How Do I Make Decisions That Please God?

Today we come to the fourth and final part of this short series on knowing and doing the will of God. In the first part of the series I laid a foundation of God’s complete sovereignty over the universe and in the second part I sought to show that God is speaking to us today and how God is speaking to us today. In the third part I wanted showed that God is speaking to you and revealing his will for your life. In this final installment I want to ask the big question: When it comes right down to it, how do I make decisions that please God?

I want to give you 3 questions that will guide you as you think about any decision or any situation and that will help you have confidence that you are doing God’s will for your life. As you consider that big decision, you need to ask these three questions in order.

Question #1

What does the Bible say about it? That’s a rather obvious question, but it’s one we sometimes miss. What does the Bible say about it? Is there a passage in the Bible that speaks directly to this issue or is there a principle that applies to it?   Keep Reading>>>

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I Felt Led To…

Common phrases in evangelicalism today include “I felt led to…”, “God told me to….”, and “The Lord laid it on my heart to….”  I now cringe every time someone uses these phrases because I’ve heard so many unbiblical endings to them.  In fact, I’ve seen people’s lives take a million tough twists and turns because they were ”following the promptings of God.”  For one example, I hesitate to think that God would “prompt’ somebody to avoid the ER when their daughter gets a deep cut that probably needs stitches.   

If I can speak candidly, I believe this has to do with lack of biblical knowledge.  Sinclair Ferguson says that perhaps one reason why our Christian forefathers rarely wrote about finding God’s will is because they knew the Bible better than most Christians today know it.  “They concentrated on teaching themselves and others the will of God which they discovered in Scripture, and the life of obedience to God in a daily submission to and application of his truth.”  Another example: If you know that the Bible says Christians shouldn’t mary unbelievers (2 Cor 6.14), you won’t need or care about “promptings.” Keep Reading...

God Made a Will

GOD'S WILL AND MAN'S WILL ...the tension of divine sovereignty and human responsibility

The great controversy which for many ages has divided the Christian Church has hinged upon the difficult question of "the will." I need not say of that conflict that it has done much mischief to the Christian Church, undoubtedly it has; but I will rather say, that it has been fraught with incalculable usefulness; for it has thrust forward before the minds of Christians, precious truths, which but for it, might have been kept in the shade. I believe that the two great doctrines of human responsibility and divine sovereignty have both been brought out the more prominently in the Christian Church by the fact that there is a class of strong-minded hard-headed men who magnify sovereignty at the expense of responsibility; and another earnest and useful class who uphold and maintain human responsibility oftentimes at the expense of divine sovereignty. I believe there is a needs-be for this in the finite character of the human mind, while the natural lethargy of the Church requires a kind of healthy irritation to arouse her powers and to stimulate her exertions. The pebbles in the living stream of truth are worn smooth and round by friction. Who among us would wish to suspend a law of nature whose effects on the whole are good? Read the rest HERE

Suffering and God’s Will

God's Will and Your Marriage (pt. 1)

Part 2
Part 3

God's Will and Your Job (pt. 4)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

God's Will and Your Job (pt. 3)

Part 1
Part 2

God's Will and Your Job (pt. 2)

Part 1

God's Will and Your Job (pt. 1)

The Meaning of God's Will (pt. 5)

The Meaning of God's Will (pt. 4)

Are There Two Wills in God? by Francis Turretin

Non Sola Scriptura: the Blackaby view of God's will — 1

The book. I am currently reading How Then Should We Choose?, edited by Douglas S. Huffman (Kregel: 2009), with a view to reviewing it ultimately. This a pre-review of one part of it. (Translation: I can't hold this back.)

The book allows advocates of three distinct approaches to the will of God to set forth their views, after which each is critiqued by the others. I will focus on the first only, which is called the "Specific-Will" view. It is written by Henry and Richard Blackaby, who are father and son.

I only barely began reading Garry Friesen's response and, frankly, was sharply provoked at its tepid tone. If the Blackabys' view is un-Biblical (and it is), a lot of people — and the cause of Christ — will be harmed by it. I find it hard to be chatty and blasé about that. Read the rest at Team Pyro

Part 2

Andrew Peterson - Holy is the Lord