What Is God’s Will for My Life? A Study of Ephesians 1
Many of us get stuck on the same question: What is God's will for my life? We wonder who to marry, where to move, which job to take, whether to say yes or no. We treat God's will like a sealed, private document we are not allowed to read. But what if God's general will for your life is not hidden at all? What if it is clear, written down, and available to anyone willing to open the pages of Scripture?
In this message from our Grace for You series through Ephesians, we looked at Ephesians 1:8–14 and discovered four steps for walking in God's will. This is not about predicting your specific future — it is about the general will of God that is true for every believer, everywhere. And the reason it matters is simple: deep down, all of us want to be happy, fulfilled, and at peace. That kind of life is only found when we stop chasing our own will and start walking in His.
1. Walk in Unity
Paul writes that God made known to us the mystery of His will, which He purposed in Christ — "to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment, to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ" (Ephesians 1:9–10). Part of walking in God's will is walking in unity with others.
But unity is not the same as uniformity. We often break relationships because we demand that people look, think, and act exactly like us before we will be close to them. That is a recipe for more division, not less. True unity comes not from looking the same on the surface but from sharing the same foundation: Jesus Christ. Two houses can have different doors and windows and still rest on the same foundation.
Jesus prayed for this the night before He was crucified:
"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:22–23)
When Christians genuinely love one another across their differences, the watching world takes notice. It may be the most powerful evidence that our faith is real.
2. Walk for His Glory
Paul continues: "In him we were also chosen... in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:11–12). We were created to display God's greatness, not our own.
Some hear that and bristle — isn't it egotistical for God to want glory? But God is the ultimate embodiment of goodness and greatness. When we live to display Him, it is actually for our greatest good and the good of the world. The difference is whether you want the spotlight on you, or you want to get behind the spotlight and shine it on Him. Even a pastor can preach for his own applause. The point of life is not to get people to see how good you are — it is to help them see how good God is.
3. Walk by the Spirit
"When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 1:13). Notice: the Spirit was promised long ago. Six hundred years before Ephesians, Ezekiel wrote:
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees." (Ezekiel 36:26–27)
When you trust Christ, He gives you a new nature — a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone. This does not make you instantly perfect. If you find yourself struggling against sin, take heart: that struggle is a sign of new life, because a slave to sin does not fight it. The Spirit also assures us of who we are: "The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father'" (Romans 8:15). And practically, walking by the Spirit means letting Him govern your mind. "The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace" (Romans 8:6). You do not have to believe every thought or follow every feeling. As Martin Luther is often quoted, you cannot stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from building a nest there.
4. Walk with Confidence
The Holy Spirit "is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession — to the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:14). Your future with God is not a maybe; it is a guarantee. The Spirit within you is a down payment — a foretaste of heaven now, and a promise of the full inheritance to come.
Because God keeps His promises, you can walk confidently rather than fearfully. As Paul wrote, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). God does not abandon unfinished work.
A Takeaway to Reflect On
The greatest barrier to walking in God's will is our stubborn preference for our own will. The Titanic was warned about the icebergs; the crew simply chose their own way. Choosing our will over God's always leads somewhere we did not intend. But God, in mercy, sent Jesus — the only one who walked perfectly in the Father's will — and "by his wounds we are healed" (see Isaiah 53:5). Through Him we can be forgiven and put back on the path we were made to walk.
So ask yourself honestly: Am I walking in the will of God? And if not fully, what would it look like to give my life more completely over to Him today?
If these questions are stirring something in you, we would love to walk alongside you. If you live in Livermore or anywhere across the Tri-Valley, come join us on a Sunday — there is a place for you here at Arroyo Church.
How to Get Guidance from God: 4 Steps from Proverbs
Have you ever insisted you knew the way, only to turn a one-hour drive into ninety minutes of wrong turns? Pastor Josh opened this week's message with exactly that memory—insisting he could navigate without the Maps app while his wife pleaded with him to just follow the directions. It's a small, funny picture of a much bigger truth: a good guide gets you where you need to go, and a bad guide leaves you delayed, lost, or worse.
Here's the good news at the heart of this sermon: God is a good guide, and He genuinely wants to give you guidance. The real question isn't whether God wants to lead you—it's whether you'll listen.
Where the Series Begins
This message kicks off a short series called Guidance for Today, walking through the book of Proverbs—often called the most practical book in the Bible. Proverbs sets the tone from the start:
"Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance." (Proverbs 1:5)
Guidance is available. But it comes to those who hear. With that foundation laid, the sermon offered four practical steps for receiving God's direction.
1. Fearing God Is the First Step
Proverbs is blunt about where wisdom starts:
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Proverbs 1:7)
To fear the Lord doesn't mean being terrified of Him, as if He were a threat to run from. It means deep reverence and respect. Think about how differently you'd behave if a younger sibling walked into the room versus the king of a nation. The more you truly respect someone, the more you honor them—and the more you listen.
The point lands like this: if you have a guidance problem, you may actually have a reverence problem. When we treat God too casually—as a buddy rather than the Creator, Sustainer, and Savior—we stop listening, and when we stop listening we stop being led. Reverence is the foundation. Without it, the whole building falls apart.
2. Trust God Over Self
The second step is one of the most familiar passages in Scripture—don't let its familiarity make it feel small:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Notice it says trust with all your heart, not your head. You can believe God exists without ever entrusting your life to Him. As James reminds us, "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!" (James 2:19). Head knowledge alone is the faith of demons.
Picture the world's safest airplane. You can admire the blueprints, tour the cockpit, and agree it's incredible—but if you refuse to get on board, you don't actually trust it. Trusting God with your heart means climbing in. It's the difference between saying "God is forgiving" and saying "I am forgiven."
And trusting Him means submitting in all your ways—not some of them, not just on Sundays. You're still in the driver's seat with real freedom, but you're no longer the one who decides the destination. Like a soldier driving an officer, you go where your commander directs.
3. See Past the Surface
Sometimes the path that looks right is the very one that leads to ruin:
"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 16:25)
This is exactly how temptation works—wrapping something harmful inside something that looks good, like bait on a hook. Maturity means learning to look beneath the surface. The sermon offered three clarifying questions:
Am I living by feelings or by faith? Feelings fluctuate daily. Don't make long-term decisions on temporary emotions.
Is this a good long-term choice? Ask what your life will look like next week, next year, in ten years—not just in this moment.
If someone else were in this situation, what would I tell them? This question pulls your emotions out of the way so you can see clearly.
And when you still can't see, invite others in:
"Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety." (Proverbs 11:14)
We all have blind spots, just like every car does. Wise, godly counselors—a pastor, a mentor, a seasoned brother or sister in Christ—can see what we can't. The catch is that many people won't speak into your life unless you give them permission. So give it.
4. God's Plans Prevail—And That's Good News
Finally, Proverbs reminds us who is ultimately in charge:
"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." (Proverbs 16:9)
Make your plans—there's nothing wrong with that. But hold them loosely. Pastor Josh shared how our own church landed in its current building through a phone call he never expected, for a location he wasn't even considering. His plans said no; God's plan was better.
Here's the beautiful part: guidance isn't only something God gives it's something He does. Like a shepherd gently nudging a wandering sheep with his staff, God actively leads His people. And Jesus is that shepherd:
"I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep." (John 10:14-15)
The same Shepherd who wants to guide you is the one who laid down His life to save you. He doesn't just say He loves you; He proved it on the cross.
A Takeaway to Sit With
Do you know the Shepherd's voice? And when He speaks, do you follow?
Reflect this week: What is the one area where you most need God's guidance right now—and which step are you skipping? Reverence, trust, seeing past the surface, or surrendering your plans to His?
If you're in Livermore or anywhere across the Tri-Valley and you're looking for a church family to walk this out with, we'd love to worship alongside you and help you take your next step of faith. You don't have to figure out the way alone—the Good Shepherd is ready to lead.
God Wants to Work Through You: Living as a River, Not a Reservoir
Picture two bodies of water. The first is a river like the Columbia, fed from a source high in the mountains, flowing hundreds of miles and bringing life to everything it touches. The second is a reservoir—pleasant enough for an afternoon, but still, stagnant, and man-made. It doesn't flow anywhere. The difference between the two comes down to a single thing: a source, and whether the water is allowed to move.
In this message from our Transformational Stories series, Pastor Josh used that picture to ask a question worth sitting with: are you a river or a reservoir? God doesn't just want to work in you—He wants to work through you. The real question isn't whether He desires to; it's whether you'll let Him.
The Parable: Workers in the Vineyard
The message walked through Jesus' parable in Matthew 20:1–16. A landowner goes out repeatedly through the day—early morning, mid-morning, noon, afternoon, and even at the eleventh hour—to hire workers for his vineyard. When it comes time to be paid, everyone receives the same wage, regardless of how long they worked. Understandably, those who started at dawn grumble. But the landowner answers:
"I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? … Are you so envious because I am generous? So the last will be first, and the first will be last." (Matthew 20:13–16)
From this parable, the sermon drew out three movements: God's invitation to work through us, a clarification about how grace relates to that work, and the right motivation behind it.
1. God's Invitation: Answer the Call to Go
Notice how the work begins in the parable. The workers aren't out hunting for the landowner—he comes and finds them standing in the marketplace. Likewise, God calls us first. We don't have to track Him down and hope He answers; He has already reached out. Our part is simply to say yes.
That means the qualification God looks for isn't a polished résumé or extraordinary talent. As the message put it, your greatest ability is your availability. And this working "for God" is, at its heart, about people. It echoes Jesus' final words to His disciples:
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19–20)
Making disciples means helping people come to know Jesus, grow in Him, and then pour into others. You don't need a title to start—you start with your circle. The neighbor, the coworker, the family member who wandered from faith years ago—no one in your life is there by accident.
2. The Clarification: Grace Is Not Dependent on Works
Why did every worker receive the same pay? Because their wages were never really about their labor. It was all a gift. And that's the heart of grace—receiving what we don't deserve. The message named three ways grace changes everything:
It frees you from the pressure of self-salvation. Trying to earn your way to God is a mountain you can't climb. Grace moves you from "I have to earn it" to "I simply receive it."
It means you can be saved now rather than never. Whether you come to Christ as a child, in middle age, or at the very end, He saves. Think of the thief on the cross, who at his final hour heard Jesus say, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). It is never too late.
It leads to more good works, not fewer. Works aren't the foundation of salvation, but they are the fountain that flows from it.
As Paul writes: "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age" (Titus 2:11–12). The key to godliness isn't grit—it's understanding grace. When you realize you were spiritually dead and God brought you back to life, the natural response is to want to live like the One who saved you.
3. The Motivation: A Humble Heart
The workers who grumbled had a problem deeper than fairness—they had pride. "I worked harder; I deserve more." But the sobering truth is that if we got what was fair, none of us would have anything to boast about. Everything is a gift.
Jesus described the right posture in another parable: "So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty'" (Luke 17:10). The temptation is to use God—to treat our obedience as leverage for the life we want. The invitation is to let God use us, serving out of gratitude rather than negotiation. As the message put it: don't be the number-one draft pick who complains about playing time; be the last pick who's simply glad to be on the team.
Only One Life
The sermon closed with the words of missionary C.T. Studd, who gave up fame and fortune to reach people who had never heard the gospel: "Only one life, 'twill soon be past; only what's done for Christ will last." You have one life, one chance to let God flow through you like a river rather than sitting still like a reservoir.
A Reflection Question
God wants to work through you—but is He? Where is one place this week you could stop consuming and start contributing—one person in your circle you could love, serve, or point toward Jesus?
If you're in Livermore or anywhere across the Tri-Valley and you're looking for a church family where you can know Jesus and be sent out to show His love, we'd love to meet you this Sunday.