How do you know what the will of God is?

7/19/2007 5:37:20 PM by Renee Claire, Member of Delve into Jesus since 7/19/2007

Renee - welcome, and thanks for your question. Theologians divide the will of God into two categories, His prescriptive will and his decreetive (or secret) will. His prescriptive will is the one we really need to worry about. This is what God "prescribes" for us, in other words, what He wants us to do and how He wants us to behave. This will of God is relatively easy for us to apprehend, for God reveals it to us through the Bible. Everything you need to know in order to live according to God's will is contained in the scripture. The Bible does not tell us how exactly how to respond to every challenge, but it does give us the principles that will guide us in our decisions.

So, you may be asking, "How do I know if taking this job is the will of God?" You need to weigh the pros and cons according to the guiding principles of scripture. If you are uncertain, you should certainly pray and the Holy Spirit will guide you in applying scripture to the problem.

His secret will is that which God wants to accomplish and what will come to pass. Some of this is revealed to us, and some of it is secret, but we don't need to worry about it very much. Sometimes we are curious about the details, such as when the second coming will happen, but God assures us that He has revealed all that we need to know. So long as we are living according to the scripture, be can be certain we are pleasing God in the way we live our lives. I hope this helps.

7/23/2007 9:23:19 AM by Michael Lane, Executive Director, Delve Christian Ministries