Knowing God's Will, part 1

"The will of God." In our modern era this phrase seems so abused, misused, and confusing. My first "hit" when I googled this phrase was a sermon from the prominent evangelical pastor, John Piper. He writes, "There are two clear and very different meanings for the term “will of God” in the Bible. We need to know them and decide which one is being used here in Romans 12:2. In fact, knowing the difference between these two meanings of “the will of God” is crucial to understanding one of the biggest and most perplexing things in all the Bible, namely, that God is sovereign over all things and yet disapproves of many things. Which means that God disapproves of some of what he ordains to happen. That is, he forbids some of the things he brings about. And he commands some of the things he hinders. Or to put it most paradoxically: God wills some events in one sense that he does not will in another sense." Clear?

My next search result (after a few books on the subject from Amazon) is from christiananswers.com. I find here a very practical approach to God's will, presented by George Muller, a Nineteenth Century evangelist and director of orphanages in England. He writes,

• I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are over come when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.
• Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.
• I seek the Will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.
• Next I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God's Will in connection with His Word and Spirit.
• I ask God in prayer to reveal His Will to me aright.
• Thus, through prayer to God, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters, and in transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective.

I landed on this topic this morning because of my reading of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:29) where Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Over the next few morning I hope to explore this topic in greater depth.