We often pray “Lord, let Your will be done.” As Christian women, when making life decisions or in pursuing our dreams we want to make sure that it’s His will that prevails.
But with all life’s possibilities and options, how can we really know what’s God’s will and what’s not?
If you are in the midst of making decisions and you are seeking God’s will, here are some things to think about:
Knowing God leads to knowing His voice
After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. (John 10:4)
This goes back to our personal relationship with God. God often likens our relationship with Him to the Shepherd and sheep. In John 10, Jesus says, those who belong to His flock will know or recognize His voice and they will follow Him. Notice that it also says that He walks ahead of them.
Every follower of Jesus will have these privileges mentioned in this verse. First is the truth that He is walking ahead of us which means that if we have trusted Christ for our salvation, we can also trust that He is the one leading us through this life. Philippians 1:6 says that we can be confident that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Second, as His flock, we will be able to recognize His voice. You may be asking what this means. Do we need to hear an audible voice? Do we need to have a strong feeling or a strong conviction over something and that will be our way to know His leading? Well, maybe in some cases. But the safest way for us to recognize His voice is through His Word. The more we read the Bible, the more we will be familiar with His voice.
We can treat His Word, in this case, as our safety net so that we won’t mistake our feelings for God’s voice. We can always ask “Does this decision violate God’s Word?” God’s will is always good, pleasing and perfect-- it won’t violate God’s word or His character.
Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left. (Isaiah 30:31)
This is how to know His will-- you have to know Him first. Just like in finding our purpose, we must go to the One who made us so He can show us what our purpose is. Only God has these answers, so if we are truly seeking His will it would make sense that we ought to seek Him first. We can pray that we learn what His voice sounds like through His word and that we will be sensitive to His leading.