How to Know God's Will for Your Life

Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. Welcome to this question about the All of us from beginning to end, we want to be all in. And Romans 12, 1 and 2 really gives us a kind of formula, I don't like the idea of formulas and knowing the will of God, but there is kind of an equation here if you will from Romans 12, 1 and 2 as to how we know, will, find, follow the will of God for our lives and it is dedication plus transformation equals illumination. Let me say that again, dedication as we present our bodies, our lives before the Lord plus transformation, that metamorphosis that takes place in our minds when our minds are transformed, change your thoughts and change your life by the power of Christ and that equals illumination or if you will, revelation in your life.

And I can tell you if you will go all in as like this, that's the big decision that will define all the decisions of your life the rest of your life. Everyone submits to something. Everyone submits to something or someone. The question is, are you submitted to Christ?

To the authority of Jesus as Lord in your life. That's being all in, to say Lord my family, my finance, my time, my talents, my treasure, my days, the details of my days, all in. And when that happens, when that presentation is made, then comes the metamorphosis, then comes that transformation.

You're no longer a creepy, crawly creature like a caterpillar in the dust on the ground but when you're wrapped up in this cocoon like a casket, when you die to self then ultimately the metamorphosis, the beautiful transformation takes place and no longer are we groveling, no longer are we in the dust, in the dirt, but now we're soaring in the power of God. Are you trusting the Lord with all your heart or are you loving God with all your heart? When you do that, then comes this desire to do the will of God and that's what I'm really talking about at the outset of this message.

There are going to be three simple things. It's talking about pursuing the will of God and proving the will of God and practicing the will of God for your life. So pursue the will of God above all else because God's will for you according to Romans 12 is what? Good, perfect, and acceptable. Not only to God is it good, perfect, and acceptable, but to us, God's will.

One and the same, good, perfect, acceptable. The will of God done on earth as it is done in heaven. God is working His plan, His will in our lives. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 tells us that this is on the heels of the great grace passage of salvation, not saved by works but by grace through faith and then verse 10, Ephesians 2 says that we are His workmanship created in Jesus Christ unto good works. The crowning achievement of creation was mankind. You are God's workmanship, you are God's creation and He is working in your life from start to finish even before you were born.

The word in the Greek in Ephesians 2, 10 is poema which literally means a poem or it can be translated masterpiece. You, we as the children of God are His masterpiece. You are not some highly evolved animal. You are made by the hand of God. His signature is upon your life and God made you for a purpose. He didn't just wind you up and say you're on your own, He has a plan for your life today and every day and in eternity. Your life is not a series of incidents and accidents but providence, divine plan.

David wrote about this in the Psalms and in Psalm chapter 139 and this is from the New Living. You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous, how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born. Every day, every day of my life was recorded in your book and every moment was laid out before a single day has passed. You are a masterpiece in the mind and heart of God. Now maybe you're looking at your own life right now and you're thinking, well I don't think things are all that good, all that acceptable, all that perfect. When I look at myself, I don't see perfect, I don't see a masterpiece, I see a mess. No God sees you not as you see yourself but as a masterpiece. And you may see the flaws and the failures in your life, the mistakes and the missteps, but God sees you not for what you are right now but for what you are becoming and will become in Him. Like Simon Peter, when Jesus said in the presence of all those early disciples, He called Simon Peter the rock.

They must have laughed. He was anything but a rock. He was chaotic, He was caustic, He was constantly saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, He had a temper, He was hot tempered, and yet Jesus saw Him not for what He was but for what He could become. And He saw in Him the powerful preacher of Pentecost, the man who would go all in for Him ultimately as He followed Christ. That's the way Jesus sees you. Not for the mistakes, you know, Peter denied the Lord.

It was one of the most terrible sins of all kind. When Jesus needed Him, Peter was warming his hands by the fires of the enemies of Christ and denied Him three times. And yet Jesus recovered him and restored him and He became the powerful man that He became for the Lord Jesus. The steps of a man, according to the psalmist, ordered by the Lord and though he fall, he will not be utterly cast down for the Lord opposed him with His right hand.

Maybe you're thinking, it's too late for me, I've failed, I've fallen, my life's a mess, I'm not a masterpiece, it's over. I've missed God's perfect plan, God's perfect will. Can I tell you, someone said where God doesn't rule, He overrules. And Romans 8 28 tells us that God is working all things together for the good to those who love the Lord, to those who are called according to His purpose. It doesn't say some things or such things or select things, but it says all things, good things, bad things, everything belongs to the providence of God and the plan of God.

That He is working in your life constructively, creatively making you the person that He has made you to be. And listen to me, it's never, ever too late to become the person God made you to be. You can get in the will of God and to begin fulfill. These things are working together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. So begin pursuing the will of God for your life. I think some people have the idea that if I don't hit dead center perfectly in the will of God, if I'm off center somewhere, then it's never going to happen for me. It's never going to be great for me.

It's never going to be truly fulfilling for me. I'm a mistake. No, you're a masterpiece and within God's game plan for your life, even the stumbles and the failures and the penalties and all the rest, God is making sure that you win.

And the game is fixed because we're pressing on the upward way. It changes everything when you believe Romans 8, 28. That you are His workmanship and in this workmanship, He is working all things together for good. Listen to me, this is not a pious platitude, this is not some Christian cliché, this is the divine promise of omnipotent God and His hand that made you is making you.

The poem, the creation is taking place, the new creation. We are all broken and marred by sin but God has chosen us, He has called us, He has redeemed us, He is restoring us, He loves you and it's never too late to get started in the will of God for your life. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, how to know God's will for your life. Bring fresh passion and joy to your faith with Dr. Graham's newest book, Reignite, an intimate account of how God led Dr. Graham through one of the darkest seasons of his life. Whether you're facing disappointment, doubt, depression or heartache, Reignite offers biblical insights to encourage you in your pain and help fan the flames of faith in your life and it's our way to thank you for your gift to PowerPoint. This is the last week of this offer so call today.

Call 1-800-795-4627, that's 1-800-795-4627, you can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. And don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional. Our website again is Jack Graham.org. Now let's get back to today's message, how to know God's will for your life. Accepting the will of God and then as you pursue the will of God, you prove the will of God. He said that you may prove, and that's a word which means to discern or to discover, that you may prove what is that good, perfect, acceptable will of God. Now all I can tell you as a Christian and as your pastor, that the pursuit of the will of God, the proving of the will of God in our lives has been my experience all the days of my life as I have sought since I was a boy to align my will with the will of God. That's the first thing you need to do if you want to truly prove the will of God, align your will with the will of God. Jesus did this.

Even as a 12-year-old boy in the temple, He said, do you not know that I must be about my Father's business? So as a young boy, our Lord committed to the will of the Father, to the way of the Father in His life and then throughout His days, fulfilling that purpose, that divine plan for His life and then in the Garden of Gethsemane where He is sweating blood, drops of blood and pouring out and presenting His life as an offering even there. He said, Lord, not my will but Your will be done. This is aligning Your will to the will of God. Jesus taught us to pray this way. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And when we pray like this, it's not to change God's mind, it's to find God's mind.

Lord, let my life, let Your rule, let Your reign be in me. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And when we align our will to His will, we begin to experience the good and perfect acceptable will of God in our lives. Another thing I would say in proving the will of God, it is by doing the will of God today, right now.

Thomas Carlyle said, our main business is not to see what lies dimly in the distance but to do what clearly lies at hand. The will of God is not so much what I'm going to do five years from now, ten years from now, twenty years from now, but what am I going to do today? Will you trust God's will today and trust Him for every tomorrow?

You say, I can't see clearly, I don't know exactly which turn. Wait on God, listen to God, and let Him lead you because the sweet will of God is for every one of His children. God really does care about the decisions we make because our decisions determine, as I said, and define the rest of our days and ultimately our destiny. From small daily decisions to big life-altering choices.

Now of course we can make the wrong decisions and go the wrong way and suffer the consequences. So that is why one of the most important skills as a Christian you can develop is discerning, proving the will of God in your life. Paul said in Romans or Ephesians 5, 17, do not be foolish but understand what the will of God is.

And that understanding so often takes place in that metamorphosis of your mind. As you now have the mind of Christ, you don't think the way you used to think. You don't make decisions based upon human reference or your own personal feelings or desires. Now you're making decisions not from the world but from God's wisdom and God's Word. As a pastor I can tell you over the years the most often asked question that I get and most pastors will tell you the same is the question of how can I know the will of God?

How can I make the right decision? Now we know that God has a general will, a universal will for everyone. For example, the Bible says God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and receive the mercy of God. It is God's will that you be saved. It is God's will that you trust Him as your Lord and Savior.

It's God's will for you to commit your life to follow Jesus. It's also God's will that we live according to His commandments. The commandments of God are universal. The moral will of God is for everyone and you will either obey the commandments or you will be broken by the commandments. You don't really break the commandments, you're broken on the commandments. And so there are clear commandments, God gave them, gave us ten of them.

You shall not lie, you shall not steal, you shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not covet what your neighbor has. God's will is revealed clearly in His commandments and in His Word. This is why we must, as believers, know and obey the Word of God. Because if you breathe the Word of God, if the Word of God is in your bones, it's in your body, it's in your brain, it's in you as you saturate your mind with the will of God, the wisdom of God in the Word of God, God's Word is inspired, breathed out by God, is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for reproof and instruction in righteousness. Why would we run to ask somebody else what we should do when God's already given us instruction? And if you know the precepts, the promises, the principles of God's Word, many of our decisions that we make are already made in advance. Somebody said 99% of the will of God is above the neck. Change your thoughts and change your life.

His commands are very clear. Corinthians 6 to 18 says, flee sexual immorality, that's clear. So God will never lead you to do something contrary to His Word. Never ever, ever, never, never ever, in contrast to God's Word. Billy Graham once said, if you are ignorant of the Bible, you will always be ignorant of the will of God.

So know your Bible, search the Scriptures. God gives us such guidance in His Word. I memorized as a young boy Psalm 119, 105, your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Make God's Word a part of your daily life and so many decisions that you make will be made for you in the Word of God. And I would say be willing to obey Him whatever the cost. It's not always easy, it's always best, it's always good, perfect, acceptable, but it's not always easy to do the will of God. We face adversaries and adversities at times, but we are to obey God. God will not take us one step further than the measure of our obedience to Him. So if there are already areas in your life in which you are living in disobedience to God, why would God show you more of His will so that you can continue to disobey Him? So obey the will of God that is before you in the power of the Holy Spirit. Listen to 1 John 3, 22, we receive from Him anything we ask because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.

Spend time in God's presence. The only way I know to hear from God is to spend time in His presence. God rarely shouts at us or writes it in the stars. God most often speaks in the still, small voice. You say, what is the still, small voice of God? It's the whisper of God. And I can tell you that I know that voice. I've heard that whisper many times in my life.

As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God. And yes, God speaks by His Word and through His Spirit and He speaks down deep within if we get close enough to listen. If someone is whispering, you have to get close to hear it.

Listen for the still, small voice, as many as are led. Call it a prompting, calling it inspiration. I call it the will of God, a holy instinct, a holy hunch. God shows us things and tells us things that we may know and accomplish His purpose for our lives. Here's the final word, a couple of minutes, and that is practice the will of God.

Knowing and doing, as I said at the outset, are one and the same. Knowing and doing the will of God. Not that you can't say no to the will of God because we know we can.

We can go our own way. But if you want to know the will of God, be willing to do the will of God. And when you say to Him, I'm completely Yours, unreservedly committed to You, if You will say I'm all in and my obedience to You, I will trust You and follow You and obey You, I'll move forward in my life. The psalmist said, I being in the way, the Lord led me.

You know what that means? I being in the way, the Lord led me. It means I'm moving forward. And as the songwriter said, God leaves His dear children alone.

You know, it's easier to steer a car when it's in motion than when it's sitting still. So do the will of God today and give Him your every tomorrow. Make sure that you are all in and when you are, He will be all in with you and His will in heaven will be done on earth in your life. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message, how to know God's will for your life. Chances are you've faced your share of crisis.

Maybe you're even in the fight of your life right now. Or maybe you're simply feeling exhausted by the busyness of life and sapped of spiritual strength. Whatever you're facing, we want to help fan the flame of faith in your life by sending you Dr. Graham's newest book, Reignite.

This personal account of how God led Dr. Graham through his own crisis will help you focus on God during difficult seasons so you can experience fresh passion and joy in Jesus. And we'll send you a copy as thanks for your gift today. This is the last week of this offer. So call today. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. And don't forget to visit JackGraham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional.

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