Knowing God’s will for your life will change it! COLOSSIANS 1:9-12

How badly do we really want to know what God’s will is for our lives?

Colossians 1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Colossians 1:10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

Colossians 1:11-12 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,

Colossians 1:11-12 and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

God Desires Us to Know His Will

We can be filled with the knowledge of God’s will

The Bible views knowledge of doctrinal absolutes as foundational to godly living. Most of Paul’s letters begin by laying a doctrinal foundation before giving practical advice. John MacArthur Jr

Godly living is directly linked in Scripture to knowledge of doctrinal truth. John MacArthur Jr

Proverbs 19:2 A person without knowledge is no good. A person in a hurry makes mistakes.

Knowing God’s will takes more than just a little reading.

We need to have spiritual wisdom and understanding.

1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

1 Corinthians 2:2-3 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

1 Corinthians 2:6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

1 Corinthians 2:7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

1 Corinthians 2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

1 Corinthians 2:9 However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”—

1 Corinthians 2:10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

1 Corinthians 2:11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

1 Corinthians 2:13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

1 Corinthians 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

1 Corinthians 2:15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:

1 Corinthians 2:16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

The Benefits of Knowing God’s Will

Five Benefits of Knowing God’s Will We can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord

1 Thessalonians 2:12 You should live in a way that proves you belong to the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

Five Benefits of Knowing God’s Will We can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord We can please Him in all respects

“and find out what pleases the Lord” Ephesians 5:10

Five Benefits of Knowing God’s Will We can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord We can please Him in all respects We can bear fruit in every good work

John 15:4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Five Benefits of Knowing God’s Will We can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord We can please Him in all respects We can bear fruit in every good work We can increase in our knowledge of God

Desire God’s pure word as newborn babies desire milk. Then you will grow in your salvation. 1 Peter 2:2

1 John 2:3-4 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1 John 2:5-6 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Five Benefits of Knowing God’s Will We can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord We can please Him in all respects We can bear fruit in every good work We can increase in our knowledge of God We can be strengthened with all power

I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

The Goals of Knowing God’s Will

3 Goals of Knowing God’s Will To attain all steadfastness

3 Goals of Knowing God’s Will To attain all steadfastness To obtain patience

3 Goals of Knowing God’s Will To attain all steadfastness To obtain patience To joyously give thanks to God

Ephesians 2:12 Also, at that time you were without Christ. You were excluded from citizenship in Israel, and the pledges God made in his promise were foreign to you. You had no hope and were in the world without God.

Ephesians 2:13 But now through Christ Jesus you, who were once far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Knowing God’s will for your life will change it! COLOSSIANS 1:9-12