Every 'Christian', including those not born-again, have a somewhat different worldview. Many Christians —maybe most— operate from a worldview that assumes self-determinism as opposed to God-determinism, in order to vindicate any hint that God is to fault for our sin. They have been taught this from conversion or even childhood, til the present, and refuse to see differently. (My own wife once told me, "God cannot do his will unless I obey". To me, that is monstrous foolishness, if God is indeed God, but I digress.) Anyhow, and I'm not going to say that I should mock them or denigrate them, because God has his uses for them too, to do whatever he has in mind for his creation and for his particular people, so I am thankful for them.
But their notion is often that one must figure out "what God has in mind for them", by which they mean, "God's particular plan for them", in order to be the Christian that God wants them to be. And they write whole books, and books refuting the book before them, as to how to 'discern the Lord's will for your life'. To me, those books and methods all, some more than others, border on divination. Others of them only, or mainly, spend their time trying to discern moment to moment 'promptings', like, "Is he telling me to cross the street yet again??" I expect you to be referring to the former.
Not at all to say that God doesn't show us things, and lead us in one direction or another, and that, by his Spirit, but to separate our duty from God's as though ours improves on or completes or otherwise adds to God's, is to misunderstand what God does. He is not one with whom we can contend or live up to some level, but rather, "in whom we live". We who are his particular creation, are continually finding out —even those who deny the words of it— that we are nothing apart from him, and that our faith is his to give us, and even our obedience is given us, as is our repentance. We are "IN CHRIST", and not living up to his standard by what we can figure out. At no time does God ever owe us anything for our obedience or faithfulness or efforts or understanding, nor by what we teach others.
We have more than enough to do, to obey his direct commands, than to worry ourselves with figuring out what is His Spirit's promptings, or his plans for our life. HIS plans for our lives are going to happen, 'willy-nilly', whether we cooperate or not. But yes, it is better if we too think ahead, about obedience and what would bring honor to him instead of disrepute and disaster. And it is very important to search our motives out. But you may even find some here who have even 'abandoned the faith' over what they thought the faith entailed, because they thought they knew what God told them to do, and it turns out to be their own flesh telling them, or even a whole system of understanding that misled them. There is a lot of heartache and doubt resulting from unnecessary notions of self-worth, that we are to —or even that we can— add to God's work.
