There are things that God likes, and things God does not like. We refer to this as “God’s Will.” There are things that are God’s Will and things that are not God’s Will.

What is God’s Will? What is it that God wants from me? This is something that took Pastor Chris Fluitt way too long to realize. Join us as he shares wisdom on knowing and walking in God’s perfect will.

I want to share with you a concept that froze me in fear for a long time.  I had a difficult time making choices, progressing in life, or going after my passion, hopes, and dreams.

I believe many of you will relate to this message. I believe that you understand that there are things God likes and things God dislikes. I know that you are trying to do the things God likes. I believe you are praying, reading God’s Word, listening to the preaching of the Word, going to small groups… all in an effort to know what God wants and to do what God likes and to no longer do the things God dislikes.

As we read the Bible it is story after story where people do one of 2 things… #1 They do what God likes or #2 they do what God does not like.

We refer to this as “God’s Will.”

It took me too long to realize His will.

But what is God’s will? Do you struggle with this subject? Do you often question “what is God’s will?  Am I in His will?  Would I realize it if I were out of His will? God what is it that you want?”

Raise your hand if you ever struggled with realizing the will of God.

I want to personally tell you that you are not alone.  A lot of my life has been filled with the question “God what is your will?”

This can be a scary question. I am going to share a verse about God’s will that scared me.

Romans 12: 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This verse scared me a lot… I was already a little worried about understanding the will of God, but this verse seemed to complicate it with the last sentence.

“Then you will be able to test & approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”

The King James Version reads “good, acceptable, and perfect will.”

This verse made me very nervous about God’s will. I thought that I might mess up God’s plan for me. If I am out of His will, then what does that mean?  Maybe I am not saved if I am out of His will? Maybe God will be mad at me?

I want to be in the perfect will of God, but I thought that meant I can’t make any mistakes.  I thought God might have a scoring card in heaven. When I did something wrong God would get out his pencil and dock me some points from my scorecard.  So naturally I thought “It is probably safer to NOT DO ANYTHING rather than DO SOMETHING.”

If I do something out of His Will then that is bad… so I often went out of my way to not do anything.

This put a big pause on my life. There were things I wanted to do, I was likely called to do, but I didn’t do it for the fear of being out of the perfect will of God.  I justified this lack of action with this thought – “Well if God wanted me to do it, then He would tell me.  He would send an angel or a prophet to tell me what I was already thinking, or I would look up into the sky and the clouds would miraculously spell out the sentence, “Christopher I want you to do ‘fill in the blank’.”

You can care about the Will of God but still miss the Will of God. 

There is a parable of Jesus that nails this point. It is the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.

Matthew 25:14-15 14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 

So the master gave talents/bags of gold to 3 of His servants. 3 servants all receiving different amounts; 5, 2, & 1.

The story continues.  With the master gone, the servants went about what they perceived was the will of their master.  The servants with 5 & 2 bags of gold invested the gold and ended up making a 100% profit. 

Matthew 25:19-23 19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

There is one more servant left.  The servant who was given 1 bag of Gold.  What did he do with the gift of his master?  How did he go about doing the will of the master?

Matthew 25:24-25 24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

This unprofitable servant was afraid of the master. He was afraid of disappointing the master by falling short of His perfect will, and out of fear, did nothing with his talent… just buried it in the ground. 

Was this servant in the master’s will or out of the master’s will? He was out of the master’s will.

Doing nothing is out of God’s will. The master calls the servant lazy & wicked and takes that buried gold and gives it to the servant who managed 5 bags of gold into 10.

It took me too long to realize His will.

Looking back over my own life I can see seasons where I, out of fear, buried my bag of gold.  It is absolutely God’s will for you to take what you have been given and to use it, grow it, cultivate it,  & multiply it.

In my own personal life…
I knew I had a talent for music, but I buried it for a few years.
I knew I had an ability to share the Word of God and to lead people, but I buried it for a few years.
I knew there were some brave changes that God wanted to make in my life, but I buried those too…

Do NOT Bury the Treasure 

Listen to me today. You are gifted with treasures from God.  Do NOT bury that treasure.

Do something with the gifts God has given you.  He would rather you use the gifts and fail, than to fail to use the gifts.

Is there buried treasure in this room? Is there buried treasure within you?

I have some wisdom to share with you today that will help you know and follow the good, pleasing, & perfect will of God.  

Pray for His will to be Done

To find the will of God it should be no surprise that you should start with prayer. We should definitely pray to God to show us His Will.  We should pray, “God help us to do your Will.” “Lord let your will be done.”

You should recognize this verse.

Matthew 6:10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

In the Lord’s prayer, as He is teaching us to pray, Jesus prays that the will of God would be done.  Jesus prays that the WILL OF HEAVEN WOULD COME TO EARTH.

Are you praying this?  Lord let the WILL OF HEAVEN come into my family, my home, my finances, my health, my city, my school, my mind, my church…

Pray for His will to be Understood

I often tell the Lord “God you have to help me understand your will.  Please don’t let me look past it.  Please circle it, underline it, put neon lights and bright arrows on your will.”

I also pray that God would confirm His will. Sometimes I think I understand His Will, but before I launch out and do it I will pray “God I am about to do this thing that I think I am supposed to do… Is this ok? God stop me before I do the wrong thing.”

God promises in His Word to make the crooked paths straight. (Isaiah 42 & Luke 3) Pray that God will make these hard to understand paths, easier to perceive. 

It is actually God’s job to make His will known. Do you understand this? 
It is our job to PAY ATTENTION, see it, realize it, and then obey.

God is not a trickster; no, that is the role of the devil. God is not trying to trick you with His will.

Pray to come into alignment with His Will

Prayer is so much more than asking God for stuff. Prayer is an avenue for you to come into alignment with His Will.

Jesus Himself used prayer to come into alignment with the Will of the Father. In the garden of Gethsemane, before the Lord was taken by an armed guard, Jesus prayed repeatedly about the hardship that was about to happen to Him. Do you remember how His prayer ended?

Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.

Sometimes His Will is difficult, but in prayer we can surrender to His Will.

Pray before you make decisions.
Pray before you have important conversations.
Pray before you apply to the school or the job.
Pray before you act.
Pray before you sell or buy a house…

The time I almost sold the condo before praying…
One day I was driving and talking to the Lord and I felt the Lord communicate this…  “You have not asked me what to do with your condo.”

We were buying a home and just assumed that we would sell the condo. So, when the Lord said that I hadn’t asked Him, I quickly said “sorry about that. What should we do with the condo?”  The Lord said “Don’t sell it yet.”

In a matter of months that condo increased in value by 40 thousand.  2 years ago when we sold it AFTER TALKING TO THE LORD, the condo had increased another 40 thousand.

God is worth talking to!
His Will is worth inquiring of!

Peace is a compass for finding His will.

I have found that when I am in the will of God, I am at peace. 

I have learned to not make decisions where I have no peace. I wait to find the pathway that is marked with God’s peace. 

Do you know what God’s peace feels like?  You can use His peace as a compass. It will save you from a lot of bad decisions if you will learn to walk sensitively in His peace.

“There is a peace that passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).  Even in difficult situations His peace will show up to lead you into His will.

God is interested in your will

This was a real eye opener to me. There was a time in my life where I was at a fork in the road. My career life could have gone in 2 different directions.  I could have gone into ministry or I could have become a sports broadcast journalist.  I prayed to God about which direction I should take.

Now I thought that only one of these directions was God’s Will. I really thought that one of these directions was probably a trick to get me out of His Will and probably ruin my life forever.  BUT THE LORD TOLD ME that He would travel either path with me.  He told me that He would empower me to be a great broadcaster and that He would also empower me to minister to His Church.  God wanted to know what I wanted to do.

God wants to know what YOU WILL do.  Your WILL matters to God.  There are some cases where God will wait for you at the fork in your own road.

God gives desires and waits for what you WILL do

Often we wait for God to talk to us and reveal His will, but God has already talked to you, we just haven’t realized it. 

The desire you have can come from God. The dream you have might not have originated with you.  The passion you have beating in your heart, might be the very Will of God you have been praying to know.

There is a guy named Nehemiah who was a cupbearer to a Persian king during a time of exile from Jerusalem. Nehemiah ends up going to Israel and rebuilding the city of Jerusalem.  He rebuilds the walls of the city in a matter of days and brings hope to his fallen nation.

Who thinks that Nehemiah was doing the will of God? YES!!!

How did He know this was God’s will? Did an Angel tell him?  A prophet? Did He have a vision or some spiritual manifestation? No.  Then how did He know to do this work?

Nehemiah 1:3-4 3 They (a group of people who had been to Jerusalem) said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

When Nehemiah heard about the need and a passion, a stirring, a dream, a burden filled his heart.  He was moved to tears for people he did not know and a land he had never traveled.

God never told Him to go to Jerusalem. God gave Nehemiah the desire and then waited for what Nehemiah would do…

Psalm 37:4-5 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:

God loves to supply all the ingredients and then watch you work in the kitchen.

God is sovereign, but God does not want to do all the work.  He wants to watch you work.

Do you believe God is interested in your will?  He wants to see what you are willing to do.

Redemption Church, God is interested in what WE WILL do.

Just like the master supplied bags of Gold to the servants in the parable, God has supplied us with everything we need.  He has given us everything we need… 

2 Peter 1:3 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

He has given us everything we need…  You can do the Will of God!  God is waiting on you to take what He has given you and do something big, bold, and beautiful!

We are about to come talk to God.  Is anyone ready to talk to God today?  Is anyone ready to see the Will of God done in their life?

Before we come I want to tell you…

You can come back into the will of God

None of us are perfect. All of us have stepped out of His Will. There is an old southern gospel tune that says…

For He knows where I am every hour of every day

He knows each thought I think, He knows each word that I might say
But although there have been time I stepped out of His will

I’ve never been out of His care

There are times where we are out of His will, but we are never out of His care.  God loves us.

You can step out of His Will so easily… But because of the Cross of Jesus Christ, you can step back into the Will of God.

Today, through the power of faith in Jesus, you can confess your sin and repent of your sin.  TODAY you can be in the will of the Lord.