How to Know and Do God’s Will

In order to know and do God’s will, we first must have a heart’s desire to know and do God’s will, to read God’s Word, and to pray to God for His revelation and strength.

Heart’s Desire to Know and Do God’s Will: Many may say and pray, “God’s will be done,” but actually they do not have a heart’s desire to know and do God’s will. They never seek God’s will or wait for God’s will, but just do what they want and like. They can see, watch, hear, say, or do whatever they like and go wherever they like regardless of God’s Word and will! To tell the truth, they do not like God’s will or God’s Word. Dear friends, you and I must be born again so that we may have a heart’s desire to seek and do God’s will, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Ps 40:8). Only being born again, you and I may have godly purposes and pursuits in life. We just like to follow our Lord Jesus Christ, who says, “I come to do thy will, O God” (Heb 10:9), and “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34), and “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30), and “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6:40). And the climax of our Lord Jesus’ submission to His Father’s will is His prayer to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done” (Matt 26:42). Do you and I have the same mind of our Lord Jesus Christ’s (Phil 2:5)?

Read God’s Word with a Teachable, Trusting and Submissive Heart: God has revealed His will through His written Word the Holy Scriptures and through His living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. How do I know what you want me to do? You must tell me with your words. Then, God’s Word is God’s will for you and me. If we do not read God’s Word and say, “I do not know God’s will.” That is our laziness and fault. There is only one way to know God’s will, and that is to read His Word. Many read God’s Word but fail to understand God’s will. They even misinterpret God’s Word to serve their purpose and goal! Dear friends, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and God’s Word is truth. Our God is our Creator, the most high, supreme, almighty and holy God, while we are only sinful and feeble creatures. Then, what proper attitudes do we need to read God’s Word? We must read God’s Word with a teachable, trusting, reverent and submissive heart without any doubt, question or criticism, then the Holy Spirit will help you and me to understand and know God’s will, “but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isa 66:2).

Pray to God for His Revelation and Strength: Acknowledging our foolishness and weakness, when we read God’s Word, we must pray to God for His revelation to know and understand God’s Word and will and for His strength to do God’s Word and will as well. God’s command is “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph 5:17). If we fail to understand God’s will, we are unwise or foolish! Praying to God is the next step to know and do God’s will, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10), and “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness” (Ps 143:10), and “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col 1:9), and “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). “Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Heb 13:21). We must thank God for the prayer ministry of the Holy Spirit in our hearts “because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:27). It is a blessing to pray for one another to know and do God’s will like Epaphras, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Col 4:12).