Unknowing God: Toward a Post-Abusive Theology

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God can open and close the doors of opportunity in your life. You may have heard someone say, “God closed the door on this opportunity,” or “God was opening doors to give me the job.”

The Spirit’s normal way of guiding us in our prayers is by prompting us through the Scriptures to pray for things that are agreeable to the will of God and will be granted (1 John 5:13–14). This seems to happen more often when we are quietly listening for His word on a particular matter. The Psalms are called “the prayer book of the church,” because they give us so many examples of what to pray for across the whole range of life’s experiences. And the many promises of God throughout the Bible give us even more. As we walk with God through the ups and downs of life, lifting up our prayers to Him in faith and receiving His answers, our experience with God and our trust in Him grow. And, as the years pass, we develop a history of personal dealings with God that deepens our knowledge of Him, our faith in Him, and our love for Him. The Church Also, learn to surrender your desire to please other people. The apostle Paul says, “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant” (Galatians 1:10, NLT).John’s Gospel does not say, “In the beginning were our hearts, and our hearts were with God, and our hearts were God.” It says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh, and he has made the Father known.” We live in the world of upgrades, where every product eventually become obsolete as we move on to the next model. No one ever upgrades on Jesus Christ! No one has ever gone beyond Jesus Christ and no one ever will—in this world or even in the world to come. Take time away to be alone with God when you sense the need. A one-day or weekend retreat devoted to seeking God more earnestly about specific concerns can be a source of great blessing—or a prayer retreat with one or two friends. John is telling you that if you get to know Jesus Christ, you have truly come to know the living God, who no one has ever seen. John’s Gospel was written so that you may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31). But rather than leave them with detailed instructions about everything they needed to do from then on, He gave them the ultimate gift and source of guidance. He promised that His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, would come and guide them.

Read Scripture daily, asking God to open the eyes of your heart and teach you (Ps. 119:18; 1 Cor. 2:12; Eph. 1:16–20). This includes learning to meditate on God’s Word and memorize key verses. Meditation takes biblical truth deeper into our minds and hearts with powerful effect. But that effect occurs only as you take to heart what you read and meditate on and become a doer of the word; otherwise you will not grow spiritually but only become self-deceived (James 1:22–25). Those marked by faith and love have begun well, but we should pray that God would grant that they come to know Him more deeply. Fact: Even though God is the most powerful and important Being in all existence, he invites us to draw close to him. The Bible contains many examples of men and women who became his close friends.— Acts 13:22; James 2:23. When the Bible talks about God’s will, it is usually referring to one of two different things: God’s sovereign will or God’s prescriptive will. God’s sovereign willAsk people you trust to pray about your decision. Follow up with them to see if they sense God’s leading in a certain way. It can also help to go through some or all of these steps with someone who can help you sort out everything you are considering as you make a decision. In one sense God’s will is something that will always happen no matter what. This is sometimes called God’s sovereign will. When God states that something will happen, it does. No person could have stopped Jesus from dying on the cross for the sins of the world. That was God’s will, and it was going to come to pass no matter what.