In the walk of a follower of Christ we all struggle with one common desire that we seek, to know the will of God. What is the will of God in my life? What is the will of God as a make the decisions of graduating high school deciding on which career I will begin to invest my time, money, and sweat into? Or What is the will of God in my relationship with my partner? Money, Relationships, educations, career; all of these areas in our life we question, is this the will of God in my life. In this book, Knowing God’s Will, M. Blaine Smith gives us genuine advice on finding guidance for our personal decisions of our life in the perfect and pleasing will of God. The book is divided out in four parts; Part 1 First Considerations, Part 2 My Responsibilities …show more content…
The author fills each chapter with stories and illustrations of the testimonies of his life and other Christians. Furthermore, as I stated earlier M. Blaine Smith invites us in a dialogue by asking us real life insight on question we ask ourselves perpetually. For example, “Is it God’s will likely to be the thing I want least to do?”, What do I do when others tell me what God wants me to do?”, and “When do I open and closed doors indicated God’s will, and when don't they?” They’re more questions but I want to stop and reflect one the questions that really took a swing at me and that I can relate to entirely, I believe we all can. The question was,“When do I open and closed …show more content…
All over we ask these questions most importantly us as Christians ask to God is door that I am in, is it your will? As I was reading this book I stop myself to think how many times I have asked myself this question and felt fear of walking through any doors that wasn't meant to be walked through, at least not at that time of my life. I can share about one of the decisions that I had to make last year that change the while course of my life, it was frighting but I had to believe that God had what was best for me. After High School I had to decide what I was going to do for the rest of my life, like every senior in high school goes through. I knew I was called for something greater, I knew I had a gift, and I knew I had a anointing in my life. I knew called called my to be a Minister or Pastor, I knew by the grace of God he gave
Just over a year ago my dad was called to be the pastor. God gave him the vision that
N.T. Wright: During my first semester at Northwestern College, I was assigned the book, “The Challenge of Jesus” by N.T. Wright for one of my Biblical Studies courses. This book and every other book Tom Wright has written has dramatically impacted my Christian faith. Dr. Wright has not only defended the basic tenants of the Christian faith, but also has shown how an academically-minded pastor ought to love and care for his or her congregants. N.T. Wright was previously the Bishop of Durham and pastored some of the poorest in the United Kingdom. His pastoral ministry has helped shape his understanding of God’s kingdom-vision which he is diagramming within his magnum opus “Christian Origins and the Question of God”. This series has instructed myself and countless other pastors to be for God’s kingdom as we eagerly await Christ’s return. Additionally, I have had the privilege of meeting with N.T. Wright one-on-one on numerous occasions to discuss faith, the Church, and his research. I firmly believe Tom Wright is the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation and he is the primary reason why I feel called into ministry.
There is so much mystified confusion surrounding the will of God in today’s society. It is evident in the ways that people use the term that views about it differ widely; there is even contradiction in two things the same person might say. It is because of the recommendation of my pastor and others that I decided to read The Will of God, written by Leslie D. Weatherhead.
The climax of the conversation is still to come, but we are being gently led towards the understanding of Jesus which the author is at pains to share with us. We are to see Jesus as the Word, speaking of the things the Word knows from his own experience. Experience is the way we all come to know what is true – whether the truth belongs to our material world or the realm of Heaven, where Jesus comes from (‘Except the one who has come down from heaven – the Son of Man).
The biblical worldview influences me with deciding on what career would be best for me and how I should do it. Decision making is sometimes difficult for some people, unless they feel God has given them a “calling” in a certain career
Hypothetically speaking, if there was a machine in the world that could able project the image of a person choosing to do tomorrow. Wouldn’t that entail tomorrow this person must do what was known in advance? In the end, despite the planning and deliberating, this person must choose exactly as the machine projected. The question we have to ask ourselves is this: “Does free will exist, or it just merely an illusion?” But, no machine with such capability existed in this world, and the only one with such power is God. The argument of God’s omniscient and human free will has gone for thousands of years, the core of this argument is if God was claimed to be all-knowing, hence in possession of infallible foreknowledge of human actions, therefore, humans should not have free will. The concept of God is all-knowing and human have free will is inherently contradictory, therefore, they cannot coexist. This argument implicated predestination and often resonated with the dilemma of determinism, because God was supposed to have given mankind free will.
Gary Collins, a Christian counselor, helps individuals to comprehend their full potential using a God-centered way of coaching. He believes that, through coaching, an individual builds up a vision for their life and a desire for a good future. The book aids coaches to acquire skills that they require to help others, to emerge winners during difficult and challenging moments in their life. The book is also designed to develop Christian coaches’ in questioning, listening and responding. These can help Christian coaches to assess themselves and build up a strategy for their work. Collins rewrote the second edition in order to simplify his coaching methods. The second publication develops his practical skills as a new head in the world that is changing quickly, which includes how to use diverse situations, insights based on the Bible and customized forms among others.
“The call is something that is an indescribable joy and an indefinable burden at the same time.” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 32). There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a congregation of the redeemed moving forward in their faith. However exciting this may be, it is usually not the thrill that propels the pastor in his service. It is the burden placed on the pastor by God that compels him in his work. The pastor understands that he is largely responsible for the work of God being accomplished by his faithfulness to his calling. “All through the Word of God and down through the annals of history, when God has moved it has almost always been attended by the preaching of the Word.” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 31)
We each receive our own divine call from God. Sometimes this call alines with our own aspirations and goals, and other times it doesn’t. After the reading Gary Selby’s paper on Vocation I was left uncertain if my career goals and works were the same as God’s vocation for me. I have chosen to major in Sports Administration to pursue a career in the Lakers’ front office. This might also be God’s calling for me but, I’m at an uncertain moment in my life to know for certain if this is my ultimate calling.
Meyer, J. (2003). How to hear from God: Learning to know his voice and making right decisions. New York, NY: First Warner Books printing.
... divine law and letting reason govern one’s actions, they can achieve complete happiness. One must not totally disregard temporal goods, but their actions should be based on their goods of the will, not temporal goods.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
One’s own free choices are what is said to be the acts that accumulate in one’s life, which overall, forms who we are as a person. Along with the blessing of free choice, also comes the extreme importance for knowledge. “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6)”. The Lord provides an individual with the gift of knowledge, to know when and when not to act, and to know the difference between such moral and immoral acts. Only now, it is up to the individuals to base their free choices on their knowledge.
As we search the word of God with passion and earnestly, the Holy Spirit will illuminate us, so we can grasp his will in our life “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:13).
The Bible is full of instructions as to how God wants his people to live. It speaks of our relationship with God himself, the place of prayer and his word in our lives, and how to grow in that relationship. It talks about relationships in the home, relationships with other believers, how we should treat our enemies, our attitude to our authoritative figure and employees, what we should do with the gifts God has given us, the virtues we should seek to develop in our characters, our attitude to material possessions,and how we should regard this life in relationship to the next. We don't require any special guidance to find out God's will about these things. All we need to do is read the Bible regularly and prayerfully and seek to obey the things that God teaches us from it. Much of God's will has already been made plain. God gives us the Holy Spirit for the very purpose of enabling us to obey.