CHAPTER 3 WHY CAN ’ T I SEE GOD ’ S WILL IN MY LIFE?

1. CHAPTER 3 WHY CAN’T I SEE GOD’S WILL IN MY LIFE? What interesting things did you find out about the Kingdom of God?

2. Interesting questions in this chapter Does God’s have a specific will for every decision we make and every action we take? Is everything that happens predetermined by God’s will and bound to take place? Does God give us the freedom to resist His will?

3. Do you think the story of your life is already written or is it a work in progress? If it is a work in progress, what is your next step?

4. Shakespeare said all the world is a stage and compares life to a play. Use this as a metaphor as a way of thinking about the will of God. Read Psalm 139:16

5. Do you believe God had a perfect and complete plan for your life before you were born? That would mean everything we will do and everything that will happen to us and every decision we will make has already been written down and predetermined by God and we are merely players on God’s stage.

6. If everything happens according to God’s plan in everyone’s life, then God is responsible for not only the good things that happen but also the bad, murder, rape, cruelty, etc. All the evils of the world would come from God. Is that the way that you have experienced the world?

7. What is the point of life, if we are merely acting out God’s play. If God has predetermined everything that happens what is the point of human activity? If we are merely following God’s script, then why do we deserve punishment if we do wrong.

8. Logically, we should come to the conclusion that we should reject the idea that God has a predetermined plan for us that cannot be changed. Are you comfortable in rejecting this idea?

9. Another view is that God has a perfect plan for our lives and if we follow it, we will live entirely in God’s will, but God gives us the freedom to follow this plan or reject it. Intentional will vs. circumstantial will God doesn’t hand us a script so we must discover what it is.

10. So now we begin to see that, through prayer, we can collaborate with God in writing our life stories by discerning God’s will in our lives and how we can best use our gifts of the Spirit in His service.

11. In the Experiencing God small group study, we learned: “Don’t just do something, stand there! Too often, we just jump into an activity without giving much thought or prayer as to whether or not it is the right place for us to be. Have you ever done that and found out that you were in the wrong place?

12. Assume that when you were baptized in the Spirit, that you were given at least one gift of the Spirit. Do you know what your Spirit gift is? How are you using that gift right now?

13. If someone ends up working in an area that does not use that gift, then often times, they will experience burn out. Have you ever experienced burn out while working in a church job?

14. The main idea to take away from this part of the book is that we need to use prayer, our Spirit gifts to collaborate with God in writing our life story.

15. God’s will is more about how we make our decisions than about the decisions we make. A doctor’s prescription is a written instruction aimed at improving our life. God’s prescriptive will for us is written in the Bible. If we follow it, it should lead us to greater spiritual and relational health.

16. We read the Bible in the context in which hit was written and look for the principles that we can apply to our daily lives. Jesus centers all of God’s commands around love.

17. We need to begin to look at God’s will in a different way than perhaps we have done in the past. Look at His will less as a specific plan in every situation, and more as God’s timeless will for how we make each decision and how we face life every day.

18. Has something ever happened in your life where you believed God had a part in it? Do you believe that these are coincidences or GOD-instances?

19. We have daily opportunities to be used by God. We invite God to guide us and use us. What opportunities did you have for God to use you this week? When presented with an opportunity for God to use you, try and determine, given the situation, what is the most loving thing you can do.

20. When making a big decision in your life, and your not sure of God’s will in your choice, what do you do? One of the misconceptions, is that if we follow God’s will then that will translate into happiness, but the will of God is not our happiness but our faithfulness. Have you ever felt that you followed God’s will but ended up unhappy?

21. Read Matthew 7:13-14 There are two paths we can follow, one is broad, wide and easy to follow, the other is narrow, and harder. God’s plan may be that you take the narrow path. God’s will may be that your life not follow the easiest path. It may not be to follow the path of the least resistance.

22. Following God’s will can lead to suffering, maybe even death. Following God’s will may lead you down a path that is our of your comfort zone, a path that is filled with danger, a path that is not easy or convenient to follow. When you come to a fork in your road of life, how do you decide which way to go?

23. Perhaps at this time in your life, you are walking through one of the most difficult chapters of your life. Maybe your dealing with the death of a loved one. Maybe you’ve been out of work for a while. Maybe your dealing with divorce or a bad relationship. Maybe your facing a serious illness.

24. The really scary part is that you don’t know what the next chapter holds. The good news is that you can trust that there will be a next chapter. Trust that this chapter is not the final chapter no matter how bad it is. Even if this chapter ends in death, for us Christians, the next chapter begins in heaven and all the bad stuff has faded away.

25. Sometimes when we are passing through these difficult chapters, we cannot see God or imagine how these things will work out. What God does with us while we are waiting, is often just as important as what we are waiting for. What does that mean to you?

26. God can transform our pain, redeem our suffering, and lift us out of the darkest pits. Out of our darkest moments, God writes a story of triumph. The dark times should never be in the end of our story.

27. Read Phillipians 1:21 What does this verse say to you?

28. Your story is NOT complete, the remaining chapters are yet to be written. God’s plan for your life is not set in stone. You have a chance to shape the rest of the chapters in your life.