The Three Keys to Power Part 3: Knowing God’s Will

The Three Keys to Power Part 3

Knowing God’s Will

            So how do you know when it is God commanding you to step out in faith versus it being just you thinking God is talking to you?  After all, it’s not always easy, and this question has been a HUGE topic for Christians all over the world on a regular basis.  How do you really know when it’s God and when it’s not?

            Well, now, if I knew for sure I’d never do anything wrong ever again.  Yes, we all make mistakes as far as whether God is really talking to us or not.  Even the best of pastors make mistakes in this area.  That is one of the many reasons why forgiveness is SO important in the church.  We need to forgive one another because NO ONE has it all together.  None of us is right all the time.  Sometimes we listen to God when He’s talking and sometimes we think we are listening to God when we’re not.

            However, this being said, there are a few things I’ve learned about this over the years.  First, God will NEVER contradict the Bible.  So if you think He’s telling you that it’s okay to rob a bank because it’s more important to feed your family…there is a really really good chance that God isn’t really telling you to do that.  More commonly in today’s society, if you think that God is telling you to leave your wife and marry that woman you are cheating on your wife with, that is also something God would not tell you to do.  No… you are doing that all on your own.  God would NEVER tell someone to cheat on their spouse.  The Bible teaches in more than one place that a man should be the husband of one wife and that unless that wife is unfaithful to him he should not divorce her.  He should stay faithful and true to his wife no matter how hard things get.  Jesus said, “what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:6).  This was in reference to marriage.  Therefore, if you made a vow before God to remain together until death do you part, then you should remain together until death do you part.

            As a side note, there are a few exceptions to this, however, so please don’t get me wrong.  Marital unfaithfulness is more than just cheating on a spouse.  Think of the marriage vows.  A husband and wife typically vow to “love and honor” one another.  If a husband or wife are abusive, that is breaking marriage vows and being martially unfaithful.  Therefore, in a case like that, God may be telling you to leave your abusive spouse for not only your sake but especially for the sake of children that may be also involved in the situation.  Abuse breeds abuse.  Getting out of that situation in the best way that you can is okay.  Seek God and those God may put in your life for the best way to go about getting out of an abusive situation. 

            Another thing that will help you determine if it is God speaking to you is that God is almost always positive.  He is not usually negative.  Even if He is negative, God will then turn it to positive.  Therefore, one of the ways you can know it is God is if your thoughts are positive. 

            For example, God might say something to you like this, “I know this situation looks bad, but I am with you and I will bring you through this.  Continue to trust in Me, and I will not let you down.”  Or He might say something like this, “What you did was wrong, and you’re going to have to pay the price for your actions, but I will be with you and I will bring you through this.”  He might even say to you, “I am so mad at you right now!  What you did was horrible!  How dare you do that!”  However, in the end, He will follow up with some way that you might be able to redeem yourself.  For example, He might say, “Go and apologize to them and accept whatever consequences you receive.”  By telling you this, He isn’t just leaving you in condemnation.  He is telling you something you can do to prove that you are truly penitent. 

            You know it isn’t God if your thoughts are something like this, “It’s bad.  It’s real bad.  I don’t know how you’re going to make it through this.  Maybe you should try to go the bank and ask them for an extension on that loan…or maybe you could ask your parents for help…or maybe…”

            Notice the tone.  The tone is very negative.  Also notice how the thoughts are gravitating towards possibilities.  If it was God your thoughts would not be wondering about “maybe I should”.  If it was God you would not be pondering all of your options like this.  This is you trying to figure out the best solution to the problem.  You are uncertain of what path to choose and so you are immediately trying to determine what choices you have to choose from.  If it was God, truly God, only one option would drop into your brain and you would have more of an assurance that it was God telling you to do it.  All other options, you might still think about, but this one option seems to constantly be coming to your mind, especially when you pray, and it is this one option that really seems right to you.  All the others seem to be second best.

            Another tip to knowing God is talking to you over whether it is just your own thoughts is that if God is going to ask you to do something risky there will be other signs that follow.  For example, God told the widow that she would supply Elijah’s needs.  She hadn’t even met Elijah yet.  This was something out of the blue.  The woman was going about her own life and then God said to her, “You will supply a prophet’s needs.  He will come to you and you will help him.”  (Note: The Bible does not actually say that God said this, but it is implied in the text.)

            The sign to the widow was that what God told her came to pass.  A strange man, the prophet she had likely heard of by this point, showed up on her doorstep asking for food and drink.  God didn’t require the widow to find him.  He didn’t command her to leave everything and track him down.  God told her that he was coming, and the sign that God would take care of them all was that the prophet actually came.

            And then, notice what else happened.  Elijah didn’t ask the widow to do something huge to prove her faith.  He just asked her to bake the bread as she was planning on doing anyway and then give some to him first before eating of it herself.  God, and Elijah, knew that what they were asking of the poor widow was a lot.  Therefore, because they knew it was a lot, they only asked her to take a baby step of faith.  I’m not saying that God would never ask someone to take a huge leap of faith, but most of the time He only asks people to take a small step.

            Many people want to see miracles so badly that they will convince themselves that God has commanded them to do something crazy and severe.  I’ve known people who stopped taking life-giving medicines because they believed God was telling them to do so.  Then they started to have issues, and in one case the woman almost died.  She was rushed to the hospital where they used the medicines she stopped taking to save her.  God did NOT tell that woman to stop using her medications.

            But then there are times when God will tell someone to stop taking medicines and they actually are healed.  I have known a few who this has happened to, and what I noticed was that God didn’t tell them, “Stop taking it right now.”  Instead, He said, “Start backing off that medication and start doing this exercise at the same time.”  Then, as they did this, they started feeling better and started reducing their medication more and more until they finally got off of it. 

            There was one instance where God did actually tell someone that they were healed and didn’t need a certain medication anymore.  Therefore, they stopped taking the medication and they really were indeed healed.  However, that person, I noticed, was very sure.  They had an experience with God, and He had given them physical signs that they had been healed.  They could feel the healing in their body.  They knew beyond a doubt that it was God.  They didn’t even need anyone to tell them.  They didn’t have to repeat it over and over in their minds to try to chase away the doubt; to convince themselves that it was true.  They just knew God had done it.  There was no question.

            And this is how God tends to speak to us.  There is a reason that it is called a “still, small voice.”  If the voice inside you is screaming at you, “Do this!  Do it now!”… if that voice inside you is making excuses as to why it is a good idea to do it… if that voice inside you is telling you all the reasons why to NOT do this other thing… if you find yourself really liking the idea because it sounds crazy and exciting and dangerous and risky... if that voice is trying to convince you of something… it’s probably NOT God.

            This revelation came to me at one point while I was struggling with trying to know God’s voice.  God is truth.  God does not and cannot lie.  The truth is the truth.  No matter what others believe, the truth always remains.  It is like a mountain.  No matter how hard the wind blows, the mountain does not crumble and fall.

            Because the truth is the truth, and God only speaks the truth, He knows that He does not have to try to convince anyone of anything.  He speaks the truth.  If you listen, good for you.  If you don’t, well…then you’ll suffer for it.  So God’s voice is not desperate.  He is not sitting there trying desperately to convince you to take certain actions.  Instead, He simply states what you need to do.  His voice is calm and matter-of-fact.  Even when He is angry the thoughts in your head will be more controlled and straight to the point.  For example, if He is angry, your thoughts, if they are from God, might be something like, “You know what you did was wrong.  You hurt that person.  That wasn’t right.”  An example of when you might be condemning yourself would be something like, “Man!  I really messed up.  I’m such an idiot.  I can’t believe I did that.  I hate myself right now!”

            So, without sounding too much like Yoda from Star Wars, God tends to speak to us in a calm, peaceful and passive voice.  If your thoughts are saying, “You should do this thing over here.  I know it seems crazy, but it’ll all work out,” that might just be God.  Notice the tone.  If it was you or Satan it might sound something like, “Do it!  Now!”  God usually says something like, “You should” and “don’t hesitate.  It’ll be all right.”  People and the Devil tend to be more forceful.  “What are you waiting for!  Hurry!  Go!”  God may even, at times, want you to do something quickly and command you to “Go!  Quickly!  Now!” but when those thoughts are from God there is a sudden influx within you of assurance and calm.

            For example, there was an incident when my wife knew that something was wrong.  Somehow, she knew she just had to do something and she had to do it right then and there.  She did not doubt that it was God nudging her.  She didn’t even really think about it.  There was no question in her mind.  Immediately, she acted upon this sudden thought that had come to her and was affecting her entire being.  She just somehow knew it was the right thing to do…and she had been right.

            Now if it had been her own voice and not God’s, her thoughts probably would have been more like this:  “Oh!  This seems like a good time to do this.  Maybe I should do it.  Should I?  What if it isn’t the right time?  What if I say something and it goes all wrong?  No…It seems right so I’m gonna do it.  How could it be wrong?”

            Notice the “what ifs”.  God doesn’t work in “what ifs.”  If your thoughts are, “what if this” and “what if that,” it’s you and not God.  If it was God, He would say, “Do this.  It is the right thing to do,” and you would just know, somehow, that it is the right thing to do.

            Ah, so what this means is that there are a lot of times when God is actually NOT telling you one way or another to do something.  Yes, there are some who think that God is always talking and He is always telling you what to do or where to go, etc.  That’s not really how this works.  God didn’t create humans to have automatons who just do whatever He tells them to do.  Part of enjoying life for God is allowing us to make our own decisions.  That is why God set things up, from the beginning, giving Adam and Eve free reign over the Earth.  They would be like God, choosing for themselves what is right and wrong.  That is why they were not allowed to know God’s laws.  That is why the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was wrong for them to eat from.  As long as they didn’t know God’s rules they didn’t have to live by them, and the choices of right and wrong were theirs to make.  That is the way all humans were made.

            So ultimately God allows us to choose for ourselves every day what we want to do, where we want to go, how we want to live, etc.  Now, granted, He is always there and He is always providing suggestions to you.  That is the way it has also always been set up.  From the beginning, God’s Spirit has been with humans, and it His Spirit that is always searching out the future and it is His Spirit that can give us insights as to what is coming, what choices are wisest, what will yield the best results.  Whether we choose to listen to His Spirit is up to us.  However, He is always there giving us insight, day and night, helping us by inserting thoughts into our minds, giving us inspirations, etc.

            So it isn’t that God is commanding you all the time.  It is that He is suggesting to you all the time what is the best way to go.  I say this because individuals need to understand that just because you choose not to listen to God’s voice doesn’t mean that you have done some terrible sin.  This line of thinking causes paranoia.  Believe me…I’ve been there.  I became so afraid to make decisions that the result was that I was a very wishy-washy person.  I couldn’t make decisions at all because I was afraid that I might not be making the decision God wanted me to make.  It was not a good place to be in.

            Here is an example of how this might work.  You have a decision to make.  You can either go to Store A or Store B to pick up milk after work.  Now Store A is closer to you than Store B.  However, you get this impression that Store B might be the best one for you to go to today.  You can’t figure out why you have this impression, but it’s there nonetheless.  You shake off that feeling, however, and choose to go to Store A because it is closer, and you really don’t like Store B.

            Was this a sin?  No.  Ultimately, in this instance, if you had gone to Store B you would have discovered a major sale going on.  It would have saved you money and you’d have been happier for going there.  However, God is not mad at you for choosing to ignore that prompting from the Holy Spirit.  It was your choice ultimately.  You just would have been more blessed if you had gone to Store B.

            Now you may even respond to God’s word with, “But what if this happens or that happens.”  That’s perfectly normal.  The widow did basically the same thing with Elijah.  However, you know it is God when He returns by saying pretty much the same thing.  “Don’t worry.  It’ll be fine.  Just trust me.  Don’t worry about the “what ifs.”  I have it all taken care of.”  If those words are coming to you, and they are coming to you as if someone in the room with you is calmly saying them over and over again, that is almost certainly God.  However, if those words are coming to you, but you are finding that you are panicking more and more while you are repeating them in your mind, that is most likely you trying to convince yourself that everything is going to be fine if you keep going down that path.

            You see…it’s all in the way those thoughts are working in your mind.  God’s voice is always calm and assured.  “You will be fine.  Trust me.  I have this all taken care of.”  Your thoughts are usually frantic and emotional.  “God’s got this!  I know He’s got this!  Trust God!  He’ll do it.  Don’t worry.  He’ll make it all work out just fine.”  If you are thinking those things in an effort to just calm yourself down, that is just you and not God.

            So if you are going through something and you just can’t be calm and at peace about it, then you should pray.  Pray and ask God for peace.  Ask God if there is something you are doing wrong that may be causing you to not have peace.  Think about what you might be doing that could be causing you to fret so much.  If the source of your worry and fear is something you can control then determine that you will do so and ask God to help you do so.  Keep working at it and keep asking God to help you until you are successful.  Don’t give up.

            If you cannot control it or you just don’t know what it is that is causing your issues, if there is nothing you can do about it, then there are only a few things you can do instead of attempting to fix it.  You can ask God to help you endure it and to help you control your anxiety while you are dealing with it.  You can ask God to remove it from your life for you, since you have no idea what it is or how to fix it.  Finally, you can ask God to show you what you can do to either fix the problem or to endure dealing with it.  You can even do all of the above.  Just know that whatever you do, God is there with you and trust that even if you don’t think He’s helping you, He is.

            And trust me when I say that I know how hard it is to believe that when you are awake at 3 in the morning dealing with the issue.  I know how hard it is to believe that God is there with you, helping you, when you are praying and praying and praying and it is not doing any good.  That pain is still there.  That pain is not going away.  That pain is ruining your life and making you miserable.  It is hard to believe that God is helping you when there are no positive results.

            When this happens, it is easier said than done, but try to take a step back, away from your circumstances.  I know this sounds very contrary to what others might tell you, but stop praying about it.  You can pray about other things, but stop praying about that issue that is driving you nuts.  Often, the more you pray about it the more upset you get about it.  Instead, pray for others.  If that isn’t working, read your Bible.  If that isn’t working, listen to some soothing music.  If that isn’t working, watch TV, read a book, play games…essentially do SOMETHING to get your mind off of the problem.  It is one thing to ask God to help you with the problem and to believe that He will.  However, obsessing over it is unhealthy.  Trust me!  I’ve been there multiple times.  Sometimes you can actually pray too much for something.

            Yes…it is true.  Sometimes you can actually pray too much about something.  I’ll give you an example with my finances.  I used to pray almost constantly about it.  I’d fret about it.  I’d try to figure out solutions.  I’d ask God to help.  I’d fret some more.  I’d analyze and analyze and analyze again and again everything we were buying and everything we were doing.  I’d beat myself up for spending money on stupid things and I’d feel horribly guilty if I was being a miser when it came to giving to the church, giving to others, buying presents for people, etc.  I was ALWAYS stressed about money.

            Then God finally got me to focus on other things.  He finally got it through to me that being so focused on it was unhealthy.  It was like He was saying to me, “Instead, try focusing on other things and let that go.  If you need to charge a few things on a credit card so that you have enough in your bank account to pay your bills and minimum payments at the end of the month – instead of scrimping and watching every dollar like a hawk and fretting about every penny - then do that if you have to.  Just stop worrying and stop stressing so much about it.  Stop begging me and pleading with me and trying to make deals with me.  Instead, pray for your wife and your kids and your pastors and your church and your city and your state and the people you know of who need Me in their lives.  You are so focused on finances that you aren’t even praying for anything else.”

            That type of praying is you trying to force God to fix your problems through an abundance of prayers and through just how much you are focused on them.  It is you trying to solve your problems through prayer, as if you can make God fix them simply by praying harder and more often about the same exact issue.

            Instead, pray and ask God to fix the issue and then let it go.  Make yourself pray about other things.  Make yourself do other things.  If the issue is in your face right now and you are having a hard time NOT thinking about it, if you have the ability to do so, walk away.  Distract yourself from it in whatever healthy way that you can.  Don’t obsess over it or continue to dwell upon it.  By forcing yourself to stop thinking about it, what you are really saying is, “God…I prayed about it and now I’m releasing it to you to take care of it.  I’m trusting you with this so much that I’m not going to sit here and let it anger me, or frustrate me any longer.  I’m not going to sit here and try to come up with a solution myself.  I’m trusting you to give me the solution if I can do something about this, and if I can’t, I’m trusting you to help me endure it.”  You don’t even need to think these things or pray them or say them out loud.  By asking God to fix it and then walking away and doing something else, you say these things with your actions.