God Has a Plan For You - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, February 19th. Within God's overarching purpose for the world, He has intentions for your individual life too. Here's some help finding your place in God's plan. Can I really and truly know the will of God for my life? How will I know when God is speaking to me? How do I know, for example, where to put my kids in school? How do I know exactly who to marry? How do I know when to leave this job?

How do I know if we're to buy this house? All those questions that people ask and sometimes people would say, well, is God really interested in any of this at all? Is this just my imagination that God would have a personal interest in all of this?

Yes, He is. God is interested in every single facet of our life. And that's what I want to talk about in this message today entitled, The Will of God.

God has a plan for you. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter ten. I want us to read just a couple of verses of this tenth chapter. And the writer of Hebrews is writing to a group of people who are undergoing all kinds of difficult and hardship and pain and suffering and probably being a little discouraged.

And so this is what he says. He says in verse thirty-five, Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive, listen, you may receive what was promised. When we talk about the will of God, we're talking about His moral, we're talking about His personal providential plan for creation, but we're also talking about His plan for your life and mine. And if you'll think about it, it's the very nature of God, the very character of God, that He would have a plan for our life.

For example, when you think about how God responds and how He acts in situations and circumstances, He is certainly not simply a reactor. God is a planner. So therefore, when you think about the Lord having a plan for our life, it's just in keeping, for example, the very nature of God that He plans. Therefore, He didn't bring us to birth, dump us into a world and say, do the best you can. And if you go back to Psalm 40 for a moment and look, if you will, in this 40th Psalm and listen to what David says about his desire about the will of God, he says in verse 8, I delight to do thy will, O my God, thy laws within my heart. He certainly believed that God had a will for him.

Remember that he was a shepherd boy whom God made the king over the whole nation of Israel. Look in the 143rd Psalm, if you will, and there's a verse there I want you to notice. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God.

Let thy good spirit lead me on level ground. I believe that David believed that God had a will for his life, a personal will for his life. And when I think about the way that God says we're to relate to Him, we're to relate to Him on a personal basis. That is, God is not up in heaven looking down on mass humanity, but all through the Scriptures it's very clear that He has a purpose and a plan for our life and that He relates to us on the basis of that personal will and plan. When it comes to our relationship to God, that's the way He relates to us.

Not in one big pot of humanity, but individually and personally. Think, for example, what the Bible says about how He leads us and how He guides us. He says, trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not to your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy path. Not some general path, but our individual life. He says He will guide us with His eye. He will teach us in the way in which you and I should go.

He is interested in us individually. If you'll think, for example, about the whole idea of spiritual gifts, turn, if you will, to Romans chapter twelve for a moment. In the twelfth chapter of Romans, in the sixth verse, speaking of different spiritual gifts that He gives, He says, And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly. If prophecy according to the proportion of his faith, if service in his serving, are he who teaches in his teaching, are he who exhorts in his exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness.

Now what does He say? That God has given to each one of us that is a particular gift. For example, we have different gifts as He says here. There are probably about, according to the Scriptures, seven motivational gifts. What do we mean by seven motivational gifts? I mean those gifts that ultimately motivate us in whatever we do. For example, He says someone has the gift of service, someone administration, someone giving, someone exhortation, someone has the gift of prophecy. Whatever it may be, God has given us different gifts.

Now, if He just put us all in one big pot, why would He not give us all one particular gift? Because God has a personal plan and a personal will for your life, what has He done? He has equipped you as a child of God to be able to perform to do well in what you do. For example, if you understand what your spiritual gift is, here's what you'll realize, that what motivates you in life is your spiritual gift. Mine happens to be exhortation, so what motivates me in life is I want to exhort people to be obedient to God, to walk in His ways, to do the will of God, to find His will, and to do those things that make it possible for God to use them to make the greatest impact in their life. If a person has the gift of service, you will find them serving others, looking for ways to serve to give themselves away.

If you find the person with the gift of administration, they usually want to be in charge and controlling and giving direction and so forth. Why does God give different gifts? Because God has a specific personal plan for each one of us and He has designed your life and my life with a particular plan in mind. So therefore, when it comes to the idea of God having a plan for our life, many people live their whole life never understanding, never believing, just thinking that they're a part of great humanity out there and that God has no particular, special, specific personal interest in them when yes, He does. God, listen, the Bible says, His way of talking about His care for us, He says, the hairs upon our head are numbered. He says, for example, if the Lord sees the sparrow fall, how much more important are we than the sparrow? He's not talking about some mass humanity.

He is talking about specific individuals, you and me. He has a definite personal plan for your life. And you may feel like oftentimes that God doesn't care. You may feel oftentimes that you're just really a nobody, that your life isn't worth anything and that God certainly doesn't have any special interest in you. You may feel like you don't have any special talents, special gifts, that how in the world could God use you?

That's not even the issue. The issue is what does the Word of God teach us? Listen to what He says in Ephesians chapter two and verse ten, He says, We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus, listen, for good works which He preordained that you and I should walk in them.

The word workmanship means, listen, it means persons of notable excellence. God didn't put all of us in a mold, pour the clay in and we all come out just somehow different. But God has a specific purpose and plan for every single one of us no matter who we are.

Now think about it. He calls us His children. We are His children. He's our Father. Fathers do not just love their families in general.

A father loves his children individually, relates to them individually according to their needs, according to their desires and according to his wisdom in dealing with them. So no matter who you are, what you may think about yourself, how you may feel, God has a specific purpose and plan for your life. He did not birth you and dump you into humanity. He allowed you to be born with a plan and a purpose for your life. Now, with that in mind, what we might ask ourselves is this. When we think about God's plan and His perfect and His will, I want us to think about the categories in which we discuss now the will of God.

I want you to listen carefully because I want to ask you to give me these back. There are two general categories of the will of God. First of all, there is the category of God's moral will. The moral will of God relates to every single person. The moral will of God are those dos and don'ts that are so clearly given in Scripture. If you took a concordance and looked up all the verses that have to do with the will of God or God's will, what you're going to come up with is you're going to come up with two primary categories.

And that first category is God's moral will. Now, it's interesting to me once in a while, some people want a place in that category, some things that do not belong there, but let's go, if you will, to 1 Thessalonians. Back to 1 Thessalonians, we'll just take one book of the Bible, just to pick a few here. And look, if you will, in the fourth chapter of this 1 Thessalonians.

And if you'll notice what he says beginning in verse 3. Paul says, writing to the Thessalonians, he says, for this is the will of God. This is part of God's moral will. What's the will of God? This is the will of God.

What is that? For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God, part of God's moral will. Well, let's move from something that you may feel like, well, that would certainly be a part of his moral will, but turn over to chapter 5 and look, if you will, at a very familiar verse that most of us know by heart.

Look, if you will, in verse 18. He says, in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. The moral will of God is that will of God that encompasses every single person. It is the will of God for everyone.

No lying, stealing, cheating, adultery, murder, and so forth. It's the will of God for everyone, that we give thanks in every single thing in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says that is indeed his will. So when we think about the moral will of God, that's what we're referring to here. Now, there's some things, for example, that we might think of that people say, well, I don't know what God's, I got to pray about this.

Let me give you some examples. Somebody says, well, I know the Bible says we ought to be saved. I got to pray about you. Stop praying about being saved.

Now, I'll tell you why. Turn, if you will, to 1 Timothy for a moment. Look in that second chapter, if you will. It's very clear what the will of God is concerning a person's salvation. For he says in the third verse of this second chapter, he says, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, not the will of God that any should perish, but that all men might be saved. For example, he says, for God so loved the world that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. He says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Why did Jesus Christ come?

He came that all men might know the truth and be saved by his grace and goodness and love and mercy to us. So therefore, it's not a question of praying, well, God, shall I be saved or shall I not? He says, behold, today is the day of salvation. Now is the time to be saved. If you're praying whether to get saved or not, you can stop your praying and be saved here and now. If you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you just need to tell him right now, Lord, I want to be saved now.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say get saved tomorrow. Nowhere in the Bible does it say pray about being saved. Somebody says, well, you know, I've had a real problem with somebody I work with and things are really bad and I need to ask God about forgiving them. You can stop praying about forgiveness because the truth is he says, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven you. I don't ever have to pray about whether to forgive somebody for what they've done no matter what they've done, how long they've done it, how much they hurt, how deeply I may have been wounded. The issue is I'm to forgive them. I don't have to pray to ask God, shall I or shall I not forgive them.

They're just some things that are absolutely in the moral will of God that fit every single one of us no matter who we are. Therefore, you can stop praying about some of those things. Somebody says, well, I'm just praying with Asher to join a church or not. You stop praying about that. Now, you may pray where you ought to join, but listen, I know some people who've been praying about where to join for years. They still haven't joined a church. The Bible says forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as is the nature of some. Somebody says, well, I can be just as good a Christian outside the church as I can inside.

Show me one who is. I've never seen anybody whose life was really accounting for God, who is walking a godly life, who refused to be baptized and refused to be a member, refused to be a member of a local body. There's some things you can stop praying for, get busy, get obedient, and do what you and I know is the moral will of God. Now, we said there are two categories of the will of God.

What's the first one? The moral will of God. The second category is the personal will of God.

Now, what do we mean by that? Simply this, God has not only a moral will that applies to everyone, but He also has a personal will that applies to each and every one of us individually. So when you and I think about His personal will, I want us to think about what the Apostle Paul said about himself. Turn, if you will, back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And as he begins his letter, he clarifies right up front exactly what he believes the will of the Lord is for his life. And certainly he's speaking of himself personally.

Here's what he says. Chapter 1 verse 1. Paul called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Paul believed that God had called him personally his apostle.

Now, the Lord hasn't called any of us to be apostles. He's called us in different areas of our life to do what the Lord would have us to do. But specifically, he said that he was to be an apostle. Now, when we talk about the personal will of God, there are three categories I want us to think about in God's personal will for our life. We said, first of all, there is the major category of God's moral will for all of us. Secondly, there is His personal will. But His personal will is related to each individual, listen, God's design for your life, His purpose, His plan for your life. Under His personal will, there are three categories I want you to jot down.

Three categories under His personal will. The first of all is His intentional will. What do we mean by His intentional will?

Simply this. What is it that God had in mind for you when you were born? What is it that He had in mind? That is surely God certainly had a plan for your life and a purpose for your life, so therefore, because He had a plan for your life, He had chosen what spiritual gifts, what abilities, what talents, your personality.

God knew all about that and planned that. He, of course, allowed situations and circumstances to affect us in our life in such a way that would develop us and that would equip us and prepare us for what He wants us to do, every single one of us. What is His intentional will? What did He have in mind when He created you? What did He have in mind as far as your vocation, how your life would impact other people's lives and the kind of vocation you would have and where you would be schooled and who you would marry and your family and all of these things? You say, well, is God interested in that? He's interested in every single aspect of it because, you see, He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He sent the Holy Spirit to live on the inside of us so that you and I would always have His presence to do what? To enable us to become and to achieve and to, listen, and to do whatever He calls us to do. He is personally interested in your life.

Listen to this. God will never require of us or call upon us to do anything that He Himself will not do in us and through us. That is His personal commitment to us through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I can't ever give Him an excuse for not doing His will. Somebody says, well, God's called me to do something I can't do.

No, He did not. He may call you to do something that you're afraid to do, that you are scared to death, that you feel like you just absolutely make a failure and embarrass yourself or embarrass someone else, but you know what? He will never require of us to do anything that, listen, that we cannot do, that He will not do through us because, listen, He's always looking out for our best. His intentional will for you and me ultimately, He says, is to be conformed to His likeness. He says He predestined you and me to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. He predestined us to bring Him glory and honor and praise.

God has a personal will for every single one of us and it is our responsibility to find out what that will is, to get in His will. I'm amazed at the people who go to college and get ready to graduate. What are you going to do? I don't know.

What did you major in? Well, I just had to choose something. Did you ask God about it?

No. Well, you mean you started four years of college and spent all that money, twenty, forty, fifty, sixty, a hundred thousand dollars sometimes, a lot more than that, and you never asked God? Well, I never thought about it. Well, what does God have to do with my vocation?

Let me tell you something. Here's what He has to do with it. He created you for a specific purpose. He has designed you to accomplish and to achieve and to do certain things through you.

Don't try to figure it out. Let Him do that. But the very idea that you would educate yourself and never seek God, marry somebody else and never ask God about it, these major decisions in your life and totally ignore the person who created you with a specific design in mind. The will of God is one of the most important facets of a person's life. Thank you for listening to God Has a Plan for You. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.