{"id":824,"date":"2010-08-31T01:44:13","date_gmt":"2010-08-31T06:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"<blockquote><em><strong>Romans 12:1-2<\/strong><\/em>\r\n\r\nI appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed t"},"modified":"2013-08-17T22:46:25","modified_gmt":"2013-08-18T03:46:25","slug":"how-do-i-know-gods-will","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/how-do-i-know-gods-will\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do I Know God&#8217;s Will?"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><em><strong>Romans 12:1-2<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God\u2014what is good and acceptable and perfect.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The desire to know and to do God\u2019s will is at the heart of the Christian faith. Christians often agonize over decisions, praying fervently and seeking godly counsel about what college to attend, whether to stay single or marry, what career path to take, and countless other significant, and sometimes not so significant, issues.<\/p>\n<p>Some believers think that God has a specific, individualized plan for each of our lives and that the responsibility of the Christian is to discover that plan and live according to it. Others see God\u2019s will as a path of faithfulness, of wisdom, that we follow but with the freedom to make choices along the way.<\/p>\n<p>The purpose of this discussion is to challenge you to think about these important matters and consider how they affect your decision-making processes.\u00a0Watch this clip and see how it informs your thinking about God\u2019s will:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_830\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-830\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5n7ip-VzrtY\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-830 \" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/files\/2010\/08\/Skit-Guys.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-830\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Play Movie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Next, read the following \u00a0article and book review presenting different views of God\u2019s will:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/webfiles.acu.edu\/departments\/First-Year%20Program\/Decisions%20Reading.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Jerry Sittser, <\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/webfiles.acu.edu\/departments\/First-Year%20Program\/Decisions%20Reading.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">The Will of God as a Way of Life<\/a><br \/>\n<\/em>(*MyACU login required)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.equip.org\/articles\/decision-making-and-the-will-of-god-\" target=\"_blank\">Decision Making and the Will of God<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Discussion Questions:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Whether you are seventeen of seventy, as you look back on your life, what have you learned that is truly important? What does this say about your understanding of God\u2019s will? In other words, what is the relationship between what you consider of supreme value (from lessons you have learned through life\u2019s experiences) and the kinds of plans you have for yourself involving the future?<\/li>\n<li>Many great spiritual writers such as Frances de Sales, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, and Augustine of Hippo, show that the only time we really have to know God and do his will is in the present moment\u2014what Thomas Kelly calls the \u201ceternal now.\u201d What is the value of concentrating our energies on the present moment instead of worrying about the future?<\/li>\n<li>If we aim to put God first, then \u201cwe simply cannot lose&#8221; (Sittser, p 39). We can have freedom, confidence, and security when we make decisions. Does this ring true in your experience? Do you think it is that simple?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">(from <em>The Will of God as a Way of Life: How to Make Every Decision with Peace and Confidence<\/em> by Jerry Sittser [2004], p 245-6.)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Join the Conversation<\/h3>\n<p>We welcome comments on this or other related topics on the main Spotlight page.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Return to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/spotlight-schedule\/decision-making\/\">Jeanene Reese&#8217;s Spotlight page<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":435,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-824","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3T2tB-di","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/435"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2841,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/824\/revisions\/2841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}