"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more
abundantly." John 10:10b
Every day we have decisions to make. Who should my friends be? What should I spend my time on? What
should I be when I grow up? As we get older, it seems we face more decisions – and harder ones, too! Should I go to college? If
so, what should I major in? If not, what should I do instead? Should I get married? To whom? Should I be a missionary? Should I do
ministry at home? Help!
What do you want to do? If you could choose one thing from the list below, which would it be? Mark
your choice.
To marry a charming young man and to have the perfect number of
beautiful children in a beautiful home.
To become a talented, wealthy, world-famous musician or writer or
politician.
To go as a confident missionary to a foreign land, lead multitudes
of people to salvation, and become the head of a great ministry.
To live a comfortable, fun life, with always enough money, stylish
clothes, and cool friends.
To be a brilliant intellectual – with out-of-this-world grades
through college and a flourishing career afterwards.
To do God’s will, no matter what it is.
Look up Psalm 27:4, and evaluate your choice with this verse. Write down in your own words what the
verse means. Then answer the question: what is the “one thing” that you seek?
Look up Romans 8:28. Do you believe God loves you and works everything out for your
good?
Look up Isaiah 55:8-9. Do you believe that His plan for your life is far better than your
own?
Look up Psalm 18:30. Do you believe that God’s ways are perfect?
Look up Proverbs 14:12. Where do our own ways end?
Read this section from "Discovering God's
Will" (The King's Daughter Vol. 7#3):
*
* *
What do I really want in life?
Do I have any personal goals, desires, agendas, dreams? They must all be laid on
the altar. If I want to really discover God’s will, I must come to the point
where I can truly say, “Thy will be done. Lord, it’s fine with me if You
fulfill my visions and grant me my desires. It’s also fine with me if You
bring death to my visions and say ‘no’ to my desires. Your will, whatever it
may be, is what I want.”
I need to search my heart. If I refuse to come to
the point of desiring only God’s will, there is no wonder I am unable
to discover it. God gives me the choice of going the way that seems right to me
(Prov. 14:12). But if I give all that up, hard though it may be, I’ll soon
find His way is perfect (Psalm 18:30).
Desiring only God’s will gives such a simplicity
to life! Learning to live by Psalm 27:4 (“One thing have I desired of the
Lord….”) gives me a peace that nothing else can.
Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “As a college student I
worried much about whether I would fail to follow the Shepherd, would be deaf to
His call. I thought it such a bewildering matter. It is not a worry anymore.
Experience has taught me that the Shepherd is far more willing to show His sheep
the path than the sheep are to follow. He is endlessly merciful, patient,
tender, and loving. If we, His stupid and wayward sheep, really want to be led,
we will without fail be led. Of that I am sure.” (From Keep a Quiet Heart
by Elisabeth Elliot, Servant Publications, Ann Arbor, MI, 1995.)
If you really desire only God’s will, God will
show you! (See Proverbs 3:5-6.) He is perfectly capable and sovereign, far
too merciful to leave a committed and surrendered disciple stumbling blindly
around. He may designate a time of waiting. He may not answer all your questions
at once. But He will show you.
* * *
We learned in the first two chapters that God has a unique and special purpose for your life.
Do
you really want to fulfill God's purpose?
Determine right now and commit to the Lord that you want His perfect will in your life – nothing
more, nothing less, nothing else. I challenge you to make this your heart's prayer!
If this is your heart’s desire, then the next question is “What does God want me to do?” You truly
desire His will, but you still may not know what His will is.
When we turn to the Bible, we usually don’t find
extremely specific directions on God’s exact plan for our individual lives. For instance, we don’t read in the Bible, "No, Kelly is not a wise friend for you. Yes, you should keep taking piano
lessons. When you’re older, you should be a missionary nurse."
Of course not! So how can we know God’s specific plan for us? If it’s not in the Bible, how can we
find out?
We know from God’s promises that He will give us all we need.
(See Philippians 4:19.) If we are
doing what is right, He will not withhold any good thing from us! This includes giving us
the direction we need.
We can be confident that the Holy Spirit dwelling within our hearts will direct us as we pray to
Him. God can also direct us through circumstances or friends.
But we have a problem. Friends are not always wise, and circumstances are not always clear. Not only
that, but it’s easy to confuse the Holy Spirit’s guidance with our own feelings!
Have you felt very excited about something, and later gotten cold feet about it? Was it the Holy
Spirit giving you a vision, or was it your own excited feeling that went away with time?
Have you ever seen someone and thought “that’s the perfect friend for me”, but later discovered you
didn’t have anything in common? Was it the Holy Spirit directing you, or your own impulse?
Were you ever sure you knew who your future husband would be – and now you look back and groan.
(“How could I have thought of him?”) Was the Lord revealing His plan to you, or was it an immature infatuation?
You can see that it’s very hard to discern between the Holy Spirit and our own feelings! Sometimes we are
sure that something is the right thing to do – until we wake up the next morning and don’t feel that way after all.
God tells us in 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, do not
believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God....” Before jumping ahead with a vision, we need to be sure that the vision is of God, and not a passing feeling.
How can we be sure? Jesus tells us, “However,
when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He
will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He
will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what
is Mine and declare it to you.” - John 16:13-14. Write this
verse in your own words:
The Holy Spirit will never lead you contrary to God’s Word. God would not tell
you one thing in His Word, and the opposite thing through His Spirit. For instance, if you felt the urge to steal something, you
would know that was a temptation based on your own feelings — definitely not the Spirit’s direction! The way to tell if a “feeling” is from the Holy Spirit is to verify it with God’s Word!
The Bible tells us specifically to honor and obey our authorities. This means that the Holy Spirit
will not direct us to rebel against authority. God would not tell us through His Word to obey, and through His Spirit to disobey!
With this in mind, think through the following situations:
Situation A: Your parents say that next summer you should not help at your
church’s Vacation Bible School. But you really want to! Do you think the Holy Spirit is directing you, or is this your own
feeling? Situation B: You feel God’s calling to become a Christian singer. But your parents want you
to take violin lessons, not voice lessons. What should you do?
God can use situations like these to test our faith. For instance, let’s say that it really
was God’s will for you to help at your church’s VBS. That desire in your heart really was from Him! And yet your
parents said no.
Even though you were sure your parents were mistaken, you purposed to stay under authority. You
remembered the verse: "The king's [or Mom’s or Dad’s or any authority’s]
heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever
He wishes." – Proverbs 21:1.
You prayed that if God really wanted you to help with VBS, He would change the hearts of your
parents. And sure enough, God proved His will by changing their minds just a month before VBS began! You would come through such
an experience with a greatly increased faith in God and His ability to change impossible circumstances!
But, on the other hand, if your confidence that God wanted you in the VBS caused you to rebel
against your parents, you would have missed God’s plan! You would have had conflict in your home, and you would not have seen the
wonderful lesson God wanted to show you.
Do you see how important it is to desire only God’s will? If doing VBS, or becoming a singer, is the
“one thing” you desire, you will be very disappointed if your parents say “no”. But if you truly want God’s will, you will be
content to let your plans change and wait on Him to make His perfect will happen!
It all boils down to this: Do you think God is powerful enough to change your authority’s
heart?
Do you think He is loving enough to guide you through your authority’s direction?
Read Isaiah 40:12. Write in your own words what this verse is saying about God’s
power:
Read Psalm 103:11. Write in your own words what this verse is saying about God’s
love:
God provides parents as two of the most important resources for discerning God’s guidance in
decision-making. Proverbs 6:20-35 explains that listening wholeheartedly to the instruction and counsel of your parents will
greatly benefit your life.
Why do you think God has chosen to communicate His leading through our
authorities?
Seeking advice from our parents and following the direction that they give us are completely foreign
ideas in today's world! Read Romans 12:2. What insights can you glean from this verse?
When we aren’t sure what to do – when we are confused about what God’s will is – we should ask our
authorities! As we honor them, God will direct us. He may not say in an audible voice, “Mary, take violin lessons!”, but He is
certainly capable of saying that through your mom and dad.
How would this truth change the way you normally respond to your parents’
direction?
Sometimes, however, we must disobey authority – if we are commanded to do something in direct
violation of God’s Word. For instance, when Pharaoh told the Hebrew midwives to murder little babies, they refused to obey him,
and obeyed God instead (see Exodus 1:15-21). When the high priest told Peter and John to stop witnessing, they disobeyed him in
order to obey God (see Acts 4:18-21).
For most of us, thankfully, situations like these do not occur very often, if at all. If your
authority tells you to shoplift, you certainly should not! However, if your authority tells you to take violin
lessons, you certainly should – even if you’re convinced that violin is not God’s plan for you. If it truly isn’t
His plan, He will change the authority’s heart. That’s where faith comes in!
CONCEPT TO THINK ABOUT:In what ways is faith required in order to stay under
authority?
List some reasons why you think God gave you the specific authorities that He
did.
Week 4 memory work:
Psalm 27:4
Brittany had not expected the missionary speaker to be so interesting. He talked about the
exciting opportunities unfolding in Africa. He showed photos of poor orphans. He said that whole villages had not yet heard the
Gospel.
Brittany's heart beat faster. Surely this was her calling! This was what God wanted her to do! When
the speaker gave the dates for the next missions trip, Brittany knew she had to go.
But at home that evening, her dad didn't seem to catch the vision. She tried to explain to him, but
he kept saying that she was too young or that she should finish school first. He didn't seem to care about the people in
Africa.
Brittany went to bed discouraged and upset. Her vision lay crumbled at her feet.
Based on what you learned in today's study, what would you do if you were
Brittany?
Thank God for Parents!
By Lisa Bode
When I was fourteen, I wanted to grow closer to God and do what I thought was His will. I wanted
ministry opportunities and ways to glorify Him in my life. But that didn’t happen. Instead my life was being eaten up in
frustration and rebellion. I put myself through miserable days and continual strain because I refused to be under authority.
Rather than experiencing any kind of freedom, I felt like I was constantly in chains.
I did not understand how God works. I never stopped to ask myself, "Why did God give me
parents, anyway? Is this situation really what He intended?" I thought God worked independent of authority, showing me His
plan for my life and then requiring me to convince them and rebel against them if they didn’t agree.
I finally realized, after months of heartache, that God would truly lead me through my authorities.
This was a hard truth to apply at first. It meant asking their forgiveness and giving up the vision that had consumed months
of my life.
For awhile after that, I felt very empty. I wasn’t sure what to do instead, but I knew I wanted
God’s will. Over the next few years I sought the counsel of my parents and followed their direction. Sometimes it seemed as if my
life was meandering in a hopeless maze. I knew that by obeying my authorities I was following God, but I couldn’t see where He
was leading!
When I was eighteen, four years after I’d given up my vision, the Lord restored a new vision
to me. The work He gave me was not one I had ever imagined or asked for. But it fit my talents and desires perfectly, and gave me
such fulfillment and joy.
Then, looking back, I realized what a perfect way God had led me. He had taught me so much
during those years of “meandering”. Every specific situation had worked for His purpose. My parents had been right every
time, though even they were not sure where God was leading me. Through their direction I had gained experience in a number of
areas, and was finally equipped, spiritually and practically, for the new vision God gave me.
Had I clung to the old vision and continued in my rebellion – even though I felt so sure I was right
– I would have missed out on so much! It took that hard decision to follow my authorities, to give up my dream, to
desire God’s will no matter what, when I could not see the future and did not
know what would happen. And now, looking back over my teenage years, I do not regret it.
