Principle Eight: Account For Your Inclinations

When we are trying to discern the Lord’s direction, we should also consider our inclinations. We should ask, “What would I really like to do?”

Too often, Christians assume that God’s will is an ugly, repugnant thing that they would prefer to avoid if they could. God does not usually lead us in ways that thwart our inclinations. In fact, Jesus promised rest for our souls. He told us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt 11:30). David taught that when we delight in the Lord, He gives us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). In other words, God typically leads us to want the things that He wants to give us.

3. Why would people think that God’s leading has to be unpleasant?

Principle Nine: The Peace of God

Many Christians believe that the way to find God’s will is to pay attention to a kind of subjective inner sense that God wants them to make one decision and not another. They often define this inner sense as a feeling of peace, and for evidence that God provides this inner peace they appeal to Colossians 3:15.

I am willing to entertain the possibility that God can produce some sort of non-revelatory intuition in the conscience of the believer.

Now I have to speak a word of caution. Since this leading is providential, it involves an element of human interpretation. Consequently, this inner sense must never be taken as infallible. As with other factors, our subjective sense of God’s leading needs to be evaluated, weighed, and considered. We must not treat it as if it were a form of divine revelation.

The fact that this sense is not revelation also means that we should not look to it as the primary key to God’s leading. We should take inner impressions into account, but they should hardly ever be the determining factor when we are seeking God’s direction.

2. What would you say to a person who claimed an inner “leading” about what another person should do (for example, “I sense that God wants you to marry that man,” or, “I have peace that God’s will is for you to invest in that stock”)?

3. Is there any difference between saying, “I have peace about this decision,” and saying, “God told me to do this?” If so, what is the difference?