans fit into his plan for all time. 

5. You should want to do what God wants you to do. Ok. This seems like a silly point, but it’s essential. If I could only give you one point, this would be it: realign your thinking so that you want to live inside of God’s will for you. Romans 12:2 tells us plainly that when we renew our minds in God’s Word, we are transformed into people who not only know God’s will, but who also approve of it. We want to do it. This is where the rubber meets the road. When you spend time in God’s Word, you actually want to do the thing that God is calling you to do.

Ok. So back to our dilemma. What if God’s will isn’t clear? What if we’ve filtered all of our possible paths through these 5 biblical principles, but there’s still more than one good option? What if we’ve prayed that God’s will would be done, but we still don’t know what it is? What if we’ve asked the Spirit to open our eyes and lead us, but we don’t know which way to go? Here’s my advice: just pick a path. Ask the Lord to honor your intention. Ask him to give you a heart of discernment and submission. And ask that he would walk with you as you go. After all, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Sometimes it’s the not knowing that grows our faith most profoundly. And certainly, it’s always God’s will for your faith to grow.