We have been looking at how you can know what God’s will is when it isn’t quite obvious. This week I want to suggest that sometimes the best way to know God’s will for you is to consider which option you most desire – another way of putting it would be to do the option which you feel is right.

I have left this way of determining God’s will to last as it is highly subjective. Desires are often very misleading and what feels right one day can feel wrong the next. This is because, like the rest of our humanity, our desires have been damaged by sin and sinful desires arise frequently.

Also, we are right to be careful in following our desires in decision making because we know that is how most non-Christians choose what they will do. They are not interested in looking at what God’s revealed will in the Bible says about a particular action. Instead they are only seeking which action will give the most pleasure to their desires and senses. Whereas the Christian knows that many things that God wants you to do are hard and painful and cause displeasure in your senses. So the Christian chooses to do what God desires, not necessarily what they desire or what feels right.

But in this article I want to encourage you not to swing to the other side of the pendulum and ignore your desires altogether. Paul says: ‘For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature’ (Galatians 5:17). What Paul is affirming is that Christians do have sinful desires, but also that there are spiritual desires in the Christian. In other words, some of our desires are actually healthy desires given to us by the Holy Spirit. To ignore these spiritual desires that God gives you would be wrong and so you should try and be aware of such promptings when making important decisions. An example from the Bible would include Paul encouraging Christians to follow feelings when choosing whether to marry or not: ‘If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married’ (1 Corinthians 7:36).

So when you are trying to determine the will of God for you it is important to take into account which option you most desire. Do you consider your feelings and passions when you try to determine the will of God for you?

Joel Radford.