You Will Learn To Know

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2

IF THERE’S ANYTHING we want for our kids, it is that they would know and walk in the will of God. But how are they going to know what his will is? Should they expect to hear him speak to them about big and small decisions in their subconscious thoughts? Should they “try on” particular decisions to see if they have “a peace” about them? Should they seek to interpret God’s voice through their circumstances?

As much as we and our children might like to receive divine messages telling us specifically what to do and where to go, nothing in the Bible indicates that God guides us in this way. Just because God spoke in a certain way to particular believers at one point in redemption history doesn’t mean that’s the way he speaks to ordinary believers today.

Yet we can be sure that God will guide our children. He won’t necessarily provide them with a map that tells them exactly where to go and what to do, but he has provided them with a compass. This compass is his word to us in the Bible. It will constantly and unerringly point our children toward God’s will for their lives.

We don’t want our children to leave decision-making behind in pursuit of divine messages. We don’t want them to be in continual pursuit of a supernatural, extrabiblical word from God that will tell them where to go and what to do. We don’t want them to try discerning God’s will solely through feelings of peace or through interpreting the circumstances of life, which can be ambiguous. We don’t want them to live in fear of missing the message. Instead, we want the minds of our children to be transformed as the work of the Spirit applies the Word of God to their hearts, awakening a response and leading them to follow him. We want them to have the mind of Christ so they will be able to discern what is good and pleasing and perfect.

Lord, do your transforming work in ________ through your Word, that ________ might learn to know your heart, your mind, and your desires. Give ________ the mind of Christ so that he will be able to make wise decisions that will be pleasing to you. Guide him in your way and by your Word to embrace your will.