Can you miss God's purpose for your life if you are born again?

[Aussie Pete]

your story is similar to mine brother, and yes our sin has hurt others and our families, our divorces were painful. But I would argue we didn’t miss God’s best. Only God knows what would have happened if we didn’t go through that struggle. I believe that if my wife hadn’t walked away from God and left me I would have gone to hell when I die. God’s best was bringing me closer to him. It I would have married a better person who loved Jesus more and didn’t cheat on and abandon me, I may never have been truly born again, and just kept going on missions trips and going to church thinking I was saved when I wasn’t in obedience

God for sure uses our tribulations and trials. It is the doorway to the Kingdom of God. Speculation is not helpful. I've indulged in enough of that myself. I've been single for 24 years. It does not bother me personally. I had lunch with my son, now 31. He's mellowed a lot but refuses to talk about Christian things. I can't change the past. I trust the Lord for His miracle ability to turn my mourning into joy and take my ashes and give me His beauty. I still think that it would have been better if some my decisions were in line with God's will and not my self will. If Lord Jesus had capitulated to His natural desire for self preservation, no one would be saved.

We are what we are. Israel was a two week hike from Canaan when they left Egypt. It took them 40 years. The smart person learns from their mistakes. The really wise person learns from other people's mistakes! I hope at least someone thinks twice about refusing God after reading some of the posts.

 

[Jamdoc]

Sounds Calvinist and anti Free-Will to me. If you believe in Free Will then yes you can miss your calling. If you THINK you have a calling for something but it's not what God had planned for you, you will just not have things go well, you'll be chastised and scourged and maybe like me, disabled in a specific way that you can't do that one thing, so obviously that's not what God wanted you to do but it's what YOU chose to do with your free will.
But to be perfectly honest, I have no ideas what God wants me to do now, and I think I just missed it somehow in my own choices. It's not predestiny, God can guide you through the spirit to what He wants, but you're the one who has to make the decisions, and sometimes, a lot of times, we make bad ones, thinking they might be good, thinking that's what we want. That's the essence of free will. Most of the time, it's not even conscious disobedience, sometimes, most of the time, it's just not hearing clearly, you thought this was your calling. God corrects you that it wasn't.

 

[Loversofjesus_2018]

God doesn't change His plans. But people can keep their eyes open
and be blessed and grateful for God's gifts,

Or just stomp their way through the flower garden, unaware.
Our choice.

Quick question. And im asking because I’m confused and want to understand. If God never changes his plans meaning that he does what he’s going to do and his mind is made up... What does prayer accomplish for the Christian? This kinda ties into the op so hopefully I can get some understanding of this. Thanks

 

[Loversofjesus_2018]

A lot of preachers preach stuff that is dreamed up out of their own heads. Good preachers preach the Bible. They expand and expound what the Bible actually says. When a pastor preaches on his own pet theories, he is not moving in faith, but in presumption. And God sees presumption is a serious sin because it is a misrepresentation of His word and therefore is a lie and a perversion of His Word.

So, going by your description of what your pastor is preaching, I think he is preaching just a lot of presumptive nonsense instead of the true Word of God.

Doesn’t literally everybody make presumptions about scripture? There are things Jesus says and we decide what he truly meant or what it means for today. We seem to assume a lot of things that scripture may or may not suggest. And most people seem perfectly fine with these assumptions depending upon how long these assumptions have been assumed for. But this clearly isn’t ok if making presumptions is a “big” sin. Would you mind helping me understand this confusion.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Doesn’t literally everybody make presumptions about scripture? There are things Jesus says and we decide what he truly meant or what it means for today. We seem to assume a lot of things that scripture may or may not suggest. And most people seem perfectly fine with these assumptions depending upon how long these assumptions have been assumed for. But this clearly isn’t ok if making presumptions is a “big” sin. Would you mind helping me understand this confusion.

The most reliable rendering of Scripture is to accept what is clearly written. The ones who say, "That is just your interpretation" are those who usually don't want to accept the plain gospel of Christ which demands total commitment to Christ by faith and the requirement to live a strict holy life in order to please God and glorify Christ.

Of course, when we view a passage of Scripture we have to consider who is doing the talking, who he is talking to, his intention, and how his listeners understood what he was saying. For example, most of the teaching of Jesus was to unconverted Jews, except when He was discussing privately with His disciples. We have to distinguish what is written for us (for our education) and what is written to you (as direct instruction).

So, those who quibble about Scripture interpretation are usually those who want to continue to be their own gods, in control of their own lives, and who are not willing to give themselves over totally to the Lordship of Christ, and so they reject anything that is clearly said about a total commitment to Christ as Saviour and Lord.

 

[Loversofjesus_2018]

The most reliable rendering of Scripture is to accept what is clearly written. The ones who say, "That is just your interpretation" are those who usually don't want to accept the plain gospel of Christ which demands total commitment to Christ by faith and the requirement to live a strict holy life in order to please God and glorify Christ.

Of course, when we view a passage of Scripture we have to consider who is doing the talking, who he is talking to, his intention, and how his listeners understood what he was saying. For example, most of the teaching of Jesus was to unconverted Jews, except when He was discussing privately with His disciples. We have to distinguish what is written for us (for our education) and what is written to you (as direct instruction).

So, those who quibble about Scripture interpretation are usually those who want to continue to be their own gods, in control of their own lives, and who are not willing to give themselves over totally to the Lordship of Christ, and so they reject anything that is clearly said about a total commitment to Christ as Saviour and Lord.

That was helpful but did leave me with one more question. Don’t we have assume his intention and also assume how the listeners understood what was being said? It seems that it would be extremely difficult to not try interpret or make some assumptions but if your correct that the scripture should be followed exactly as it’s said then I applaud you for not changing scripture to fit your own wants but it’s very rare someone takes this approach. I have read too many times to count on the forums where someone is telling someone else what Jesus meant when he said such and such. My question is always how does that person no so much about what Jesus true thoughts and intentions were if it wasn’t explained no where clearly in scripture lol.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

That was helpful but did leave me with one more question. Don’t we have assume his intention and also assume how the listeners understood what was being said? It seems that it would be extremely difficult to not try interpret or make some assumptions but if your correct that the scripture should be followed exactly as it’s said then I applaud you for not changing scripture to fit your own wants but it’s very rare someone takes this approach. I have read too many times to count on the forums where someone is telling someone else what Jesus meant when he said such and such. My question is always how does that person no so much about what Jesus true thoughts and intentions were if it wasn’t explained no where clearly in scripture lol.

The trouble is that many take verses out of their context and apply it directly to themselves. Often they take half a verse and leave out the other half. For example: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).

They then maintain that the things of God are a mystery to us and we can not fully understand of the gospel of Christ is all about. But they leave out the rest of what Paul said:
"But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God" (verse 10).

So when verse 10 is included, we see that the gospel of Christ and the ways of God are not a mystery, because the indwelling Holy Spirit has revealed everything to us. Paul has clearly explained all these things in his letters and there is no underlying "spiritual" interpretation in what he is teaching. He means what he says and he says what he means, literally.

I suggest you get a good book on exegesis of Scripture because in it you will gain the knowledge and skills to know when the Scripture directly applies to you, or to someone else and is just there for our observation and learning.

For another example, most of the content of the prophetic books in the Old Testament are not directly for us at all. But we can learn a lot from them. It would be a mistake to apply what Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel said to us and make it direct instructions for us to follow.

 

[Strong in Him]

I've seen pastors over and over again describing about missing Gods purpose for your life but can you really miss out on it if it's already written? (See Psalm 139:16).

I spend years agonising over the "God's got a plan for your life" statement; did he want me to be a nurse or a teacher, what would happen if I "missed it" or "got it wrong"?
That way only led to anxiety, not peace.

My belief now is that God's plan for our lives is that we believe in Jesus, John 6:29, John 6:40, and proclaim the Good News, Matthew 28:19-20, Acts of the Apostles 1:8.
God can guide us in where we go, live etc, and give us job, and other, opportunities. I don't think he's too bothered whether we serve him by teaching in a school, nursing in India or spend our days sweeping the pavements; as long as we belong to him, are serving him and using the gifts he has given us to serve him and edify the church.

Also if the Holy Spirit is guiding each and every step of your life and your life is already planned and preordained by God how can you miss it?

I don't believe he does.
We have a choice about how, or even whether, we serve God.

even our own salvation is predestined and chosen by God

That's your belief; I don't accept that it's what Scripture teaches.

so how can a person who has the Holy Spirit and who's life is already recorded miss out on what God already decided their lives will be?

If God had already planned every step of a person's life and it was his express will that that person should follow all those steps; clearly he would guide the person to do just what he had planned for them to do. No one would miss it - God would not let anyone who wanted to serve him miss the plan that he had already made for them and determined they should follow.

The fact that Christians make decisions and change their minds and plans, suggests to me that God does not micro manage anyone's life in this way.
I don't think Scripture shows that either. On one occasion, God opened a door for Paul to go somewhere, but when Paul got there he had no peace, so he left again, 2 Corinthians 2:12-13. If that happened to them, how many Christians might say "if God didn't want me to be here, I wouldn't be"? Yet Paul felt that the open door wasn't right for him, so he left.

 

[JacksBratt]

I've seen pastors over and over again describing about missing Gods purpose for your life but can you really miss out on it if it's already written? (See Psalm 139:16). Also if the Holy Spirit is guiding each and every step of your life and your life is already planned and preordained by God how can you miss it? Everytime you sin the Holy Spirit convicts you to apologize and try not to do it again. Everytime you make a bad decision in your life you recognize it as a bad decision, even our own salvation is predestined and chosen by God so how can a person who has the Holy Spirit and who's life is already recorded miss out on what God already decided their lives will be? Am I missing something?

I think that, if you are a Christian and striving to do God's will... He will work with whatever you do...

Everyone makes mistakes and chooses incorrectly when living their lives..

I don't think your ever going to do something that is going to have God saying "wow, didn't see that coming, now what am I going to do"?

 

[renniks]

How could you sin, if the Holy Spirit is guiding your every step?
How can you make a "bad decision"?
Would you of your own free will not have to quench the indwelling Holy Spirit before going it alone and thus sin?

Are you serious? If we can't go our own way and mess up, much of the Bible makes no sense.
We would not be told how to live if we couldn't do other wise.

 

[bling]

Are you serious? If we can't go our own way and mess up, much of the Bible makes no sense.
We would not be told how to live if we couldn't do other wise.

answer me this: Would you of your own free will not have to quench the indwelling Holy Spirit before going it alone and thus sin?

 

[renniks]

answer me this: Would you of your own free will not have to quench the indwelling Holy Spirit before going it alone and thus sin?

Sinning isn't hard. All you have to do is ignore the Spirit's prompting. Nobody has ever achieved perfect obedience to the Spirit except Jesus.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I spend years agonising over the "God's got a plan for your life" statement; did he want me to be a nurse or a teacher, what would happen if I "missed it" or "got it wrong"?
That way only led to anxiety, not peace.

My belief now is that God's plan for our lives is that we believe in Jesus, John 6:29, John 6:40, and proclaim the Good News, Matthew 28:19-20, Acts of the Apostles 1:8.
God can guide us in where we go, live etc, and give us job, and other, opportunities. I don't think he's too bothered whether we serve him by teaching in a school, nursing in India or spend our days sweeping the pavements; as long as we belong to him, are serving him and using the gifts he has given us to serve him and edify the church.

If we move in contented obedience before the Lord prayerfully, searching the Scriptures and praying, Thy will be done, then He graciously leads His people day by day.

 

[bèlla]

When I surrendered my life to God my main priority was knowing and serving Him. Spending time in His presence provided the answers and direction I sought. I learned to look to and lean on Him most of all.

Receiving my calling, having it confirmed by three persons, and knowing my kingdom purpose is life changing. My days have meaning. I’m not wandering aimlessly tossing darts hoping to hit the mark or looking for a sign. I’ve got it and its altered my world. And I couldn’t imagine living otherwise. I’m where I’m meant to be and that’s reassuring.

~Bella

 

[Strong in Him]

If we move in contented obedience before the Lord prayerfully, searching the Scriptures and praying, Thy will be done, then He graciously leads His people day by day.

Yes, he does.
But that does not mean that he has "a" plan for our lives that we have to do our best not to miss, or mess up.

 

[Bruce Leiter]

I've seen pastors over and over again describing about missing Gods purpose for your life but can you really miss out on it if it's already written? (See Psalm 139:16). Also if the Holy Spirit is guiding each and every step of your life and your life is already planned and preordained by God how can you miss it? Everytime you sin the Holy Spirit convicts you to apologize and try not to do it again. Everytime you make a bad decision in your life you recognize it as a bad decision, even our own salvation is predestined and chosen by God so how can a person who has the Holy Spirit and who's life is already recorded miss out on what God already decided their lives will be? Am I missing something?

Let me share with my experiences in summary. When I became a student at a Christian college two years after I became a Christian and when I felt a strong call to the ministry, the requirement was a Greek major to go to seminary. Well, I wasn't going to climb that mountain. Therefore, like Jonah, I rebelled against God's call. Without praying to God, I considered three majors before I settled on English.

I again didn't ask God but became an English teacher 8 years with an English master's degree. Then, without praying about a change, though I prayed about other things, I became a sales manager 3 years.

In my last year teaching English, our second child died from leukemia, a very traumatic time in our lives.

In short, God used ten dramatic events to convince my wife and me that I should go to seminary with a wife, three children, and no job. God took care of us.

After God sent us to seven churches in 27 years of ministry, he sent us to West Michigan to combine all my three careers into one, writing Christian books. He had guided me even when I was rebelling and not praying for his guidance.

Perhaps, God's involvement in my life sheds a little light on your problem. It's called God's providence. Bruce Leiter the writer.

 

[bling]

Sinning isn't hard. All you have to do is ignore the Spirit's prompting. Nobody has ever achieved perfect obedience to the Spirit except Jesus.

Is not ignoring the Spirit a "work"?
Did I make a free will choice to quench the Spirit?

 

[renniks]

Is not ignoring the Spirit a "work"?
Did I make a free will choice to quench the Spirit?

I don't know what you mean by it being a work. Yes, it's a free choice.

 

[Justin BT]

I have a problem where I interpret everything super literally, the OP might be in a similar situation. When a pastor says “God has a plan for your life” I don’t believe he means literally “there is a blueprint and map that you have to act out”. Although some might actually mean literally this, I suspect most are simply encouraging people to put God first, seek Gods will and walk in his footsteps.

 

[SkyWriting]

Quick question. And im asking because I’m confused and want to understand. If God never changes his plans meaning that he does what he’s going to do and his mind is made up... What does prayer accomplish for the Christian? This kinda ties into the op so hopefully I can get some understanding of this. Thanks

Prayer provides God the opportunity to build your faith that God has everything handled even before you are born. If you are able to get yourself out of the way, you will feel Gods assurance that He already answered your prayer.

Who Else Wants to See Gods Plans?