Knowing the Will of God

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Bible Passages

Romans 12:1-2 I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Col 2:1-3 I want you to know how much I agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally. I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ HIMSELF. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Col 2:7-9 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built upon him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness…. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in human form. So you are also complete through your union with Christ…

Col 2:20-23 You died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world? …These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self denial, and severe bodily discipline. but they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.

Devotional Thoughts

The last few days, as I look back over these devotionals, and the verses God has had me reading, there seems be a little bit of a theme emerging… knowing God’s will.

In Col 1:9-11 Paul prays for the Colossian believers that God would give them complete knowledge of his will and give them spiritual wisdom and understanding. He goes on to say that it’s this knowledge of Gods will and the spiritual understanding that will enable them to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, and fully pleasing to him.

So, what is God’s will? For us to walk fully pleasing and worthy of the Lord. How do we do that? Col 1:27 says, And this is the secret: Christ lives in you.  

In Romans 11:33 we read, Oh how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! God’s wisdom and knowledge is great! To expand that thought, we read Jer 51:15-16 The Lord made the earth by his power and he preserves it by his wisdom. With his own understanding he stretched out the heavens. When he speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses. All that is true about God, but Col 2:7 reminds us of what Paul said in Col 1:15-20, In Christ lives all the fullness of God. All the wisdom and knowledge, the understanding the stretched out the heavens, the fullness of God, abides in Christ. And according to Col 2:8 you are complete through your union with Him! You are complete. YOU HAVE THE FULLNESS OF GOD IN YOU! You have all the wisdom and knowledge and understanding of God living in you!

Therefore, Paul says in Rom 12:2 let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you!

Col 2:7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built upon him. Col 2:3 In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Prayer Outline

So, how do we apply this practically? Here’s my prayer for you today.

  1. That you will continue to grow in your understanding of what you have IN CHRIST.
  2. That as you put your roots down into him, that your life will become a more perfect reflection the image of the invisible God that is in you.
  3. As you grow into the image of Christ that his desires will become your desires, and therefore your will (what you want) will become what God wants.
  4. I pray that as His desires become your desires that He will give you clear direction to know what He wants for you to do today and in the future.

Something I am learning is that prayer is not meant to change God to do my will. Prayer is for me to get in alignment with him. He already knows what he wants. His work is to change me so that my desires change into what he wants. Then I’ll be praying for what he wants. When that is the case, then what I pray will always be according to his will. (1 John 5:14)

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