Transcript from the podcast (so sorry for the spelling mistakes)
Wildfire podcast is an extension of Wildfire Ministries, an organization that has a focus of igniting men and women of God into a deeper discipleship with Christ, instilling them with a passion to radically and relentlessly pursue Christ wherever that leads, that God's truth will spread like a wildfire.
Okay, everyone, hello, and welcome to another podcast.
I'm Luke Taylor.
I don't know whether I should, because people are probably gonna get to know us, but I'm Luke Taylor, and I'm joined with Peter Ryan.
Peter, hello.
Hi, Luke, how's it going?
Yeah, I'm doing well, I'm doing well.
So, what are we gonna be talking about today?
Knowing the will of God for your life.
That's a huge one.
It's like, everyone wants to talk about this.
This is a question that, you know what I mean?
You get asked, so, what did you wanna be when you were younger?
When I was younger, probably like a superhero or something, but whenever I was going through school, I had a very interesting view about the will of God.
I thought, if God wants me to be something, then that will happen.
Like, my destiny will just be whatever it is.
So, whenever it came to my A levels, I did not revise at all or even care about them.
And I was of the opinion that if God wants me to get into a certain university, then I'll get in there, regardless of how much effort I put in.
Oh, dang.
Yeah, so it didn't work out too well for me.
So I've, yeah, so I think it's very important to understand what the will of God is for your life, because if you don't, then you end up like an idiot like me.
I make big mistakes.
You definitely want to be a superhero now as well.
I wouldn't say no.
Okay, so we're just gonna get into it, because the will of God, these are questions that, you know what I mean, people ask all the time, like in social settings, whenever you have people over for dinner, houses, churches, they're like, what do you want to be when you're older?
They ask the same questions to the same people.
Or who am I supposed to marry?
Exactly, it's to do with professions, it's to do with these really big life decisions.
You know what I mean?
I'm like, whenever you get Margaret in your church, I don't know if there's a Margaret in a church, I just said that, and they come up and say, so what do you want to be when you're older and who do you want to marry?
Are they expecting me to be like, well, I want to be a practicing doctor and I'm going to my Sandra in 2024 on the 17th of April on a summer day.
It's, you know what I mean?
So the questions are all the same, okay?
And people give you questions and whenever you're in like a religious setting, often you want to give vague answers to vague questions.
So it's like, yeah, whatever God wants, whatever he desires.
So we're just going to provide a bit of clarity.
And then the other side of it is you hear like missionaries coming along and they're like, oh yeah, I had to go to Chad in Africa because I got this Bible verse and I just heard God speaking to me.
So the other side of it is, oh, God's just going to speak to me and tell me what I have to do with my life.
And it never really does.
Exactly.
But we'll come more full circle on that and talk about that near the end.
But that's a good starting point for us.
So we're going to orient our attention elsewhere because we believe the Bible pivots us in this direction.
That there's a will of God that unites all humanity.
It's God's desire for all of his people.
And it's going to provide a different framework, a different way of responding to those same questions that you get asked, perhaps, get more interest in answering, get a better conversation going amongst brothers and sisters in Christ.
So look, what would you say is the first kind of point we should look at when it comes to the will of God?
OK, so the Westminster Confession of Faith, which is just a very important church document, says that the will of God is to know God and to glorify God.
So that's sort of the framework that we're going for, but we're going to obviously elaborate on that more and add a little something in.
So number one, the will of God is for you to know Him.
You know what I mean?
Like, whenever God created you, who wanted to have an intimate relationship with you, 2 Peter 3 says that God desires that no man shall perish.
God wants a true consensual relationship that is predicated or built upon love.
That's why God instilled you with choice.
Whenever you go to the Garden of Eden, there was the Tree of Good and Evil, which in itself was an evil because it represented prerogative, represented what God gave you.
You can either choose to accept Him or not.
So that's when you need to understand that God wants a relationship with you.
And that's the amazing thing.
God wants you to know Him.
And we read it by choice throughout the Bible.
Lot and his wife, they had a choice.
Lot's wife obviously looked back.
The Nation of Israel, Jeremiah 4.
God says, if you wanted to return to me, you could.
The choice is there.
God constantly throughout His word, it's saturated that God wants you to know Him.
Of course, that's what Jesus Christ on the cross typified.
He wants you to know Him.
That's why He sacrificed His Son, for you to have a relationship with Him.
So that's number one.
It's to know Him.
Do you have any thoughts on that?
Well, just the entire Bible has, like it's about God wanting to know, it's people, it's a love story between God and humanity.
Like we talked about the Old Testament a few weeks ago, and it's just God and Israel, and then the New Testament's God and the church, and then something in the ultimate price, which is Son.
So I think that's evident from the Bible.
But is there anything in chapter, or point number two?
Yeah, so once you know God, then what?
Where do you go?
So you know God, that's the will of God for you, now that I know God and I'm in a relationship with him, which is what he desired, what's the next step?
And it's to grow in our relationship with God.
And so that's it.
What's the next step?
It's to grow in our relationship with God.
It's that simple, to know and then grow.
And then how do we go about that growth?
Well, simple, we read God's word.
What is the Bible?
The Bible is constantly described as light.
The Bible is the manifestation of God's word, of God himself.
And in John, 1 John 1 talks about how God is light.
And the Bible is light.
It's a resource that we have that guides us.
It's a lamp to our feet.
But the Bible is also described as a sword, in Hebrews 4, that is a double-edged sword.
And it cuts through everything, bone and marrow, and cuts through the heart.
And so that's when you need to understand that it's light, that it's a sword, but it's also manna.
In John 6, Jesus talks about he's the manna.
In Exodus, he talks about manna.
And it's God's word, it's the sustenance.
It's the thing that keeps us going.
It's the thing that we read every day that actually fuels us, that gives us strength.
And it's that whole idea, if you need food to survive, you need God's word.
God's word is your food, your spiritual food, in order for you to survive and in order for you to thrive.
Even Lord's Prayer gave us this day our daily bread.
Exactly.
So it's that whole idea of, we grow in our relationship with God by reading God's word, which is described as a light, a sword, as the manna, the food, the very sustenance.
But another way to grow is prayer.
Obviously, we're called to have communion with Father.
That's what prayer is.
It's us having a dialogue with the God of the universe who created me and you, who wants a relationship with you, who wants us to grow and be conformed to His image every day.
And how we do that is by reading God's word and praying.
Obviously, you mentioned the Lord's Prayer.
Do you have anything else on prayer, on reading God's word, the idea of growing closer to God?
Yeah, well, part of the will of God is it's about communication.
And then the relationship in general is communication.
So reading God's word, that's him speaking to you, but you need to speak in return and ask him things.
And you don't know what you're going to get for the Bible if you don't ask.
Yeah.
So I think that's just really important.
Yeah.
You said something amazing sometime.
It's like whenever you stand before God and yeah.
Do you remember that?
Yeah, I think.
You probably put me this far here.
It was basically, you can stand before God one day and he'll just ask you, he's like, why didn't you ask for this?
So we have prayer, which is an ultimate resource.
And God could just say, okay, why didn't you ask me for all these things?
Yeah.
And there's a verse.
As James said, if you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives liberally.
Obviously, if you want to know the will of God for life, it's to know him.
And it's to grow in your relationship with God, which is to read God's word and pray.
But he says that, if any of you lacks anything, come to me.
Just as a father wants to give good gifts to his children, God wants to give good gifts to us.
Asking you to receive that your joy may be full.
Exactly.
And those are the things that we're called to ask for in faith that God guarantees to give us.
It's those promises that God gives us.
So that's to know God and then to grow in our relationship with God is the next stage.
Yeah.
So we've got to know God and we've got to grow in our relationship.
Is there anything else?
To glorify God.
So that's the second part of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
We've added grow because I think that's important.
And then thirdly is to glorify God.
Worship is a term that is used often, but the way worship is expressed is our bodies becoming living sacrifices that glorify God.
They are physical demonstrations of His love.
In Romans 12.1, it says that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, on to God.
That whenever we establish a relationship with God and we grow close to Him, we are called every day just to be living representations of Jesus Christ.
We are called to just offer our bodies as living sacrifices, to sacrifice our thoughts, our desires, our wants, everything that is human and within us, that is sinful, that is carnal.
And we put that aside and we focus on God and offer our bodies as living sacrifices.
Not to mention in Genesis, in Genesis, like that's the purpose of mankind being created was to glorify God.
Like we are the image of God and that's how we were created.
And then obviously man has fallen from that point.
But that was what we were always created to do, was to give glory to him.
Exactly.
It's a beautiful thing.
And in Matthew 5, it says that we're called to be salt and light.
And it says, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your heavenly father.
The whole point of once you know God is you're called to be salt and light.
Salt is reactionary, it's put to things.
The whole point is we are to be put to the world, that we are to demonstrate God's love to the world, that we are to be salt and light, and that just as salt makes you thirsty, we're called to make people thirsty for God.
We're called to be light that shines, by reading God's word, that shines light in our lives, and in that light then is transparent in other people's lives.
And we do that for the sole purpose so that other people may glorify God, that other people may look to our lives and that they will see, look at those works, look how they're different, how they're knowing God, growing in their relationship with God, and now glorifying God, and they want that same thing.
And that's sort of the mentality that we're trying to operate in.
So, what else?
Is there anything else you'd like to add to that?
Being honest, I've heard that answer a couple of times before in church, and I always kind of thought it was a cop out, because I have specific questions that we kind of talked about at the start, and that still doesn't give me an answer.
Except now I realize that it does, because you literally have freedom to do whatever you want to do, because the will of God, it's so wide-ranging, because it's about your character.
It's about the person you need to become.
It's all about what you need to do with your life, because that will come as a part with your character.
If your character is more like Christ, then you'll do Christ-like things in the way, in the choices that you make.
And I think St.
Augustine, there's a quote from him, I quite like it, it says, love the Lord your God and do as you please.
So if you got that relationship with God in your life, you can do whatever you want to do.
And in regards to the will of God, you can make whatever choices you want to make because of that you love God.
Yeah, so like, right, what you're saying is, I can just lie then?
Yeah, well, you have to also understand, like Jesus said in John 14, 15, he said, those who love me keep my commands.
So love Lord your God and do as you please, but to love God, you have to keep his commands.
And because you love God, or out of reading your Bible, you will love God more.
It's a kind of a circle.
You will know what his will is and you'll know what he wants you to do.
So out of loving God, you'll do the right things.
And so it's not an excuse to do whatever you want to do, it's an excuse to make whatever choices you want.
Like there is no ways of right and wrong.
because if you love someone, then you want to be obedient to them.
Whenever you're in your marriage, whenever you have someone, if you had a husband who kept on committing adultery, day after day after day, without any repentance or remorse, and kept doing it and said he was going to do it for the rest of his life.
There's obvious questions there that needs to be raised.
That's not the way that you love someone.
The way that we love God is once we know and have a relationship with God.
Again, it talks about how in 1 Corinthians 2, how everything is foolishness to other people.
But 1 Peter 1 talks about how we have the Spirit of God, which allows us to discern in Titus.
It talks about that as well.
We have the Spirit of God in us, so we have this desire to serve God.
Once we know Him, we have this desire to grow closer to Him, to glorify Him.
And so there's that complete transformation.
And again, if I love God, then that doesn't give me license to lie, because that's not an expression of true love.
Yeah, so there's complete freedom to do whatever you want, but there's also responsibility to make the right choices within that.
It's getting the balance right.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
So it's like, especially when you think of vocations, et cetera, that we love God.
I have a desire to serve God, and I'm running after Him, but it requires me to take a step.
It requires me to make a decision as to what career path I'm going to go down, et cetera.
But within that, you know what I mean?
I'm loving God, and do whatever you want.
It sort of fits.
It's more a question of your character.
God wants you to be the best you can be in your character.
That just depends how you live with other people as well, and how you interact and make the choices that you want to make.
Yeah.
So that's quite a...
Those aren't really specific answers that we've given.
They're kind of covered in grace for a range of things.
So do you have a framework or any way we can apply this to specific choices that people may have to make?
Yeah.
So emphasis on the will of God is for you to know him, for you to grow in your relationship with him, and for you to glorify him.
Those are just the fundamentals.
And then as me and Peter were talking about there, whenever you're obedient and doing those things, then really the world's your oyster.
You can do whatever you want by abiding in those principles.
But to actually get specific, because obviously there's people who are picking up the phone right now and just, tell me what I'm supposed to do.
Who am I supposed to marry?
Rather, in Proverbs, they always give you spiritual principles, but it requires your discernment.
It requires, so they give you the objective, which is a command, but it requires you to pair that with the subjective, which is what you're going through in your life.
And then use the principles to help you to govern that.
So here's just four ways of looking at it and questions that you can ask yourself.
Principles that, like Proverbs, for example, will give it that you are to infuse your subjective, your life, whatever you're going through with these things.
So number one is gifts.
What are the gifts that God has given you?
James talks about every good gift comes from a father, and God has given gifts to all of his children.
So it's actually about acknowledging those and being in prayer, again, growing in relation to God, reading God's word is how you discern that and having other people in your life.
Number two is the context God places you in in order to utilize those gifts.
It's important to understand that God may place you in environments where that aligns with what he's gifted you in.
So if you have an ability or a gift in speaking, then God will place you in a public domain to do that.
But it's also important to understand that God can actually propel you in the opposite direction.
Like the Apostle paul, he was a Jew, Orthodox Jew, trained as a Pharisee.
I think he lists it out in one of his letters.
Like he's the Jew of the Jews.
And where does God send him?
To the Gentiles, like the exact opposite of what he should.
And again, from a human point of view, he should have been sent to the Jews.
That was his strength.
He would be able to debate those guys all day because he would know what they learned.
But God sent him to the Gentiles instead.
And that's just like, there's so many examples from scripture.
Exactly, like Gideon, for example.
32,000 trips he had in possession, and God told him to limit those down to 300.
Why is it that God propels us in the opposite direction?
And there's so many moments in our life where God is trying to teach us dependency, where God is trying to teach us to be completely reliant on him.
So understand guests and understand context, but understand that God could be placing you in an opposite context like he did with the Apostle paul, like he did with Gideon, because he's trying to teach you to be reliant on him and to understand that your guests belong to God and all glory goes to him.
Number three is again, God's word.
Actually align your guests where God's taking you in God's word.
And number four is prayer and accountability.
Yeah, this is so important because you have to have people in your life, mentors, parents, older Christians, who can speak into your life, can recognize those guests, can recognize where God's putting you in, and can speak scriptures into your life, and can pray for you, and they'll be able to give you direction.
Yeah, you need people around you who understand the word of God, because there might be situations where you think it's okay to do something, but maybe there is somewhere in the Bible that says it's probably not a good idea.
Somewhere in the Proverbs, for example, it talks about a lot of things that may be okay, but aren't probably the best idea.
Yeah, I completely agree.
So those are four ways.
There's the framework.
What are your gifts?
What are your context?
What's God's word?
Prayer and accountability.
Those are four things, again, that you can run through to discern where you're at.
And we were thinking about a metaphor or an analogy.
And so podcasts, they're pretty apt because you're listening to one right now.
But for us, we have this here thing where we put our podcast three and it tells us about audio.
It gives us a framework as to what makes a good podcast, et cetera.
But it's up to us what content we put in that.
Okay, so that's what we're trying to convey here.
We're giving you a framework, the same way this application gives a framework, but it requires you, the person, the individual, to fill that with your own content, to fill that with your own life, to fill that with your own choices.
Yeah, what you're gifted in and what you're doing.
So that's what we're trying to convey there.
I think an important thing to highlight, which is what we've discussed at the start and are coming to now, is a famous preacher, book writer, Douglas Wilson, says that it's our job to live in the will of God.
Now find out what it is and then go do it.
So there's important understanding of not living by sight, but by faith.
The important thing is that we actually just walk in God's will and faith about this is where he's going to take.
And that sounds scary, but that again is teaching the whole principle in the Bible by being reliant on him.
And again, it comes back to those points that we were making about knowing him and growing our relationship with God.
The best way you can grow in your relationship with God is by becoming completely reliant and dependent on him.
The will of God is never for you to stand still in your faith.
You always need to be moving forward.
And a verse for this is Ephesians 2.10.
For we are God's masterpiece.
He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
So Ephesians 2.10, there is a will of God for our lives that we are called to walk in, but walk in faith and not by sight.
So actually take that step of what God calls us to do and actually walk in that.
So are there any other things you might think hold people back?
Look, so you said live by sight, not by faith.
Yeah.
Sorry, live by faith, not by sight.
But are there any other things that might hold people back from living the will of God in their lives?
Well, fear.
If you want to go back, again, the Old Testament, whenever they were, the amazing feat of God bringing his people out of Egypt and the miracles that were shown, the parting of the Red Sea, and then they were brought to Canaan, which was the promised land.
And what stopped them from walking in the will of God and for what he had planned for them was fear.
They sent spies and they seen these giants and they seen the walls and they said, we can't do it.
We can't do it.
We can't walk in that.
And then it's very interesting because later after the wilderness period, which is like 40 years, you have Rahab and she basically takes these spies in who are sent in after 40 years.
And she basically talks about how we were afraid of you because we had heard about Israel and everything that had happened in Egypt.
So if they just had faith and walked in the will of God, they would have taken Canaan and stepped into God's will.
But it was fear that stopped that and 40 years too late.
That didn't have to be the case.
And so fear.
Yeah.
And I've, I don't actually look at this myself, but I've heard it said that there's 365 times in the Bible, it says, do not fear.
So one for each day of the year.
I haven't actually looked into that myself, but I've heard that a couple of times.
I've heard that as well.
Have you heard that?
It's quite true.
We'll take it for its salt.
Yeah, that is true.
It's pretty cool.
Something I'm definitely guilty of is procrastination.
I think we're all probably guilty of that to some degree.
But yeah, you can just keep putting off the will of God.
So you may have choices you need to make, but it's just, even with my eyeballs, that was kind of the case.
I didn't want to have to force myself to make the decisions because there was so much responsibility with that.
So I just put off the decision and put off the decision until the point where, okay, if God wants me to get into this place, I'll get into this place.
So that was kind of a procrastination point as well.
Mm-hmm, no, I completely got that.
Like even if you think, if we take this individually and in one day, okay, which is important to do because Jesus says, don't worry about tomorrow.
It's actually about winning the day, focusing on the day.
And whenever you wake up, it's like, what's the first thing that you do?
because I'm like, I'm gonna be radical on this, but I don't think it is.
Like the fact I'm even saying this is potentially radical is I don't think it is a good thing for our society is, we need to pray.
As soon as you wake up, as soon as your eyes open, why are you not praying to God?
because he's the one who's opened them.
And he's the one who's given you breath, and he's the one who's given you another day, another day to, if you don't know God.
The way I see it is your breath, that breath is given to you to either know God, or that breath is given to you to grow closer to him.
So whenever you wake up, you need to pray.
And you need to start, and that's what I was saying, people just go on their phone straight away.
That's what I do.
Yeah, exactly.
And the problem with that is, there's so much psychological literature on this.
Neurologically expands your brain, basically, and it releases dopamine and stretches it, and basically means that you can't actually focus.
because you're giving people know a little about a lot.
So they're given a lot of information, and they know so little about it.
And that's what phones, you're just getting pumped with information, with Instagram posts, with comparison, with new political ideologies, with what Joe Biden's doing, and Kamala Harris, and the coronavirus.
And just in 60 seconds, you're filled with 30 different things, okay, that aren't even close to God.
And that's the whole point, is that, you know what I mean?
If you want to win the day, you've got to win the first hour.
I've heard someone say that you've got to pray, and you've got to understand that you need to know God, you need to grow in your relationship with God, and you need to glorify God.
And you need to walk in faith about what he's got for you, and not procrastinate, and not go on your phone.
Basically, which we're all guilty of doing.
Me especially.
So, I think another one is God's discipline.
Okay, so a season in your life where God is actually cultivating you.
So it's actually by his will, that he is just withholding you.
So you're thinking like, God, I'm ready.
I'm pumped.
I'm ready to go.
I'm ready to do this thing.
Wherever you want me to go, I'll go.
But you're not ready.
Yeah.
You told me earlier, you're leading the Nexus team this year, is that right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you almost had to be...
Do you think you had to be prepared for that role, or could you have just come in three years ago and led the Nexus team?
No, that's the whole point.
The whole way they've got framework is there's four stages, and you go up through those, and then by the end of it, you're potentially ready for leadership.
And whenever I think of, whenever I'm 15, 16, I just wasn't ready.
As much as I like to think, you know, I'm wise, I've got the Bible on my side.
Come on, don't limit me.
And that's what we feel.
It's like, I've got the Bible, like the Bible says the first time before, let no one despise your youth.
It's like, I was thinking, it's like, I can lead an excess team.
It's like, no, you can't.
It's like, you're despising youth, man.
That's not what's happening.
God is withholding you from that because he's trying to cultivate you.
He's trying to mold you and shape you so you can be in a better position in the future to actually do what he's called you.
So don't actually just, there's a parable in Matthew 13 where it talks about how a farmer goes and succeed and then the next morning there's weeds and he says, someone comes and says, he's done this and he said, it's the enemy.
Don't actually think that it's the enemy all the time that's stopping you from the will of God.
Understand and always self-reflect that God is actually cultivating me or shaping me in this moment.
So what do you think?
What else can stop you?
I think the final thing I probably think of is sin.
So if it's a particular sin in your life that you just keep going back to.
So you said sometimes it's not the enemy, sometimes it is.
The saint is tempting you or like three enemies of the Christian is the devil, the flesh and the world.
So like there's lots of room in all those places for sin.
And sometimes there's a sin you can't, you just can't shake.
So again, that's why I've talked a lot about community groups and accountability with sin.
And because in order to actually be living in the will of God and to glorify him, you need to shake off the sin in your life, which comes through confession and through community groups and helping each other grow and come close to God.
And also that feeds back into reading your Bible, prayer and all those kind of spiritual disciplines that we talked about before.
It all connects.
So yeah, those are things that can stop or be a hindrance.
So just conclusions on what this podcast has been about, about knowing the will of God for your life.
The way that we've came at it in this angle is you have to know God, that that's his desire for you to have an established relationship.
And then it's to grow in your relationship with God.
And then once you're growing in your relationship with God, it's about glorifying God and just being a public expression of his grace and his mercy in your life.
And then we've talked a little bit about a framework that you can ask yourself that gives a bit more specificity into what you're thinking and what you're doing.
And then we've talked about that whole motif centered throughout that podcast was walking in faith and not by sight, actually walking in what God's got for you.
And then the last was things that may be holding you back.
Just talking about sin, fear, procrastination, talking about how God's gonna shape and cultivate you.
And just about being reflective on those things.
So that's everything for this week.
And we'll see you guys on the next podcast.
Bye.
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