The Formula for Knowing God's Will

Just the other day I received a Facebook message where someone I don’t know who certainly hasn’t read the book – The Formula for Knowing God’s Will for Christians, Agnostics and Atheists – pretty much accused me of sorcery. She accused, “How can anyone possibly know a formula for God’s will?!”

Well, let’s talk about that.

First off, we are surrounded by formulas. We just don’t think of them that way. Just pause to think about it. We live in a physical world where most everything is governed by formulas of some kind. These formulas can be very complex and very simple.

For instance, the world’s most famous formula is Einstein’s E = mc². In this formula he is saying that energy = mass x the speed of light squared. Well, I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t think about that formula on a daily basis. Certainly doesn’t mean the formula doesn’t exist. I just don’t have firsthand knowledge or experience with it.

Now, on the other hand, formulas can be quite simple. If you’ve ever cooked using a recipe, well, you’ve used a formula. When you Google the definition of a “formula” you get two explanations. First, it’s simply a mathematical relationship. Second, it’s simply a list of ingredients. So yes, a recipe is a formula.

A mathematical relationship can simply be expressed as X = A + B + C. An ingredient list is really the same. Combine A+B+C and you get X. In a recipe you combine flour, sugar, salt, cherries etcetera and cook at X temp for Y time and you get a pie!

In The Formula book, I use both types of formulas.

We use formulas every day. How do you make a fire? How do you construct a building? How do you do heart surgery? How do you ride a bike? How do you get pregnant? How do you raise a baby? How do you build a website?

Formulas can also mean processes. Google defines a process as “a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.”

And THAT’S what we’re talking about in The Formula book. Processes that achieve a particular end. Or several ends. So, when that person accused me of sorcery, she was really saying that there are no processes with God, no processes depicted in the Bible. The definition of sorcery means black magic. Is the formula for knowing God’s Will really black magic? Oooo, this is where it hits close to home for you and me.

On one hand, someone and maybe many someones would shout, “yes, it is black magic! Heck if I know what God’s will is for me!” And they’d be fair to say that. Just as I’d be fair in shouting, “heck, I don’t know how energy is created or light moves from the sun. It’s black magic.” And it WAS black magic for a long time. Just remember that not many centuries ago, most of us thought the world was flat. As early as 240 BC the Greeks, gotta love them, theorized that the world wasn’t flat but spherical. However, it wasn’t until 1519 when Ferdinand Magellan circumvented the globe that he proved the world wasn’t flat.

I guess sometimes truth takes time. And pain. The Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei was convicted in 1633 for publishing his evidence that supported the Copernican theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Today, we all accept his theory, duh.

Sometimes people just don’t want to believe what they don’t understand.

So, is God a God of formulas? Well, if the world He created operates according to formulas, how can He possibly NOT also operate according to formulas? I mean, wouldn’t you think that the Creator of the Universe would consistently operate the same way in both the physical and spiritual world? I think it’s safe to say, yes.

Because we who have some experience with the Bible know that God says about Himself, “I am the same yesterday and today and forever.” God… is … consistent, if anything.

So what are some of God’s formulas?

How about salvation. Let’s take the most well known verse in the Bible, John 3:16.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Is there a formula here? Of course! We just have to boil it down to mathematics. “Everlasting life = Believe in Him.” That’s about the simplest formula on Earth.

Now, Romans 10:9-11 takes the formula for eternal life one step further…

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Here, the formula expands to: Salvation = Believe + Confess.

Not so hard, is it?

Let’s take some other topics I’ve tracked over my many decades on how to be successful in life.

How about Proverbs 22:4.

By humility and fear of the Lord are riches, honor and life.

Formula translation…

Humility + Fear of the Lord = Riches + Honor + Life

Who doesn’t want those things? This is one of God’s BEST formulas! The difficulty is that Humility and Fear of the Lord are constructs that must be understood, studied, practiced, applied. What is a construct? Well, it’s an “idea” that must be digested, explored. It’s like, “okay God, so what exactly is humility or this idea of ‘fear of the Lord’?” I don’t fully understand what those ideas mean? So what do you do?

Here’s another formula that actually pertains to the formula above. How do I understand humility and fear of the Lord to get all that good stuff! …

2 Timothy 2:15.

Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Oooo, sounds kinda heavy! Not really. The formula…

Successful worker = study

Yep. You want to understand humility to get all the rewards, study. Oh, how about success in your career or vocation. Uh huh. STUDY. See, it swings both ways. God’s formulas apply spiritually and also practically. We ALL KNOW that you must study to know a subject, be qualified in it. You want to be an engineer? Study! Got a new job? Study how to do it! Want God’s promises? Study the components of the formula!

Okay, so let’s just assume that we all grant that there are formulas in the Bible. Ah, I hear a skeptic in the crowd. Okay, let’s review a few more…

Successful marriage = wife respect your husband + husband love your wife. Ephesians 5:33.

That’s a very deep scripture, by the way, one only truly understood once you get into marriage. But that’s the formula, a truly great one for anyone who has been married any length of time.

Here’s one that may be hard for some people…

Honor your father and mother = long life + success. Ephesians 6:1-3.

I’m not making these things up! Here’s the problem. IF we read the Bible, we’re often just cruising, not really comprehending. What do I mean here? Come on, let’s be honest. Maybe we read the scripture of the day. Why? So we feel good about ourselves. “Okay, I read my scripture for the day, yay.” BUT, are we really reading to understand, to explore, to learn. Or, are we just reading to ‘check the box.’ Now, if we start reading scripture LOOKING for formulas, oh my. It will blow your mind, as it has mine. Scriptures are loaded with formulas.

So what about the formula for knowing God’s will? Well, read the book. I’m not going to get into it here. The point of this article is to comfort you that God’s formulas are NOT sorcery. They’re plainly there in scripture as they are plainly there in the physical world God created.

Why would God make his spiritual formulas difficult? He can’t! He said He’s the same! GOD IS LOGICAL AND CONSISTENT, thank God. (I’m not saying He won’t do things that are wild.) I am saying, no shouting: God is not mystical! God is not mean. He is not playing “hard to get.” God is a good Father who makes His will plain to us. He is a good parent who gives us the formulas we need in life to excel, to handle challenges, to become the person He wants us to be.

(Let’s all do a seal clap here, group thing.)

Lastly, why are formulas important? And I can’t emphasize this enough. Why are formulas important? Why?

BECAUSE THE OUTCOMES ARE PREDICTABLE.

That’s part of the definition of a formula. If you do this, you get this outcome. Consistently.

So regarding the will of God, how can that be consistent? Unlike the formula for how to start a fire, the outcome of God’s will for each individual person will look different person to person. The thing we should know is that there WILL be an outcome, a personalized outcome. Each and every time. I mean, every time in every single instance, small and large.

Many examples are in The Formula book.

God makes His promises, His ways, very predictable. Why? Because He wants us to succeed. He’s not mean, laughing up there in the sky as we try and try to find His will and fail and flounder and become miserable. No!

His will is in front of us each and every moment. We just need the knowledge on how to see it! Because, just like the earth is round and not flat, God’s will is not hard. It’s easy. It’s not sorcery. It’s logical.

Read then do The Formula!