How do tou know when something is "God's Will"?

Question

This is a serious question and I mean no disrespect.
I just finished reading a book called "God's Promise" about a mother's journey with autism (her son was born with it).
The mother refers many times to something being "God's will" or "plan". That she would try a different therapy if it is God's will. Many things she did not put a lot of effort into because she did not feel it was "God's Plan"...these are things that today have shown significant changes with children with autism.
Please only serious answers because this seriously has a special place in my heart. I am saddened by the things I see could have been done, and the thought of "what could have been" had they were done.
So all you believers out there please tell me how one knows what "God's plan" is? I know you pray, but what form of answers do you get to know what his plan is?

Answer 1

I have that book.

We really don't know God's will in our lives until it is done. When something happens that isn't neccessarily good but teaches you something good that you can apply to your life or teaches you something that gives you wisdom and inspiration, you know God has done his will in your life.

I didn't know my dad... my parents got divorced and he left 4 states away. He was abusive and I knew that but growing up I wanted to know him. I prayed to God a lot and I wanted to know him. He moved back here after 10 years and I got to know him. He was addicted to crack and heroin... he was hateful... he was awful. I got the chance to know him tho like I always prayed for. He died a few months after he moved back here.

God knew I didn't need him in my life.

I think God knew what he was doing and this was his will. He let me know my dad, and not just from stories and memories from when I was little. The timing was perfect... everything was right.

Now there are different situations for different people. Before you say "Well if God's will for you is keeping your drug addict abusive father out of your life, why is it that so many kids grow up with that?"

The answer is that everyone is different. I respond differently to different things, not the same as everyone else. You can explain God to two non-believers and cause one to believe but not the other. Yes, what you say to the one who became a believer did not work for the other. What I am saying is that people and situations are put in your life to teach you things you otherwise would have not known. The non-believer who was changed needed you because you had the right kind of wisdom that he would understand. The non-believer who did not change needs someone elses wisdom. Make sense?

Answer 2

The only way to know if something is God's will is to know His word. If it has biblical backing it's God if not it isn't. Here's the thing... whatever reason this woman had for not treating her son in these other ways doesn't matter. If you're a believer, God's will or plan will be done whether she gets the treatments or not. If it is God's will for her son to be cured he will be and if not then there are other things that are good that will come from this. Yes, good things can come from any situation, even this. It's not that God wishes for anyone to be ill, but that there is a greater purpose in life that we cannot always understand. This answer may be taken out of wack, but my intentions are to show you that there aren't always answers that will satisfy you.

Answer 3

I think they use a magic 8 ball or something....

"Dear lord, should i take my son to this therapist who claims he will significantly help my son in dealing with his autism?"
*shakes magic 8 ball* *8 ball replies: Definitely not*
"Oh dear lord, thank you for the warning!"

The part I do not understand is... If the child HAS autism.... would that not be part of god's plan as well? So how can god's plan be for this child to have autism but at the same time god's plan is for the child to NOT have autism?! If god's plan was for the child to be autism free, would he not have created the child without autism?

Answer 4

God's will isn't a "fuzzy feeling" that people get.

Also, it's not something that can be "added onto" by people who try to plot, think, and graph what God's will may or may not be.

Lastly, it's not God's will that anything bad should happen to anyone.... But it is God's will that He uses bad circumstances to create something good for us.

The Book of Job in The Bible explains some of this... And later, when Jesus, in The Lord's Prayer, said, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" just totally leaves things in God's hands... Jesus' prayer does not say, "Thy will be done, and please keep me posted."

Answer 5

God, if he exists or not, is a completely impartial observer of his creations. He very rarely steps into the fray that is human affair, as a bible shows you. He only steps in when it is completely neccessary, and even then only rarely. While if he exists, he cares about his individual creations as much as any other, why do you think God has a plan for you? In the grand scheme of things we are but cogs in a great machine, and if God exists and has some kind of devine plan, I expect it would be brought into fruition but human acheivements and movements as a whole rather than on an indivual basis.

The notion of God's Will affecting an individual is more likely to be a gut feeling, or perhaps justification of a descion that may seem incorrect. Trust your senses, and your heart. If God really has a plan for you, it will be completely unavoidable, so don't look for it.

Answer 6

You'll just know what was meant to be, not always "why", because that can never make sense until we know we've reached the end of the road.... if you will

I mean you can look back and think yes that was God's Will, it was what He wanted. Or, it will be shrugged off, faithlessly. And any glint of belief that your angels are looking out for you will be totally disregarded. If you don't accept that God's desire is much greater than our individual.

Answer 7

I don't think you ever really "know" it until after it happens. When you see that you were able to benefit from the experience then you know that God had his hand in it and it was his "will" being done. If you are a believer and you want something and you pray and have faith and hope and it doesn't happen then you say "it must have been God's will." Because you know it was not your own.

Answer 8

I think the best way to look at it is, god created man to be smart and resourseful. Anything that man can create or develop entails the true intension of god. If god did not intend man to create or do something then he would not have given us the abilities to do it. In the case of the child with autism, the mother is fooling herself. I believe that you give a sick child every chance that it can get to get better. Who is she to decide what is god's plan or not. What is she a prophet or something?

We used to have neighbors who said that medicine was not in god's plan. They believed that if they got sick god would make them better. The husbund died of prostate cancer that could have been easily prevented had he gone to the doctor. The most simple lesson that god teaches us is that humans have to take steps to allow his power to work. You have to plant the tulip bulb before god will help it grow.

Answer 9

A lot of times you can only see his will being played out in hind sight, because it's hardly ever what we would expect. Then you look back at how everything fit together and you have an "ohhhhhh" moment. One thing's for sure - If you've prayed and wholeheartedly given your life and the situation over to him, then you can rest assured he's in control of whatever happens.

Answer 10

i don't care the two way, inspite of the shown fact that I make it a element to capitalize Gods yet not god till concerning a particular god just to annoy boastful fundies who think of in basic terms they have the solutions.