Discerning God's Will -- Building a Relationship

Pathway Points

Stepping Up for Jesus

It’s that time of the year again where everyone is looking back over the past year, evaluating the good and the bad, and setting goals for the next. At Grace, we’re doing the same thing. However, as Christians we take time to factor in God and his opinion as well. As it says in Proverbs 16v9 (MSG)

We plan the way we want to live,
    but only God makes us able to live it.

Knowing that God is good and perfect and wise, it makes sense to do things his way. Figuring out what that is is often referred to as “discerning God’s will.”

In addition to figuring out how God wants us to live our individual lives, the leadership at Grace is in the process of discerning what God is calling us as a congregation to be and how he’s calling us to serve. We’d love your support and discernment as well!

But what does that even mean? Well, first of all, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll hear an audible voice speaking to you. It’s possible, but not probable. So, how else does God convey his will to his people?

This week let’s focus on the most basic starting point, the Bible! The Bible is the written word of God to the people of God, to us. Now, don’t get me wrong, the Bible is not a handbook with rules and checklists that will tell you exactly what to do in every situation. As a matter of fact, there’s a lot of stuff in the Bible that is descriptive not prescriptive, and if you randomly pick a passage out of context, you’ll probably find a dysfunctional person doing something that God doesn’t want repeated.

Instead, the Bible is the story of God and his passionate pursuit of the creation that he loves. So, how will that help us figure out God’s will? Well, we’re trying to figure out how to live God’s way, and the best way to do that is to emulate him, and the best way to know how to emulate him is to get to know him, and the best way to do that is to read the book (or library of books) all about him!

As we take the time to evaluate the past year and look forward to the next, let me encourage you to increase your Bible reading and get to know God more intimately.

If this is new to you, check out the YouVersion Bible app, The Bible App, and check out the various “Reading Plans,” or check the racks at the entrance of the church building and pick up one of the “Upper Room” devotionals.

If you already have a habit that involves devotional reading, take things a little deeper. With devotions, you spend more time reading modern authors’ interpretations of the scripture than you do reading the actual scriptures themselves. While there’s nothing wrong with that as a starting point, remember that the goal is to get to know God better. Devotions are like a friend telling you all about someone rather than spending time with the actual person.

This year, flip the ratio. Choose a Bible reading plan that has you reading through the entire Bible (or the entire New Testament) with a short follow-up commentary each day. The one I’m working through is The Bible Recap.

As you’re spending time in the Word and getting to know God more intimately, let us know what you’re discerning. How is he calling you to live? What is he saying to you about Grace?

Monica Lebsack

Lay Leader

At Grace, one of my responsibilities is to publish a weekly article in our e-newsletter, GraceNotes, about discipleship. Specifically, about the various components of our Discipleship Pathway and how a person could journey along it. This is my most recent article.