How to Align Your Will with God's Will

When seeking the will of God in a matter, we can sometimes confuse our selfish desires as God's will for the situation. It's important to be totally honest with ourselves concerning our natural bents.  Do they lean toward wanting what God wants no matter what the cost OR do they tend toward selfishness.

You might ask yourself, do I bristle at what I am perceiving to be God's will?  Am I afraid of God's will?  Am I not willing to let go of my own will in favor of God's will.   If you've answered yes to any one of these questions, than you probably struggle with aligning your will with God's will. 

So how can we align our wills with God's will?  Let's look to God and His Word for our answers.

How Do My Goals Align with God's Will

It might be good, as the first order of business, when seeking to align your will with God's will, to conduct a self-assessment...

Are my thoughts focused on God and His desires for me through His Word?   Am I wholly relying on God daily whether it be in a mundane task or a big decision?  Do I look at myself and the world through a Biblical lens?  

Basically, everything we do in life is a goal that we have set for ourselves.  It is not just left to a broad vision or a daily task sheet, but our thoughts, our views, our decisions all have a subliminal reach that we naturally attain toward...

Unfortunately, in these sinful bodies, we more times than not seek after selfish goals and selfish thinking.

Keeping this in mind, we must ask ourselves, are my goals aligned with the will of God?

As Believers we should be students of the Word of God.  If we are not already, we should aspire to make time every day to spend in the Scriptures.  To truly understand the will of God, we must learn everything about Him.  In His great love and mercy, we have His love letter, the Bible, that details everything we need to know about God and His character.  As we become immersed in the things of God through His Word, we will find that our thoughts, ideas, views, decisions, the way we carry out daily tasks and our long-term vision will be goals that are aligned with God's will in obedience to the Father.

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.

Romans 12:2

God Plants Desires in our Hearts

Delight yourself in the Lord, 

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

This verse is so interesting because it doesn't say that the Lord will give you the desires of His heart, but of your heart.  Yet the clue about what these desires are come from the first part of the verse...  For when we are delighting in the Lord, we are indeed desiring everything about Him and want what He wants.  His desires become our desires.

Too often I think this verse can be taken out of context to mean that because we are followers of Jesus, He will give us the desires of our hearts.  And indeed this is true when we are truly delighting in the Lord as described above, but there are times, when the only person we are honestly thinking about is ourselves and what WE desire.  {Preaching to myself here...}

It is God who changes the desires of our hearts.  As we daily are being sanctified, the Lord is planting His desires deep within our hearts.   As we grow in our walk with the Lord, we will find that our desires will change more and more from what we want to what God wants. 

When we don't rebel and allow God to work through this sanctification process, our wills naturally become aligned with God's will.

Prayers for Alignment with God

If there is ever a prayer that the Lord will answer {and I'm saying this for dramatic effect for we know that no prayer is too insignificant for the Lord}, it is the prayer lifted up to the Heavenly Father from a child of God seeking to align themselves with the will of God.

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, 

if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

1 John 5:14

It's certainly God's will that our will be aligned with His.  Talk about stating the obvious!  lol.

But if we are being honest, there may be a part of us that hesitates to pray this prayer because we are not "ready" or willing to give up our own will, just yet...  Or an anxious heart might be afraid to pray for our wills to be in sync with God's will because we fear that there could be pain or suffering in God's will for our lives.  Others might have a resentment toward God's will as they've perceived it played out in the past...

The fact of the matter is, God's will is not thwarted by anything, not even our own stubbornness or fear! 

 “I know that You can do all things

 and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.

Job 42:42

This verse can bring us great comfort, no matter what our struggle might be in giving up our wills to the Lord's, because He promises...

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, 

“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

 plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

We are God's creation, His masterpiece, His children, His friends, the ones He sent His Son Jesus to die for.  How then could His will for us mean anything less than abounding Eternal Love?

Ask the Holy Spirit to prompt you to seek His will in all things.   Pray that He would search your heart to see if there be any wicked way in you, any selfish motive or desire, that is not the will of God and to flesh that out.  Pray that you would walk in His will each and every day...

Walking in Alignment with God

Now that we have taken an inventory of our goals, chosen not to rebel against God's sanctifying work within us and prayed sincerely for God's will to be our own will, it's time to walk in alignment with the will of God.

And the Lord promises goodness to those who love His will and walk in it.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, 

and do not lean on your own understanding. 

In all your ways acknowledge him, 

and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, 

that you may live, and that it may go well with you, 

and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

Deuteronomy 5:33

But I say, walk by the Spirit, 

and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Galations 5:16

There is no need to hold onto our own wills, because they will only lead to discontentment and heartache.  Instead, we must trust in the Lord and He will make our paths straight.  We need not fear the will of God, because He promises that it will go well with us.  And when we walk by the Spirit, we will no longer bristle at or be resentful of God's will.

May we all align our wills to the will of God.

“The safest place to be is in the center of God's will.”

Corrie Ten Boom

For similar posts, click on the following:

What is God's Will for My Life

7 Ways to Discern God's Voice

When to Act and When to Wait on God: 3 Things to Consider

The Safest Place to Be

Finding Contentment When Life is Hard

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