How can I know what God wants me to do with my life? Or whatever.

It's an amazing and fulfilling thing to live life in line with God's design and calling on your life. But it can seem difficult and overwhelming to discover it. Here is my suggestion: Pay attention to who God made you to be. The Lord constantly speaks to us and gives us His direction. It’s never the Lord who is not speaking, but it’s us who are not hearing.

There isn’t a single person here who couldn’t have their life radically transformed by hearing the voice of the Lord better.

Learning to clearly distinguish God’s voice is invaluable. Instead of going through life blindly, we can have the wisdom of God guide and protect us. 

God wants to fellowship and communicate with us.

That's two-way communication. Why? Because you can't really have a relationship unless there is true dialogue. How do we get to know a person? By communicating with them. By talking and listening.

It's the same with our relationship with God. He talks, we listen. We talk, He listens. Listen to God’s Voice

The call of God is always for us to live with a noble purpose, with love as our highest motivation.

 

We are in the world to develop ourselves to our highest potential and to make the greatest possible contribution to the world. He also wants us to be fulfilled, blessed and successful in the plan that He has established for our lives -- so that we can be a reflection of His love and blessing in the Earth.

 

Each one of us is a unique person, with gifts, abilities, and desires that give us the opportunities for creativity.

To discover who we are and what those deep desires of our hearts mean gives us the clue to making decisions about what we do with our lives.  "How do you know if you are making the right decisions in life?"

That's the question of the ages, isn't it? But as a child of God, we don't have to walk blind. We can have confidence that we will hear His voice. God is never so pleased as when we stand up and make a moral decision that reflects our desire to live at the highest and most useful level attainable.

 

So how can we know whether we're hearing the voice of God?

The Bible gives us seven basic keys or filters through which every possible leading should be judged. We are to carefully examine the thoughts and intentions of our hearts -- and the words of godly people who may have an influence on us by their words and actions -- through the use of these keys:

1. Scripture:

2. The Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts

3. You never know where the word comes from The Prophetic (word of knowledge, word of wisdom, personal prophecy). Seek advice and counsel.

4. Godly counsel - Prayer

5. The peace of God – Be still and listen and know that He is there

6. Circumstances/Timing this relationship between Paul, Aquila and Priscilla -- which happened as a result of circumstances -- became one of the most important strategic partnerships in the book of Acts

7. Here are two truths that should change the way we think about God’s will.

 

1. It is Satan who wants us to be confused, directionless, and ineffective.

 

2.  It is God who has a preordained plan for us, who has given us specific steps, and who wants to see our lives matter.

Start with a massive dose of humility. The art of learning anything begins when we acknowledge we don’t know everything. 

Embrace your uncertainty to find greater clarity. We can do one of two things when facing uncertainty – run from it or lean into it. What I have discovered is that our greatest clarity – of what’s really important in life – can come from those times of greatest uncertainty about what might happen next. Those times force us to focus on what matters most, both to us and to God.

Get intentional about your life direction. Mark Twain once spoke of what he described as a “soap-bubble life.” Way too many of us drift through life like bubbles, not really sure where we’re going and why just waiting to pop. Don’t just get busy, get intentional about where you are going and why.

Surround yourself with people who know more than you do. Perhaps no piece of advice could be more critical to younger readers than this: You don’t know what you don’t know. Even though you may think you see the big picture, God has given you access to people who have been there, done that. That doesn’t mean you have to do what they did, but you can gain wisdom by listening o them. Your peers may mean well, but they know just as much – or less – than you do.

Ask the right questions. Discovering God’s will for your life is not like working with hand grenades where if you pull the wrong pin — BOOM! Walking by faith is more a process than an event.
John C. Maxwell put it this way in his book Good Leaders Ask Great Questions

“If you want to be successful and reach your leadership potential, you need to embrace asking questions as a lifestyle.” It’s hard to go wrong with asking questions. Even if they’re not always the best ones, each answer moves you forward.