This is a problem that bothers most of God’s people: how to know the will of the Father.
The will of the Father is revealed in the written Word of God. Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 6:38).
Jesus knew what the Father’s will was. He said, “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” (John 8:29).
Paul said he made it his business to be well-pleasing to the Father.
2 Corinthians 5: 9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. If Jesus could please the Father and do His will, if Paul could please the Father and know His will and do it, then it is possible for us to do it.
What is the basis for this assurance? We have His mind and His will in the written Word.
If we search the Word diligently, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us in it, we will progress in spiritual growth and development through constant meditations in the Word, so that His will becomes an unconscious-consciousness in us, it will become a part of our spirit.
Paul said, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:16).
Paul said to the Ephesian church when he you will see my face no more, “So now, brethren, I entrust you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32).
Colossians 1: 9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
The word knowledge here comes from the Greek word epignosis, which means correct knowledge, or full, complete knowledge.
We are to be filled with correct knowledge and then He gives us wisdom to use this perfect knowledge.
Someone may say, “It does not seem credible that we could have perfect knowledge.” Why shouldn’t we? We have a perfect revelation of His will.
The Bible is a perfect book. The Holy Spirit is a perfect teacher. We are perfect new creations, created in Christ Jesus. We have perfect righteousness. We have a perfect relationship. He says that we have become partakers of the very fullness of Christ.
For of His fullness, we have all received, and grace upon grace. (See John 1:16.)
Our redemption is perfect, a complete redemption that meets every need of the new creation and answers every challenge with divine fullness.
If this is true, I don’t know why we cannot have complete knowledge. I want you to notice that Jesus said we are “born from above” (John 3:3).
The new birth is not a work of psychology, human philosophy, or human ability.
We are born again “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23).
James 1: 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.
But as many as received him, to them gave he the authority to become children of God, even to them that believe in (motion into) his name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. —John 1:12–13
The new creation is the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word. It is a perfect work.
It makes us complete in Him. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
If you can accept the Word, you will begin to blossom and bear the fruit of joy and peace that you never knew before.
For so many years, we have been preached at, that we are poor, miserable creatures, that we are unworthy and unfit.
And the Scriptures that were written to the Jews when they were in apostasy are applied to the church.
And the Scriptures to the unregenerate are applied to the church, till the church has an inferiority complex about sin.
The church has lived in the realm of sin-consciousness and a sense of unworthiness for so long that the Word has little effect upon the people in it.
The written Word is a perfect revelation, but it is a concealed revelation. And people misinterpret it.
We can have a perfect knowledge of the Father’s will.
Ephesians 1: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
It is not the knowledge of the physical senses but is the knowledge of Christ in you and the Holy Spirit is going to guide your heart into this.
Ephesians 4: 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine.
There is a complete and full knowledge in which we are going to grow.
This expression knowledge epignōsis (precise knowledge) occurs twenty times in the New Testament, especially in the Epistles. It has revealed to me that the Father expects us to know His will.
Colossians 1: 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
The Greek word dynamis translated power (miracle working power) also means divine ability.
God has given us His ability to know His will and to know what our share is in the inheritance of the saints in light.
We have the ability. It is God-given ability. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us “into all the truth”
John 16: 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
He is our teacher, our guide, and our indwelling instructor.
I cannot see where there is any basis for us to live in weakness, failure, and ignorance of the Father’s will and of our place and standing in Christ, our rights, and our privileges.
We have no right to dishonor the Father and dishonor Jesus by not knowing his will, than Jesus did when He walked here on earth.
We are the sons and daughters of God. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We have privileges and rights in God’s family.
The first privilege is to make the heart of the Father glad.