This episode explores and makes clear the two differing aspects of God’s will for us: His universal will for all and His particular will for each individual.

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Podcast Transcript

God’s universal will. As a loyal son of God, I am obligated to do my Father’s will. There are two aspects of His will for me that I must observe. The first is what may be characterized as God’s universal will; this is God’s will for me, as well as all other mortal sons and daughters of God. In past episodes I have focused exclusively on this aspect of God’s will. Examples of God’s universal will include: doing the Father’s will, living by faith, loving and serving others, being born of the spirit, increasingly showing forth the fruit of the spirit, self-control, making spiritual progress, communion with God, forgiveness, character development, loyalty to duty, and developing our personality.

God’s particular will. There is also a particular aspect of the Father’s will that applies exclusively to each individual child of God. The Father’s inner spirit carries for each of us a unique life plan, an ideal life and career that is specially formulated and crafted for each individual person. This is our life mission, our calling, our destiny. For example, God’s unique will for Jesus in his sojourn on our planet was that he reveal his loving heavenly Father to the world and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. This purpose is clearly stated by Jesus in Lk. 4:43 where he tells his disciples, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” Jesus referred to his special mission as “the Fathers business” as in Lk. 2:49, “I must be about my Father’s business.” The Father’s mission for John the Baptist was to appear as a forerunner of Jesus and to prepare the way for his appearance, to proclaim that, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt. 3:2)

Other examples of God’s unique will. To better understand God’s unique will for individuals other examples may be cited. In Jeremiah 1:5 the prophet clearly records God’s unique will for him: “Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’” Mary was called to be the mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth was likewise called to be the mother of another son of destiny, John (the Baptist). In Lk. 1:30-31, 36 it is recorded that, “the angel said to her, ‘Fear not, Mary, for you have found favor with God. You will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. Your kinswoman, Elizabeth has also conceived a son.’” The mission of the twelve apostles was to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and to minister to the sick as is recorded in Luke 9:2: “And he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal.”

Discovering God’s unique will. How do we discover God’s unique will for our lives? First, we need to learn to cooperate more fully with God’s indwelling spirit. Our motives, our decisions, our faithful determinations, and our supreme desires constitute real and effective cooperation with God’s spirit. We can consciously increase our cooperation with the Father’s spirit by choosing to respond to divine leadings, loving God and desiring to be like Him, and loving man and sincerely desiring to serve him. As we grow and ascend in our attunement to God’s indwelling spirit He is increasingly able to register his picturization’s of our destiny with growing vividness and conviction upon our own evolving consciousness.

The difficulty in determining God’s unique will. We must discover this plan for ourselves through learning to discern and become more receptive to God’s inner leadings. This is not an easy task. It is difficult to discriminate between the natural reactions of our mortal mind and the leading of God’s indwelling spirit. These are problems which will have to be solved through individual discrimination and personal decision. But when we do succeed in determining God’s unique will for us we may answer his call, accomplish his mission, and achieve our destiny.

We are the architects of our own destiny. As a personality, as God’s free will son, I have the divine privilege participating in the creation of my own destiny. We are most truly the architects of our own destiny. This destiny is determined moment by moment by the achievements of the day-by-day living. The acts of today are the destiny of tomorrow. Our destiny consists in the creation of new and spiritual goals and then in responding to the allure of these goals. The more these goals align with God’s will, the more completely we realize and achieve God mission for us.

We are free to accept or reject God’s call. As free will beings it is left to us to accept or reject any part or all of God’s plan. A famous example of the personal rejection of God’s call was Jonah’s initial refusal to go to Nineveh and proclaim God’s message, as is described in Jon. 1:1-2: “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” After Jonah’s attempt to avoid God’s call failed, he prayed to God, and was given a second chance. He went to Nineveh, proclaimed God’s message, and thereby fulfilled his destiny.

The uniqueness of God’s call. The uniqueness of God’s call for each individual is well illustrated by the story of Hosea. He was called by God to take a harlot for his wife as is described in Hos. 1:2: “the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go take to yourself a wife of harlotry…for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord.’” When the woman married Hosea and still did not give up her harlotry Hosea was again called by God to take her back as his wife, as is recorded in Hos. 3:1: “And the Lord said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who…is an adulteress; even as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turned to other gods.’” God called Hosea to this strange mission to illustrate His love for Israel and that He would take Israel back as his own even after they had turned to other gods.

A fulfilled life. God’ mission for each individual may be great or small. We may be called to minister, or to support those who minister. As we discover and answer God’s call we attain a fulfilled life. Each person must seek and discover for himself the special tasks that God’s inner spirit calls him to accomplish, and then dedicate himself to the achievement of these tasks. In this way we answer God’s special and unique call to service and achieve our destiny.

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