This guest post by Peter Guirguis first appeared on The Story of Hope in 2012 and went on to become one of the most read posts on this blog. I am re-posting it because I believe it will be a timely reminder for you. If you have a story of hope, purpose and leadership to share with the world, you’re welcome to guest post on this blog. To find out how, click here.
Life is short and you have a lot of choices to make. One right choice and it can lead to a lifetime of bliss, one wrong choice and it can lead to a long time of misery.
What life choices are you making today?
How then can you be sure that you’re making the right choices in life? How can you be sure that you choose the right career? Spouse? School?
These were the things that I used to think about when I was in college and in my early 20s. Unfortunately during that time, I wasn’t walking closely with the Lord.
In fact, I was actually rebelling against Him because I blamed Him for things that happened in my life that were very devastating.
In my twenties, I was living the party life and I was doing what was right in my own eyes. I was living just like the world was telling me to live: make money, have fun, and buy things. Lots of things!
Along with living that kind of lifestyle came the burden of making my own choices.
When you don’t have a Heavenly Father who is giving you His plan for your life, the next best choice is to make your own decisions without any guidance.
The result is that you’ll be surviving instead of winning!
So here are 5 steps that you can take in order to find out what God’s will is for your life:
1. Surrender your life to God
This one goes without saying but it’s necessary to point out here because it’s a foundational step. If you’re not a Christian, then you’re not communicating with the true and living God, which means you won’t have access to His life plan for you.
Not a Christian yet? To find out why you should become one, click here
2. Ask God to show you His will
You probably already know that you can simply ask God through prayer what His plans for your life are. However, you might not know how to listen for God’s response to your question.
That’s why the next few steps will be about how to listen for God’s answer to your prayer.
3. Listen for the still small voice
The Bible clearly points out that God has a still small voice through which He speaks to us (1 Kings 19:11-12). It is that inner voice that sometimes you hear in your mind or in your heart through which God can speak to you.
However, sometimes also the enemy speaks to you through your thoughts and you also have an inner voice that’s speaking to you ALL the time.
The way to be able to distinguish between which voice is God’s, yours, or the enemies, is by filtering it through the lens of Scripture.
Ask these questions:
- Is this voice filled with love, joy, peace?
- Is it filled with kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?
All of these are fruit of the Spirit.
4. Look for open doors or closed doors
Many times the way that God speaks to you is by opening a door that He wants you to go through. Other times, He will close doors on opportunities that were once available. (Revelation 3:7-8)
God will either want you to walk through a door He’s opened for you by asking you to take a step of faith or He’ll close up that door completely.
5. Fast
Sometimes God wants to take you deeper in your relationship with Him. He may want you to fast before He reveals His will for your life. Consider fasting as an option during any time that you want to find out God’s answer to an important question in your life.
Key Takeaway
God loves you and He wants to reveal His will for your life. Sometimes we doubt His love and sometimes we doubt that He’s listening or guiding us. But that couldn’t be farther away from the truth.
Have you been blessed by Peter’s post (again)? Got a question for him on this subject? Leave a comment below and he will respond.
If you are interested in guest posting on this blog, take a look at my guidelines here
More about Peter Guirguis
Peter Guirguis started Not Ashamed of the Gospel in 2011 to help Christians strengthen their faith in God so they’d be equipped to share their faith. His number one passion is to see the lost get saved. Peter puts it this way: “I’m on a faith journey learning how to tell others about the One person that always blows my mind — Jesus”. You can follow him on Twitter.
Image courtesy of Giovanni Guastalla | Flickr