One of the things which I repeatedly hear people express is that they do not know the will of God. They don’t know what He actually wants to do in their current situation, or sometimes even on a day-to-day basis. And when we are unsure of the will of God, it often leads us down a spiral of confusion that can sometimes be very deep, and very discouraging and fear-inducing. After-all, how can we be sure of anything, if we are supposed to follow the will of God while simultaneously not knowing what His will is? This very question in-fact has led many to abandon God altogether.
Well, as you may have already deduced from the title of today’s study, things aren’t as mysterious or complicated as they may seem. And the truth is that God has actually revealed His will.
Today we do not need to guess at His will… nor do we need to pray in uncertainty and desperation, hoping to hear Him speak – because He has already spoken to us, and His will can be clearly known to us.
So as we begin today, it should be noted that this is a topic which we have covered previously (a little over a year ago), but this topic of not knowing God’s will keeps coming up – so I wanted to look at it again, both for those who just simply never saw our older study, and also as a refresher for those need some reminding and encouragement regarding this truth.
The first thing for us to look at here is basically the foundational point that God does indeed want us to know His will, and that He does speak to us in a clear and discernible way. Take a look at Ephesians 1:7-10:
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Wherein he has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself:
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him”
Now let’s take our time and consider these verses here. Obviously verse 9 is the key here, clearly stating that God has made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which tells us that not only did He make His will known to His, but it pleased Him to do it.
But the reason why we didn’t just read verse 9 was because the verses around it tell us that God revealing His will to us, is connected with something else; and that is our identity in Christ.
Verse 7 starts off by laying the foundation of our redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ; the forgiveness of sins, all according to the riches of His Grace. If we do not understand this, then the rest of what we would read will be entirely moot. The foundation for understanding the will of God, and even the ability to receive anything from God at all is dependent upon His Grace and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In-fact we can go even further by saying that the ultimate will of God, and the lens through which all of His will is seen, is Jesus Christ Himself.
This is not an exaggeration, not even in the smallest degree.
You see, knowing God’s will and hearing His voice is inseparably tied to Jesus. There are so many debates, and factions and divisions in Christianity these days, and they would all be removed if we would just learn this simple fact: God’s will and voice is revealed through Jesus!
If you ever want to know God’s will regarding any of the hot-button topics such as healing, prosperity, or even salvation itself, you never need to look any further than Jesus Christ. And as usual, this is not my idea, but the scriptures confirm this exact thing.
So let’s take a look at a few more verses here, starting with Ephesians 5:14-17:
“Why he said, Awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Why be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
What we can see here is that Christ is our source of light. It is Jesus who gives light – specifically to those who are awake; those who have risen from the dead – which again shows us that this is connected with being born again, and our new life and identity in Christ.
We are told to not walk foolishly, but with wisdom, and in verse 17, we can see that wisdom is associated with understanding what the will of the Lord is.
This makes it absolutely clear that wisdom cannot be separated from knowing the will of God; which is something that we can know, and indeed God wants us to know. He’s not keeping His wisdom or will hidden. Nor is He forcing us to play some kind of guessing game regarding His will.
Take a look at Hebrews 1:1-3:
“God, who at assorted times and in divers manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Take notice of what these verses are saying here my friend, because the truth of these verses will solidify your faith and your belief regarding God’s will – which is honestly an area of stumbling and confusion for a great number of people, and that’s not what God wants.
In verse 1 here, something very interesting and noteworthy is stated:
God at various assorted times, and in diverse ways spoke in the past to the fathers by the prophets. And please notice that phrase in time past. God used to speak by way of the prophets, and in diverse and various ways, in the past. He does not speak this way currently. Put simply, the Old Covenant way of God speaking, died along with the Old Covenant!
In many ways, people are expecting God to behave the same way that He did in the Old Covenant, with fire from Heaven and natural disasters, and their head is still filled with Old Covenant ideas. And the danger here is that when our head is filled (and limited) by Old Covenant theology and ideas, we completely miss the wonderful reality of the New Covenant that we are in today, brought about by Jesus Christ.
As verse 2 continues, and this is the key right here: in these last days, God has spoken to us through His Son.
This fact right here is what so many people need to understand and to grab hold of.
Verse 3 explains that Jesus is the express image of God. The very brightness of God’s glory. Jesus is the visible expression of the invisible God.
What this means is that you no longer need to guess regarding the will of God, because Jesus displayed Him for all to see.
Want to know His will regarding healing? Jesus healed every single person who came to Him.
Want to know His will regarding provision? He met every need.
He loosed the chains of the oppressed, and demons ran from Him.
And ultimately He loved you and me, all the way to death, so that we could be reborn, and be conformed to His same image, and be in union with Him forever.
I encourage you today my friend, you no longer need to wait, beg, sacrifice or guess in uncertainty for a word from God or to know His will. He has spoken to you already, in Jesus Christ.
Be blessed.
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