How to Determine the Will of God

George Frederick Muller (1805-1898)

My first experience in creating a ministry, leading a team, and teaching the Word to others was 17 years ago, when I founded a Christian organization in my liberal public high school.  Over these past 17 years, one of the most common questions I have been asked by parents, teenagers, grandparents, even pastors has been this: “How can I hear God’s voice on this situation?  How can I know, for sure, what is God’s will regarding this major decision?”  Today, I’d like to offer an answer to that question, based on eight very practical criteria.

You will be comforted to know that this answer is not mine.  Rather, they are the eight steps believed to be necessary in determining the will of God on any matter, written in the early 1800s by that great hero of the faith, George Frederick Muller.  My thanks goes to our dear family friend, Janet Kennon, who sent us a devotional this week by Pastor David Wilkerson of Times Square Church.  It is in Wilkerson’s devotional that he brings us back to Muller’s eight steps.  If you ever have the chance to read some of the stories of raw faith that marked Muller’s life on a daily basis, please do.  He is an inspiration to us all, and the spiritual father of many thousands.

“HOW TO DETERMINE THE WILL OF GOD” (By George Muller)

1.     “I get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to any particular matter.”

2.     “I do not leave the result to feelings or simple impressions.  That can make one open to great delusions.”

3.     “I seek God’s will through, or in connection with, his Word.  If you look to the Spirit without the Word, you open yourself to delusion.”

4.     “I consider providential [God-controlled] circumstances.”

5.     “I ask God in prayer to reveal his will to me.”

6.     “I make sure I have a clear conscience before God and man.”

7.     “Every time I listened to men instead of God, I made serious mistakes.”

8.     “I act only when I am at peace, after much prayer, waiting on God with faith.”

~ by Adrian Schoonmaker on June 17, 2009.