How do u know god's will??

jane · On-Fire Member

How do u know god's will??

servant Joseph · On-Fire Member

Jane,

hey Jane, I think if you really want an accurate answer, you really need to write a thorough description of this girl, her request, her relationship with God, etc.

My reply is:

1. As far as I know, if a person who

can say "What the hell God is doing..." 'intentionally' (read Exodus 20:7)

is not a church member (doesn't go to church or fellowship regularly)

I don't even know if I should call her a Christian.

2. It's true that many people in OT did bargain w/ God. However, do consider their relationship w/ God. They are no ordinary people or pagans. In this case, this person doesn't have a close/good relatioship with God and is trying to bargain with God. Does she really respect God or simply using God for own benefirs? The answer is more than obvious.

3. Look at her motive. What she wants might not be good for her.

I'm not sure whether God will still speak to people nowadays, but I'm always sure that "if she seek, she will find". I think the problem might be she is too-focused on making her own plan happen and doesn't pay any attention to God's voice about God's perfect plan for her, where it can be advice from pastors, friends, other Christians, etc.

I agree with the ways that you listed to know God's will, add to that will be open-minded, listen carefully and be observant among daily life.

Finally, your friend's approach to know God's will is not only testing God, but playing God.

God bless her, amen.

jane · On-Fire Member

Thx Joe for your quick reply ^^

I love my friend dearly and would really like to her out if I could. Yet, I only wrote a brief descritpion of her because I was worried about the problem of confidentuality.

Anyways, it's alright if I describe her and her situation more as long as I don't mention her name, right...?

My friend became a Chrsitian 2 years ago when she met a Christian guy friend who was always joyful and whom helped her out alot. My friend was very much into "using cards to tell the future" in the past, but after she believed in Christ, she found out that god listens to prayers and she no longer has to rely on "the card method".

However, lately, my friend's fate has been weakened. She has 2 major problems:
1. She iis living with a roomate with many problems. Her roomate is homosexual and he does many disgusting things (and I mean REALLY disgusting

) So my friend really wants to ask him to move out. Yet, she knows that he has nowhere else to go. THerefore, my friend is seeking god's will to see whether she should ask him out or not. She does so by praying to god and say that if she could meet a Japanese Christian and that person could translate a Japanese Christian R&B CD that she has for her, she would know that's god's will for her to kick her roomate out. :steaming

2. She is 27 and is single. She is desperate to find a husband and to form a family as she is aware that she is getting old. She is a very nice girl and it shouldn't be hard for her to find a good bf, yet she has very speific requests: she wants someone with dark skin and she seems to be very serious about that!

She is a CHristian but she doesn't seem to have a good Christian mentor. She is also looking for people who are on fire for god so that they could encouage each other and grow in Christ. She doesn't attend one regular church because she hasn't found one that is suitable for her. Yet, she does attend some Christian meetings to listen to talks and bible study with fellow Christians.

I am really worried about my friend as I can see that she is really angry at god and frustrated in general. I guess she might have other problems but whatever they are, her faith in Christ is really weakened. I wish there were so ways that she could be helped.

Anyways, I do agree with you , joe, that she might be using god to her own benefit. Just because God doesn't seem to do what she is asking for, she gets angry at him. I
guess now the crucial question is not whether she is playing god anymore but how to help her so that she could restrength her relationship with Christ.

I pray for her that she will trust in the lord that he has a perfect plan for her, amen.

servant Joseph · On-Fire Member

Let's pray for her and God bless her.

1.

So, the issue is seeking God's will and the question is can we seek God's will by "if....., then it's God's will...".

My argument: Seeking God's will is perfectly right, but seeking God's will by "if...., then it's God's will..." is inappropriate, because you have assumed a necessity of existence of a relationship between 2 "not necessarily related events", which might contradict God's will/plan.

For example, in this case, "if she could meet a Japanese Christian and that person could translate a Japanese Christian R&B CD that she has, she would know that's God's will for her to kick her roomate out", the 2 events are:

(A) She could meet a Japanese Christian and that person could translate a Japanese Christian R&B CD that she has.

(B) Kick her roomate out

Here, God's will can be of 4 options:

1. both A & B happen

2. A happens but B doesn't happen

3. B happens but A doesn't happen

4. both A & B don't happen

However in her saying "if she could meet a Japanese Christian and that person could translate a Japanese Christian R&B CD that she has, she would know that's God's will for her to kick her roomate out", she has to (falsely) assume that God's will can only be Option 1 & 4, which we can see it's not.

Therefore, this "if..., then it's God's will..." is an inappropriate method, coz it will proceed to limit/control/contradict God's plan.

2.

In the OT, there do are some cases that people use this method to seek God's will.

Read:Genesis (Abraham's servant)24:12-14, (Jacob)28:20-22, (Gideon)Judges6, pls read before proceed to the below.

The question is, "So they are seeking God's will in the "if..., then God's will is..." way, why shouldn't we?"

In the reading, it's obvious that they lack faith in God & they are not good examples to follow.

e.g. In Genesis 24:14: "By this I wil know that you has shown kindness to my master", it's obvious that God has always shown kindness to Abraham, what a lack of faith? It's same with the other 2 cases- a lack of faith. Also, their bargaining depise God's authority.

On the other hand, in Matthew 4:7, even Jesus said "Do not put the Lord your God to the test".

Therefore, we must not test God at all.

So, our conclusion is Love the Lord my God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. Respect him totally and trust him totally that he has the best plan for you. It's like not testing your bf/gf, but always trusts that he/she will teat you good.

Praise the Lord, amen.

Jimi G · New Member

But the question is still the same for this girl then.... I agree with whats written here, but how will she know gods will in our world today? He won't speak to her directly... I think you need to help her by giving her good advice on how god talks to us in our lives today.

For me, I will pray for something and let god decide. To give a shallow example, I might pray that I won't be seriously hurt moutainbiking (and I do pray this before I go out on any ride, and I pray this for all others on the ride). Many times I crash, but I have never been seriously hurt at all. God has answered my prayer. Now if I pray this sometime and I do get seriously hurt, then, God has STILL answered my prayer, just not with an out come that I might think was immediately favorable. But I dont' know Gods plan, perhaps the outcome would be the best, perhaps later that day, I learn soemthing new by being in teh hospital and gain new insight.

So you see, my prayers are always answered! I just have to understand teh answer and have faith in god that what he answers is best for me!