He Will Show You His Will - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, February 22nd. God's intentions don't have to be a mystery. Today's lesson teaches seven practical ways to discover the will of God. The Bible talks about the mysteries of God.

It's certainly not the mystery of His will and His purpose for your life and my life. God's will could be divided generally into His moral will and His personal will. And if we get beyond that, in His providential will, that is the way He's going to operate creation and all those things above and beyond their understanding. But in His moral will, that deals with those things, those do's and don'ts. Some things we know fit into His moral will.

Thou shalt not steal, lie, cheat, commit adultery, murder, have other gods before us. Then there's His wonderful personal will for our life. That is what God's agenda is for your life as a person. What He has in mind when He created you.

And so what I want to talk about in this message. Listen, not only the fact that He has a will for your life, but you can know the will of God for your life. The will of God, He will show you His will for your life.

How is it that God shows us and reveals His will to us? Well, I want you to listen carefully because I'm going to give you several things. Now listen, all these are simple because God certainly would not make a mystery out of something so very important that He wants even a child to understand. You see, I began to say to my children before they could ever even begin to understand what it was about. I would say to them at nighttime, kneel down by the bed and pray and talk to them about the Lord Jesus.

And always, usually I'd read them a story about something, if it was a cowboy story or whatever it might be. But I always want to end up talking about Jesus because I wanted them to go to sleep at night. And the last thing we talked about was about God.

And friend, let me tell you something, you and I ought to do the same thing. Listen, before you go to sleep at night, it's much better to read the Word of God than to get into some big deal about praying about these things and those things and all these things that trouble you. You're better off getting in the Word of God, reading the Scripture and pouring God's Word into your mind. Because then during the night, the Spirit of God takes your subconscious and something's going on all during the night while you're asleep. That's why if you will do that, sometimes God will wake you up in the middle of the night, say something to you that you hadn't even thought about before.

Why? Because you went to bed, you went to bed with the Word of God ringing in your heart, the Word of God on your mind, the Word of God penetrating your spirit. You went to bed, so to speak, with the Lord Jesus Christ in your mind, on your heart, in your spirit. And therefore, listen, it's better to go to sleep at night with His Word in your heart rather than getting into some big difficult time about praying, God show me your will for my life. Listen, you get to the Word of God and you're going to get it. Because listen, the first step I believe and the most important step in understanding the will of God in any particular area are big major issues in our life is go to the Word of God. Now listen carefully, I do not mean that the things I'm getting ready to share with you, that all of these you have to go through some ritual to find the will of God.

I'm not saying that, but I'm saying in major issues of life, all of these things are important. Listen, and when this begins to be a habit of a life, what you're going to discover is that finding His will in those daily decisions would just be just like this. You'll know what to do.

Why? Because you are in the habit of reading and listening to the Word of God. You're in the habit of discerning and understanding the principles of God so you will, listen, automatically react by the Spirit to understand what He would have you to do. And so this is why you cannot substitute anything for the Word of God.

There's no substitute. You want to find out how to make a wise decision? Get in the Word of God and see what He says. And you'll be amazed how oftentimes you'll think, that verse has my name, my address, and my social security number written all over it because it is so absolutely fitting you at that moment.

Why? Isn't it strange? Listen, here's the awesomeness of God, that Almighty God could write through the pens of these men hundreds and hundreds of years ago. It doesn't make a difference which culture, which language, centuries and centuries ago, to the present century, into the next century, and what happens? This book has always been absolutely up to date.

It will always be up to date. There is no human explanation for the Word of God except it is just that, that is the unfolding revelation of God. In this book is direction and wisdom and guidance for every single decision you and I have to make in life. So step number one, getting the Word of God. The second, of course, is to pray.

If I want to know the Lord's mind about something, get on my knees and ask Him to show me. You say, well, do you have to get on your knees? No, you don't. Well, can you stand up? Yes, you can. Sit, ride?

Yes, you can. But you know what? There is something about kneeling before God, humbling ourselves before Him and saying, Father, I desperately need your direction. I need wisdom. I humble myself before you. If you are too proud to get on your knees, more than likely, you are too proud to listen to what He has to say. And so we need to humble ourselves beforehand and in prayer, asking the Lord to give us direction. Now, once in a while, somebody will say, well, I like the sermons you preach that helps me understand, get my needs met. But these doctrinal sermons, sometimes they go over my head.

No, they don't go over your head. Here's the important thing about doctrinal messages. In order for the message about meeting our needs to have validity and strength, you've got to understand who God is. You must understand those basic truths about God. This is why people get all emotional, jumping up and down, praising the Lord and Hallelujah and praising God.

Have a nervous breakdown. You know why? Because they are living on emotion, not truth, not listen, not abiding, rich, deep theological truth. That is the truth of God.

And so that's why I don't want to always talk about getting this need met, that need met. But who is God? Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? What is the work of the Holy Spirit? What is His way?

How does He operate in our life? Then we understand, we begin to see our needs. We seek God to meet our needs based on solid biblical principles, not on some, oh, Lord, bless me good.

Hallelujah, praise God. Well, listen, when your feet hit the ground, the truth is, are you on truth or are you on some emotional bend? You want to walk in truth.

The Bible says we to walk in truth, walk in love, walk in light, not walk, listen, walk in joy, yes, but not walk in some frivolous kind of emotional upheaval, which is up today and down tomorrow. On our face before Almighty God, the third thing that's so important is this. Now, listen carefully. Listen, if I want to know the will of God, listen, not only must I be in His Word and in prayer, but listen now, listen carefully. I must focus on my relationship with Him.

Now, listen carefully. God is not an information center. He's not an information center waiting for us to tap into Him.

God is our Father. What is it He wants? He wants a relationship with us. So therefore, if I want to know the mind of God, if I want to know His will about something, what I want to do is I want to pursue my relationship with Him at some given point about this particular situation. Lord, let me speak to my heart. What do you want to say to me about you?

What do you want me to know about you that has to do with all this? You see, He's not interested in just dishing out information. He's interested in drawing us to Himself. He's interested in conforming us to His likeness. He's interested in building a relationship with us.

So here's what I've discovered, and that is simply this. If I want to know the mind of God about something, I don't have to make a big issue about what that is. What I want to do is focus on, Father, what do You want to say to me about my life? What is Your will and purpose and Your plan here? Show me how to love You. Show me how to express my love and devotion to You. Show me how to walk in Your will.

And you know what? It's very clear. The will of God and the purpose of God and the plan of God begins to unfold as I find myself being enriched in my relationship and deepened in my understanding of who He is. He doesn't keep secrets from His children more than willing to show us.

Remember that. If I want to know God's mind and heart, I focus on the relationship, not on the particular issue that I'm after. The fourth thing is this. One of the ways that He reveals His will is through circumstances. Sometimes God closes a door. Sometimes He closes this door and opens this door. So oftentimes He will reveal His will and purpose and plan in a given situation for your life by opening a door or closing a door. Anytime God closes a door, it's for your protection. Anytime He opens a door, it's an invitation. And sometimes you and I may run right up to a door that looks open to us and slam right in front of us.

Why? Heading in the wrong direction. Something about that appealed to us.

It wasn't the will of God. And in His love, He slams the door. What is He doing? Protecting us from making a wrong decision. So somebody says, well, I would make a decision, but I'm afraid.

You don't have to be afraid. If you genuinely with all of your heart surrendered and yielded to Him make a decision and it's the wrong decision. Listen, God will rescue you out of a wrong decision if your heart was committed to being obedient to God. And for some reason, out of inexperience or ignorance, you misread what the will of God was. You weren't trying to indulge yourself. You weren't trying to have your way. You really believed that was the will of God.

Didn't seem to work out the way you expected it to. Listen, if God closes one door, He's got something better. Now, I know somebody says, well, how could it be any better than this? God is infinitely wise. And, friend, He always has His best for us. Have I always agreed about what His best was?

No, I haven't. I've said so, Lord. Now, how could this be good? You know what I feel like the Lord said to me? Am I not God? Yes, that settled that issue right there.

And that was the end of that. Why? Because He's a good God.

He only does good things. It may not look good to me. It may not look like it fit, but it fits because God is in charge. You know what? Nowhere in the Bible does it say do the will of God when you understand it.

You know what? I don't have to understand the will of God. I don't have to be able to explain the will of God.

I don't have to understand why He says do certain things. All I have to do is to be responsible, to be obedient to what He says do, and trust His reasoning is far greater than my understanding. And so it's so very important, I think, that you and I understand that. Well, of course, one of the things that you and I can depend upon to some degree is Godly counsel. Sometimes you and I will talk with someone else, maybe not even bring up the issue at hand, and God will use that person to say something exactly what we needed to hear. And so Godly counsel is certainly one of God's ways of revealing and unfolding His will and purpose and plan for a particular area or making a decision for us. And then, of course, there are those unusual manifestations of God. Now, what do I mean by that?

Well, for example, when Moses met the burning bush, that was a very unusual manifestation of God revealing Himself to Moses. He said to the apostle Paul, don't go there. Here's what I want you to do. I don't want you to go there. Here's what I want you to do. What was he doing?

He was giving him an unusual manifestation of His presence to guide him. And somebody says, well, what about throwing out fleece? Throwing out fleece is a very unwise way to discern the will of God. And I'll tell you why. If I really want to do something, I can set up a fleece. I can set up a fleece I know I'm going to win.

And that is I say, well, Lord, for example, this is ridiculous, but some of them could be this ridiculous. Lord, I have all this money. I'm going to throw it up in the air. What you want, you keep. What comes back down is what I'll keep. Now, if I set up that kind of a deal, I know I'm going to win. There's no way for me to lose.

Forget throwing out fleece. What's the mind of God? What is God saying to us? Now, there are times when God will indeed in a very significant way reveal Himself to us if He knows that is essential at that moment in order to reveal His will to us. When I think about all the things He uses, let me just add one thing to that, that usually God will reveal His will to us one step at a time. Now, most of us want to say, here I am, Lord. What is your will out yonder?

And here's what I've discovered. Sometimes He will show us, for example, I know that at the age of 14 He said, I want you to preach the gospel. He didn't say, I want you to be a pastor. I want you to do this.

I want you to do that. He didn't say anything. I just knew that He called me to preach the gospel. I didn't have any idea where, what, when, how in the world, didn't have any money.

And I knew that my folks didn't have any, how and where would I ever go to school. There's a thousand questions. You know what?

God didn't answer a single one of them. But you know what? That's the way He operates. What does He do? Take one step.

You know what that does? That keeps me totally dependent upon Him every step of the way, which is the smartest, wisest thing that God could possibly do. Don't give me any more God than you know I can handle one step at a time. Why does He keep us one step at a time? That's the wisdom of God, keeping us dependent upon Him, keeping our hands out of it, trusting Him to guide us step by step, moment by moment. Oftentimes one step at a time. It's when you and I get into step four and five and we've only heard step one that we get in trouble.

We can make the biggest mess out of things because we get ahead of God. Oftentimes, not every single time, but oftentimes He'll say, here's the next step. And then here's the next step.

Sometimes He may, listen, sometimes He may give you the big picture, but He won't tell you how, when or where. This is step number one. You may know what the ultimate goal is, step number one. So I think all of those things are vital when you and I are seeking the Lord's mind to remember it begins with the Word of God. That's the most important thing. That is the wisest thing we can do is to get in the Word and begin with that point because that's where He guides us and leads us to. Now, a lot of other things I could say.

Let me bring this to a close. How can I be sure? Ask myself seven questions. How can I be sure that I've heard what God has said? So if you just jot these down. Number one, is what I believe I've heard consistent with the Word of God? And this is why it is so very important that you and I not only know verses, but we know the principles. Is this consistent with the Word of God?

Second question I'd ask myself is this. And that is, listen, is this a wise decision? And you know, you and I deep down inside, we know one of the things wise when it's not wise. And does He not say here in Ephesians, He says, be not foolish, but He says, be understanding what the, be wise, be understanding what the will of God is. Is this decision a wise decision?

The third thing is this. Can I confidently ask God to enable me to do this? If something is not the will of God, and I say, well, I have confidence I'm going to do that.

Listen, the Spirit of God will bear witness with your spirit with static. There'll be conflict in your spirit. When you say, when I say, well, can I, can I confidently ask God to enable me to do this?

Watch this. There is no way for me confidently have any confidence to ask God to enable me to do something that's not His will. I won't have any confidence.

I'm trying to muster it up all I want to. I'm not going to have confidence to disobey God. I'm not going to have assurance to disobey God. The confidence comes in knowing the mind of God. And listen, if it's in keeping with Scripture, if it's a wise decision, if I can confidently say, God, you must enable me, and I'm asking you to enable me to do this, then the fourth question is this. Do I have the witness of the Spirit? Is the Spirit of God giving me a quiet sense of affirmation on the inside? Now watch this. Somebody says, well, as soon as I get peace, I'm going to do it.

You know what? Sometimes we can sort of think we mustered up peace. Listen, you can't go by feeling. It must be the witness of the Spirit. You will know in your spirit when the Spirit of God has affirmed for you this is the mind of God, this is the will of God. You are free to move in this direction.

The next one is this. I have to ask myself this question. If I believe this is the will of God, does this fit who I am as a child of God? Does this conduct, does this purchase, does this act, is this in keeping with the mind of God? Does this fit who I am? Is it a violation of Scripture? Does it fit who I am?

The next question is this. Does this fit God's overall plan for my life? Somebody says, well, I don't know what God's overall plan for my life is. Well, listen, does it fit the Scripture? Does it fit who you are as a believer? Listen, if it fits who you are as a believer, it's going to fit God's overall plan in your life.

And then we have to ask ourselves this question. In thinking about all of these things, does, will this honor God? If I do this, will this honor God?

You ask yourself those seven questions and you will know whether you have heard from God, whether you have the will of God for your life or not. Now, God's a wonderful Father. He wants the best for us. He makes it simple. Now, I've strung this out a long ways and told you a lot of things about it. Does that make it complicated?

No. I'm simply saying here are some things that you can consider in the major decisions of your life, in the minor decisions of your life. And listen, what God wants us to do is to walk in His Spirit and it be such a natural, normal thing for us that we just sort of know what to do next because we are walking in the Spirit.

Our mind and heart is committed to the will of God and knowing the will of God oftentimes is very, very simple in most things in life. But then there are those tough things. And you know what? He is there to make it very clear. Well, I want you to remember this.

Can you forget everything else? When you understand the God that I know in the Scriptures and the God of the Bible, you're going to understand that Christian life isn't some drab kind of no-longer-have-any-fun kind of churchy religious life. You're going to understand that you step into the most awesome, inspiring, motivating, unending, indescribable adventure in all of life. You are learning to walk with the Creator of this universe. Listen, hand in hand with His Son, Jesus Christ our Savior. Now, Lord, you can't beat that and the world can't offer you anything to equal that.

Can't do it. So I just want to encourage you to make that wise decision. One thing I know for certain, you'll never be disappointed in Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening to part two of He Will Show You His Will. If you would like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.