Luke 11:2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

So how can you choose to do the will of the Father if you do not know His will? The one question that I hear coming out of the mouths of young disciples is, “How will I know….?” The end of that sentence will change depending upon the disciple and his concerns for the moment. The basic element within each question is knowing God’s will for their lives.

The answer to all those questions is by faith. They have not yet learned to hear God so I give them basic exercises in order to develop their hearing by faith. God is faithful and if they are earnest in what they seek, He will speak to them in the faith they have, in a way they will understand.

I cannot control what they hear. All I can do is listen to what they have discovered and evaluate their words as being the quality and character of the God I know. If what I hear does not sound like my Lord, then I ask them to explain in more detail how they came to this conclusion. Sometimes it comes down to their desire to interpret what they heard rather than repeating what they heard.

Past experiences and teachings can influence understanding. We all want to make sense of our discipleship experience but running it thru another man’s filter isn’t hearing the Lord for yourself.

A young man loved a fair maiden but was so shy he could only talk to her thru the help of a friend. He should not have been surprised when she fell in love with his friend and they got married.

I cannot do this for you. You must speak to the Lord for yourself.