Can You Determine the Will of God for Specific Events in Your Life?

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Skipper80 said:

"Some do say they hear the trivial. Perhaps so, sometimes God may just want to fellowship with you"

By "hear" do you mean someone can literally hear God saying private things to them in their ear?

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Ive never heard an audible voice. Most believe that is extremely rare. Most guidance comes from within. Some teach it is the Holy Spirit revealing things to our human (born again) spirit. For me it occurs usually when i am closest to God. During worship or just listening for God in silence. Revelation too comes when one is reading the word. God talks in many ways such as visions, words from others and even our circumstances.

Skipper80 said:

You attribute success to being aligned to the will of god. Is being rich and wealthy a sign of being aligned to God's will?

Another question is: how does one know they are not acting on emotional inclination rather than hearing the will of God?
I don't think God reveals Himself through personal experience. If someone believes that, then they are saying that the Bible is not sufficient to understand God. God has revealed Himself sufficiently throughout the Bible. To say otherwise is heresy.

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Heresy? Seems extreme to suggest that.

Skipper80 said:

You attribute success to being aligned to the will of god. Is being rich and wealthy a sign of being aligned to God's will?

Another question is: how does one know they are not acting on emotional inclination rather than hearing the will of God?
I don't think God reveals Himself through personal experience. If someone believes that, then they are saying that the Bible is not sufficient to understand God. God has revealed Himself sufficiently throughout the Bible. To say otherwise is heresy.

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Success in God to me is defined by the amount if love and compassion that you can show to others. In other words you increse in being like Jesus. Lots of sinners are rich and wealthy.
But yes God does give personal exoeriences. One i failed to touch on is the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Here the Holy Spirit may point out personal wrongoing. Sins and specific instances of unforgiveness or judgment. Calling into the ministry too is personal revelation. "The human spirit is the lamp of the LORD that sheds light on one’s inmost being." Consider too that "faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. The word there is rhema (spoken word) not logos. Why would anyone go into ministry, go to a mission field or even try a business or occupation without some assurance from God? If its not done in faith its a sin. It is not about being fortunate or random for major life decisions, its about connecting to God and finding his guidance. This is not heresy it is normal communication. I am not saying everday, but if you seek God on a matter he will generally respond. Paul for instance sought God to remive his thorn in the flesh on three occasiins. The answer was no.

Can it just be our emotions? Yes, especially if one has little discernment.
Heb 5:14 "But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
I would suggest the sheep hear his voice and every Christian can have their senses trained.

If I was going to give one clear instance of God "guiding me", it was the push I experienced to join the church.

When I was young, I had a bit of Sunday School at a local Presbyterian Church. And that was about it - I was made to go by my parents, and I never really felt a part of it. But I did have that experience. My parents didn't go to church, and my father was atheist, although baptised Catholic. So there was no family background.

Fast forward to 1982 and I was out of work, going through a divorce, going to sell the house I was trying to pay off, and I had the flu.

There wasn't much I could do. Normally I don't watch sport, but the Commonweatlth Games were on in Brisbane which is my home town. With nothing else to do I watched the games on television. But as I did so, this persistent image of the Presbyterian Church where I'd gone to Sunday School about 16 or so years earlier kept intruding on my mind. It was very persistent and didn't go away.

Since I'd gotten to rock bottom, I thought there had to be more to life than this, so I went back to that church. A couple of months later I decded to become Christian.

And that was when I met the pastor who had a great deal of influence on my Christian development.

My father had predicted I'd meet him when he turned up in my room the night he died in January 1979, nearly four years earlier. I was an atheist as stated but he said "You'll become a Christian ... You'll meet a pastor. You'll think he's great, but all he'll do is discourage you even more!"

It turned out the Presbyterian pastor (ex-Methodist - so he wasn't Calvinist) was the man my father could foresee me crossing tracks with a few yeares in the future (my father was shown a few future events that night, some of them pretty dire).

The pastor did discourage me, for which he apologised later, but I learnt a lot from him. He also predicted I'd become Catholic down the track, amongst a number of other things, some of which have happened already.

But it was the persistent image of the Sunday School Church which pushed me over the line. It was something I could relate to from past experience to at that time.

Normally I don't watch sport, but the Commonweatlth Games were on in Brisbane which is my home town.

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From my post above ... this is incidental, but a young lady named Tracey Wickham was making waves in the swimming pool in the 1982 Games.

She won gold in the 400 m and 800 m freestyle at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, where she took the Athletes Oath at the Opening Ceremony. Her gold medal for the 400 m was presented to her by Queen Elizabeth II and Wickham retired from swimming immediately afterwards.

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But one of the pastor's predictions for her (before he died himself in 1992) was that she would "... go through a terrible time..." She did, including losing her teenage daughter to cancer, and some failed relationships. I've got her autobiography "Treading Water" somewhere but I haven't gotten around to reading it.

I can't remember how the discussion came up but he did make the comment.

Just an aside - another of his accurate predications.

Skipper80 said:

We know God's will for our life in the broad sense, of course:

1 Timothy 2:3–4 (ESV)
“This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise... He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

1 Thessalonians 4:3 (NIV)
“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality.”

Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)
“...present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God... Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NIV)
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

1 Peter 2:15 (ESV)
“For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Micah 6:8 (NIV)
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

John 13:34–35 (NIV)
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples...”

Matthew 22:37–39 (ESV)
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

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BUT, WHAT ABOUT SPECIFIC EVENTS IN YOUR LIFE?

Specific daily events that are trivial compared to the concepts and commands in these Bible verses.

For example, if my car broke down as I was going to the coffee shop to get coffee, am I right in saying it was God's will for the car to break down?

What are your thoughts, guys?

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I don't think Gods Will works on that level. It may be just circumstances you find yourself in. Or something you neglected such as servicing the car.

If its a case that you cannot afford a good car or to maintain the current one then that is also I think a matter of circumstance to some degree. But also what priorities you place on having a car.

But in saying that I think we can be wise and navigate the system without becoming to fixed on materialism. By doing some research and getting the cheapest and best car fo its purpose. But if you can afford it then a good car with servicing will minimize this.

If it just happens to be a glitch of some sort in the car that just happened then well thats life sometimes and we if anything are tested to handle theses setbacks which come with lifes unpredictability. Or that we may be aware that we are in a difficult situation and ask God to help us through it.

Basically Christ does tell us to not worry and that God will provide. I think that can mean sometimes that we are really tested and think God has abandoned us and nothing is going right. But even though it may seem that way if we keep trusting God in the end we will be better off.

I think sometimes if not often we don't know Gods Will and we put all sorts of roadblocks and ideas of what that might be for us. But I think Gods Will is there underneath all that thinking in the quiet recess of our mind and sometimes it takes a bit of time to realise it.

"Ok Lord. Your will be done"