The will of God is not one single track that you have to stay on.

A few nights ago we had some guests in our house and we began to talk about how to know the perfect will of God. I began to recall the main idea that changed my view of the will of God in Frank Viola's book "Rethinking the will of God" - Found online for free here http://frankviola.org/rethinkingthewill.pdf

Here is how Chapter 1 starts:

"CHAPTER 1
GETTING STUCK ON A TRAIN TRACK
I would like to take dead aim at a doctrine that is very popular among Christians today. It is the doctrine that teaches that God has a wonderful, detailed plan for your life. He has a perfect will for every individual Christian that encompasses every decision they will ever make.

That perfect will is like a train track. If you miss God‘s perfect will, you are going to end up in a really bad place. The way that you discover God‘s will is by reading your Bible, following inward impressions (usually in the form of ―checks‖ or ―stirrings‖), and decoding outward signs.

I challenge this idea on several counts.

The Doctrine is Not Biblical

First of all, you cannot find Biblical support for this doctrine. The idea that God has a unique, detailed, prescribed plan for every individual believer does not exist in Scripture.

The phrase, the will of God, is used in four different senses throughout the Bible. They are as follows (see the Appendix for Scripture references):"
But before chapter 1 Frank tells a story, a true story of a man trying desperately to know God's perfect will.

This truly is a really great short book. All 66 pages are located online here http://frankviola.org/rethinkingthewill.pdf. If you're like me and have heard the very common teaching on knowing the perfect will of God this will rock and change your world.

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