Episode 46: What is God's Will for My Life??

In this week's episode, we tackle one of the biggest questions young adults ask: What is God's will for my life? Whether you're making decisions about school, work, relationships, or your future, it's easy to wonder if you're on the right path. Together, we dive into Scripture to discover what God actually says about His will and how we can walk faithfully in it!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Social Podcast, where we help young adults go deeper in their faith by exploring topics relevant to you. Separate from our weekly sermon series, this podcast addresses questions that young adults are seeking answers to. With that in mind, let's get started with today's episode of the Social Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

What is up, everybody? We are back here with the Social Podcast. My name is Sammy Arizaga, and in the studio I got Caitlin Love and Nathan Alvey. Yes, sir. We're glad to be back with you guys. And of course, we got everybody's favorite section of the podcast and also favorite thing at the social, the question of the week, otherwise known for the podcast question of the pod. And today's question is what job did you want when you were younger? Nathan, we'll start off with you, brother.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Okay, I feel like growing up, you change what you want to do for a living like 18 times. But one that I think is funny that my that y'all will probably get a kick out of. And my parents thought that when I grew up, I was going to be a lawyer because I love to argue. Yes. So now that I'm in a master's degree, I'm like, I mean, I probably could have pushed through and done law school, but at the same time, I'm like, dude, that that's just a different level of. So if you're a lawyer out there, you're listening to this, like, hey, mad props to you. You guys rock.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

So would you say you like to stir the pot or you're just stubborn?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Stir the pot. Ooh. How about Caitlin answered forum?

SPEAKER_02 1:18

I mean, look, look, there's nothing like a little bit of friendly banter, you know, get people riled up. As long as it's all in good fun. It's fun. I did I did see something recently that uh rage baiting is a sin. Go read Proverbs. I can't I don't know the actual quotation off the top of my mind, but I'm not rage baiting people, okay? I'm just having friendly competition exhibits.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Oh my gosh. I'm I'm praying for Avery right now. Please, we all need it. Anyways, Caitlin, what about you?

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Okay, I had several. However, I always, always, always wanted to be a teacher. Like day one, I was always teaching my imaginary class. But the other ones that I had was an actress. I mean, come on. I think everybody wants to be an actress and a Walmart cashier.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

What in the such a wide range?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

I know, those are my three months. I loved like checking people out. Like I'd also do that. Like I'd pretend to like be a cashier and I would check out and scan everything in the house. So those are my three careers. And I am not doing any of those currently. So there you go.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

I mean, I guess you're kind of close to the Walmart cashier. We're like 10, 15 minutes from the Walmart headquarters right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They need to help. Caitlin Love, you got it. Um for me, I'm also similar in the sense that I wanted to be a whole variety of different stuff. Um, but I do remember one vividly um was that I wanted to be a professional basketball player in the NBA. My dad got me 2K for Christmas, and I was like, I was wanting FIFA for Christmas, not 2K, and I was like, this is dumb. Started playing that a ton. I was like, bro, this is awesome. And then I was like, started like, I'm I was like, I'm gonna be in the NBA, I'm gonna play basketball, I'm gonna play for the Lakers, and I'm like gonna be better than LeBron James. I started practicing in this little like concrete slab that we had as a little patio in the apartment that I lived in. Did it looked up all sorts of drills, everything. Um, I thought I was gonna be tall because my feet were big for like my age, and so I was like in fifth grade, 4'11 with a size 11 shoe. Dang. So I was like, I have clown feet, and so I was like, I heard this rumor or something that like Michael Jordan also had that same thing, and so I was like, bro, I'm about to be just like Michael Jordan. And now I'm currently 5'9 and didn't even make the ninth grade basketball team. Oh gosh, I was the manager for one game.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Hey man, if you've ever heard of Muggsy Bogues, I'm pretty sure he was like 5'4 or something, and he was on the all-star team.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

So bro, I I did not hear about him. Dang, that would have inspired me more. No, I I just only played pickup and stuff, and but hey, I kept playing 2K after you, so I guess that's good.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

So as we grow up, you know, these are the questions that we ponder when we're kids of like, oh, what am I gonna be when I grow up? But as we get older, we begin pondering bigger questions. And I feel like one that I hear a lot is all about the will of God. Like, what is the will of God on my life? And it's just constantly being brought up over and over. And people interpret this question differently. And so the tendency in asking this question, what we see a lot of the time, it's not really what is God's will, but it's more so like, what does my future look like? What's going to happen? Uh maybe I'm needing a lifeline and making a decision. And as I listen to young adults and and I want them to know what God's will is, but we have to look to scripture to find out what God's will is. Because when you I talk to them, they're like, Yeah, I've turned to friends and family, but they haven't actually gone to the word of God. And so before we even tackle this topic, I think that is exactly where we should start, is in the word. And so, Nathan, you want to kind of start us off on what does the Bible say about God's will for your life?

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Yeah, we were preparing for this episode and I did a word study trying to just find all the places where the Bible talked about the will of God. Um, and there's a a couple words that the Bible uses. But what I noticed is that whenever, for the most part, it's talking about the will of God, it's a lot less about uh what should I do in this exact circumstance, and a lot more about who does God want me to be as a person. So, like when we look at the New Testament, First Peter and First Thessalonians have a lot to say about the will of God. So I'd recommend people go read those two books, uh very short each, and understand that both of them are writing to uh believers in a context where there's either persecution or they're in despair because they thought that they missed the second coming of Christ. And so uh the both of these authors are writing to their audiences about like, look, Jesus is coming back. Uh A, you didn't miss it, and B, Jesus is coming back, so you can go through persecution. But in the meantime, this is God's will for your life. This is the type of person he wants you to be. And so I as we continue this conversation today, I think that that's super freeing. Yeah. That when we think about the will of God, it almost feels like sometimes when we make a decision, uh, we can look back and be like, oh, did I make the right decision? Like, am I still in God's will? And it's freeing because if we're the type of person that the Bible is talking about being, and that is what it is to be within the will of God, that's so much better than uh having to stress about, did I take this job? Should I have taken that job? Am I in the wrong place? Am I outside of God's will? There is there is a possibility that you're outside of God's will, but it's not specifically talking about the decisions that you make, but the person that you are. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Well, that's good. And I even when I think about it in um Matthew 22 and also in Mark 12, talking about you know the two greatest commandments. It's like love God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and also love others. And it's like if we look at God's will being like a big umbrella of like, here's here's the top of the umbrella, is like love the Lord your God with everything you have. Everything else falls under that. And it always goes back to that. But are you loving the Lord your God with all you have? Are you love and so you kind of kind of compare any situation to that? So we kind of want to look to like what what is the character of God? Who is God? Who does He tell us to be? So could you give us some of those scriptures that kind of talk about specifically the will of God?

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Yeah, I I I think First Thessalonians four thro uh three through five is like just a slam dunk. It says, For this is the will of God, right? It doesn't get much clearer than that. Yeah, it's pretty straightforward right there. And then it goes on to say, your sanctification. And so this is where we get this idea of the will of God is for the type of person that you're gonna be. Uh, and then it goes on to say that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in passion or lust, like the Gentiles who don't know God. And so that for me is like this is an aspect of the will of God. Later it will talk about the will of God um is for salvation. And so we see like even coming to Jesus is part of the will of God. We see that uh in 1 Peter, um, and then it talks about uh in 1 Peter 3 17, it says, For it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will than for doing evil. So another place of like, what are you doing? You are in a process of suffering for good if that should be God's will. Not saying that it always is, but you will know that you are in God's will if you are abiding by what he says, even if suffering comes. So let's just say, like uh you are um work, you're at work and your boss is like, hey, we're gonna be cooking the books, uh, we're gonna be stealing from the company, and you're like, I'm not gonna do that. Uh and and then you self-report, you're like, hey, this is what's going on, you lose your job. And then you're like, oh my gosh, what did I do? It is this the will of God. But yeah, I mean, if you're suffering for doing good, um, it's the will of God. It goes on to say, like, you know, what what is the point of suffering for doing evil? So that is being outside the will of God if you bring yourself harm for doing things that you shouldn't be doing in the first place. But yeah, um, another great place, Ephesians 5, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, don't be foolish, but understand what the will of God is. I I want to camp out here and I want to hear y'all's opinions on this because uh when we counsel people, we often hear about like, well, well, should I take this job or should I date this person or uh big life decision, fill in the blank here. But what I love about Ephesians 5 is it's talking about wisdom. And there's a difference between obedience and wisdom. Sometimes you need to make a decision out of obedience, like, man, I'm going to do what the Bible calls me to do in terms of personal holiness, sharing the gospel, all these things. That's obedience, getting baptized. Sometimes you need to make a decision on wisdom. Does the Bible tell you what car to buy? No. Does the Bible tell you where to move? No. Like we we talked about in previous episodes what the Bible is and what it isn't. It's not a step-by-step instruction for how you should live your life, making every single micro decision that you'll ever make. It's not that. But it is a book about how to live in a godly manner using wisdom. And so, what do y'all think? What are what are some examples about times that y'all didn't necessarily have clarity on stuff, but you had to exercise wisdom knowing that you have a framework for what it means to live in a godly manner under his will.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

You know, before I even like think about an exact kind, I do I do have several like exact instances, but also whenever you you were talking about kind of a sanctification process and as you're growing to look more like Jesus each and every day and talking about specifically God's will for your life, like there are some specific things where he's like, do not do this and do this. And so it's like we need to kind of look at those first. And I think as I sit down and talk with girls, like sometimes you don't know what you don't know. And they actually just have never read this or even know that it's in the Bible. And so if you're listening to this and you have been saved by grace, then you've found freedom in Christ. And it is not the will of God for you to continue to live according to your flesh. And so Galatians five speaks on this, referring to the acts of the flesh, and it talks about sexual immorality, witchcraft, hatred, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, envy, drunkenness. I mean, the list goes on and on. And these things lead to death, and this is not the will of God on your life. So, like, very specifically, like this is not what I have for you. But then he does encourage believers to then walk out their obedience by walking in the spirit. And this list looks a lot different than the previous one. Talks about love and joy and peace and forbearance and kindness and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And so these are great lists to kind of check yourself on, where no, maybe it's not about a specific decision, but look at these. And if you're currently participating in the acts of the flesh, then you are not living out the will of God on your life. He will never cause you to sin or lead you to sin. He's going to lead you away from it. And so kind of looking at these to be like, oh, wait, I'm not living in the will that God has for my life.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Right. Yeah, exactly. I would say for me, kind of going back to the like the question that we had at the beginning of the like, you know, the fun question of the pod about our dream job and stuff, you know, I wasn't growing and stuff. I was talking to the pastor about that. Um, I was very des devastated as a kid. Um, but in all reality, he brought me to this like whole mindset. And I thought it was so dumb in the moment. But looking back on it, I'm like, dang, wait, that actually is so true. But he was reminding me of a passage in in Matthew where it talks about just seek first the kingdom and then like everything else will be granted. But it's not like in a sense of like, oh, you're gonna get what you want if you seek first the kingdom. It's like, no, like you'll seek first the kingdom, and slowly over time, your wants and like what you need in life will slowly change. It'll be less of what you know your flesh is desiring and more of what God is desiring. That's the whole sanctification process, just your desires begin to change. And then you do get what you want because what you're wanting is God's will. And it slowly changes over time. I didn't understand that immediately in high school. Um, honestly, throughout college, is what took me a while to realize is like, oh, like, why am I doing like what's the intentions behind what I'm doing? Am I doing it for my own gain or am I actually doing this to glorify God and increase his kingdom? And so I know for me, like there was this big verse that kind of hit home for me. It was um Psalm 139, 23 through 24. And it says, um, it says, Search me, oh God, and know my heart, test me and know my concerns, um, remove any like evil way in me and lead me in the everlasting way. That's kind of a paraphrase right there. But that was just very honestly challenging for me and convicting because I was like, gosh, why am I doing what I'm doing? Am I actually doing this for the Lord or am I doing this and masking it as if I was doing it for the Lord? Am I doing it for myself, you know? And so again, it's going back to that whole obedience thing. It's like, am I walking in obedience? And then, okay, yes, if I am, then sick. Then I can the Lord's gonna like open the doors for me that need to be open and then close the ones that need to be closed. And it's like, and if there's multiple doors that are open and I need to walk through one, it's like, okay, if both both doors are gonna allow me to walk in obedience, that's okay. Yeah, and it's whenever you're not walking in obedience, then then that's where you gotta be like, okay, I know I need to not do that. Yeah, and so that's where I think people get caught up because then they take those steps in disobedience, and then they're like, Oh gosh, what am I doing? Am I like, what is God's will for my life? Well, bro, brother, you got stuck because you you chose to be disobedient, which I know I've been there myself in many instances, and so that's something I just like encouragement of just seek first the kingdom, but not again for your own glory. You gotta do it for God's glory, and that's where you got to ask God to like, okay, search my heart, know me, know me, God, which it's funny in that verse. It's like the title of that psalm is like um the all-knowing God. And it's like he already knows us. And so, in inviting him to search our hearts, that's like allowing almost ourselves to learn more about us because God is revealing things to us, like, hey, this is something you struggle with, and I'm gonna help you grow in that by putting you in this situation or something like that. And so, yeah, as long as you're walking in obedience, then honestly, like you're chilling. And so, yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

I'd love to hear Nathan, even your thoughts on like the obedience and also wisdom aspect of God's will for your life.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Yeah. I'll tie this to a story uh in my life where I've I could see both the will of God in retrospect, but in the moment I kind of had to make a decision out of wisdom. Um, and and I will tie that back to my call to ministry. Um, the junior year of college for me uh was when I was made aware I did not seek this out, but I was uh I was brought the attention by older guys in my life who are like, hey, what are you gonna do next? And I was like, I'm gonna go work in advertising in Dallas. I'm gonna go live uh near friends and family. And they were like, Hey, have you ever asked God? And I was like, now, now that you asked me that, no, I never really did. I just kind of assumed because I was getting a marketing degree that I was gonna go and do these things. And so as I'm praying about it, I I mean, I run across stuff like 1 Timothy 3, which looks like the qualification qualifications of overseers and elders. And I had guys talking to me because I was leading small groups at the time, discipling people, and I saw what I saw as the biblical office of pastor or overseer. And I saw people telling me, hey, I see this in you. And at the same time, I was able to look back at my experiences and giftings and be like, okay, I really do think the Lord might be leading me in this direction. And so uh a friend gave me a really helpful book called Is God uh Calling Me by Jeff Orge? And he gives a really good framework in that where he says, uh, when you're discerning certain calls, you should look for a biblical uh groundwork, an um internal call, and an external uh affirmation. And so what that means is like, do I see it in scripture? God is never going to contradict himself. If I mean, I've I've heard some of the craziest stories before where people are like, yeah, God called me to uh sell everything and go uh insert sin here. And it's like, I promise you, if if you think that God is telling you to do something that is against what is in his written word, that is not God. You need to run from that. That's why we're told to discern the spirits, test the spirits. That is not from the Holy Spirit, I promise you. But step number one, find a biblical basis. And like I said earlier, you're not gonna look in the Bible and be like, you should buy a house in Lowell, Arkansas. You're not gonna find that there. That's not what the Bible is. But you can look at practical wisdoms. Are you in debt? The borrower is slave to the lender. Is this a financially wise decision? Are you doing this for what are your motives behind it? So you can glean things from uh the scripture that are gonna help you lead a decision. And at the same time, you can have an the internal desire, man, I feel like this is the case. And that's where all we go is important to go back to your final authority. But the Bible is our final authority in all things. It is the inspired and errant and fallible word of God, useful for all of faith and practice in our lives. We can trust it. So we use our personal feelings to tether us back to scripture, but then you can also use an external affirmation. Like for me, when I was walking through uh my call to ministry, I had guys in my life that were like, hey, you should consider ministry. Um, and now none of those three things. Uh, if you if you don't have biblical uh affirmation, you should probably really try to hone in on that one. But let's say you don't have external affirmation. That's okay. I know plenty of guys who didn't have an internal calling either as well, but they were affirmed by people and affirmed by scripture, and they're like, okay, I'm gonna walk in obedience. And that's helpful for when we don't feel like we need to do something, but the Bible tells us to, and people are encouraging us to. So to all those people out there who are thinking of uh being, they're being told, hey, I think you'd make a great small group leader, and they're like, I don't necessarily know. A, we need to teach and shepherd, that's from the Bible. And B, people are saying you would make a great small group leader, take a leap of faith, step out in that uh act of obedience. But Caitlin, back to your question, and I'm tying this in with obedience versus wisdom. Sometimes you need to make a decision out of obedience, and that would be salvation, baptism, and walking in personal holiness and sanctification. There's other things as well, but you need to obey what the word of God is on your life. But sometimes you need to make a judgment call, and that is where we tie in wisdom. And for this, I would point people to places like uh Proverbs in the Old Testament and Psalm, or not Psalms, uh, James in the New Testament. It's often referred to as the Proverbs of the New Testament. Um, but realistically, I would say that know your Bible. Know your Bible holistically, know it from cover to cover. You don't have to have it memorized, but this is why it's important that we read because 1 Corinthians 10 is great. It is a warning to New Testament believers where Paul says the Old Testament was written down for your benefit so that we can see what they did right and implement that and we can see what they did wrong and run from that exactly. This is where we find where the will of God intersects with uh our biblical wisdom, where God is not going to contradict himself, but he's not going to tell you every single micro decision that you ever make. And that is a good thing because we would stress ourselves out.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Yeah, and I feel like whenever you have that mindset and you have that knowledge of the word, then it makes making decisions a lot more freeing. Yes. And so it's more like, okay, what kind of job should I have? Well, have a job that glorifies the Lord. Yes. Well, where should I move? Well, where could you move into a place that maybe there's not a lot of Christians and you can glorify the Lord in that? Or who should I marry? Are you all equally yoked? Are you glorifying the Lord with that? Like it just comes down to that each and every time, but that doesn't stop you. Like sometimes you still have to make a decision. And I I think back also on my time to moving here. And I know it's a really transitional um era of our life where a lot of people are coming in and out of Arkansas and everywhere else. Yep, yep. And I had to make a decision. I had three options of Texas, Missouri, or Arkansas. And I thought every single one of them was a good one. Like there was nothing sinful about any of the options. They were just a decision I had to make. And so in that decision-making process, I turned to the word of God. I journaled and communicated with God. I sat with him and listened because sometimes we spend a lot more time talking to him and not listening to him. At least I do. Maybe I'm the little one guilty of that. And I consulted the godlies people I knew. And that was a huge one of like you do get affirmation from other people and reaching out to your godly community. Um, but ultimately I had to make the decision. And all of the opportunities were good opportunities. But at the end of the day, I chose to move to Arkansas and I was provided with so much peace and comfort throughout that entire process and still to this day. But sometimes there are just decisions you have to make.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Yeah. No, so what do we do with this information then? Like that we've all like shared about it? Like how do we, I guess, almost apply this to our own lives now?

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Yeah, I think I think what we've been saying from the beginning is, man, it's a great thing that we have this freedom to make decisions. Um, but I would look to Romans twelve, one and two, which Romans Romans 12 is awesome. It comes at the tail end of 11 chapters of dense theology. Paul is just wrestling with some super, super cool truths of God uh and writing to believers in Rome. And we get to Romans 12, and 12 through 16 is going to be the application of all these truths. And so what he says in verse two is uh famous, right? Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God for your life. Um and it's just great because there we see that the will of God looks like not conforming to this world, but by testing. And so there we go back to this biblical wisdom thing of like, okay, what does it mean? You start with obedience. If you're in obedience, I promise you you are in the will of God. You want to know how I know that? Because Jesus was fully in the will of God his entire life. At no point did he ever step out of the will of God because he was without sin, even to the point of death on the cross. And now that's crazy. We go back to 1 Peter, where if it's to suffer for doing good, uh if it's the will of God, guess what? You have a phenomenal example in Jesus, who was our example of suffering for God's will even when it was uh for his good. Yeah, it's true. And so I think that uh if if we wrestle with this idea of being uh transformed to the renewing of our mind, it's this constant practice of going back to scripture and being like, what does scripture say? What does scripture say? What does scripture say? There has never been somebody who is uh it's never been a bad thing to be so tethered to the word of God that you're making decisions based on what the Bible has to say, right? We get in trouble often when we make decisions based off what we think we need to do without consulting God. So what does it look like to apply the will of God to our life? Step number one, obey. And if you're like, okay, well, that's great. I am obeying. Now what? Now use the biblical wisdom that you've been instructed with. And if you haven't, like, man, dive into the word, uh, start getting discipled, join a small group, maybe lead a small group, whatever it is, um, you can use biblical wisdom to say, should I date this person? Should I take this job? Should I move here? Like Caitlin was saying, uh, can you do it to the glory of God? First Corinthians 10 31 is just a go-to, right? So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. It doesn't matter if you're eating a hamburger or if you're um on the soccer pitch, it's the World Cup and you're drinking some Gatorade. Can you do that to the glory of God? Sure, find a way. And if that's the case, it's rejoice. You're in the will of God. For sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

And I think also just to note for the listener is we serve a powerful, sovereign, mighty God. Like we can't mess up his will. I think we get so scared that, well, what if I make the wrong decision? You you won't. Like he is over all of that. He's in control of everything. We are just a mist. Like, do we really think we have the power to mess up his will? Yeah. No. And so as I kind of think through it, I like a little alliteration. So I go through precepts, which is more like focusing on his word, meditating on his word, reading his word, just digesting it, prayer and people is how I kind of go through when I'm trying to seek the will of God or make a decision. Um that's kind of where I where I start.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Okay, for sure. Kayla, I I just want to chime in and be like, it's a good thing that we have the book of Revelation, right? I know people avoid it because it's uh highly metaphorical and it's scary sometimes, but the end is written. We know how it ends. If you're a believer, then you know that Christ is coming back and we will reign with him for all eternity in the presence of God. And so in that aspect, you can't mess up the eternal will of God. Now you can disobey, and you there are there are decrees or commands in that sense. Sure, you're you're outside of the will of God. But in one, in one sense, we know how the story ends. So keep walking with Jesus, take the example of 1 Peter, suffer well, be in the will of God, obey even when it costs you, and know that we have the hope of heaven and we can walk in obedience using wisdom to discern that the will of God is for our benefit and that the end is written. So what are Sammy? Why don't you kick us off, man? What are a few resources that uh we can look at? I mean, this is something this is for some reason we've been tackling all the life's heaviest questions the last few episodes. Yeah. Um, but what are some ways that people can jump in and uh get to know a bit more about this subject?

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Yeah, for sure. I mean, honestly, just go to all the verses, all the scripture that we've been saying this whole episode. Um, go to the word of God. Um, that's I think number one, obviously. Um, but I know a book for me that helped a ton in this season of where I was like stressing, like we're going into my senior year of college, um, which a lot of people kind of like have like mixed views on it. But honestly, I think it just it's very practical. Um, it helped me out a lot um and kind of like helped like create a new foundation for me when it like what it means to follow after Jesus. But it's called Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer. And it's just because it just it lays out practically what it looks like to follow after Jesus, and it's like what it describes like what a disciple is, because like I feel like a lot of Christians even today hear that word and they're like, I've heard that word before, but I don't know exactly what it means. It's just literally a follower of someone. And so if you're discipling people, they're following how you live. And if you are being discipled, you're following how the person that's discipling you is following you. And so, but it all goes back to like we need to allow ourselves to be discipled by Jesus, and how we do that is by going to his word and spending time in Christian community. And so it was a really good book that helped me out and kind of get this foundation of what it looks like. Okay, hey, like what does it look like one to walk in obedience? You know, not just go to church, read your Bible every day. It's not a checklist, it's a relationship. Yeah, you know, and you grow in that by spending time with the Lord. And so it helped like reform away a lot of what I how I viewed of what walking with Jesus was. And so that's a that's a recommendation I always kind of share with just anything. But it's I know for me it helped a lot when I was discerning what the will of God was in my own life, like what area of ministry I was going into, or what that looked like. And so it was very helpful for me.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

So I also love the book Knowing God by J.I. Packer. And it really focuses on uh knowing about God, but then also knowing God through the relationship and the person of Jesus Christ. And that is a really I mean, it was a great book, excellent. It's maybe a little higher level, a little, a little dense, but it's really, really good. Um, but by knowing God and knowing his character, that helps you know his will for your life. And so it was a really helpful resource for me.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Yeah, I have two resources. Uh the first that I'd recommend, um, well, honestly, they kind of fall into that uh obedience versus wisdom. The first one is a sermon by uh John Piper, and it's called How to Know the Will of God, Finding Direction with the Renewed Mind. And so he kind of goes into that Romans 12, one and two, but then he also develops the will of God just into a more robust idea that I think is super helpful to have. And then a uh a book that I think is super helpful on that practical uh wisdom piece. It's called Just Do Something, uh, funny title, but Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. And it's, hey, you you know what to do. Look at the Bible, interpret it, um, and then make a biblically informed decision. So those are some good resources for y'all. Hey, this is a dense topic. So if you're interested in the will of God, we would recommend, like, and I hope all of you are like, man, what does God want for my life? He wants your obedience, he wants you to make wise decisions. But if you're if you're interested in this, there is tons of resources out there. We hope that you continue to grow and try to discern what the will of God is, what is good, acceptable, and perfect. So we love you guys. Thanks for tuning in, and we will see y'all next time. Peace out. Bye.