Knowing God's will

The Holy Spirit moves in every believer to create a person more like Christ every day. In 1 Thessalonians 4:3, God tells us His will for His people "For this is the will of God, your sanctification:". How do we know if the things we are doing, thinking, and saying are within God's will for our lives? After all, most people will say that God has a plan for our lives.

The following is a list of items that are important for knowing God's will:

1. Trusting in the death, resurrection, and power of Christ alone for salvation
2. Seeking intimacy with God through prayer daily
3. Personally reading and studying scripture
4. Sound preaching

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it can be exhausting since we are weak in the flesh. A few notes:

• We are told to pray continuosly so consider praying multiple times per day
• For studying, commentaries are extremely helpful, but should not be overused
• All preaching is not sound

Today's church contains much preaching that is void of truth or lacks solid meat. If you hear more about what you should be doing than about who Christ is and how majestic He is, it may be time for concern.