Guest Post – How To Have God’s Will For Your Life
Today, I have the honor of presenting Brandon Gilliland. Brandon is a young leader with lots of passion and incredible talent. He’s training to become a surgeon. In his spare time, he plays the guitar, and he blogs about leadership, following Christ, playing the guitar, and becoming a surgeon. Brandon currently writes at two blogs. You can check them out here and here. Please jump over and become one of his regular readers.
(If you’re interested in becoming a Stretched guest blogger, let me know in the comments, and I’ll get back to you. I’m always looking for people to share their Stretching stories.)
How To Have God’s Will For Your Life
A question that encompasses many Christian’s lives is “How do I follow God’s will for my life?” I have wondered this myself many times. As a student on track to become a surgeon, I have many doubts in my mind. I commonly question myself the methods that I am going through. A few short months ago, a really questioned if this track was God’s will for my life. I sometimes still question it, but I am starting to discover that becoming a surgeon is what God desires for me to do with my life. It is a lot of work, but if it is God’s will for my life, He will give me the strength and the necessary opportunities that will ultimately allow me to become a surgeon.
Like I said earlier, there were a few moments when I was not sure what God’s will for my life entailed (on the career side of things). As Christians, we should desire to stay in God’s will for our lives. If we are truly following Christ, we should have the desire to please and serve Him.
If we are always questioning if what we are doing is God’s will, then how can we serve Him to our absolute best ability? The answer is rather simple: focus on God. This is easy to say, but it is not easy to live out on a daily basis. There are a few things that I have to remind myself of all the time to be able to be assured that I am living God’s will for my life.
Pray
First off, prayer is important. If prayer is not an important part of your life, you can be certain that you are not in God’s will. If you are not on the same wavelength as God, you are not going to make the decisions that He wants you to make.
“Pray without ceasing…”
-1 Thessalonians 5:17
Keep the Main Goal in Mind
After prayer is an important part of your life, you need to keep the main goal in mind. Obviously, this goal can not be set properly without consulting God first. When you believe that God has revealed to you a certain goal after you have prayed about it, you can begin to focus on that goal. Go can desire something else, but you can have the right thought pattern. That leads us to the next point…
“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”
-Colossians 3:2
Focus on the Small Things
Ultimately, it is essential to know God’s main goal, but it is not beneficial to focus entirely on it. If you focus too much on the main goal, you can begin to drift. Instead, it is important to focus on the small tasks that lead to the ultimate goal. This method insures that you can follow God’s will. If you are doing everything that God wants you to do at every moment, you can be 100% sure that you are in God’s will for your life.
That is the problem though. We do not always pray. We do not always focus on God. We are not always on God’s wavelength.
This is the reason why we can stray from God’s will. He desires so much more for us, but sometimes we give up on the blessings He has for us.
What do you need to follow God’s will on?
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About
You might be wondering where the “Stretched” thing comes from. For starters, when I was in high school at Rancocas Valley Regional High School, I was short – 5’6″ to start my junior year. Since then, I’ve grown to almost 6’6″. Many of my friends started calling me Stretch.
On a more recent basis, I often feel “stretched” by all the things going on around me – career, marriage, parenting, church, running, reading, friendships, extended family, relationship with God, etc. (in no particular order). My hope is that this blog will provide an opportunity to express some of my “stretch marks” and to possibly hear your thoughts as well. 
So here is a bit more about me: I’m a Christ-follower, husband, dad, son, uncle, engineer, runner, chicken farmer, gardener, saxophone player, operations manager, adventurer, and the list goes on…. I’m extremely blessed to have the best wife in the whole world. We met at Grove City College. We were engaged on top of the Eiffel Tower. We got married in Greensburg, PA. Now, we live in Schwenksville, PA with our two incredible kids, and our black lab.
I find that if I focus on pursuing His will that is revealed, then His will that He doesn’t directly reveal (career, spouse, purchasing a house) are much easier. When we delight in Him, our desires will be given to us by Him.
I’m amazed by that as well. Although the examples you mentioned haven’t happened to me yet, I can agree with you statement of the indirect things being easier. When you are in God’s will, everything else just falls in line nicely. It might not be easy, but it is what God wants.
That is what should ultimately desire as Christ-followers!
Thanks for your comment!
I believe God’s will for us is to Glorify Him anywhere and everywhere…no matter where we choose to do in life…His Will is the same…to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ… Be Jesus in that medical school brandon…because truth be told…you might be the only real Jesus they know…HE SAVES!
Very good point. Our whole purpose here is to let other know about Jesus, so that they may have the opportunity to come to know Him. Wherever God places us, others should see Him through us. Unfortunately, if we are not in God’s will, they will probably never see Jesus through us because that is not on the fore-front of our minds.
Thanks for the encouragement. The medical field needs a lot of Christian doctors. Unfortunately, it is lacking a lot of that right now. Hopefully, God will allow me to shake things up!
Thanks for reading and commenting!
I think it is our main purpose to share the love of God wherever we are. Whether we are a pastor, surgeon, or a server at a diner.
Good word. Prayer is always a good start when seeking our purpose.
God has laid on our hearts to start a childrens outreach ministry. Really been praying and seeking God’s direction in this.
You mentioned some great things…
I hope God reveals what He wants you to do as far as the children’s ministry goes. I wish you the best! Keep all of us posted!
[...] How to Have God’s Will For Your Life [...]
Brandon, great to see you “stretching” your writing wings here. In the middle of a Wisconsin winter, I need to remember and focus on where my true satisfaction is found. Like LarryTheDeuce said, “when I delight in Him, [my] desires will be given by Him.” I can seek Him, find Him, love Him anywhere any time. I’d love to be where the water’s warm and the palm trees sway right now, but I can delight in Him here and now. And be satisfied.