Knowing some of the general purposes God has for our life and following through on them is a good start in knowing His specific purpose for your life. Obeying God helps us to hear more from Him.
The best way to have communication with God is by having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (John 14:23). This is done by repenting from our sins, surrendering completely to Him, and having Him dwell within us as we dwell within Him (Acts 3:19, Revelation 3:19-20).
Those who have truly surrendered to Christ will have some knowledge of how the Holy Spirit speaks to them (Romans 8:14). This knowledge is fined tuned in part by experience as the child of God learns to obey the prompting of His Spirit (John 10:27). The true disciple of Christ checks what he feels with what the written Word of God says. There are times he will find specific directives, general principles, or note some of the moral attributes of God. The bottom line is that whatever we feel led to do must have some precedent in the Holy Bible.
Oftentimes the providence of God also helps to determine the specific will of God for our lives and certain situations we might come across. This is when “things happen” that we have no control over and most often occurs suddenly. It might even be an adverse happening, which, years later, we discover was the design of God for our lives. Such was the case of Joseph who was sold to a caravan by his brothers. Eventually, though Joseph had many other hardships he had no control over, he became the “second to Pharaoh” of Egypt, and was used of God to save from famine the very same brothers who sold him. Please read Genesis 37 to 50 for this beautiful story.
The written Word, the Holy Spirit and the providence of God are the three main ways God directs us to the specific purpose for our lives and for various situations we face. We can consider this as spiritual triangulation. God will use all three in our lives to establish our purpose or give clear direction for a given situation.
However, we do have to cooperate with Him and especially focus upon the written Word. Just because something “feels right” is no reason why we should do something. For example, many folk, and sad to say, with the “blessings” of their church, violate Luke 16:18, John 2:16 and 1 Corinthians 6:1. Again, whatever the Holy Spirit tells us to do it will never be in contradiction to the written Word of God.
Conversely, we might sense direction from God, but we ourselves, or a part of ourselves, like our soul, might be against the given leading.
In all, it comes to the fact that we must fully surrender to God and trust the Way He has prepared for us, Christ Jesus. While being a disciple of Christ does not mean we will be without testing and trouble, it does mean that as we follow both His general will and His specific will, we shall inherit Eternal Life (1 John 2:17): “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
Notes:
This is the fifth and, for now, the final article in a series dealing with God’s purposes for us. The previous articles were as follows:
A Prime Purpose–proclaiming God’s Remedy
Another Purpose You Might be Fulfilling Without Knowing It
You Might be Fulfilling One of Your Purposes Without Even Knowing It
Nice post, Keep up the good work. Check my article at : http://scienceray.com/earth-sciences/hysteria-on-the-internet-in-italy-rome-will-be-devastated-by-an-earthquake-on-may-11/
beautiful read
You’re right. I need to communicate closely with Holy Spirit to know what He wants me to do.
I really like the phrase “spiritual triangulation”. It will make it easier to remember the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and the providence of God. I also like your warning that God will never ask you to do anything that the Bible contradicts – a checks and balance system to prevent heresy. I think that God will give us a passion and some natural ability to prepare us for our purpose. It is a common misconception that obedience to God’s will is something that will make our lives miserable.
Your article series provide Biblically sound insight into God’s purposes for human beings. Pastor Pete’s upfront and transparent voice and scriptural references make his articles valuable to readers searching for God’s purposes for their lives.