I used to be preoccupied with finding God’s will for my life. Don’t get me wrong; desiring God’s will is not a bad thing. But my heart so badly wanted everything God had for me that this obsession morphed into a fear of missing His will. Being a planner and a left-brained, analytical thinker did not help either. Andrew’s teaching How to Find, Follow, and Fulfill God’s Will quickly became my favorite audio series. And as I’ve lived a little more life and have taken steps in the right direction, I’ve found everything in this teaching to be spot on.
If we really desire God’s will for our lives, we won’t miss it. How can I be so confident about this? Well, because desiring God’s perfect will is ultimately tied to wanting a close relationship with Him. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”Right there is a promise that He will make Himself known to us if we seek Him with all our hearts. That includes making known His specific plans for us.
One way we can seek His will is through devouring the Word of God. Andrew puts it this way in his book How to Find, Follow, and Fulfill God’s Will:
“I can’t over-emphasize how essential the Word of God is in discovering our spiritual identity and finding God’s will for our lives. . . . The Bible isn’t just another book; it is quick—which means alive—and powerful. It reveals things to us that we could never figure out on our own.” (p. 79)
God transforms you from the inside out when you pursue Him with all your heart. He will put His desires in your heart (Ps. 37:4), and then He will fulfill them. Romans 12:1-2 is the core Scripture passage Andrew uses in this teaching:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
When you read God’s Word, you are aligning your soul and spirit to be receptive to His voice. And when you’re receptive to His voice, you will know when you are following God’s plan for your life. You won’t have to worry about missing God.
But what about when His will for our lives isn’t coming to pass when we think it should? Those delays can sometimes cause us to think we’ve missed God. Moses fell into that trap himself and delayed God’s plan by forty years! However, it was only a delay; it didn’t change God’s will for his life and the lives of the Israelite slaves.
Andrew goes on to explain: “God’s will for your life involves His timing. You can’t just take a Word from God, make a paragraph out of it, and do whatever you want to. God’s plans can’t be sped up. You can delay God’s plan—Moses delayed it 40 years—but you can’t make it happen any quicker than it’s supposed to” (p. 117).
God has a purpose for you! And He wants you to know that purpose more than you do. Andrew’s book How to Find, Follow, and Fulfill God’s Will lays out your part and God’s part in walking that out. Don’t be worried about it like I was. Just take a deep breath and dig into the Word.
You won’t miss it.
