Understanding God's Will for Your Life
This hub revolves around four scriptures that outline God’s will for our lives.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
“And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” - John 6:40
I started out with this scripture because it includes the most crucial aspect of God’s will for our lives: believing in Jesus. I say this is the most crucial aspect because regardless of whatever other aspects of God’s will we fulfill, if we have not put our faith in Jesus then we do no have salvation: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” - Ephesians 2:8, 9.
We cannot save ourselves because we have already fallen short of God’s standard of righteousness: the Ten Commandment Law of God (Exodus 20:1-17). Violating the Law of God is called sinning (1 John 3:4; Romans 7:7); and the Bible declares that everyone has sinned, except for Jesus (Romans 3:23). Our sins have corrupted us before God, and there is nothing we can do to redeem ourselves. No amount of “good works” can make up for our transgressions. That would be contrary to God’s justice.
God’s justice demands the penalty of death for sinning (Romans 6:23). This is why Jesus agreed to die on the cross for us: to fulfill that penalty in our behalf. Jesus did not have to die on the cross for Himself; the Bible declares Him completely righteous, stating that He “did no sin” (1 Peter 2:22). On the cross, Jesus suffered the death that we deserve for our sins so that we can receive what He deserves by His sinless life: eternal life. This reveals another aspect of God’s character: grace.
God’s grace is God’s unconditional love towards us. This is what impelled Him to send Jesus to earth; and this is what motivated Jesus to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins on the cross: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
You may be wondering what it is, precisely, that we are supposed to believe about Jesus. Let us see what the Bible has to say: “… if you shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” - Romans 10:9. We are to confess and believe that Jesus is the Lord (divine), and that He was resurrected from the grave.
By virtue of His divinity, Jesus bridged the gap between fallen humanity and a perfect God. If Jesus was not divine, He would not have been able to do this. He would not be able to reconcile us to God. Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope of eternal life because it demonstrates His power to resurrect us from the grave at His coming, if we will be dead (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
We are also called to confess all of our known sins to God, in Jesus’ name (1 John 1: 9; John 14:13), and repent (turn) from them, to receive forgiveness. Then, God will grant us power to fulfill the rest of His will that this hub discusses: “… as many as received [Jesus], to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”. - John 1:12. If you have not yet accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but feel the grace of God compelling you to do so, just pray the following prayer:
Jesus, forgive me for my sins. Accept my confession that I am a sinner worthy of death. I give my life to you. Thank you for your death and life to save me. Help me to do your will. Amen.
Keep God's Commandments
“And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?" - Deuteronomy 10:12-13
The next aspect of God’s will I will discuss is obedience. After we accept Jesus into our life, God wants us to start obeying him; especially in keeping His commandments, as this scripture mentions. It is only after we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior that we can obey God; because, as already mentioned, Jesus gives us power to obey. Not to mention, our motivation for obeying God changes.
After coming to an understanding that salvation is based on Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins on the cross, our motivation for obeying the Law of God stems from our love and appreciation of God and His grace in Jesus’ sacrifice for us. In other words, we obey not to earn God’s salvation but because God’s salvation has been so abundantly and undeservingly lavished upon us in Jesus His son. Jesus summed this up in John 14:15: “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
Obeying God out of love rather than fear takes away the burden of obedience, as the Apostle John declared: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” - 1 John 5:3. This is because it is not hard to obey someone you truly love; it is a delight!
Salvation for All
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” - 1 Timothy 2:3, 4
It is the will of God that everyone be saved. Although, it is apparently sad that not everyone will be saved because the Bible mentions the wicked being destroyed in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). Nonetheless, God has made provisions for everyone to be saved. Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for the entire world (1 John 2:2).
This leads us to our next text dealing with God’s will for our lives.
Preach the Gospel
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”- Mark 16:15
The gospel of salvation is to be preached to the entire world to give men and women everywhere the opportunity to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior before He comes to execute judgment on the earth. The preaching of the gospel is not only for pastors, either. Every member of the church has a responsibility to get the message out, somehow.
God gives gifts and talents to His people to aid them in reaching others with the gospel. In my case, I believe God has enabled me to write for His glory; and it is something I enjoy doing. Other ways I have witnessed for the Lord include sharing literature with others and conducting Bible studies with individuals and small groups; and God has greatly blessed me in my efforts.
I have seen the fruits of the Holy Spirit in my labors as people who read literature testified to me that God had revealed the truth to them; and they want to join His ranks. People that I studied God’s Word with made decisions for Jesus in prayer and had their sins washed away in the baptismal waters.
All of this, and I never even went to Seminary. Not that I have anything against Seminary. What I did, though, is watch some short presentations on DVD about witnessing by Gary Gibbs entitled, Winsome Witnessing. That gave me the basic knowledge I needed to begin witnessing to others, and I have not turned back since. I encourage all Christians to get involved in witnessing. It is the life of the church.
In order to fulfill God's will for our lives, we need to believe in Jesus so that we can be saved and empowered to obey God. To show our love and appreciation for Jesus' sacrifice, God tells us to obey the Ten Commandments. Moreover, God wants all people to be saved. To facilitate that, God uses believers to reach others with the message of the gospel.
I have seen the fruits of the Holy Spirit in my labors as people who read literature testified to me that God had revealed the truth to them; and they want to join His ranks. People that I studied God’s Word with made decisions for Jesus in prayer and had their sins washed away in the baptismal waters.
All of this, and I never even went to Seminary. Not that I have anything against Seminary. What I did, though, is watch some short presentations on DVD about witnessing by Gary Gibbs entitled, Winsome Witnessing. That gave me the basic knowledge I needed to begin witnessing to others, and I have not turned back since. I encourage all Christians to get involved in witnessing. It is the life of the church.
In order to fulfill God's will for our lives, we need to believe in Jesus so that we can be saved and empowered to obey God. To show our love and appreciation for Jesus' sacrifice, God tells us to obey the Ten Commandments. Moreover, God wants all people to be saved. To facilitate that, God uses believers to reach others with the message of the gospel.
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