Knowing God's Will

I think from time to time most Christians struggle with knowing God's will for their lives. The largest part of His will for all of us is found in His Word. Bible study and prayer are crucial. The Holy Spirit, who comes to reside in us at the time we accept Christ as our Savior, will also lead and guide us. If we maintain the close personal relationship with our Lord that He wants, we will also begin to know the mind of God, so we can make the right choices. For those gray areas that don't fit into any of this, A. W. Tozer gives some thought-provoking advice:

"On the surface, it might appear more spiritual to seek God's leading than just to go ahead and do the obvious thing but it isn't. If God gives you a watch, are you honoring Him more by asking Him what time it is or by simply consulting the watch? If God gives a sailor a compass, does the sailor please God more by kneeling in a frenzy of prayer to persuade God to show him which way I go, or should he just steer according to the compass?

Except for those things that are specifically commanded or forbidden in the Scriptures, it is God's will that we be free to exercise our own intelligent choice.... In almost everything that touches our everyday life on earth, God is pleased when we are pleased. He wills that we be as free as birds to soar and sing our Maker's praise without anxiety. God's choice for us may not be only one but rather any one of a score of possible choices. The man or woman who is wholly and joyously surrendered to Christ can't make a wrong choice..." (A. W. Tozer, "Four Ways to Find the Will of God." HIS magazine, May 1969).

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