Trending Faith: How Can You Know God’s Will for Your Life?

How can someone know God’s will for their life?

In this week’s episode of Trending Faith, Grand Canyon University Pastor and Dean of Students Tim Griffin, EdD, and Dean of the College of Theology Jason Hiles, PhD, sat down to discuss this question.

Many believers struggle with knowing what God’s will for their life is. Pastor Tim started the discussion by reflecting on a book that was recommended to him while he was a young pastor in training. He said this book transformed the way he looked at life relationally, vocationally and professionally. Ultimately, the book helped him to understand what God wants from us as His followers.

Oftentimes, Christians will say phrases like, “God spoke to me” or “God impressed upon me.” However, God’s voice may not always seem clear to us. Unfortunately, we often take Scripture out of context and apply it to our lives.

There are passages in Scripture that are descriptive, and there are passages that are prescriptive. Descriptive passages describe what God did in a believer’s life. However, these passages are not meant to be applied to all believers. On the other hand, prescriptive passages describe how God wants us to follow Him. This is critical to understanding how God wants to unfold His will to us.

When God prescribes things for us as His children, He gives us a sense of His moral will for our lives. For example, God wants us to be honest, work hard, be kind and love Him.

Once God has described how He wants us to live as His followers, within this He gives us freedom to make choices about things such as our relationships, vocation and where we live. While we may want God to directly reveal these things to us, we must understand that He has given us the freedom to make decisions.

Ultimately, when we act out of wisdom, we can develop into mature followers of Christ. God has given us all opportunities and gifts, and He wants us to be good stewards of our blessings. Most importantly, it is important to realize that the perfect will of God is for us to follow Jesus with all of our heart, soul and mind.

To hear the full discussion, watch the video below:

Do you have questions you want to be answered on Trending Faith? Send them to trendingfaith@gcu.edu or use #trendingfaith. To learn more about Grand Canyon University, visit our website today!