What is the difference between God's Will and God's Purpose?
Most people use the same two words synonymously, but I believe there is a difference. I also believe that not knowing the difference is what's keeping you stuck from doing what God has called you to do.
I'm saying this so you don't think I'm just being pedantic! I want to help you get unstuck! 🙂
Ephesians 1:4b says:
In love he predestined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will.
If someone comes to you and says, "will you do xyz for me," they're making a request for you to DO something. In other words, it requires some action.
In the same way, God's will is WHAT He wants you to do and the reason (or the WHY) He wants you to do it, is His purpose.
God's Will in Action
Now, when God tells us to do something, we don't always know what His reason, His why or His purpose is. Sometimes it doesn't even make sense to us. And when it doesn't make sense it could be the very reason we fail to take action.
So the will of God tells us what God wants us to do... what action God wants us to take, but the purpose of God will show us why God wanted us to take that particular action.
I write blog articles, I have two podcasts - this one included - and I create videos (sometimes).
I do all of these things with purpose, but creating content isn't my purpose. I create content to inspire and influence other women with the Word of God because I want them to experience the truth of God in a tangible way.
These women may never meet me in person and they might not even know the influence my articles, podcasts and videos had on them, but if a seed is sown, I'm fulfilling my assignment.
So How Do You Discover God's Will For Your Life?
It's all there, right in Ephesians 1.
In Ephesians 1: 3, Paul in his letter says, "Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even has he chose us in him before the foundation of the world."
So here Paul is telling you, don't need to etch your own path or envy what someone else has because what you're searching for is already within you, ready and waiting to be discovered.
And it wasn't just put inside of you when you were born, it goes way back to the foundation of the world.
You access those spiritual blessings through Christ Jesus (verse 7), "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory."
You'll discover God's will for your life through a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ
This is though prayer, meditating His Word, worshipping him and honouring him by doing what He tells you to do.
As you spend time praying, meditating and worshipping Him, your mind is being renewed in accordance with Romans 12:2 and your relationship with Him will give you the courage to step out into what He tells you to do.
Basically you can't do His will or live out His purpose for your life without Him. He knows you like none other. He knows what makes you happy, what makes you sad, what excites and motivates you as well as those things that's going to make you miserable.
So he's never going to tell you to do what someone else in doing in the exact same way that that someone is doing it if He knows it's going to make your life a living hell.
You could be making all the money in the world and still be miserable!
This is the reason God Will for your life is a mystery. Because no one except God can tell you what His Will for your life is.
I hear you, "what about those prophecies, words of knowledge, visions, dreams"... these are all from God but I can tell you with utmost assurance, if you don't have a good relationship with God through Jesus Christ, even the best prophecy will stay inactive until you receive that heart assurance.
The prophecies, words of knowledge, visions, dreams etc should send you right back into His presence to:
- Give you confirmation
- Prepare you for the journey ahead
- Reveal more of the mystery of His will (Jeremiah 33:3)
Declare With Me
Hold up your Bible and declare:
God has a will and a purpose for my life and as I surrender my all to Him and spend time in His presence, His will for my life will be revealed. No book (except His Word) can fully show me His will and design for my life. I want the real me to emerge and I refuse to be a carbon copy of anyone else. Amen!