Andy Stanley - Discovering Gods Will Study Guide: How to Know When You Are Heading in the Right Direction

Discovering Gods Will Study Guide

Published by Multnomah Books
2004 by North Point Ministries, Inc.
International Standard Book Number: 978-1-59052-379-7

Unless otherwise idicated, Scripture quotations are from:
The Holy Bible, New King James Version
1984 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Other Scripture quotations are from:
New American Standard Bible ( NASB ) 1960, 1977, 1995
by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
The Holy Bible, New International Version ( NIV )
1973, 1984 by International Bible Society,
used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House
The Holy Bible, King James Version ( KJV )

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

M ULTNOMAH and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout prior written permission.

For information:
MULTNOMAH BOOKS
12265 ORACLE BOULEVARD, SUITE 200
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80921

eBook ISBN: 978-0-307-56389-7

v3.1

by Andy Stanley

If I had to summarize this series in two points, they would be:

1. God has a personal vision for your life.

2. He wants you to know it even more than you do.

That may come as welcome news. It might even be a complete shock. Because if youre like most people, this isnt the first time youve thought about Gods will for your life. It could be one of those nagging questions that follows you through life as you face different decisions. Maybe youve even looked in the Bible before, hoping to unlock Gods secret plan for your existence. But that can be frustrating, too. Where do you start? Should you climb a mountain like Moses and expect to get the answer written in stone? Or wait for strange dreams, like Peter, in hopes of finding direction there?

Friends, parents, even church leaders often give conflicting advicenot to mention all the books that have been written on the subject. So how do you know?

As sure as God made you, He also has a vision for how your life will go. He doesnt force it on you, or play tricks on you to see if youll stray. He stands by, patiently waiting for hearts that will turn to Him with a sincere desire to know His will at any given moment. And since He also invented communication, you can rest assured that when God is ready to give you direction, you cant miss it.

That being said, there are some things you can do to get in on the amazing plan God has in mind for your life. Im looking forward to spending the next several weeks together Discovering Gods Will!

Take a moment to think about where you are today. How would you describe your progress? Is your work (or school) going well? Is it challenging satisfying overwhelming? Do you consider yourself successful at this point? Now think about your relationships. Are you where you want to be in your family life? Or with friendships? How are you doing financially? Have you met some key financial goals you set for yourself? Have you experienced any setbacks?

For each of your responses to these questions, you could probably include an explanation of why things are the way they are. You may point to certain circumstances that came together to shape the outcome. There may be a person who holds the key to your success or failure in a particular area. Maybe its a series of breaks, good or bad, that has impacted your situation at the moment. Or perhaps it was just your upbringing in general that set you on an inevitable path in life.

Circumstances and other people have an unmistakable impact on your life, but the focus of this series is on the part you control: your decisions. Every person is the product of his or her decisions in life. In fact, your decisions say more about you than any set of circumstances ever will no matter how good or bad they may be! Helen Keller, Thurgood Marshall, Bill Clinton, Tiger Woods, Howard Hughes some faced overwhelming odds, some received the greatest of opportunities. But in the end, for better or worse, their decisions determined their course in life.

Your life today is the sum total of the decisions you have made. You can try to blame your parents. You can try to blame the government or the economy or your friends. But in the end, you will be measured by your part in the decisions you have made. For some people, the focus in life is trying to gain control of their environment. But successful people are those who recognize that we never have complete control over our circumstances. Instead, they focus on making good decisions in spite of limitations.

So how did you end up where you are today? Was it your upbringing? Hard work? Your good looks? In this session, well give you a chance to delve a little deeper into the decisions youve made in life so far and gain a deeper understanding of just how your choices have impacted your past and will shape your future.

A. In column A below, write down the names of the first three famous people that come to mind. They can be people from the history books, or someone alive today.

B. In column B, beside each of the names above, write a few words to convey something that is noteworthy about him or her. It may be a positive statement or a negative one.

C. In column C, write down at least one decision, for better or for worse, that played a part in making that person noteworthy.

Share your responses with the group.

A man makes decisions. But in the end, those decisions make the man.

From the video message, fill in the blanks.

1. Life is the sum total of the ________ we make.

2. Most people have some ________ about the decisions theyve made.

3. ________ wants to direct our lives.

4. Christians often give contrary ________.

5. What you do with your life is of utmost importance to ________.

6. The Bible talks about the ________, ________, and ________ will of God.

7. The ________ will of God refers to those things God is going to do, regardless.

8. God uses ________ and ________ to accomplish his providential will.

9. The ________ will of God refers to the dos and donts God has commanded.

10. The ________ will of God refers to personal decisions and plans for our lives.

11. The more ________ you are with the providential will of God, and the more ________ you are to the moral will of God, the easier it will be to discover the personal will of God for your life.