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143 | How do I Know it's God's Will
262 Plays1 month ago
In this episode Phylicia explores the concept of discerning God's will. She emphasizes the importance of renewing one's mind through Scripture to avoid conforming to worldly values. You will also be encouraged to to trust in the Lord and remember that true wisdom comes from acknowledging God in all aspects of life. The episode provides practical steps for those seeking clarity in their spiritual journey. 👩💻 Watch the entire Beginner Believer Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLybB3dkK5l8mBBBHlb6GteDUMJbTwYR8v Subscribe to Verity Podcast: ➡️ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/verity-by-phylicia-masonheimer/id1495210734 ———————————————— Verity Podcast is an Every Woman a Theologian company. We believe every woman should be a theologian. Every woman should be a student of the heart of God. Find our latest books, kids books, and hospitality product releases on our website, here: ➡️ https://rb.gy/h4szl3 Order “Every Woman a Theologian” ➡️ https://rebrand.ly/yju441w Our latest release: “A Christian Guide to Fundamental Mormon Beliefs” ➡️ https://rebrand.ly/vu6hcw1 Follow us on Instagram: 📸 Phylicia Masonheimer: https://rb.gy/qma0y8 📸 Every Woman a Theologian: https://rb.gy/zwyxld 📸 Verity Home: https://rb.gy/epiovd 📸 Faithful Kids: https://rb.gy/ke8r4t Please like, subscribe, and share our content—it means a lot to us and helps us continue to create the kind of content you need and enjoy!
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Transcript
Understanding God's Will vs. Worldly Priorities
00:00:00
Speaker
If you want to know God's will, you can't be constantly consuming the world's priorities. Because if you do that, all you will know is the world's will. The culture's will. And that is opposed to God.
Introduction to Beginner Believer Series
00:00:18
Speaker
Hi friends, and welcome back to Verity Podcast. I'm Felicia Masonheimer, the founder of Every Woman a Theologian and the host of this podcast. We are in the middle of our Beginner Believer series where we're talking about some basic concepts of Christian living, how to start out your faith or to renew your understanding of the Christian faith if you're coming back to it after a while. Today we're talking about God's will. What does it mean?
00:00:45
Speaker
to follow God's will, and how do we determine God's will, and does the Bible say anything about God's will?
Biblical Teachings on God's Will
00:00:52
Speaker
We're in luck because the Bible actually says a whole lot about God's will, following it, and finding it, and so that's where we're going to start today.
00:01:00
Speaker
We're going to actually look first at Romans 12.2. This is one of my favorite verses. I recently used it in a session that I taught in Minnesota, and so it's been on my mind. And Romans 12.2 gives us a, basically like a instruction book for how to determine the will of God.
00:01:19
Speaker
I know that many of you who are listening to this are thinking, I want to know the will of God for who to marry and what job to take. And maybe this massive decision about whether to move across the country or to buy a new home, whatever it may be, you want to know, what does God want for my life? And I want to commend you for that. It means that your heart is after the heart of God. You want to walk with Him.
00:01:43
Speaker
And sometimes we act as if finding or seeking the will of God is like a game of hide and seek, that God is hiding and we have to find Him. But I just want to assure you as we go into these passages and we read them that God is not hiding from you.
Relationship Over Checklist
00:02:00
Speaker
In fact, He's already revealed Himself multiple ways. He's revealed Himself in history. We have the record of this in the Old and New Testaments.
00:02:08
Speaker
And he's revealed himself through the Bible where he has shown how he interacts with people and history and events. And then, of course, he revealed himself through Jesus Christ in the incarnation when God became man and dwelt with us.
00:02:24
Speaker
So in these three ways, we have God revealing Himself and coming toward humanity. And that means that He is not interested in hiding from you. And He's not interested in hiding His will from you either. So when we look at these passages, I want you to keep that in mind. God is not playing games with you.
00:02:41
Speaker
At the same time, if he just gave you a blueprint of everything that you needed to do, you would not need relationship with him. You would not need to trust him. You could just follow a checklist and live your life completely independent of him. And what he's after is relationship. And so, of course, God wants to walk with you every step of the way in knowing his will, because knowing his will involves knowing him, and that is relationship.
Transformative Understanding of Romans 12:2
00:03:07
Speaker
So we can never cut off God's will from relationship with God. It's not about trying to find a genie in a bottle. It's not about trying to get the universe to lead you a certain direction. It's not like Hinduism or Buddhism or the New Age. Christianity is very distinct. He is a personal God with a personal plan for your life. And he wants to walk with you every step of the way. So now let's look at Romans 12 too.
00:03:36
Speaker
Romans 12 says, 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, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
00:03:52
Speaker
There's a lot here. Let's start at the very beginning. He says that we should not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. So to determine God's will, we need our minds. We know that. But he gives us two options for what to do with our minds when it comes to determining God's will. One is to be conformed to the world. And the word conformed is made up of two Latin words, con, which means with or together, and forma, which means shape.
00:04:21
Speaker
So to be conformed to the world is to be together with the shape of the world, to have a mind that is imbued with the world's priorities, a mind that is consuming the world's media, a mind that is bent towards the world's priorities. Basically, our culture's priorities, what our culture believes is good, acceptable, and perfect.
00:04:45
Speaker
So that's your first option. The second option you have is to be transformed. This word is also made up of two Latin words, trans, which means to go over or beyond the other side, and forma or shape.
00:05:00
Speaker
So to be transformed by the renewing of your mind means that in renewing your mind, making it new according to God's Word and God's truth, you are going beyond the world to the other side of the world over to where God is.
00:05:16
Speaker
So to know God's will, we actually have to allow Him to renew and refresh and make over our minds and take those minds from our culture's ideas of what is good and acceptable and perfect over and beyond to what God says is good, acceptable, and perfect.
00:05:36
Speaker
The takeaway here is that if you want to know God's will, you can't be constantly consuming the world's priorities. Because if you do that, all you will know is the world's will. The culture's will. And that is opposed to God. And so if we want to know God's will, we must first allow him to renew and refresh our mind with his truth. And that in turn transforms us.
00:06:01
Speaker
Out of that, we take action. Out of that, we are able to test and discern what the will of God is.
Sanctification and Sexual Purity
00:06:11
Speaker
Okay, these are two verbs, test and discern. So it is by testing that we're able to discern, which means that testing comes first. This testing means to hold things up
00:06:25
Speaker
and to see if when they compare to the truth of scripture and the truth of who God is, historically, it lines up. And if it doesn't, we get rid of it. But if it does align with who God is and what he's done in the past and what scripture says about him, then we can discern through it and learn, is this the will of God for me? And then there are the three qualifications. Is it good? Is it acceptable? And is it perfect?
00:06:53
Speaker
Now, you might be wondering, well, how can I choose something that's perfect if it's a fallen world? I'll never choose the perfect job. I'll never choose the perfect person. I'll never choose the perfect path. That's true. But another word that could be here is holy. Is it leading you into holiness?
00:07:12
Speaker
Is your marriage to this person going to lead you towards holiness? Are they pursuing holiness? In this job, could you pursue holiness? Or would this employer be asking you to make unethical choices and to participate in unethical practices? You are able to test these things and hold them up to scripture, hold them up to God, and by doing so discern, God, what is your will in this situation?
00:07:38
Speaker
I love Romans 12 too because there's so much information here and just these few words that tells us how to determine the will of God. And it all starts with relationship with God, with walking with Him. And if you've never done that before and you don't know where that starts, head all the way back to the beginning of the series, the episode, What is the Gospel? That will give you a fundamental on what it means to follow Jesus, which is where all of this begins.
00:08:04
Speaker
Okay, let's also look at 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5. This is in a letter from the Apostle Paul to the church at Thessalonica. Thessalonica was a port city. It was very important for commerce. And we know for sure that Timothy, a young pastor, had been sent to this church, at least to minister briefly there. And so in this letter, Paul actually commends the church over and over for their faithfulness and their encouragement and their obedience.
00:08:32
Speaker
their joy and their generosity, so many things that he applauds them for. But after he does all of that, in 1 Thessalonians 4, he gives them a warning. He wants to protect them from the culture around them and the way the culture is living. Greek culture was very hedonistic, so they obviously had a lot of idols. They had the Greek gods that they worshipped.
00:08:56
Speaker
But the Greek gods were also integrated into the state. And so how you worship the gods had to do with how the whole society functioned as.
00:09:07
Speaker
as a unit. Brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more, for you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
00:09:32
Speaker
It is God's will that you should be sanctified, that you should avoid sexual immorality, that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans who do not know God, and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
Holiness and Spiritual Discernment
00:09:59
Speaker
Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being, but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit. That's 1 Thessalonians 4, 1-8 in the New International Version.
00:10:13
Speaker
There's a lot here. And the beginning here tells us that, hey, you're living as a Christian, you are pleasing God. And now Paul says, I want to urge you to continue doing this. And then he narrows in on a very specific issue that can get in the way of knowing God's will.
00:10:31
Speaker
It gets in the way of obeying God's will, and that is sexual immorality. He says it is God's will that you should be sanctified. It is God's will that you should be set apart in your culture.
00:10:45
Speaker
Isn't that convicting? So if you want to know God's will for your life, for your decisions, you have to first ask yourself, am I already obeying in the baseline God's will, which is to be set apart, to be sanctified? And then he really narrows in on a very specific sin issue that in that time was how you could set yourself apart in your culture, and that was sexual holiness.
00:11:12
Speaker
In Greek culture, it was much like it is today. Every kind of sexual practice was completely okay, accepted, even celebrated. In fact, there were even pagan philosophers who were said to have been pushed out or looked down upon for not participating in these extremely extravagant sexual festivals that were happening.
00:11:36
Speaker
Recently we had the Olympic opening ceremony in Paris and many people were in an uproar over what happened at the Olympic opening ceremony and the very sexual nature of what was portrayed.
00:11:51
Speaker
But that has happened before. This is exactly how the Greek and Roman cultures operated. And so for Christians in those eras, it was important to live as set apart people who were upholding sexual holiness. And this is what he instructs them to do.
00:12:08
Speaker
but he gives them more than just one reason. Obviously, following God, knowing God's will, it's important to be holy, but he says control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not like the pagans, not in passionate lust,
00:12:23
Speaker
do not wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister in this way. He points out that when we do not walk in sexual holiness, whether that is sleeping with our boyfriend, looking at porn, reading erotica, or participating in any kind
00:12:41
Speaker
of sexual act that is outside of covenant marriage between a man and a woman, what we are doing is we are imitating the culture and we are wronging and taking advantage of another person. Now, I know that some of you who are watching this think, well, that's not true if I'm watching pornography because I'm not doing it with anybody. That's not true if I'm reading sexual literature. I'm not wronging anybody. It's my own body. I can do what I want.
00:13:07
Speaker
However, what we are doing is we are wronging a future spouse or a current spouse by the mental images and the concepts and the ideas that we are endorsing within our minds. We are wronging another individual, an actor, or an actress when we're watching pornography because we know that those people are made in God's image. We have to think very carefully about our quest to understand God's will
00:13:37
Speaker
We have to look at our lives and ask, am I living as somebody who deserves to know God's will? Or am I ignoring God's will when it's right in front of me and yet wanting God's will when it comes to my decisions?
00:13:53
Speaker
I know that that is a very heavy word, but I think it's something we have to ask. I can't be over here walking in disobedience. I can't be over here ignoring God's conviction and then suddenly wanting God's leading in another area of my life. You can't separate out your holiness. You can't have one part holy here and then unaffected by God and then want God's instruction on this side.
00:14:18
Speaker
God loves you and He wants you to be holy because it is in your best interest and it allows you to have free relationship with Him so that your ears and your heart, they're unimpeded and you can follow Him into where He's leading.
Guidance from Romans 12 and Proverbs 3
00:14:32
Speaker
But as long as we continue to walk in pride or gluttony or sexual immorality, whatever it is that we have made okay in our eyes,
00:14:43
Speaker
It's going to be very hard to hear God's voice and to determine God's will. We need to go over into that transformation, over into that holiness that He offers us, and through that we will come to a full knowledge of God's will. And we will then walk.
00:15:01
Speaker
the way we were called. We were called to live a holy life, verse 7. What's crazy is if we keep going in 1 Thessalonians, we head over to chapter 5, 1 Thessalonians 5, 16, 17, and 18, it says, Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
00:15:22
Speaker
So if you need a starter pack for God's will, rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, and pursue sexual holiness. Those are your four right out of the gate, all from 1 Thessalonians. So if you want to know God's will, that's a place to start. 1 Peter 2.15 also talks about God's will. Here Peter writes, for this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
00:15:52
Speaker
If you're discouraged because you're like, yeah, I have been trying to do those things, I have been holy, and I have been trying to listen to the Lord's voice and walk by the Spirit so I don't participate in the things of the flesh, but now people are talking about me and they're gossiping about me and they're saying awful things about me, this should be encouraging to you. Because 1 Peter 2 says, by doing good, you will silence the ignorance of foolish people.
00:16:16
Speaker
There will always be foolish people around you who think that your holiness is a threat. But God says the goodness that you do will eventually silence them. That's how it was for Jesus. Eventually, you will be proved as a person of integrity. But for now, you just choose to do what is good.
00:16:37
Speaker
The last verse I want to share is a favorite in our home. It's Proverbs 3 5-6. I have a bracelet that has this on it. My kids have memorized a slugs and bugs song. Proverbs 3 5-6. You can look it up if you want to listen to it. And this is something that we quote a lot around our house. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. And all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.
00:17:04
Speaker
If you want to know God's will, if you want to know the path to take, you want a straight path. It starts by trusting the Lord with all of your heart, by giving Him your heart, then no longer leaning on your own understanding, your own assessment of things, but asking Him for the wisdom that you need.
00:17:25
Speaker
Proverbs also says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And that's essentially what it's saying here. Trust in the Lord and don't lean on your own understanding, but lean on His wisdom. The fear of the Lord is this awe, this overwhelming reverence for the God who has affection for you. And when you have that as the beginning, you will have the wisdom to discern the right path.
00:17:50
Speaker
He wants to give you the answer little by little as he walks with you. He doesn't want to make it complicated, but he doesn't want you to do it on your own.
Resources for Further Study
00:18:00
Speaker
If this was helpful, and I hope it was, and you want to dive more into Scripture, we would love to resource you through the Every Woman a Theologian Shop.
00:18:08
Speaker
We have all sorts of amazing Bible studies, books, and resources from quick theologies, our quick little guides to different biblical topics, to in-depth verse-by-verse studies, to trade books on things like chronic pain or spiritual intimacy, marriage, parenting, and more. You can head to FeliciaMasonheimer.com forward slash store to check those out. And I would love to see you next time on Verity Podcast.