How can I find God’s will for my life?

These overarching questions can keep us immobilized, refusing to move forward because of indecision and fear of doing the wrong thing.

What if we broke the question down, and instead of seeing our whole life lay before us, we merely focus on doing God’s will for today? If we obey His nudges on this day, we will have followed His leading. 

How can I know if a nudge is from God? How can I decern what He wants from me today? Those, too, are good questions, and the Bible has some answers. 

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

(Psalm 32:8 ESV)

God speaks to us through the Bible. Reading it and immersing ourselves in it will give us clear direction on how God desires us to live each day. Praying that God will make His Word come alive through the power of the Holy Spirit makes the words on the pages applicable to our life. 

God speaks to us in our spirit. The more we listen to His voice, the more we recognize it. If we are the sheep (followers of Jesus) of the Good Shepherd (Jesus), we will know His voice and desire to follow where He leads. This passage shows how Jesus is the Door (the way to eternal life) and the Good Shepherd. Do you recognize the Sheperd’s voice?

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the person who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The one who guards the door opens it for him. And the sheep listen to the voice of the shepherd. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he brings all his sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger. They will run away from him because they don’t know his voice.” Jesus told the people this story, but they did not understand what it meant.So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the door for the sheep.

John 10:1-7 NCV

God speaks to us through His people. Being involved in a Christian community that will encourage and correct you is vital in finding God’s will for your life. Correction may be hard to accept, but Proverbs 27:17 says, “ As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other.” (NCV). Find people you can trust and who will sometimes tell you what you don’t want to hear. 

As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other.

Proverbs 27:17

We can make the question too hard. We want to know the big picture, but we never will.  God gives us today. If we ignore His prompts in the present but hope to “live in His will” eventually, we are already out of step. 

Finding God’s will for our life starts with how we live today. 

If I follow His instructions for today and do the same the next day, my days add up to a life lived in the will of God.