Here are the main points from Sunday’s lesson. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I hope to see you next week when we finish up the series. – Shannon
When trying to discover God’s will for our lives, it is important to remember a few things. First, we are in a relationship with God. Relationships take work, and learning to communicate well with someone, even a person, takes practice. Learning to communicate with God also takes practice. So does listening and recognizing His voice.
I find God usually speaks to me in 2 different ways:
1.Holy Spirit prompting. It’s a strong urging in my mind that doesn’t go away as long as I’m in the situation. Usually it is an urging to talk to someone about God, give someone a Bible, or when I wake up in the middle of the night I feel a strong urge pray for someone, sometimes it is to pay for someone’s dinner, or give someone money– something I wouldn’t normally do, and I know clearly honors God. Read John 14:26
2. Discerning God’s will: this is tougher…
As you try to discern God’s will, approach God from the understanding that He did not spare His son for you. If He was willing to endure unspeakable suffering for you, both in coming to earth, living a perfect life (we can’t even do that), and dying on the cross to pay for all the wrong things we’ve done; if you are seeking Him and His will, surely God is not going to let you miss something good He wants to give you because you need practice in hearing and understanding Him. We need to remember what we talked about last week: that God’s ways are higher than ours. He is more concerned about our holiness than our happiness and our comfort level.
1. Understand that God has a plan for you. Ephesians 2:10. This isn’t meant to be a mystery or a treasure hunt. However, it is hard to know someone’s voice if you don’t recognize it.
2. Repent from any sin you know about and seek God’s face, not his hand.
Read 2 Chronicles 7:12-15, John 14:21 – Sometimes silence is because we haven’t obeyed what God already told us to do.
Read Psalm 27:7-8, Psalm 105:4. -Let’s look at the “knowledge box” & the difference between seeking God’s face instead of seeking God’s hand.
Who do you think God is more pleased with: the one who knows a lot but does a little, or the one who knows less, but does most of what they know?
Which box describes you?
What is the difference between seeking God’s face and seeking His hand? We often want God to move in our lives and the lives of people we care about. Most of our prayers are often for healing, or travel mercies, or a job or a good grade on a test. These are all good prayers- but a huge piece is missing. These are all ways of seeking God’s hand. I have read several places in the Bible where we are told to seek God’s face, I don’t remember where we have been told to seek His hand. When we talk about someone’s face – it’s usually the part of them you recognize first, it’s about relationship.
If you’re relationship with God is stale or you feel like there should be more, ask yourself these 2 questions. Are there thing you know God wants you to do and you’re not doing it? Obedience is not being perfect, but doing your best to obey. If you haven’t, apologize and repent, just like when you do something wrong & move forward. And ask yourself am I seeking God’s face or his hand? It is hard to have a meaningful relationship with anyone, including God, if you are mostly trying to get them to do things for you rather than getting to know them.
3. Realize that your plan/desires are often not what God wants for you. Read: Romans 12:2 – Don’t conform to the pattern of this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Transforming your mind takes work. It doesn’t happen naturally. It takes really reading to understand what the Bible says and allowing it to sink in and penetrate how you view the world and to shape your opinions about things.
John Piper has some great advice for figuring out what God wants for your life:
First, I suggest that you give yourself to the word of God. Immerse yourself in God’s assessment of you and the world, so that you see things through God’s eyes.
Secondly, get a realistic view of yourself—your gifts, weaknesses and strengths—and let others help you by participating in the Body of Christ and having them comment on what things they see in you.
Third, look at the situation in the world, either in your immediate vicinity or in some distant place, and get a burden for the world.
I believe that when these three things happen—saturation with the Bible, a true understanding of yourself, and a clear vision of the needs of the world—and you begin to stir them together with the stirring spoon of prayer, I believe that what will emerge is an aroma of what the clear calling of God is on your life. http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/ask-pastor-john/how-can-i-discern-the-specific-calling-of-god-on-my-life
Read Jeremiah 17:7-9 -Trust God & put your confidence in Him, realize that this passage is describing you (and me) your heart is deceitful above all else….
The only way I’ve found to be able to really hear God is if I release the thing I want and ask for the desire to have what He wants to give me, whatever it is. Sometimes it takes awhile, but when I am at the place where I truly want whatever God wants, having given up what I want, I am able to hear clearly.
Jesus is our example of this: Matthew 26:39-43. He was desperately praying that he could avoid the cross, but asked for God’s will to be done. He expressed his desire, but subjected himself to God’s will. When we pray and ask God for His will, we need to be willing to obey no matter whether we like His plan or not.
