welcome to the story.

Excerpt from my Sunday morning talk at Cross Pointe: God�s will is one of the most misunderstood things there is about God. And the phrase �God�s will� is one of the most abused sayings there is. More people have taken that phrase and distorted it out of proportion than almost any other idea out there about God. As a student leader and as a future pastor, I have seen more people rip that phrase out of context and mishandle it�s meaning. And unfortunately, many of the answers that people like me (pastors, mentors, etc) provide, I think, fall somewhere between misleading and unhelpful to their reality. These answers and formulas that we have provided and given to �figure out� God�s will have led to an unhealthy understanding that has the potential to fill us with guilt, frustration, and restlessness. When asked, �How do I find God�s will for my life?�, the easiest and most often used answer given has something to do with a mechanistic, equation-like, formula that simplifies God�s will into something that it was never intended to be. If what God wants from us is a relationship, and we use mechanistic formulas as a means to relate to God, we�re missing the point. For most of us, if we haven�t already, we have to make decisions about our future on a pretty regular basis. What school do I need to go to? Should I even go to college? Who should I marry? Who should I date? What occupation should I choose? These questions often fill us with pressure and anxiety. Naturally, many of us turn to God as a source of wisdom to lead us as we sort through these questions. But what happens when our prayers to God go unanswered? Or when we look to Scripture to show us the way and we don�t find what we�re looking for? Or we pray for God to open a door and instead of finding an open door where we thought it would be, we instead find a brick wall and we hit it head on? Drawing blanks on these questions can oftentimes fill us with just as much frustration and anxiety as the original questions do. And it can get even more frustrating when we are following the �formula� that a pastor has given or we�ve read in a book. We�re praying. We�re reading our Bible. We�re asking the advice of godly people. But we�re still not getting an answer. It can be extremely frustrating. Especially when you consider something as stupid as math (forgive me math teachers and parents). In math, A+B always equals C. Or 2+2=4. All the time. Unless of course you don�t agree with the original idea of arithmetic (which may or may not have some weight) and you would rather consider math a tool of evil people, which was and perhaps still is a part of my view. But in math, formulas work. You can plug numbers into a formula and you will get an answer. The same is true of a recipe. If you put in the ingredients and in the right amount, you will get a dish that tastes good. You see we understand formulas, equations, recipes, and blueprints. When mixed together, certain variables will yield certain results � an exquisite entr�e, gas for a two-cycle engine, or even a tall building. But it gets harder when deciphering God�s will and more importantly for deciphering God. The very nature of formulas collide head-on with the ways of God because they formulas are about control, predictability, and certainty. If you do certain things, then you will get the result you want. But what happens when you follow the �formula� to figure out God�s will and it doesn�t make sense. Or you don�t figure it out. It can be extremely frustrating. When you pray and pray and you don�t get what you want. Or don�t get an answer. It makes you feel like you did something wrong. Or that you didn�t mix the ingredients right. What complicates it even more is when people praise its simplicity. All you have to do is follow these seven steps and you�ll figure it out. It�s much more complicated than a cut-and-dry two-sentence equation. Think about a book like Prayer of Jabez. I was told if I read this book and prayed this prayer, then God would grant what I asked for and blessed me how I wanted to be blessed. Well what happens when people prayed that prayer and their parents weren�t miraculously healed? Or they prayed the prayer for a new job and they didn�t get the job? You see its not always as easy as a simple formula. Especially for something like God�s will. We have this idea that �God�s will� is some abstract point on a treasure map and if we can ever get our act together long enough, we�ll be able to get to the treasure, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. However. opening up this conversation that we�re going to have over the next few weeks is an idea that I think will help us shift our focus from reaching the �X� on the map and will reframe for us the discussion of �God�s will� beyond a point. The problem is that we so often focus in on the �will� and the �direction� and the �purpose� of finding and reaching that �point� that we forget the very essence of the one behind it all. And there are no shortcuts to that point. Over the next few weeks we�re going to talk about a couple of different elements that I think will open up to us a whole new realm of possibilities and a whole new way of seeing God and his �will� for our lives. Hopefully, we will all begin to see that God�s will is not to be viewed in legal terms, but through the perspective of His heart and passion for us. Where we realize we have been released to a creative, real, free, and full life that is beyond formulas. That is beyond us simply serving as pawns in God�s chess game as puppets on His string.