Books I will be Reading
Philip Jensen and Tony Payne’s Guidance and the Voice of God.
Bruce Waltke's Finding the Will of God: a pagan notion?
Garry Friesen’s Decision Making and the Will of God
J.I. Packer's Finding God's Will
Why? Because I am sadly not grounded enough on this to be able to articulate very well what I believe the Bible teaches on discerning God's will in our New Testament times and why I believe it. This is rather embarrassing to admit and it's a biggie. As a mother entrusted with 6 children I want to pass on God's truth to them and not my opinion apart from God. My children will always be faced with decision making ... all their lives. If I cannot even articulate this even though I think I know, am I living it out for the glory of God as an example to my children? Probably not.
Do I need books written by men to be able to understand this? God's Word is sufficient. But then, God also uses writings from men to help us think more Biblically, pointing us to the Word of God in a precise manner that I perhaps would not have thought to do. I do my best to be careful about what source I seek Godly counsel. And to me, reading the above books from proven men of God is just that... Godly counsel.





My Husband, My brother in Christ














Comments
Another great book on discovering God's will for your life is Step by Step by James C. Petty
Posted by: ukrainiac | September 8, 2007 01:35 PM
Thank you Ukraniac. I read your post linked above and reviews on this book.
The Amazon reviews were excellent and included:
I have just read this book after being involved in a study of Henry Blackaby's "Experiencing God" study. In Blackaby's study, the student is challenged to wait upon a revelation from God concerning His will before acting. As I pondered this idea, it seemed to be contrary to the apostle Paul's attempting to enter certain areas for the purpose of spreading the gospel only to be stopped by the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6-10). In Paul's letters, he makes mention of multiple attempts to visit the church's he had established only to be prevented by Satan (1 Thessalonians 2:18). Paul seemed to be acting contrary to Blackaby's method and this disturbed me.
After reading Petty's book, everything fell into place. Paul was acting in accordance with the principles given in Petty's book. He was being guided by wisdom and providence (two things key to the Scriptural teaching regarding God's will) and not by direct revelations from God.
James Petty challenges much of what is written today regarding searching out God's will for your life. This book has addressed many of my questions about understanding God's guidance in my life. It has given me a deeper understanding about what the Bible teaches regarding God's will and how I should make decisions. The only problem I had with the book was Petty's remark that Satan can sometimes place thoughts in our minds. I cannot figure out how Petty draws this conclusion from Scripture and he does not explain why he believes this in the book. (This one issue should certainly not dissuade you from reading the book...
Posted by: lisa | September 8, 2007 02:06 PM
Keep us posted on what you're learning!
Posted by: ukrainiac | September 13, 2007 12:45 AM