How to Know God's Will

How do you find God's will for your life?

I've known Christians my entire life who still wrestle with this question. The best place to start is recognizing what you already know about God's will. For instance, I know God wants me to love Him first and others as I love myself. These simple-sounding commands are impossible to achieve without God. We can recite these commands with no issue, but understanding what they mean and obeying them is entirely different.

One underlying theme of the entire Bible is that we need God. He wants us to need Him, and He is pleased when we realize that and surrender everything to Him. In my experience, this act of surrender doesn't happen just once. There is an initial surrender, a moment in time where you realize you're out of moves, and so you finally let go and trust that God is who He says He is. After seeing His faithfulness, you begin to surrender more, which causes you to trust Him more.

There's a hymn (and a song, "Trust in God" by Elevation Worship) that says, "Perfect submission, all is at rest, I know the author of tomorrow has ordered my steps." I'm unsure if anyone will continuously stay in a place of perfect submission, but I can tell you it's the best. It sounds odd, but submission is freedom. It's freedom from all of life's pressures and worries. Essentially, Jesus says, "Give them to me, and I'll exchange you for my perfect peace."

I recently read that the focus needs to be on God's will, not God's will for my life. "Because people are naturally self-centered, we tend to view the whole world—even God's activity—in terms of our own lives" (Experiencing God, by Henry Blackaby and Claude v. King, pg. 38).

In my walk with the Lord, I've learned that to be the answer: less focus on me and my moves and more on Him, looking for opportunities to participate in His moves. My Spirit agrees with this statement, but I also recognize the struggle. To focus on what God is doing and let myself be used by Him requires more of my flesh to die, just like Paul writes about in Romans 6:11 and Galatians 5:24.

Those of us seeking God with a strong desire to walk in His ways crave a detailed plan for our lives. I know I do. I get caught up in the nitty-gritty. For instance, as soon as I wake up, my mind goes through the order of operations needed to make this a successful day. Step 1: Take the dogs out—Oh wait, first, I should put some clothes on so I don't get dog hair all over my pajamas. Okay, dog-friendly clothes are on. Step 2: Actually take the dogs out—Lord, this is your day. I submit it to you. I plan to take out the dogs, study my Bible, get ready for work, and then go to the Grindhouse before work. (The Grindhouse is one of my favorite coffee kiosks in Billings, Montana. I love the owner, and her drinks are phenomenal.) Wait, should I go to the Grindhouse? Is that responsible, God? Is that how you want me to spend my money? And then I realize I'm doing it again—I'm emphasizing me. 

I'm trying to see which moves I can make so I don't get in trouble, which is the wrong focus. I'm still attempting to live a perfect life (because Jesus did) even though I've learned time and time again that it's an impossible goal. The right goal is abiding with Christ and trusting He will guide my steps: "The steps of a man are established by the LORD, And He delights in his way" Psalms 37:23 (NASB).

What Do I Know About God's Will?

As my day began, I asked myself, "What do I know about today?" I know that God already planned this day long before I was born. I don't have to guess what He wants me to do. He's given me the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. It seems we like to skip the instructions God has already laid out for us and move into a more detailed and personalized plan. But what if that is an unnecessary step? Throughout the Old and New Testament, He's taught me to walk humbly, thinking of others higher than I think of myself. He's also shown me that He cherishes me and is not fond of legalism. 

While this is a short yet broad summary of what the Lord has taught me, I think you get the picture. God doesn’t want me to seek my own creative ways to be in His will, and He doesn’t want me to follow strict rules without any heart connection to Him. He wants me to submit to what He already has planned. I can do this by trusting that His ways are higher and better than mine will ever be.

Our biggest problem is not that we can’t decipher God’s will for us; it’s that we’re unsure we want to submit to it. What will we lose if we give up control of our lives? It’s funny that we think that way when we know our ways could never outwit God and that our ways haven’t really brought us to a place of ultimate peace. We struggle day in and day out and yet are often still too afraid to surrender to our perfect God.

Understanding God's Will

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The Ten Commandments are not outdated. God still wants us to follow them for our good and His glory, but it's true that He did bring us a new covenant through Jesus. Many people focus on the "new" covenant as if it's easier and drastically different from the old, but I have a secret for you. It's the same. Jesus even says so (note verse 40 below).

"Jesus replied, 'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40 (NLT)

Even verse 37 has been introduced previously. Jesus was repeating the same command given in Deuteronomy 6:5-9 (NLT): "And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

I share this passage from Deuteronomy because it helps us understand what it means to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength. We are given practical application: We must commit ourselves to loving God.

Understanding Commitment

This commitment involves continually repeating His commands to ourselves and our children. He even tells us to tie them to our hands and wear them on our foreheads as reminders. Write them on our walls! Why? Because humans are forgetful! God knows if we don't wholeheartedly commit ourselves to His ways, we won't keep them. We will forget them as frequently as the Israelites did. I'm not suggesting that we will ourselves to keep His commands in our own strength, but the desire to do life God's way is a must.

You may have noticed I didn’t address the second commandment about loving others as ourselves, and that was intentional. I didn’t address it because until we can practice the first commandment we’ll never accomplish the second. The world today is filled with Christians preaching love as tolerance, but their definition of love is extremely distorted, a far cry from the love of God. Tolerance and love are not the same.

The Holy Spirit is our helper and will speak to our hearts. He guides us into acts of service, deeper intimacy with God, and abstaining from sin, but we are the ones who must submit to His guidance. If we get off the path, the Holy Spirit will guide us back, but we must let Him. If we resist the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are choosing to follow ourselves, which is idolatry, which breaks the first command of the new covenant to love God with our everything.

To know God's will for your life, you must know God. There's no shortcut around it. Knowing God requires daily commitment and surrender. It requires knowing His Word because we can't confirm that the Holy Spirit is guiding us without it. God's Word is our foundation of truth.

God wants me to live by His truth and love today. Whether at home, at work, on an errand, or on the phone, I should speak the truth in His perfect love so that more may know Him and draw close to Him. 

It all comes down to God. Whatever we are doing in our days, in our lives, if it doesn't point others to God, if it can't glorify Him, it's not His will.

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Simon Lehmann

Vanessa Luu is a wife, mother, and faith-based writer. She speaks and writes to believers to encourage them to live authentically with God.