The Will of God with Jen Wilkin
On today’s episode of the Journeywomen podcast I’m chatting with Jen Wilkin on the topic of knowing the will of God, one of the most requested topics we’ve received to date!
If for some reason you aren’t familiar with Jen Wilkin, she’s a speaker, writer, and teacher of women’s Bible studies. During her seventeen years of teaching, she has organized and led studies for women in home, church, and parachurch contexts. Jen and her family are members of the Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. Her latest book, which we will be discussing today, is In His Image: 10 Ways God Calls Us to Reflect His Character. I genuinely hope this conversation encourages you to press into the Word and to seek to embody live out who God wants us to be as his followers.
Can you tell us a little about who you are and what you do?
For the believer wanting to know God's will for her life, what is the best question she can be asking?
What is God most concerned with? How does this come about in our lives?
What are some examples of things Scripture tells us are God's will for our lives?
How can we gain an understanding of what the Bible most wants us to learn?
Who does the Bible say we should be? How can we become that?
What is the distinction between bearing God's image and becoming like God?
What are some examples of the characteristics of God that we can embody?
What does it look like for us to strive to embody these characteristics while also walking in humility and realizing that we are NOT God?
How does the gospel re-image us?
What hope does the gospel offer in the process of our sanctification?
THREE QUESTIONS I ASK EVERY GUEST
What 3 resources would you recommend for someone who wants to develop a more Biblical understanding of God’s will for their lives? (In addition to your book, obviously.)
What are your 3 simple joys?
Who has had the greatest impact on your own journey with Jesus?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
“We are viewing God as someone who is saying to us, ‘oh I have a specific will for you, but I’m not going to tell you what it is. I’m going to make you scramble around trying to look for signs. And if you miss it, all bets are off and terrible things are coming your way.’”
“The better question we need to learn to ask stems from recognizing that God who is the God of all outcomes is able to work with any decision that we make. And that’s what, if we look back on our lives, we typically see him doing.”
“The decision point always seems like the big moment for us, but in reality God is always more concerned with the decision maker than he is with any given decision. I would argue that the better question to ask regarding God’s will is not what should I do but who should I be?”
“What we miss on that is that it doesn't really do us any good to make the right decision if we are still the wrong person on the other side of it.”
“I married the right person by all objective measures. I made the right choice. But if marry Jeff and I continue to be selfish and self serving and self elevating, then I married the wrong person. Then my marriage is not going to be successful over the long term.”
“Our heavenly father is a perfect parent and what does he want for us? Does he simply want to tell us the next thing to do? Because if God tells you the next thing to do, then guess what you don’t need, you don’t need faith.”
“Whatever the beginning point is of your salvation, that is the purpose of the rest of the days that your breathe in and out on the planet is to be holy as he is holy. Holiness is at its root being conformed to the image of Christ. More than that, it is realizing that what Christ in the incarnation embodies is what humanity would have been had the garden never played out the way that it did. Being conformed to the image of Christ is becoming who we were intended to be.”
“The Bible is just about on every page calling to you about what it looks like to live a holy life.”
“The delight piece matters. The motive piece changes a conversation of growing in holiness of being one trying to earn God’s favor versus wanting to please God because you already have his favor.”
“Thinking ‘I have to make the right decision’ - isn’t that just another form of legalism?”
“What attribute of God do I see in Christ that is also compelling to me to take on? I do not want to become omnipresent because that would be idolatry. But to want to be patient, gracious, merciful, and just are all things that are true about God, that are demonstrated in Christ, and that are accessible to me as someone who is increasingly being conformed to the image of Christ.”
“Those limits are not a result of the fall, they are God ordained for us and for our good. Anytime we aspire something that is true about God that is denying those limits, we are practicing idolatry. When Eve reaches for that fruit, she is reaching for limitlessness.”
“We gravitate toward looking at only the things that only God is supposed to be characterized by. He is everywhere and fully present. Well, if you’re a mother of small children, you think ‘I kind of need that’. Or he is sovereign. Well I want to be the sovereign creator of this universe that is my family. Or I want all the people born in my image to give glory to me through the activities they’re involved in, the way they behave in public, and so on. Yet what is there for us is all the ways we are charged to carry the image of God as seen in Christ into a world that has lost sight of it.”
“While your justification cost you nothing, your sanctification will cost you everything. It will be the laying aside of self at every turn.”
“Titus 2 tells us that grace actually teaches us to say no to ungodliness and turns us into a people zealous for good works. The people of God should be characterized by a zeal of doing what pleases the Lord.”
“We become what we behold.”
“We believe that what we need is greater assurance of our intrinsic self worth. And we do. But that is not going to stick to our ribs the way that it should unless it is rooted in who God is first.”
“It is an emphasis problem. When we never devote time to just worshipping who God is and spend the majority of our time talking about who we are, then we never develop the transcendent understanding of who God is.”
“Many of us have developed a habit of coming to the Scriptures asking ‘who am I?’ before we ask ‘who is God?’ To start reading the Bible looking for the transcendent God in the text before we ask who am I questions.”
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
Genesis 3
Titus 2
Isaiah 6
JEN’S RESOURCES FOR KNOWING THE WILL OF GOD
The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
The Attributes of God by Arthur Pink
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
Knowing Faith Podcast - Episode 17: Theology 101
OTHER RESOURCES
Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin
None Like Him by Jen Wilkin
In His Image by Jen Wilkin
JEN’S SIMPLE JOYS
Her pugs
Fountain pens
Jeni’s ice cream
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Has there been a time in your life recently that you wanted to know God’s will?
How does the gospel help us understand God’s will for our lives?
What Godly characteristics can you develop in your life in this season?
What are you going to do or implement as a result of what you’ve learned this week?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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