As I minister around this country and abroad, I am asked similar questions concerning God’s will and discerning one’s purpose.   These common inquiries lead me to conclude that for the most part people truly desire to live life in the perfect will of God.  Although desire is a key factor of fulfillment, there are crucial steps to the process.

Some of the questions I am frequently asked are:

“How do I know I’m hearing God’s voice?”
“How do I decipher what I want to do is God’s will or my will?”
“How do I let go of desires that are not God’s will?”

All of the above questions are similar in nature and if allowed can cause much frustration and confusion even in the minds of mature Christians.    You probably expect the logical instructions to pray, seek wise counsel, and possibly admonished to fast.  However sometimes it’s not only helpful but comforting to know some practical principles for application to accompany those instructions.

When God wants to be heard He will go to great lengths to get your attention.  He can “speak” to you through a sermon, a movie, a billboard, a friend, a book!  If we want to know if God is speaking we have to not only think outside the box, but we have to look outside the box as well!   If there’s a big question mark in trying to decipher God’s will versus your will, make sure you’re open to hear something you may not necessarily want to hear.  God wants to know that His will is priority to you.  

If God is trying to get you to step into His will, He won’t easily back off.  He will attempt to dominate your thoughts to the point that it seems like you can’t get away if you tried.  God wants so much to convince you that His will is best that He will become a “nag” if necessary!  LOL  But rest assured that God operates on His own time schedule not ours.   Don’t expect God’s will to be completely manifested overnight. Even if it happened like that, we would be too overwhelmed to handle it in most cases.   But God is kind enough that He will always send encouragement and affirmation along the way.  So be patient and know that He’s working everything out for your good!

I’ve had extensive experience with the last question, so I’d like to offer what I do to let go of desires that are not God’s will for me.  It took some time for me to mature to this level, but now that I have it’s a “no brainer”.  I had to come to realize that although I may want something, even if it’s looks good on the outside or starts out great at the beginning, if it’s not God’s will for me that “great” thing won’t be “great” for long.   Desire begins in the mind, but attachment originates in the heart.  So before that desire becomes too strong and evolves into attachment I take whatever it is to God.  I honestly ask God to not allow my heart to get attached to anything that is not of Him. Simply put, if He doesn’t want this for me, then I want Him to remove the desire from me before it goes too deep.

You see everything we do, everything we possess, everything we accomplish should be for the purpose of glorifying God.  We are the only part of God’s creation that possesses the official capacity to display the very power and presence of God!

“Put all your hope in God, not looking to your reason
for support.  In all your ways give ear to him, and he will
make straight your footsteps.  Put no high value on your
wisdom:  let the fear of the Lord be before you, and keep yourself
from evil:  This will give strength to your flesh, and new life
to your bones.”    (Proverbs 3: 5 – 8  BBE)