Discussion Guide: God’s Will — Blueprint or Game Plan?
Desired Takeaway
You don’t have to know God’s plan for your future to live God’s will today.
God certainly can guide us in specific decisions, but our primary calling is already clear: be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do as Jesus did. Our jobs, relationships, locations, opportunities, and other decisions become the context in which we live that calling.
The goal of this conversation is to help people move from anxiety about figuring out God's plan toward trust and faithful apprenticeship to Jesus in the life they actually have.
Icebreaker - pick one
Discussion Questions
1. Lean In — How do you approach God’s will?
When Christians talk about “God's will,” we often mean decisions like: Who should I marry? Which job should I take? Where should I live? What's my calling?
Leader note: Let people describe their actual experiences before evaluating them. Some may have beautiful stories of specific guidance; others may carry considerable anxiety or disappointment around this subject.
2. Look Down — What does Scripture actually emphasize?
Read Romans 12:1–2, and then continue through Romans 12:9–21.
Romans 12:2 says that through the renewing of our minds we'll be able to discern God's will. But as Paul continues, he doesn't give instructions for discovering God's hidden plan. He describes a particular kind of life: genuine love, honoring others, generosity, hospitality, blessing enemies, harmony, and overcoming evil with good.
3. Look Out — Blueprint or Game Plan?
Consider these two pictures of God's will:
Blueprint: God has one detailed plan for your life, and your responsibility is to discover it and follow it correctly.
Game plan: God gives us a clear direction, purpose, boundaries, and way of living while also giving us freedom and wisdom to faithfully respond to the circumstances in front of us.
Leader note: The goal isn't to suggest God never gives specific direction. The teaching explicitly affirms that he does. The question is whether discovering specific instructions should be our primary understanding of God's will.
4. Look In — Am I pursuing my primary calling?
The teaching distinguishes between primary calling and secondary calling. Our secondary calling includes questions about career, marriage, where we live, opportunities, gifts, and specific assignments. But our primary calling is: Be with Jesus. Become like Jesus. Do as Jesus did. Or: Know God. Grow in faith. Go with purpose.
Leader note: This doesn't mean the secondary question is unimportant. The invitation is simply to ask whether uncertainty about tomorrow is distracting us from faithfulness today.
5. Live It Out — What does faithfulness look like from here?
One of the most hopeful ideas in this teaching is: “God's kingdom can take root in the actual life you have, not merely the life you wish you had.”
Some of us are trying to figure out the future. Others aren't worried about making the wrong decision—we're worried that we already made it.
Maybe you can't change your career, relationship history, financial decisions, family circumstances, or consequences from the past.
Optional Exercises for the Week
1. Replace “What?” with “Who?”
When you find yourself asking: “God, what am I supposed to do?”
Pause and also ask: “Jesus, who are you forming me to become in this?”
Don't stop seeking wisdom about the decision. Simply allow formation to become part of your discernment.
2. Practice Your Primary Calling
Choose one practice for each movement this week:
Be with Jesus: Spend ten quiet minutes with Jesus each day.
Become like Jesus: Identify one character quality of Jesus—patience, generosity, compassion, humility, courage—and intentionally practice it.
Do as Jesus did: Serve, encourage, forgive, welcome, give, or show compassion to someone in a concrete way.
Don't try to overhaul your entire life. Practice apprenticeship in the life you already have.
3. Follow Jesus From Here
Think about one past decision you wish you could change. Rather than endlessly asking, “What if I had…?”, ask: “Given where I actually am today, what would faithfulness to Jesus look like from here?”
Write down one next step and take it.
Prayer Prompt
Begin with a minute of silence.
Invite everyone to bring before God whatever uncertainty they're carrying about their future—or whatever regret they're carrying about their past.
Then pray along these lines:
Jesus, we belong to you. Free us from the need to know everything that's coming next. Help us trust you with what we cannot see. Teach us to be with you, form us to become like you, and show us how to live your way in the circumstances you've placed before us. Give us wisdom when decisions need to be made and freedom from fear when the future isn't clear. Form your life in us and teach us to faithfully follow you from here. Amen.
You don’t have to know God’s plan for your future to live God’s will today.
God certainly can guide us in specific decisions, but our primary calling is already clear: be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do as Jesus did. Our jobs, relationships, locations, opportunities, and other decisions become the context in which we live that calling.
The goal of this conversation is to help people move from anxiety about figuring out God's plan toward trust and faithful apprenticeship to Jesus in the life they actually have.
Icebreaker - pick one
- If you could know the answer to one completely useless mystery, what would you want to know?
- Would you rather always know exactly what time it is without looking or always know which direction is north?
Discussion Questions
1. Lean In — How do you approach God’s will?
When Christians talk about “God's will,” we often mean decisions like: Who should I marry? Which job should I take? Where should I live? What's my calling?
- When you’ve faced an important decision, how have you typically approached discerning God’s will? What have you expected God’s guidance to look like?
- Possible follow-up: Have you ever worried that making the “wrong” decision could cause you to miss God's plan for your life? What did that do to you?
Leader note: Let people describe their actual experiences before evaluating them. Some may have beautiful stories of specific guidance; others may carry considerable anxiety or disappointment around this subject.
2. Look Down — What does Scripture actually emphasize?
Read Romans 12:1–2, and then continue through Romans 12:9–21.
Romans 12:2 says that through the renewing of our minds we'll be able to discern God's will. But as Paul continues, he doesn't give instructions for discovering God's hidden plan. He describes a particular kind of life: genuine love, honoring others, generosity, hospitality, blessing enemies, harmony, and overcoming evil with good.
- Looking at the whole passage, what connections do you notice between discerning God's will and becoming a certain kind of person?
- Possible follow-up: What surprises you about the things Paul emphasizes—and the things he doesn't?
3. Look Out — Blueprint or Game Plan?
Consider these two pictures of God's will:
Blueprint: God has one detailed plan for your life, and your responsibility is to discover it and follow it correctly.
Game plan: God gives us a clear direction, purpose, boundaries, and way of living while also giving us freedom and wisdom to faithfully respond to the circumstances in front of us.
- How might someone's life with God look different depending on which of those pictures they carry?
- What might each picture do to the way someone approaches career decisions, relationships, parenting, finances, mistakes, or unexpected circumstances?
Leader note: The goal isn't to suggest God never gives specific direction. The teaching explicitly affirms that he does. The question is whether discovering specific instructions should be our primary understanding of God's will.
4. Look In — Am I pursuing my primary calling?
The teaching distinguishes between primary calling and secondary calling. Our secondary calling includes questions about career, marriage, where we live, opportunities, gifts, and specific assignments. But our primary calling is: Be with Jesus. Become like Jesus. Do as Jesus did. Or: Know God. Grow in faith. Go with purpose.
- Which of those three—being with Jesus, becoming like Jesus, or doing as Jesus did—do you sense needs the most attention in your life right now? Why?
- Is there a secondary question about your future that has been consuming more of your attention than your primary calling in the present?
Leader note: This doesn't mean the secondary question is unimportant. The invitation is simply to ask whether uncertainty about tomorrow is distracting us from faithfulness today.
5. Live It Out — What does faithfulness look like from here?
One of the most hopeful ideas in this teaching is: “God's kingdom can take root in the actual life you have, not merely the life you wish you had.”
Some of us are trying to figure out the future. Others aren't worried about making the wrong decision—we're worried that we already made it.
Maybe you can't change your career, relationship history, financial decisions, family circumstances, or consequences from the past.
- If you believed that apprenticeship to Jesus is fully available to you in the life you actually have right now, what might change about the way you approach this season?
- Follow up: What is one way you can be with Jesus, become like Jesus, or do what Jesus would do in the life directly in front of you this week?
Optional Exercises for the Week
1. Replace “What?” with “Who?”
When you find yourself asking: “God, what am I supposed to do?”
Pause and also ask: “Jesus, who are you forming me to become in this?”
Don't stop seeking wisdom about the decision. Simply allow formation to become part of your discernment.
2. Practice Your Primary Calling
Choose one practice for each movement this week:
Be with Jesus: Spend ten quiet minutes with Jesus each day.
Become like Jesus: Identify one character quality of Jesus—patience, generosity, compassion, humility, courage—and intentionally practice it.
Do as Jesus did: Serve, encourage, forgive, welcome, give, or show compassion to someone in a concrete way.
Don't try to overhaul your entire life. Practice apprenticeship in the life you already have.
3. Follow Jesus From Here
Think about one past decision you wish you could change. Rather than endlessly asking, “What if I had…?”, ask: “Given where I actually am today, what would faithfulness to Jesus look like from here?”
Write down one next step and take it.
Prayer Prompt
Begin with a minute of silence.
Invite everyone to bring before God whatever uncertainty they're carrying about their future—or whatever regret they're carrying about their past.
Then pray along these lines:
Jesus, we belong to you. Free us from the need to know everything that's coming next. Help us trust you with what we cannot see. Teach us to be with you, form us to become like you, and show us how to live your way in the circumstances you've placed before us. Give us wisdom when decisions need to be made and freedom from fear when the future isn't clear. Form your life in us and teach us to faithfully follow you from here. Amen.