What is God’s will for your life? Every believer needs to be certain what is God’s will for his or her life. I think we can know a large portion of the will of God for our life from the Bible, and maybe God’s not going to give us more light until we’ve acted on the light that we already have, and to be able to determine if we’ve acted in faith so that we might move on into specifics, and the Lord will help us realize His perfect will for our life. I think He wants to be the rudder to give direction to your life, but the ship has to be moving for the rudder to be effective.

One way to know God’s will for our life is to know what are not God’s will for our life. It is obvious that some things are not God’s will for our life, and I think there’s never a question as to the appropriateness of these kinds of things. They are never appropriate under any circumstances, and you can mark them down as soon as you recognize them – sexual kinds of sins; idolatry, and anything we place above God’s will for our life is an idol, and I don’t care if it’s money, or power, or prestige, or a good job, or an education, or more time for you; all kinds of enmity, and strife, and jealousies, and outburst of anger, and disputes, and dissensions, and factions, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. Wherever you find that, it’s always not the will of God. Paul says those whose lives are characterized by those things will not inherit the kingdom of God (cf. Gal. 5:6-21). People whose lives are characterized by those kinds of things are certainly not in a vital relationship with Jesus Christ.

Well, what is God’s will for our life? Verse 22 and 23 of Galatians provide the answer. I think God’s unalterable and uncompromising plan for every Christian is Christlikeness. I don’t think God cares about a whole lot of our choices once the issue is settled – “who is Lord of my life? Once that major issue is settled, whatever and wherever you find yourself, whether you are a lawyer, or a plumber, or a teacher, you’re going to grow for Jesus in the soil where He plants you. Who you are in Jesus Christ is far more important what you do. What God is trying to do to every one of His children is to develop a clear character of Christlikeness. And God will cause all things to work together for good to accomplish this purpose in the life of every believer (cf. Rom. 8:28).