Darren and I have the habit of listening to the online sermons from our church back in Singapore. The sermon that I would like to share here is by our favourite “guest” speaker, Pastor Michael Ross Watson from the UK. It’s about knowing God’s will. I guess this is a topic that many pastors have spoken on, but this one was especially refreshing and ministered to me. It’s my prayer that it will speak to you as well.
Verse: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you (Ps 32:8)
I remember a youth pastor sharing with us during a retreat: To know God’s will is like handing God a blank piece of paper and let Him write what He wants for us. But how many times do we actually do that? Our usual mode is to go to Him with a piece of paper filled with all our requests. Our interpretation of knowing God’s will is: “God, I want to know your will for me..within these options hor”.
God wants to lead and instruct us. He wants to and He will. For us, the challenge is to know how God reveals His will to us (or how He speaks to us lah).
Pastor Michael shared 4 ways in which we can know God’s will:
1. Through the Bible
God reveals His will through His word. It is like an instructional handbook. The guidelines of how we should make decisions are there.
2. God speaking to you internally
Have you ever experienced God just “put something on your heart”? It could be a phonecall or email that you want to make to a friend. It could be a place that you feel you should go. Just remember that God will not tell you to do something that contradicts His written laws and He will arrange for the circumstances for you to do the thing He wants you to.
3. Prophesy
In 1 Cor 14:3, it says that prophesy strengthens, encourage and comforts. But, we should not take prophesies as THE guidance. Prophesies need to fit in with the other things that God have planned for us. It could be the beginning of a series of events that God will orchestrate to lead us to our goals, or it could be the end of a series of events to confirm something. Prophesies should not be taken or interpreted on its own only.
4. Sanctified Common Sense (my favourite)
Use your minds! Sometimes it’s not that difficult to make the decision. We like to complicate things in order to “show” that we are seeking God’s will. If we have a close fellowship with God on a daily basis, what we desire is what He wants for us (erhm, abit complicated here. i hope i can explain clearly: it means, if we know Him enough, we will know His character and what He will do in certain situations. so, what we think we should do, we are already under His “instructions”...makes sense?). Whenever we make any decisions, trust God to close the doors if you have made the wrong decision. Remember that He wants to leads us? And He is our loving and faithful God. It hurts Him to see us hurt. (Ps 37:4, John 15:7)
Personally, God speaks to me in another way: through images. God can speak to me using a bus-stop sign. A poster on the road. A building or a tree. I remember some years back I couldn’t decide where I should go for my mission trip. It was between China and one of the SE Asia countries (can’t remember which country now liao). I was on the bus on my way to church and I saw the China Embassy. It was a new building and I did not notice it in the last few times I took the bus. I made the decision then: China. I was scared of going China at first, because my impression of China were that of the spitting locals and the door-less toilets. But God removed that fear n during my trip there. I have learnt to love the Chinese and had been back again in 2004. And I will go back again.
But well, knowing God’s will does not mean we will have a set of full-proof blue print of our lives. It does not happen that way lor. We have to take it step by step. We move one step in the correct direction, God will lead us to another. It takes time and a lot of patience. There are many times we are just too impatient and of course there are times we make mistakes and need to go round some circles. When we seek God’s will, we want instant answers to solve our immediate problems. We lose sight of what is important from God’s perspective. We want money to pay the rent, but He wants us to build faith in Him. Contrasting goals? No. Just one is short-term and one is long-term. God works in long-term basis. There are many times that I look back on my life and now then I understand why God made me go through all that difficult times. But seriously, during those times, I questioned God lor. Why I need to go through them and why God just did not take them away. Give me a miracle to solve all the problems at 1 go.
So what is holding us back? It’s the fear of the unknown, the lie that Satan made us believe. The lie that says if we give God that blank piece of paper, God is going to write “Give up everything and go India as a missionary”. Following God’s will is not going to be miserable. We will not end up losing the life we are used to. We will not end having to make huge sacrifices. Of course, there are some of us who will be called to do these. But many of us can still follow God’s will in the jobs or ministries that we are in. Even our roles in our families can reflect God’s will in us.
For many of us, the big decision that we will face soon (or later) is what are we going to do after our studies? Go back Singapore or stay here? Continue with Honours? Masters? PHD? Don’t wait until your last semester (or after your last exams) to ask God what He wants you to do. Seek Him now and see Him at work in your life as He leads you step by step towards the plan He has for you. But first, pray that He will remove the fear in your heart and reject that lie that Satan has made you believe. When we want to listen to God, we have to be still (Ps 46:10, Ps 37:7) and cut out the distractions in our lives that are preventing us from listening to Him. And what is the guiding principle that we are on the right track? Peace! When we are in God’s will, we have the peace in our hearts.
Disclaimer: Me no pastor hor. Just sharing what God impressed upon my heart from the sermon and “steal” some notes from Pastor Michael. So, don’t take whatever I wrote as bible truth hor. (:
PS: For the full sermon, can download from http://www.coos.org.sg/sermon/
Verse: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you (Ps 32:8)
I remember a youth pastor sharing with us during a retreat: To know God’s will is like handing God a blank piece of paper and let Him write what He wants for us. But how many times do we actually do that? Our usual mode is to go to Him with a piece of paper filled with all our requests. Our interpretation of knowing God’s will is: “God, I want to know your will for me..within these options hor”.
God wants to lead and instruct us. He wants to and He will. For us, the challenge is to know how God reveals His will to us (or how He speaks to us lah).
Pastor Michael shared 4 ways in which we can know God’s will:
1. Through the Bible
God reveals His will through His word. It is like an instructional handbook. The guidelines of how we should make decisions are there.
2. God speaking to you internally
Have you ever experienced God just “put something on your heart”? It could be a phonecall or email that you want to make to a friend. It could be a place that you feel you should go. Just remember that God will not tell you to do something that contradicts His written laws and He will arrange for the circumstances for you to do the thing He wants you to.
3. Prophesy
In 1 Cor 14:3, it says that prophesy strengthens, encourage and comforts. But, we should not take prophesies as THE guidance. Prophesies need to fit in with the other things that God have planned for us. It could be the beginning of a series of events that God will orchestrate to lead us to our goals, or it could be the end of a series of events to confirm something. Prophesies should not be taken or interpreted on its own only.
4. Sanctified Common Sense (my favourite)
Use your minds! Sometimes it’s not that difficult to make the decision. We like to complicate things in order to “show” that we are seeking God’s will. If we have a close fellowship with God on a daily basis, what we desire is what He wants for us (erhm, abit complicated here. i hope i can explain clearly: it means, if we know Him enough, we will know His character and what He will do in certain situations. so, what we think we should do, we are already under His “instructions”...makes sense?). Whenever we make any decisions, trust God to close the doors if you have made the wrong decision. Remember that He wants to leads us? And He is our loving and faithful God. It hurts Him to see us hurt. (Ps 37:4, John 15:7)
Personally, God speaks to me in another way: through images. God can speak to me using a bus-stop sign. A poster on the road. A building or a tree. I remember some years back I couldn’t decide where I should go for my mission trip. It was between China and one of the SE Asia countries (can’t remember which country now liao). I was on the bus on my way to church and I saw the China Embassy. It was a new building and I did not notice it in the last few times I took the bus. I made the decision then: China. I was scared of going China at first, because my impression of China were that of the spitting locals and the door-less toilets. But God removed that fear n during my trip there. I have learnt to love the Chinese and had been back again in 2004. And I will go back again.
But well, knowing God’s will does not mean we will have a set of full-proof blue print of our lives. It does not happen that way lor. We have to take it step by step. We move one step in the correct direction, God will lead us to another. It takes time and a lot of patience. There are many times we are just too impatient and of course there are times we make mistakes and need to go round some circles. When we seek God’s will, we want instant answers to solve our immediate problems. We lose sight of what is important from God’s perspective. We want money to pay the rent, but He wants us to build faith in Him. Contrasting goals? No. Just one is short-term and one is long-term. God works in long-term basis. There are many times that I look back on my life and now then I understand why God made me go through all that difficult times. But seriously, during those times, I questioned God lor. Why I need to go through them and why God just did not take them away. Give me a miracle to solve all the problems at 1 go.
So what is holding us back? It’s the fear of the unknown, the lie that Satan made us believe. The lie that says if we give God that blank piece of paper, God is going to write “Give up everything and go India as a missionary”. Following God’s will is not going to be miserable. We will not end up losing the life we are used to. We will not end having to make huge sacrifices. Of course, there are some of us who will be called to do these. But many of us can still follow God’s will in the jobs or ministries that we are in. Even our roles in our families can reflect God’s will in us.
For many of us, the big decision that we will face soon (or later) is what are we going to do after our studies? Go back Singapore or stay here? Continue with Honours? Masters? PHD? Don’t wait until your last semester (or after your last exams) to ask God what He wants you to do. Seek Him now and see Him at work in your life as He leads you step by step towards the plan He has for you. But first, pray that He will remove the fear in your heart and reject that lie that Satan has made you believe. When we want to listen to God, we have to be still (Ps 46:10, Ps 37:7) and cut out the distractions in our lives that are preventing us from listening to Him. And what is the guiding principle that we are on the right track? Peace! When we are in God’s will, we have the peace in our hearts.
Disclaimer: Me no pastor hor. Just sharing what God impressed upon my heart from the sermon and “steal” some notes from Pastor Michael. So, don’t take whatever I wrote as bible truth hor. (:
PS: For the full sermon, can download from http://www.coos.org.sg/sermon/
