TEEN TREE 
OF LIFE
THE DOCTRINE
OF DIVINE GUIDANCE:
Knowing God’s Will for Your Life
Part 2
May 13, 2018
BEFORE we begin, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, take a moment to name your sins to God the Father. This will allow you to be filled with the power of The Holy Spirit as you read this booklet (EPH 5:18 & 1JO 1:9). IF YOU HAVE never believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have that opportunity right now. Simply tell God the Father that you are believing on His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you make that decision, you are now a believer and will always be a child of God! When you die, you will spend eternity with Him forever in heaven! (JOH 3:16 & ACT 16:31).
We are studying God’s Will and last week, we looked at God’s Divine Decrees. God’s Decree is His Eternal, Holy, Wise, and Sovereign Purpose, comprehending simultaneously all things that ever were or will be. God determined this program of angelic and human history in eternity past. By Divine Decree, the free will of mankind and the Sovereign Will of God co-exist in human history. Therefore, God’s Divine Decree never includes His violation of human free will. God’s Permissive Will allows things to happen that are against His Directive Will, like sin for example.
God’s Decrees determine all that ever was, is or will be. It’s important to note that there is a distinction between the God’s Decrees in Eternity Past and His actions in time. God’s actions in time are the execution of the decrees of eternity past. The execution is not the decree, but logically follows the decree. One follows the other, but they are not the same.
As part of God’s Will, there is a distinction between what could have happened and what does happen. God knows both, but only puts what is going to happen in the Decrees. Regarding God’s Will, there is a difference between God’s Decrees and God’s Laws. God’s Decrees occurred in eternity past; God’s Laws function in time. The Decrees are the action and Plan of God. God’s Laws regulate human conduct and function so that the decrees can be fulfilled by God’s action in time. God’s laws are completely revealed in the Scripture, while the His Decrees are only partially revealed. God laws can be broken by human volition, but the God’s Decrees cannot be broken by man’s volition, because the Decrees already existed before volition was ever created by God.
God’s Decrees DO NOT originate from His Foreknowledge. In the logical order of things, the function of the Foreknowledge of God makes nothing certain. God’s Decrees originate from God’s Omniscience. The order is: omniscience – decrees – foreknowledge. God’s Foreknowledge merely perceives the things that are certain. His Decrees make all things certain. The Decrees are from Omniscience; Foreknowledge only confirms what has been decreed. Therefore, all things depend on God’s Will, and nothing is certain apart from it. Read that paragraph over a few times. It’s very deep stuff!
God’s Decrees and His Desires are not the same. Sin, suffering, death, human good, and evil are not desired by God, but they are in His Decrees. God desires His perfect Will, but both human and angelic volition (given by God) violate His Desires. When human will lines up with God’s Desires, the result is Divine Guidance.
1 THES 4:1-8 (The Message Bible) says it very well: One final word, friends. We ask you—urge is more like it—that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance. You know the guidelines we laid out for you from the Master Jesus. God wants you to live a pure life. Keep yourselves from sexual promiscuity. Learn to appreciate and give dignity to your body, not abusing it, as is so common among those who know nothing of God. Don’t run roughshod over the concerns of your brothers and sisters. Their concerns are God’s concerns, and he will take care of them. We’ve warned you about this before. God hasn’t invited us into a disorderly, unkempt life but into something holy and beautiful—as beautiful on the inside as the outside. If you disregard this advice, you’re not offending your neighbors; you’re rejecting God, who is making you a gift of his Holy Spirit.
Now, it isn’t God’s desire to throw creatures into the Lake of Fire, but that judgment is decreed for all who reject Christ as Savior. It is not God’s desire to discipline believers, but that punishment is decreed for all believers who have gotten out of His Plan and are living under the influence of evil or persistent sin. Therefore, it is the Justice of God which reconciles desire and decree. And it is the Justice of God to which we adjust when we obey, do, or function under, God’s Will.
God desires to preserve and deliver believers to maturity. To achieve this, God works to mold all events into the fulfillment of His Eternal Purpose. Preservation continues the existence of things, but Providence directs their progress.
The axiom for Divine guidance is found in: 1JOH 3:23: And this is His commandment, that we believe in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He has commanded us. This verse is the desire of God. It reduces His Will to its utmost simplicity which is that the entire human race should believe in Jesus Christ; and that all believers function under impersonal love toward all other members of the human race. So, the chief principle of Divine Guidance, for the unbeliever, is salvation. And for the believer, it is spirituality. And by spirituality, we mean knowing and applying God’s Word.
God’s Will for your life breaks down into three categories. They include God’s Viewpoint Will which is what God wants you to think; God’s Operational Will which is what God wants you to do; and the Geographical Will of God which is where God wants you to be. Each of these revolves around the three Wills of God; directive, permissive, and overruling (see last week’s Tree), as God has given free will to man, so that man would be a rational creature who would resolve the Angelic Conflict.
You can know the viewpoint, operational, and geographical Will of God for your life only by having maximum Bible doctrine in your soul. You receive Divine Discipline for not knowing the right answer and being outside of God’s Plan.
All Divine Guidance depends on learning Bible doctrine and then applying it. Your goal must be to have doctrine resident in your soul! The pure thoughts of doctrine, not the deceptive thoughts of man, are the basis for Divine Guidance: And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (ROM 12:2)
PROV 3:1-12 (The Message Bible) says it all so perfectly: Good friend, don’t forget all I’ve taught you; take to heart my commands. They’ll help you live a long, long time, a long life lived full and well. Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people. Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this.
We have free will and are actions of free will must become totally subordinate to and compatible with Divine Free Will. So, we have to know what God’s policy is, what His will is, and what His desire is concerning EVERYTHING!! Then all we have to do, is do it in the Power of The Spirit with Bible doctrine in our soul and God will guide us!