HOW TO KNOW GOD'S WILL

THE PERSON
RATHER THAN TECHNIQUES
God's children can and should know God's will. The knowledge of God's will has to do
with the person; it has nothing to do with techniques. When the Lord draws men to
Himself, He draws some through their mind, others through their emotion, and still
others through their will. Generally speaking, the least likely means for the Lord to draw
men is the will. Many people love the truth of the Bible. They want to know more about
these truths, and they hope that others will be edified by these truths. They study the Bible
a great deal and know many things about Bible exposition. When they cannot interpret a
passage, they feel frustrated. When they think they can interpret a passage, they feel
happy. People like these are touching the Bible with their mind. They are not necessarily
living a proper Christian life. Of course, it is difficult to live a proper Christian life without
a mind. But those who only have a mental understanding of doctrines are not necessarily
those who live a proper Christian life.

There is another group of Christians who are not very smart. They do not know much, but
they are very zealous. They laugh and cry easily. They are rich in emotion. When they
touch the Bible, they are easily moved to tears or laughter. They work only when they feel
a burning within. In their zeal, they preach to whomever they see and do not stop even
when their voices become hoarse. Wherever they go they carry an air of excitement, but
when their zeal fades away, even ten persons could not move them an inch. These people
have a strong soul. They can be stirred up quickly, and they can stir up many people when
their hearts are burning. They can cry with others or laugh with others, but when the tide
of excitement subsides, they cannot bring anyone to the Lord. They touch others with
their emotion. When they are stirred up, they think highly of themselves. But when they
become cold, they will not move at all. Such Christians cannot be of much use to the Lord.

Suppose a man has a clear mind before the Lord, a proper emotion, good knowledge of
the Bible, and zealousness in serving others. All of these things are wonderful, but if he
has never been touched by the Lord, he cannot serve God in a proper way. He needs to be
touched in his will. If a man's spirit is dead before God, he is totally useless in the eyes of
God. The spirit must be regenerated. Thank the Lord that our spirit today is a new spirit,
a regenerated spirit. This regenerated spirit is our inner man. Every Christian has received
the same life from God in his spirit; there is no difference between him and others. The
same Spirit who dwells in a weak brother also dwelt in Paul. As long as we are the Lord's,
the new creation in our spirit is the same as in others. God is not a respecter of persons.
However, when the inner man lives out the life of the Lord, there can be a big difference
in the degree of expression. This difference has much to do with man's natural
constitution. The mind, emotion, and will are the original and natural faculties of man.
The Holy Spirit is within him, and his regenerated spirit has become the new man, the
inner man. Yet he still has an outward man, the old man, the original man outside of him.
This outward man belongs to sin. The old man has been dealt with on the cross, but the
life of the old creation still remains. Since the inner new man can only be expressed
through the outer man, the expressions and manifestations are different in different
persons. The inner life is frustrated by the outer man. Therefore, the outer man must be
dealt with. Otherwise, there will always be obstacles that obstruct a man from serving the
Lord.

THE OUTER MAN

BEING DEALT WITH BY GOD
In order for a saved and regenerated believer to live out the Lord's life, there are two steps that he
has to take. The first is believing, which is receiving the new life. The second is consecrating
himself, which means committing his outer man to the Lord to allow the new life within to be
expressed. This is like a property consisting of a house and a plot of land around the house. We
can assume that the house is the inner man and the plot around the house is the outer man. If the
house belongs to a person, but the plot of land does not, there will be trouble. Consequently, as
soon as a man believes, he should consecrate himself to the Lord. Consecration is committing one's
outer man to the Lord so that it will belong to the Lord in the same way that the inner man belongs
to the Lord. Many believers today are neither in nor out. When you ask if they are saved, they
answer yes. They are saved, but their outer man has never been dealt with. Their inner life is
frustrated from being expressed. Hence, we must not just believe in the Lord, stopping at salvation
and regeneration. We must also consecrate our outer man to the Lord. If a man is willing to
consecrate his mind, emotion, and will to the Lord in an absolute way, he will live out the Lord's
life.

The problem today is that many have consecrated themselves, yet their consecration is not
absolute. They consecrate according to their own preference. They consecrate only when they want
to, and they do not consecrate when they do not want to. Most people live in their mind and
emotion, living for the satisfaction of their flesh. Many communicate with the Lord through their
mind and emotion. Few communicate with the Lord according to their will. We can find many
Christians who love the doctrines in the Bible. When someone expounds Matthew 24 or Revelation
well, they love to flock around and listen. It does not take much effort to listen to a message and
no price is involved. After they hear a good message, they happily return home, but nothing further
happens. There are others who are very strong in their emotion. They are always actively working
for the Lord. Of course, they are better than the ones without emotion, but they are so unstable that
they are like the waves of the ocean. They may zealously prepare a sermon. After delivering the
sermon, they may secretly consider in their heart how successful they were, how the people were
touched, and how the audience was persuaded. They may be so overjoyed that they cannot sleep
that night. (Most people cannot go to sleep because of pain; but these cannot go to sleep because
of joy.) They gratify themselves with the activities of the flesh. Although they are serving the Lord
outwardly, in reality they are gratifying themselves. They have not committed their will fully to
the Lord. They must consecrate their will absolutely to the Lord and be dealt with by Him. Before
they can render genuine service to the Lord, they must also allow Him to control their mind and
emotion so that they will not act according to their active mind or according to the impulse of their
emotion.
 CONDITIONS
FOR KNOWING GOD'S WILL
I do not like to hear people asking how to know God's will. Every one of us should already be clear
about this. God's will is revealed only to those who have consecrated their will to Him. He does
not force us. He is always waiting for us to become willing. It does not matter much if a person
knows God's will; it is more important that a person be willing to choose God's will. We have to
say to the Lord, "Not according to my will, but according to Your will." When we lay down our
selves, we will know God's will. Once in a sisters' meeting in Hangchow, two sisters asked me if
God's will is based upon circumstance, upon the Bible, or upon other principles. When I heard this,
my heart sank, and I answered in a harsh way (although my heart was not harsh), saying, "Knowing
God's will is not a matter of method. You may have the right methods, and you may act faithfully
according to these methods step by step, but you will still not know God's will." As I was speaking,
my eyes were fixed on the two sisters. I then asked, "What kind of persons are you? Who are you?
A person's knowledge of God's will has to do with that person himself. If a person is not right, no
method will work. Can God reveal His will to persons like you? You do not have to ask many
questions, and you do not have to ask God for methods. God can reveal His will in many ways;
He can reveal it through the wind, the thunder, a child, or a donkey. You only need to ask whether
persons like you are qualified to know God's will."

In Genesis 18 when God was about to destroy the city of Sodom, He came to Abraham because
He could not hide this matter from him. Abraham was a friend of God (James 2:23). He was not a
slave of God, because a slave does not know the mind of the master; only a friend knows the mind
of a friend (John 15:15). There was no barrier between Abraham and God. This is why God could
not hide what He was about to do. Lot was Abraham's relative; he might have had a great deal of
spiritual knowledge, but God did not speak with Lot. He only told Abraham. It would be a joke if
Lot came to me and asked, "How can I know God's will?" Abraham was qualified to know God's
will, but Lot was not qualified. It would be useless even if Lot had all the knowledge. Lot was still
Lot. Who are you? Are you Abraham or are you Lot? Many people today pay attention to the
method of knowing God's will. There is a need of learning the methods, but one must be an
Abraham to learn the methods. If a Lot is learning them, the best methods will not work because
he is a person living in the world. He has not dealt with the world and his position. Today we must
apply God's light to see if there are sins in us, great or small. Have we committed any
unrighteousnesses? Do we owe anyone anything? Have we been loose in our conduct or wrong in
our words, gestures, and attitudes? Are we still holding on to something? All of these big and small
sins affect our ability to know God's will.

THE STARTING POINT

IN KNOWING GOD'S WILL—
ABSOLUTE CONSECRATION
On the subject of knowing God's will, Paul said that we should not be foolish, but should
understand what the will of the Lord is (Eph. 5:17). There is a starting point in knowing God's will,
and there is a continuation in knowing His will. If one does not have a proper start, he cannot know
God's will. But even if one has a proper start, he still cannot know God's will if he does not have
a proper continuation.

Was there one day in your life when you consecrated yourself absolutely to the Lord? I do not
mean consecrating yourself to Him to be a preacher, but consecrating yourself to Him to do His
will. You do not have to be concerned for what God's will is; you only have to consecrate yourself
honestly to Him to do His will. You must realize that you should have a direct relationship to God's
will; this relationship should not be affected by the brothers and sisters. If the Lord wants me to
go to the east, I will go to the east. I will not be affected by any person, event, or thing. However,
my eyes will not be set on the east, but on God Himself. The danger of God's workers today is the
danger of making their work the center. We cannot build up any intimate relationship with the
work, people, or any event. We must be directly related to God and set our eyes on Him alone.
The seven Spirits in Revelation are sent forth into all the earth, but they do not have anything to
do with the earth. The seven Spirits are before the throne of God (1:4; 5:6) and are related to God
alone. We must consecrate ourselves fully to God at least once, for the carrying out of His will.
This is the starting point in our knowledge of His will. Without this starting point, we can never
understand God's will properly.

THE CONTINUATION
IN KNOWING GOD'S WILL—
DEALING WITH ALL HINDRANCES
An absolute consecration is the starting point of knowing God's will. But if you want to advance
in His will, you must deal with all the hindrances. If you have any stubbornness, jealousy, pride,
or petty problems of a similar nature, you will be spiritually sick and unable to know God's will.
If you want to stop your ear from hearing anything, there is no need to plug it with a rod or a desk;
all you need is a little finger. The same principle applies in knowing God's will—a little hindrance
will stop us from knowing His will.

Once I was taking a walk with Miss Barber in a garden. After some time the two of us became
tired, and we sat down on some chairs under a tree. She said, "There is a bright star in the sky, but
I cannot see it because a leaf has blocked the view. Brother Nee, if someone comes and tells me
many ways to see the star, I still could not see it even though the ways he said were good. The
reason is that my position is wrong; I am standing on the wrong ground." The words she said that
night are still fresh in my mind today. She explained that a little leaf could block the light of a big
star. Many times, God's will is frustrated by very small things. When you seek after God's will
again and again and are still unclear, you should not change the method, but change the person. If
you find that you cannot know God's will, it means that there is some blockage between you and
God. It may be that God has spoken to you already, but that you are unwilling to obey Him. You
have to remove these hindrances. After you have dealt with these problems thoroughly, you will
know God's will. In knowing God's will, we have to pay attention to the person rather than the
methods.
 THE WAY TO KNOW
GOD'S WILL DIFFERING
ACCORDING TO THE PERSON
The same method may not be applicable to every person. David volunteered to fight against
Goliath, and Saul gave him his armor. Yet it did not fit David. He could not walk, and he took it
off (1 Sam. 17:32, 38-39). When I was in Shanghai once, I gave Brother Luk my coat. It was too
small for him. He did not feel comfortable in the coat, and it did not fit him. The same coat,
however, fit my body very well. We can only wear something that is made according to our size.
Based on man's different conditions, God has ordained different ways for man to know Him. With
some the way is difficult and with others it is easy. But God has a way for every man to know His
will. For this reason, we do not have to search for a way. All we have to do is consecrate ourselves
to the Lord, deal with all the hindrances, and maintain a proper relationship with Him.

GOD'S WORKER MUST KNOW HIS WILL

I have offended many brothers many times. When they ask me how one can know God's will, I
always answer by saying that I do not like such questions. What a blessing it would be if we could
consecrate our all to the Lord for the knowledge of His will. What are we? Even though the earth,
the solar system, and the universe are vast and immense, they can never be compared with the will
of God! What a glorious thing that a sinner, a man of dust, can know His will! Once a man knows
God's will, he becomes higher than a mere creature. This is the goal of the New Testament. Those
who do not know God's will are not even qualified to be called a Christian; they are wasting His
provisions. Those who do not know God's will cannot do God's work. If a servant does not know
the will of his master, how can he be a servant? It is possible for an unbeliever to be ignorant of
God's will, but it is inexcusable for us to be ignorant of His will. A Christian must first be a friend
of Christ—one who knows His will, before he can be a slave of Christ—one who serves Him. We
have to ask ourselves, "Are we a friend of the Lord? Is there any barrier between us and the Lord,
and do we know His will?" Only after we have become His friends can we be His servants to work
for Him.