Aligning Yourself With God's WillSample

Four Steps to a Sacred Pace

As I waited on the Lord with His Word guiding me, I went through therapy, and saw transformation in my family life, I was ready to operate according to a new paradigm. I realized that God has a sacred pace—His sovereign timing—for the decisions in our lives. In that sacred pace, His Spirit leads us to a sacred place: the center of God’s will. Over time, I identified four steps in my process for getting on God’s pace. The first three steps may not follow a specific order, and the Holy Spirit may guide you to repeat one step multiple times before moving on to another, or direct you across multiple steps at the same time. The first three steps lead to the fouth, where you are perfectly positioned to receive the gift of God’s will and, ultimately, to act on it.

Step 1 is to consult your friend Jesus. The entire process of seeking God’s pace needs to be immersed in prayer from beginning to end. As you slow down and develop a friendship with Jesus, you bring Him in to your decisions and He brings you in to the work that is underway in your life—you experience Christ’s transforming love and learn to trust Him.

Step 2 is to gather the facts. To receive God’s answer, you have to internalize the truth, separating your perception of the truth from the actual facts. As you slow down your pace, do your research and prayerfully gather the relevant facts—godly counsel and the Holy Spirit can give you direction. God knows it all, and with His help, He can remove your blinders and shed light on what you need to see.

Step 3 is to watch for unfolding circumstances. As you watch and pray, time will help you perceive what circumstances are potentially important or relevant. Circumstances can be used alongside of facts to guide you to or confirm what action God wants you to take. And for those circumstances outside your control, you will have a better eye for God’s hand in them. Your responses will change; you will start to see setbacks as God’s handiwork, and see the new possibilities God might want to impart to you.

These first three steps bring your heart to Step 4, where you get neutral and ask, “What do You want me to do, Jesus?” As God helps you neutralize your will, you are open to God’s solution. You can wait and pray for the Lord’s will to be done, and for the Holy Spirit’s guidance for a way better than anything you could come up with.

This process will require real effort on your part. You’ll need emotional courage to dig deep into your motives and bring them into submission to God’s will. You’ll also need faith—both in God’s Word and the nudges of the Holy Spirit—to act once you have peace from the Lord. Moving at God’s pace will make the next step plainly known. God does the heavy lifting; you follow His lead, trusting that He sees and knows all the things you don’t.

Respond

How do you feel about slowing down and waiting to hear from God? How do you invest in discovering what God wants for your life?

What does it mean to you to have peace from the Lord?

How has acting on your faith changed your life? How has it changed your relationship with Jesus?