Discovering God’s Will/s for your Life

By Revereand Mark Hunnemann

I can remember it vividly. I was looking at a chart (back in ‘70’s) which had a diagram of how to follow God’s ‘perfect will’ for my life—major, marriage partner, vocation, where to live, every detail of life. More than one para-church organizations used this approach with zest. Then the anxiety set in: what happens if I blow it? Am I consigned for God’s second best for the rest of my life? Such was my introduction to ‘God’s Will.’ But  I have grown a bit (older and waist size) since then and realized that there is more than one will of God, and what had been taught as ‘gospel’ regarding the perfect will of God would itself come under intense scrutiny. A book was published which finally brought some sanity to the situation, but it sure stirred up a hornets nest!

I hope this discussion, coming on the heels of our dealing with God’s sovereign decrees, will maximally benefit and edify you. I have seen that there are at least three ‘wills of God’ in the Word of God. God’s sovereign/decretive will, preceptive will, and His will of wisdom. Perhaps that we experience different kinds of wills, desires and pleasures ourselves are analogous. Theologians distinguish between God’s antecedent and consequent will but that does not serve our purpose, and His affective will.

God’s sovereign will, or decretive will (decrees) is His eternal purposes by which God foreordains everything that comes to pass. This focuses on His Lordship attribute of control, where His preceptive will accents His attribute of authority. For the most part, God’s decretive will is hidden (Deut, 29:29) until it happens. 1.20As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many peopleb should be kept alive, as they are today. 21So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (Gen. 50:20) I included the next verse because this ‘will’ reminds us that God is our final situation/environment because he decrees all that happens to us (Rom. 8:28), and this helped Joseph to not be bitter and to calm his brothers fears. We can learn from this.

25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.(Matt. 11:25-27) (Ps. 51:18; 115:3; Is. 46:10; Jer. 49:20; 50:45; Dan 4:17; Acts 2:32; Rom 9:18-19; Eph 1:11; James 1:18; Rev 4:11)

These two verses explicitly refer to God’s decretive will, as well as the cited texts) Since we spent an entire segment last time on God’s decretive will I think we can leave it at that. Except to compare it briefly later. It just helps us to see that there are more than one will of God, though they are united in His mind.


2.21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Matt. 7:21)
7 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Eph. 5:17) b
2 Do not be conformed to this world,c but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.d    (Rom. 12:2)
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (John 4:34)

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification:b that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each one of you know how to control his own bodyc in holiness and honor, (1 Thess. 4:3-4)

16 Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. (1 Thess. 5:16-19)

We see in these texts, which could be multiplied many fold, reveal the purpose of God’s preceptive will—God’s words on how to live in a way pleasing to Him. And as we have noted, God’s sovereign will can never be broken, but God’s preceptive or moral will is broken all the time.
We are to meditate on God’s moral law (Ps. 1) and the entire 119th psalm is an eloquent appeal to obey to God’s glorious and lovely moral law. As we noted, God’s decretive will accents His control, and His moral law His authority. He has the right to elicit absolute obligation and obedience from His creatures, and especially those creatures whom he has ransomed. God’s preceptive will is His revealed law or commandments, which we have the power but not the right to break. If we are seeking God’s will, this is primarily it.

We see from the language of the preceptive texts above that their purpose is to show us God’s will for our lives. As a rule, God’s moral law is what we are to seek as God’s will. What is God’s will for you at any given moment? Love Him with all your being; be filled with the Spirit; flee from idolatry and sexual sin; all the 1,050 commands in New Testament in addition to moral law of Old Testament. If we obey His moral law, then 90 % of our guidance problems are solved.

3. However, speaking as a retired pastor, what if someone asks: “How can I find God’s will for my life regarding this job, marriage (fill in blank)?” It seems to me that it would unkind of me to speak in terms of God’s decree: ‘Whatever happens is God’s will for you.” And to speak preceptively, may miss his point entirely. He wants specific guidance regarding a specific issue: who to marry, if to marry, which vocation to choose, what city to move to, etc? Hard to find moral laws explicitly pertaining to those, except, for example, marry only a Christian.

We spoke of the sufficiency of God’s Word but there are situations where folks need help in applying that Word. Only Scripture can provide conscience binding norms for decision making but there are ways of seeking wisdom. Indeed Proverbs and James speak of wisdom relating to decision making. (James 1:5) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7). Seeking wisdom given by the Holy Spirit, we can apply the precepts of the Lord to life. The notion that the will of God is ONLY ONE COURSE OF ACTION, as I was taught (God’s perfect will) causes confusion and anxiety. If I have a choice to move to Chicago or Atlanta, the reality is that either possibility may be equally acceptable to God. If our motives are right and no moral law is broken in moving to either city, then we can assume that either decision is within the will of God.

But we can refine our wisdom decision further. Though nothing obvious is against God’s moral law in moving to Chicago, after prayer and meditating, it becomes apparent that my ‘motivated abilities’ in work would be better tapped into an Atlanta job—then I should pursue it. Or, knowing myself, Atlanta would present some overwhelming temptation situations, then I should consider Chicago. These pluses and minuses need to be weighed. And all along bathed in prayer….seeking the Lord.

According to Proverbs, wisdom is often found via intelligence, prayer, skills, feelings, imagination, understanding circumstances and other people, self knowledge, and possible consequences of an action. Scripture wants us to make decisions as wisely as possible. If it is clear that analyzing the pluses and minuses yields a clear result, then we can assume that is God’s moral will. God’s preceptive will includes primarily the Word of God itself but also ‘good and necessary consequences’ of Scripture. If something can be clearly deduced from the Word of God, then it is the Word of God in application (must be careful here, WCF 1:6—see below). Chapter 1: Of The Holy Scriptures, Section 6: VI. The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture:

But if after doing a prayerful weighing of pros and cons, and both are equally wise, then either decision is within the will of God—contrary to the ‘perfect will of God’ notion, which has caused much anxiety and constant worry: did that one wrong turn consign me God’s Plan B for the rest of my life? That is awful and yet it reigned supreme for a long time as THE paradigm for discerning Gods will. I remember the brouhaha that ensued when a book was written that challenged it and thoroughly demolished the notion as contrary to God’s Word and harmful.

Let us summarize this discussion by seeing the connection of the various decrees and how it leads to wise decision making. God guides us through His decrees, His written Word/preceptive will, and Spirit given wisdom.

By God’s sovereign decrees He opens and closes doors—presenting some options and preventing others. If a house is sold then it is not for you. If a person is 3,000 miles away, then they are not for you as a potential marriage partner! Second, by His preceptive will He shows us how to respond to these circumstances. If a job requires you to work 90 hours a week, and wreck relationships, then it is not good/moral. Lastly, Spirit given wisdom through prayer enables us to apply the Word of God and other important factors (e.g. how close do you want to be to your aging mother?) to our circumstances.

I think it is this process that Paul has in mind in Romans 12:1-2 and Eph. 5:10 where we grow in maturity by reading God’s Word and constantly and prayerfully applying it to our lives. The more we read the better we can apply God’s Word, and the more we apply the Word, the better we understand God’s Word, and this leads to deeper understanding of application/circumstances, etc. The hermeneutical circle I mentioned before.

Again, when we make unwise decisions, we have not missed out forever on God’s will for our lives. After we have made an unwise decision, we should turn to God’s wisdom again, confident that we will be led in the path of blessing.

These three categories: decree, precept, and wisdom, are perspectivally related. God decrees to act according to His precepts and wisdom. His precepts includes bowing before God’s sovereign decrees and seeking wisdom. And His wisdom is displayed both in His decrees and in His Word.

May I quickly apply this to singles seeking to be married. Some would tell this to  singles: trust solely in the Lord, and when you give that desire over to  God, then He will bring the perfect man of His choice (applying this now to women). Usually some person will testify that they, too, wanted to get married but once they ‘gave that urge up to God’, then God brought a husband to her. Just pray, surrender your urges and He will bring the man of His choice your way.

First, it was in the perfect garden when GOD uttered the first malediction—it was not good for man to be alone. Here is perfect Adam with deep longing for suitable companion and God did not tell him that when he ‘gets over it’, then I will provide for you. No, it is a God-given desire…not to be sublimated. It is one thing to surrender the desire to God and wait assertively (see below), but it is quite another to imply you need to basically deny the very urge God implanted within us—mirroring Trinity. Bring that urge to God and honestly acknowledge it before Him as psalmist expressed his honest emotions.

Second, this is changing, but many Christian women still think they have to be entirely passive in their search for a husband. Would you be passive in a search for a job? Then why be passive here? It is okay to visit churches to worship AND to seek suitable singles ministries/people. I led a singles bible study years ago, and I knew that a big motive was to meet others, and that was fine with me. We could learn God’s Word and folks meet too. Numerous marriages came out of the bible study! Dating sites are a possibility.

Third, perhaps most controversial, I do not know if God has the ‘man of His perfect choice’ for you. I am certain there are no perfect men or women! We live in fallen world, and if you ever say: perfect marriage or none, then you will always get none.But I am convinced that if you follow principles above, then there are possibly numerous different guys/gals you could marry happily, if you are both walking in the Spirit. And it would be within God’s will for you to marry either Jim or Bob (or Jill or Lisa), if they both know the Lord, and everything else being equal—using wisdom regarding compatibility. Perhaps I should have done separate blog on this subject but these are the basic principles of wisdom. I’ll stop there but I hope this helped in your understanding and discerning God’s will for you.

Mark Hunnemann is the author of Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes: A Worldview Analysis of Earthbound Spirits. It's also available in eBook format.

Demons vs. You -- You Don't Stand a Chance, Part 2

Continued from: Demons vs. You -- You Don't Stand a Chance, Part 1

Continuation of this five part series blog I will cover and inform all of the readers on an important aspect in the realm of spiritual warfare.  In this part two I continue this discussion regarding the fundamental aspects of having a balanced aspect or approach so to speak when it comes to engaging demons as Christians.

Now there are many foolish Christians who think that it is no big deal if they attend séances, play with or keep Ouija boards and even worse try their hand at exorcisms.   As professed people in Christ let us learn from the act of Sceva’s foolish sons (Acts 19:13-16).  We are not go anywhere near demons unless we have received specific orders from God.

The only time it is safe for a person to approach demons is when the person is doing so from behind the Holy Spirit’s broad back.  Thus if the Holy Spirit is not out in front of you then you are asking for a serious beating from a demon.  God just might let you have one in order to teach you some respect for the demon and ultimately God.

Now that’s one side of the coin as we should fear the power of demons and recognize that we are no match for them.  Therefore let’s flip the coin over so to speak and talk about the second side.  When we are walking in step with God, we do not need to fear demons at all.  Thus this is the key to it all, walking righteous with God.

Demons are like a downed electrical wire which are sizzling and sparking upon the ground.  Only an idiot would try to pick up this sparking wire with bare hands.  However, when that wire is jerking about, threatening the safety of others, there are strategic ways to deal with it.

Therefore in comparison, we are to never seek out demons unless the Holy Spirit has given us specific orders to do so. While we’re busy being obedient Christians, Satan is going to send his unholy soldiers after us in hordes. When Satan is the one initiating the battle, we definitely need to take a defensive stance behind the Holy Spirit.

Now the first step in defending oneself against demons is to realize how they were able to get so close to you in the first place. The Holy Spirit is the one and only source of protection between all human souls and the armies of Satan.  We are not place visions of our own guardian angels defending us.  Why?  God is intensely jealous and God gets quite upset when we start admiring other creatures God has made and not him directly.

All admiration and gratitude for spiritual protection must be directed at God alone.  One must not get lazy in this arena.  We are not to carry little angel figurines and no fantasizing about your guardian angel either.  Such behavior enrages the Holy Spirit against us.  Therefore why would you want to offend the One who is protecting you?  As far as we should be concerned, angels are God’s business alone.

From our previous blog “God’s Will” you have learned that God gives permission for demons to attack.  Understand that Satan can’t invade your personal space unless the Holy Spirit intentionally gives him an opening.  Hence it is important that a person see God as actively allowing the demons to harass you as tests, especially those who God favors (i.e. Job).

If you fail to see this as anything else, you might miss the lesson that God is trying to teach you.  If there was a snarling wolf on the other side of your door and I suddenly yanked it open to let the wolf at you, you would naturally begin to question our so called friendship. The wolf will attack as you expected it to do so.  However, what you don’t understand is why I opened the door to begin with?

The same way, we recoil from the image of the Holy Spirit opening the door for demons to attack us.  Woefully, this is exactly what is happening.  So if the Holy Spirit didn’t lower the hedge around us, the demons would never get anywhere close to you.  When we ignore the Holy Spirit’s significant role as our protector, we are free to go about defending ourselves in a wrong manner, which is why God allows this to happen.   For further clarification go back to my blog “God’s Will – the breaking of the human.”

A person will fight and struggle in their own strength, all the while calling out for God to jump in and help us.  When God finally removes the demons off of us, we think God only jumped in because we did the right behavior God was wanting from us now.  We tend to think we prayed the right words, confessed enough sins, or worked up enough emotions to stir God to move on our behalf.  Sadly, this is totally backwards and does not align with God.

Therefore was as Christians need to learn a whole new approach to spiritual warfare that you cannot just go and cast demons out.  God places a calling upon you for God qualifies the called.  This not about fighting with fists and muscle, it is about learning the ways of the Lord.  Every time demons leap upon you, the first response should be to say to the Holy Spirit “teach me what you want me to learn.”

God is always teaching us.  The Holy Spirit never lets demons at you to see how good you are at holding them off in your own strength, as you will never be able to hold off demons by yourself.  More so to determine if you desire to walk with God as God calls a person to do.

In our next blog we will further discuss demons vs. you and how you don’t stand a chance!

Written by Rev. Bradley Luoma

Supernatural Rules From the Holy Scriptures

By Lisa Grace

First, there are no vampires, werewolves, or ghosts. There are however, different types of angels, dominions, principalities, and powers, demons (types of angels or maybe even job description of some angels), giants, and nephilim. There are human empaths, and those who try to control these creatures (wiccans, mediums or psychics).

These supernatural creatures (1/3) were kicked out of heaven for following Lucifer (Satan the father of lies), and a special judgment awaits them. They were given dominion over this world to roam and do what they like. To kill a believer they must have His permission.
Ÿ
ŸMost objects you see during or hear of in books to drive demons from those who are possessed are bogus. Example: Holy Water. Water is only mentioned in one ritual in the Scriptures and it was for women to achieve fertility.

Spells, magic and witchcraft come from the perversion of scriptural rituals, and are simply an illusion that humans can control them (which keeps those humans’ eyes off of doing Gods’ will), to their own damnation.

There is a hierarchy to the supernatural world. Different types of angels have different powers, and strengths. Angels are extremely intelligent.

Some angels and demons can be driven out simply by being told to leave, others require prayer and fasting.

Believers can't be possessed, but they can be tormented.

Evil angels can appear as good angels to lead believers/nonbelievers astray.

Humans need to know the scripture so they can see when these evil angels are leading believers astray.
Their only goal is: to sever the relationship between God and mankind. Before the flood they almost succeeded. Only Noah and his family were left. God destroyed the world with a flood, (which he did, the physical evidence is all around us) and next time, He promise it will be fire.

Devils’ creed: Do what thou wilt.  (No need for ten commandments there.)

Angels are not omnipresent. However, they are made of light, and can travel at the speed of light. Appearing one place one moment, and at another the next.

God uses good angels as messengers, encouragers, and protectors. Never pray to angels, but ask God to send them.

Lisa Grace is the author of the Angel Series which has been optioned for a major motion picture. You can download the first book Angel in the Shadows, Book 1 FREE here:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052AI5W8 or here in any format:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/236544

Satisfying Life?

By Pastor Stephen Piersall,
God’s Preservation Ministry Soul Care

gpmsc.org        https://www.facebook.com/GodsPreservationMinistry

Joining the USAF and going through Basic Training, they do their best to “brain wash” you from your civilian habits to get you to accept the USAF’s way to do things. Getting married and moving into your first home together, takes at least a one-year transition period to experience the whole person 24/7. We learn not to say anything about the pink bathroom, and learn QUICKLY to leave the toilet seat up (Why can’t they do the same when they're finished?) There is so much talk currently about the end of times. Earthquake here, unknown disease there, False Prophets teaching unbiblical agendas tailored to the “Me” and “I want it instantly generation", the New Age movement, Occult, Wiccan, etc. Sure I am as interested as the next person, but something I spend most of my days is doing what God wants me to do. I am sure there are many who wrestle with this, and few take appropriate steps to become a Christian as God planned out for us. However, I don’t want to! I want my cake and eat it too! I’m happy for the way I am now! I do what I want and some old book that was written 2000 years ago does not apply to me on this day in age! Sigh!

It is often necessary for us to take time to assimilate to things, which have happened in our lives, just as we need time to digest a large meal. "Assimilation" (sounds Borg to me) consists of making something to which we have been exposed a part of our innermost selves. The universe functions in cycles and so do we humans. Think about the cycles in nature: seasons, tides, day and night, life cycles, etc. In view of this, it must seem natural that you, too, are the subject of cycles. Don't fight the tide - go with it and learn to benefit from it. The "good life," "satisfying" work, feeling "fulfilled" etc. comes at a price. We have to be willing to accept and change accordingly. Ever feel convicted of a sin, e.g. “unforgiveness to someone who has hurt you” and out of nowhere we feel a need to correct it. This applies to all sins, but with my example, do you really think you are in God’s good graces and yet can’t find it within ourselves to forgive someone? What about the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11:2-4? “And forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

How do you know if you are doing God’s will? You have to remember that the Christian life is not always smooth and easy. With all that in mind, if you haven’t so far, spend some alone time with God and ask him what is his plan for your life. Remember it is “his” plan, which was previously formulated before you were born. If you are a Christian going through struggles, there are many options to turn to helping you get on the straight and narrow. We can be of help too. If you have no concern at all except get your own and live life to the fullest, Good Luck with your path. As Christians, we don’t believe in luck, everything is for a purpose as God intended for us. Sure the end of times are making the news, but if you haven’t assured yourself with eternal life, Just get on your knees and look up, I am confident the rest will fall in place.