WARNINGS 

His Word. God will never give individualized guidance that is contrary to His written Word. He will not lead contrary to His Word ... no matter what wisdom we think we may have ... no matter what advice we get ... and no matter what peace we feel.

Fleeces. Gideon put out a fleece to get physical confirmation of God's will. It is a dangerous thing to do. Gideon's own words revealed his hesitancy, Judges 6:36-40. Gideon feared God's anger as he asked Him twice to confirm His will. Putting out a fleece seems to be more popular among believers today than it ever was in the Bible. We should put out a fleece very infrequently ... and only after much prayer and consideration.

Suffering. Suffering is not necessarily out of the will of God. It may be God's will that you suffer, 1 Peter 3:17, 1 Peter 4:19. Suffering may help you do His will, 1 Peter 4:1-2. An example is the persecution of the early church, Acts 8:1-4, that caused believers to take the Gospel out of Jerusalem in obedience to Jesus in Acts 1:8. Pure silver is purified in the furnace of suffering, Isaiah 48:10.

Progressive stewardship. Most often God's will for us involves our steady growth as we learn and gain experience in our walk with Him. Moses spent 40 years in preparation, tending obstinate sheep before he was ready to tend God's people for 40 years in the wilderness. After his conversion, the Apostle Paul spent possibly up to 14 years growing in his walk with God before he went on his first missionary journey. Jesus taught this principle in Luke 16:10-13.

Polarization. Determining God's will requires balance. It is dangerous to focus on one part of knowing God's will (polarizing to an unbalanced extreme) while ignoring the other parts of knowing His will. To focus all our attention on applying wisdom to the exclusion of God's peace is dangerous ... we could be tempted to exclude the leading of the Spirit. To focus all our attention on the inner confirmation of peace is dangerous ... tempting us to ignore the Word and the wisdom He has given us.

Counterfeit answers. Be careful of the counterfeit answers taught in the name of Christianity. There are no shortcuts, no gimmicks, and no magic answers to knowing God's will. No one experience gives all wisdom.

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Disciplemaking 1, copyright 2003, is available free from www.MyDisciplemaker.org where you can study online or print free copies. You may copy this course, any any part of it, for free or at-cost distribution ... without change to the content ... and with this copyright policy attached. Published by www.ActsOneEight.org. Bible Quotations are from the NASB unless noted.