Welcome to this seven-day devotional reading plan on understanding God’s will. You’ll discover that much of God’s will for your life can be discovered in the Bible. The more you know the Word of God, the better you will know the mind of God. These devotionals will prepare your heart to learn His will, know the direction you should go, trust His good plan for you, and then obey Him, wherever He leads you.
Rick Warren/Daily Hope
Day 1
Scripture: Romans 8:28
You’re Still on God’s “Plan A”
“We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
Romans 8:28 (NLT)
God does not have a plan B for your life.
No matter what has happened in your life, you’re still on God’s plan A. His original dream for your life is unchanged. It doesn’t matter what other people have done to you or what poor decisions you’ve made. You can still fulfill God’s dream for your life.
Even your mistakes are part of God’s plan. This truth will set you free if you claim it. It will set you free from thinking, “I’m not worthy to dream, because I’ve messed up too much. And I certainly don’t deserve to have a big dream.” You don’t have to believe those lies anymore. You serve a bigger God than that!
One of the most famous verses in the Bible says, “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28 NLT).
Everything is in God’s hands—the good, the bad, the evil, the poor decisions, the sins. He didn’t cause all of it, but He is still in control of it all, so He can make it all work together for good.
The Bible doesn’t say that everything is good—because it’s not. There is a lot of sin and evil in the world. But God causes it all to work together for good, for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose and His dream for their lives.
When you think God can’t put back together the pieces of your life, remember that God can do anything. He is still working out His plan for your life. And if you haven’t claimed it yet, He is still waiting to give you the dream He’s prepared for you.
When you surrender your life to Him, God will work to make all the pieces fit together so that your whole life serves His purposes on earth.
Day 2
Scripture: James 1:6
How to Be Stable in Ever-Changing Winds
“Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.” James 1:6 (NLT)
Have you ever made a tough choice but then started doubting yourself the moment you made the decision? You kept asking yourself if you did the right thing. Maybe you even agonized over it.
The Bible says when you do this, you’re like a wave pushed around in a storm: “But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do” (James 1:6-8 NLT).
When you depend on your own wisdom, you get tossed around by your doubts. Instead, God wants you to ask Him for guidance before you make a decision—and then trust Him and His goodness once the decision is made.
Trusting God sets you free from second-guessing yourself. You won’t be blown around, even if the winds keep changing and the future looks uncertain.
When you don’t trust God in your decisions, James says your loyalty will be divided between God and the world. In some translations of James 1:8, this divided loyalty is rendered as “double-minded.”
This comes from a Greek word that means “two-souled.”
It means you’re pulled in opposite directions, indecisive, and wavering back and forth. James says you shouldn’t expect God to give you His wisdom if you’re constantly second-guessing yourself. That’s because double-mindedness creates an unstable spiritual life. It affects your prayers and keeps you from receiving God’s insight.
But here’s the good news: God wants to give you wisdom! When you trust God in uncertain times—in all times—He will give you everything you need to make wise decisions.
Day 3
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 8:6
Know the Right Time to Do Something
“There is a right time and a right way to do everything, but we know so little!”
Ecclesiastes 8:6 (GNT)
In many aspects of life—from your business decisions to your closest relationships—timing can make all the difference. And, as a follower of Christ, it’s critical for you to stay tuned in to God’s timing.
Every great accomplishment involves timing. A successful catch in American football requires incredible timing between the quarterback and receiver. In business, good timing in the market—particularly decisions about hiring and expanding—can mean everything. If you sing, you know how important it is to keep time with the other musicians.
Many years ago, I wrote a book called The Purpose Driven Church. In the introduction, I compare leadership to surfing. No surfer says, “Let’s go make some waves today.” Surfers can’t create waves in the ocean. Only God can do that. Surfers wait for the waves that God creates.
That means surfers spend a lot of time waiting. Sometimes they might see a wave and let it go, knowing it’s not the right time. Then the surfer sees just the right wave, starts paddling faster and faster, catches the wave, rides the wave, and gets off the wave without wiping out.
Surfing looks easy, but it requires a lot of skill. The same is true in life. You have to develop the skill of timing. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 8:6, “There is a right time and a right way to do everything, but we know so little!” (GNT).
There’s a rhythm to life. Learning to do the right thing at the right time takes skill. Christians often call that skill “walking in the Spirit.” The more you grow as a follower of Christ, the better you get at walking in step with the Holy Spirit.
If you want to know the right time and the right way to do something, then you need to ask for help from the Holy Spirit. Then you keep your eyes open for how He is moving.
You can live life trying to make your own waves. Or you can learn to see and catch the waves God is making all around you.
Day 4
Scripture: 2 Chronicles 20:15
God’s Trying to Talk to You
“Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” 2 Chronicles 20:15 (NLT)
Prayer is a conversation, not a monologue. When you pray, don’t do all the talking! You can’t build a friendship with God if you don’t let Him talk to you.
How do you let God talk to you? Through the Bible. Much of what God wants to say to you is already in His Word. People are always looking for some sign, thinking, “I wish God would tell me what He wants me to do. I wish He would write it in the sky.” God is not going to write His will in the sky, because He’s already written it in a book.
Stop looking for a sign and start looking at Scripture. Stop looking for a vision and start looking for a verse. God’s will is in God’s Word. The more you read the Bible, the more you’re going to know what to do.
King Jehoshaphat was facing three enemy armies that teamed up and advanced against Him and the people of Judah. They knew that, in their own power, they would be defeated. So they prayed for help. This is what God said to them through one of His people: “‘Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s . . . You will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!’ Then King Jehoshaphat bowed low with his face to the ground. And all the people of Judah and Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the Lord” (2 Chronicles 20:15, 17-18 NLT).
Imagine an entire nation bowing down, with their faces to the ground, and worshiping God because He told them He would take care of it. Jehoshaphat and the people believed what God promised them, and it caused them to worship, not worry. When you believe what God has promised you, He will take care of it for you too.
God has so many amazing promises for you. But you’ll never know about them until you open the Bible and start reading.
Day 5
Scripture: James 1:21
Believe God’s Word Before You Open God’s Word
“So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.” James 1:21 (NLT)
You may not always understand what the Bible says. But to anchor your life on the solid foundation of God’s Word, you need to humbly accept whatever God tells you.
James 1:21 says, “So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls” (NLT). The word translated “accept” is a hospitality term. It means to receive like a stranger.
You are to receive God’s Word fully into your life. That means before you even open your Bible, you tell God that you accept whatever He tells you. You agree to believe His Word, whether or not you understand it. You trust Him.
But in order to accept God’s Word, you first have to take care of the “filth and evil” stuff in your life. You clean it out! Now, this doesn’t mean you need to clean up your life before you can come to God. Instead, it means sin can block you from hearing God. You can’t hear Him when you’ve got something else filling your mind and heart.
You’ve got to make space for the truth. Then, believing and applying God’s truth will change you and make you more like Jesus.
In the Bible, God often compares our accepting His Word to gardening. He wants us to accept the seeds He is planting in our hearts and minds. But before the seeding and the feeding comes the weeding. Before you meet with God, you have to take out the emotional and spiritual garbage in your life.
How do you do that? You confess and turn away from your sins. You admit to God what you’ve done that goes against His Word. You ask Him for forgiveness and thank Him in advance for how He is working in your life.
When you confess and accept and trust God’s Word, He can produce understanding
of the truth and the fruit of obedience in your life.
Day 6
Scripture: James 1:5
Two Steps Toward Knowing God’s Will
“If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him.”James 1:5 (TLB)
If you want to know God’s will, start with these two steps:
1. Admit you need guidance. Psalm 25:9 says, “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way” (NIV). If you’ve never felt God guiding you, maybe it’s because you’ve never admitted needing His guidance. You go to work assuming you already know what to do without ever praying first. You make financial decisions, vacation plans, or career decisions before stopping to pray about them. If you’re single, you might even ask someone out on a date without first asking for God’s guidance.
Stopping to admit you need God’s guidance is the first step in knowing God’s will for your life.
2. Ask God in faith for directions. The Bible says in James 1:5-6, “If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him; he will not resent it. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you, for a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (TLB).
Notice there are two keys to knowing God’s wisdom. First, you’ve got to ask the right person: God. You don’t ask your hairdresser, your mechanic, or a social media influencer. You need to ask the right person!
Then, you ask with the right attitude: expecting God to answer. Have you ever asked God to lead you, but you didn’t really expect Him to? You must ask, expecting God to answer. God is faithful. What He promises to do, He will do.
God honors faith, and He promises to give you wisdom for the next step of your life.
Day 7
Scripture: Hebrews 11:6
You Don’t Need to Know Everything
“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
Going through hard times is inevitable for all of us. Have you ever been in the middle of a trial and thought, “Why couldn’t God have given me a heads-up about this? That sure would have helped!”
God doesn’t explain His plan to us in advance for two reasons: First, we likely wouldn’t understand it. Our brains aren’t big enough to understand all of God’s ways. God is God, and we are not.
The second reason is that God wants us to trust Him. The Bible tells us over and over that the only way to please God is not through ritual or rules or religion, but through faith.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (NIV).
The major characters in the Bible—Moses, Joseph, Esther, the prophets, Ruth, Peter, Paul, John, Mary, and more—all of them probably wanted God to give them a heads-up as they experienced trials, temptations, persecution, suffering, unmet expectations, and circumstances that seemed out of control. Their faith was tested in incredible ways.
Like us, all they could do when they didn’t understand was trust. They had to trust that God knew better than they did, could see more than they could see, and was working out a good plan.
That’s what you’re going to have to do in those moments when you don’t understand why the plan isn’t going the way you want. When the business starts to fail, when your kid walks away from God, when your investments aren’t doing well, when your health takes an unexpected turn—that is God testing your faith.
That’s your time to step up and show Him what you believe!
When life doesn’t make sense, keep on trusting in God’s plan. Trust His wisdom, His timing, His promises, and His love.