1. God speaks through circumstances. Its funny, Christians routinely blast atheists and atheism, but we ourselves often act as if there is no God. We complain about the uncontrollable events in our lives as if we’re just here by chance, left to sort life out on our own.

But life isn’t dog-eat-dog. God is in charge of this world. God is in charge of our little world. And the events that He allows—getting fired from a job, meeting a future mate, getting rebuked by a pastor or Christian leader, the family we were born into, the town in which we live, the skill sets, talents, and gifts we possess—are all part of God’s divine blueprint for our success.

None of this happens by chance. God is not up in Heaven pounding His fist against His head saying, “Whoops, I really messed up with Dan.” No, God didn’t mess up. God didn’t make a mistake. God isn’t ever caught by surprise.

So you can do one of two things. You can continue to live as the world lives. You can stick to the motto, “Life is random, you get out of it what you make of it, I can’t help the way I am.” Or you can embrace your life—your life right now—as God’s will.

Yes, what happens to you that’s out of your control is God’s Will for your life.

2. God speaks through opportunities. Remember the guy with the boat? God presented him opportunities and he refused them. A long time ago I had a friend who constantly agonized over every decision, every opportunity, and wondered, “Is this God’s will?”

Meanwhile, God presented him opportunity after opportunity. He wanted to get married, but no girl was good enough. Oh, but he didn’t say that. He said really good spiritual things like, “It’s not God’s Will.” Oh yeah? Did you talk to anybody about it? Did you pray about it? Did you ever consider that this could be an opportunity to explore?

And on and on it went with this guy. A dozen ministry and job opportunities were presented, but he never pursued any of them. He hemmed, hawed, quoted a lot of Scripture verses, but never made a move.

10 years later I had lunch with him. And even though he’s held down a job and even gotten married (finally found Miss Right), he’s still in that pondering, hemming and hawing stage. I fear that at the end of his life he’ll be like Roof Man and God will say, “I brought along this opportunity and that opportunity and you refused to take them.”

God works through open doors and opportunities. It’s that simple. These are not just “lucky” occurrences. If you want to do God’s will, do as one of my Bible College professors used to say, “Go. Do something and God will direct you.”

3. God speaks Through spiritual counselors and mentors. This is where most of us slip up. We live a lone-ranger Christianity and refuse to listen to wise spiritual counselors. I believe that God’s plan for the Christian in this age is through the local church. Every believer should not only be a part of a local church, but should voluntarily put himself under the accountability of that church.

Now, for young people, this is a tough sell. Why should I let a pastor or anybody control my life? But the truth is this: the Bible talks over and over about the value of wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to make good decisions, spiritual decisions, and God-honoring decisions.

But young people don’t have a lot of wisdom. That’s why we need to sit at the feet of pastors, trusted lay-leaders, parents, mentors, etc. Every major decision I have ever made in my life I have done with the approval and consent of my pastor. Why? I trust my pastor. He’s a man whom God has sovereignly put into my life to help guide me.

And you know what? I’ve been blessed every time. There have been many moments when I have had what I thought was a really good idea. But people I trust, who have more spiritual wisdom than I do, raised questions. They said, “Hmm, I’m not sure this is a good idea and here is why.”

You too have spiritual mentors in your life—if you don’t, find some in your church. Seek their wisdom. Seek their accountability. Seek their unbiased opinion.

A wise person will take such advice as God speaking to them. That is God’s will.