“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s Will for you in Christ Jesus.” – I Thessalonians 5:16-18

“What is God’s will for my life?”  gets asked a lot, prayed about a lot, and is often the topic of bible studies.  We can drive ourselves crazy searching relentlessly for that one thing that we can identify as His will for us. What should I do? What should I be? What does He want from me?

We can also drive ourselves crazy as I did for years believing that I missed the boat. I thought because I got pregnant in high school which changed the trajectory of my whole life, that I had messed up in a way that made me miss out on living the life that was God’s Will for me. I thought I had blown it, that my life would never be what would please God because I ruined His plan.

To explain this, I’ll borrow this quote from Mike Donehey, a Christian musician, motivational speaker and author:

“God’s will for your life, scripturally, is not a career path.

God’s will for your life is the posture of your heart.”

He uses this example:  If God’s will for his life is being a musician, what happens if he gets in an accident? If his fingers get injured, he can’t play an instrument, if his voice gets damaged, he won’t be able to sing, if he suffers a brain injury, he won’t be able to write songs or perhaps remember songs.  If so, did he miss or mess up God’s will for his life?

No, he did not. Thankfully Mike understands this and shares this wisdom with others.

I Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s Will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Micah 6:8

“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.”

God’s will for our lives is the same for all believers:  Walk humbly with God, act justly, be merciful to others, pray continually, give thanks in all our circumstances, bad or good, and to be joyful, always, regardless of what our situation is at the moment. THIS is what God is looking for in us, in our character, in our responses, what our heart should be set on.

Now some of you are thinking I missed the boat again, or at least I’m leaving out something important, because it’s important to know what God wants us to do with our life in specific ways.

We should always seek God’s advice for career choices and every big decision, probably the most important being who we marry.  In fact, we need to seek His will concerning everything, no matter how small, because He is the One who created us and knows us inside and out. He knows what talents and strengths we have because He gave them to us. He knows what will make us happy because He fashioned our personality and assigned our traits. He knows the road ahead of us because He is omnipotent and knows all things, including The Future and our personal future.

I don’t want to confuse you by discouraging you from believing that you have a unique “calling” on your life because God does certainly call us to specific jobs and ministries. But these can and will probably change throughout our lives. 50 years ago I was called to Special Education.  20 years ago I was called to Hearts Being Healed.  5 years ago I was called to serve my pastor as his personal assistant. There have been other talents I’ve used according to God’s will through the years.  The world is in constant change. Hopefully we grow spiritually and increase our knowledge and understanding as well as refine talents to become equipped to do more as the needs grow.

While these ministry callings are from God according to His Will for us, they are not The One and Only Thing that Is God’s Will for Our Lives.  One of our foundation scriptures for Hearts Being Healed is Jeremiah 29:11…

“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.”

The back story to this scripture is that the people of Jerusalem were in exile in Babylon and had been for decades. The people were listening to false prophets whose lies were creating havoc in their lives, even deaths, and leading the people even further away from God.  They were clearly headed for total destruction.  So God instructed the prophet Jeremiah to tell them that God says it’s going to be a long time before He rescues them, so they need to change their response to their exile. They should build homes, marry, have children, build a life in that place the same as they would build if they were living in their own country under their own laws and traditions.

In other words, God’s people should live the same way wherever they live and whatever their circumstances, which is to honor God. He gave them verse 11 because He wanted them to know that He still loved them, they were not forgotten, and He had good things in store for them. He wanted them to get back to living under His blessing of Shalom.

He loves us too, whether we are living “the good life” or what we feel is “living in crisis”. He gives us these words, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” so that we know He will rescue us according to His timing, and He will restore us and give us the purpose to live for Him in a way worthy of our calling. His plans are that we shall prosper by living in a “state of shalom” which keeps us from harm spiritually, physically, and emotionally.

Shalom is more than one word or idea. Shalom embodies completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord.

Shalom encompasses the idea of putting back together that which was broken and putting it to rights as regarding relationships and lives.

Shalom is the restored peace that is the result of living in the righteousness of Christ, and the “abundant life” that Jesus came to bring as spoken of in John 10:10.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

If you have wrestled with the idea of “what is God’s will for me?” or as I did, living beneath the joy and victory God has planned for you because you think you messed up your life and what should have been, then please remember this:

God’s will is the same for all believers, that as we submit our lives to Him and live under His blessing of Shalom, our heart posture will be:

Walk humbly with God,

Act justly,

Be merciful to others,

Pray continually,

Give thanks in all our circumstances, bad or good,

Be filled with God’s joy always, regardless of the situation at any given moment.

This is God’s will for us. This is God’s will for me. This is God’s will for you.

What is your heart posture?