What’s the Will of God for You?

How can we get through life’s storms and challenges and achieve God’s perfect will for our lives? Consider these two important biblical steps.

Jesus Christ said to work while it is still daylight, because the night is coming when no one can work (John 9:4).

So God gives us a lifetime to do His work and become more like Him. But what is God’s will for us during our lifetime?

Let’s look at two biblical steps we can take.

1. Grow in faith.

Consider the example of Peter when he saw Christ walking on water. Peter wanted to do it too, and Christ told him to come. “And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’” (Matthew 14:29-30).

How close was Peter to God in this situation?

Yes, for a while Peter actually walked on the water like it was solid ground. But the strong wind made even a leading disciple like him begin to doubt this miracle—as it was happening.

Quite simply, Peter had a preconditioned reflex to that sort of weather pattern. He blinked. He trusted in his natural reaction. He lost faith.

What is faith? Hebrews 11:1 says faith is the evidence of things not seen.

From Peter’s example, we know faith is not based on the reality he perceived—the wind and the waves with all of the fear and other emotional associations.

Christ gave him that experience on the water to show him, “The rough waters of life are treacherous, Peter; but our faith must be unmoved no matter how cornered we think we are.” We must get close to God by growing in faith.

Biblical examples help us see that:

• Faith is the realization that God can overrule the physical laws He’s put in place.
  • It’s being able to walk on dry earth between walls of water (Exodus 14:22).
• Faith is a different way of looking at time and space.
  • It’s asking God to stop the sun so you can defeat the Amorite kings before dark (Joshua 10:12-13).
• Faith is undistracted commitment to the God of Israel.
  • It’s Moses atop Mount Sinai for 40 days with the Lord (Exodus 24:12-18).
• Faith is an “illogical” certainty.
  • It’s Abraham holding a knife over Isaac, knowing God could bring him back to life (Hebrews 11:17-19).
• Faith is unswerving obedience.
  • It’s spending a century building a boat (Genesis 6:13-22) when you’re landlocked.
• Faith is reliance upon God’s Word.
  • It’s King Josiah finding the lost “Book of the Law” and obeying it (2 Chronicles 34:30-33).
• In short, faith is trusting and obeying God.

But even with a faith to walk on stormy seas, you still need an action plan—and God’s power.

2. Use the Holy Spirit.

The power of the Holy Spirit is essential to fulfilling God’s will. Peter tells us how to receive it through repentance and baptism (Acts 2:38). And if we already have the Holy Spirit, we must use it, because if we were a bottle with just a drop of the Holy Spirit in us, we would be more potent than nitroglycerin.

Do we need strategies to awaken the Spirit within us? Here are some.

• Resist Satan’s tactics (James 4:7). These are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16), which are insatiable. Consciously resist them.
• With enough resistance we’ll begin to avoid these sins completely because the Holy Spirit will be guiding our thinking (John 16:13). By sidestepping our carnal desires, the Spirit of truth will help us become more impervious to temptations.
• Pray always (Luke 18:1), because God wants to know that we know we need Him. Prayer is the umbrella we must hold as we walk through the world.

So what is God’s will for us?

1. God wants us to increase our faith so we will draw closer to Him. He wants us to be like Jesus Christ, whose example of faith was as deep and wide and wondrous as the sea.
2. God wants us to get and use the Holy Spirit, so even our subconscious mind will be led by God’s Spirit.

Paul sums it up in Romans 12:2: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Josh Stevens is the marketing director of his family's contract manufacturing business. He and his wife, Melissa, have two children and are members of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, in North Houston, Texas.