by Garry Friesen
|
| List Price: | $14.99 |
| Amazon Price: | $10.19 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
| You Save: | $4.80 (32%) |
| Average Rating: |  |
| Lowest New Price: | $8.56 |
| Availablitiy: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
 |
|
Product Description
Does God have a perfect will for each Christian? Can you be absolutely sure you’ve found God’s individual will for your life? Garry Friesen examines the traditional view of God’s will, then sets forth a different view that more accurately reflects biblical teaching. This new edition of Decision Making takes up the practical issues of choosing a mate, picking a career, giving of one’s resources, and areas of disagreement between Christians to give readers a new approach to knowing the will of God.
Mr. Friesen also addresses many of the arguments that have surfaced since the original printing of this book over twenty-four years ago.
Does God Have a Perfect Will for Your Life?
Does God have a perfect will for each Christian? Can you be absolutely certain of God’s specific will for your life? In this expanded twenty-fifth anniversary edition of his highly acclaimed work, Garry Friesen examines the prevalent view on God’s will today and provides a sound biblical alternative to the traditional teaching of how God guides us. This new edition includes these helpful resources: Study guide for small groups Responses to Frequently Asked Questions Guide to painless Scripture memorization
Friesen tackles the very practical issues of choosing a mate, picking a career, and giving in this fresh and liberating approach to decision making and the will of God.
Story Behind the Book
Most Christians have been taught how to find God’s will, yet many are still unsure whether they’ve found it. God does guide His people, but the question is, “How does He guide?” After “putting out a fleece” to decide which college to attend, Garry Friesen began pondering why it was so hard to find God’s will when he had so sincerely sought it. Was he the only one who did not have 100 percent clarity for every decision? Then a new possibility struck—perhaps his understanding of the nature of God’s will was biblically deficient. Maybe there was a better way to understand HOW God guides.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Wonderful book, 2008-11-29
A Biblical view of decision making one can take and use and serve the Lord joyfully without the nagging doubt in the back of your mind if you are in the center of God's wil. The auther comes across as a humble servant of God offering a better view of decision making than the traditional view without casting stones at those who hold to the latter.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
 At least read the first half!, 2008-10-28
It's been a while since I read this book. I do recall vividly, however, that as helpful and life changing as the first half of the book was where G F gives a great Scriptural basis for there not being some sort of secret will of God that we are supposed to find(in general), he pretty much makes the entire discussion pointless in the second half of the book by clinging to his Calvinist tenets. I loved the first half, but in the second half I thought I must be reading a different author. In the end I felt he was being pretty dense not to see the incompatibility of the two halves of the book.
It seemed he was saying God's will would be done regardless..and if so...then where is the decision making in that? The bottom line of that makes it all null and void. I would be interested if anyone else picked up on that. I do tend to be pretty quick to see the bottom line concerning Calvinism. (Like when the Calvinist missionary was preaching about the millions dying without Christ in China with such passion...trying to get us all excited. Does he really believe his own doctrine? According to his views those people must not have been elect. What does he want us to do about it? I know the typical retort to my thought here and do not buy it for a minute, the bottom line is the same.) I do not buy appealing to the mystery of God in a dodge from having to face a contradiction in one's system in this case. Anyway....I digress...The first half of the book was brilliant and helpful, deserving 5 stars if it were published alone. It was very Scripturally based and very freeing and encouraging.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
 THIS BOOK IS NOT BASED ON A TRUE BIBLICAL VIEWPOINT, 2008-09-16
I was so saddened to read this book (the original version) in which the author claims that specific guidance from Yahweh is an exception to the rule, limited to specific people at specific times for specific purposes. He says only "special believers" (quoted from page 90) receive such guidance. On page 86, he calls Yahweh's close supervision of the Israelites "bondage" and considers them immature for requiring such a level of guidance. As I mature, I rely on that intimate close supervison and guidance more and more so. Yahweh's guidance and supervision provide freedom, not bondage. He says on page 91 that Yahweh was selective in who He would specifically guide and that "such selectivity on the part of Yahweh seems to weaken rather than strengthen the support for the concept of an individual will for all Christians." Isn't it possible that the examples we have in Scripture are not isolated examples of a select few chosen by Yahweh to whom He would reveal His specific will to, but simply examples of those who listened and obeyed the specific will Yahweh desires to reveal to all of His children? To say that Yahweh has only "special believers" that He reveals His will to is as counterscriptural as saying Yahshua only died for some. The Elohim I love and serve, the Savior I know who personally died for me, does not have "special revelations" for some of His children and not others. Yahweh wants to reveal His specific will to us all, in His Word, in our lives. I do believe there is a danger in becoming more caught up in discerning His will than in walking with Him. The goal is to just walk so closely with Him, praying, surrendering, trusting, believing, obeying, walking by faith, and yes, making common sense decisions in accordance with Scripture. Yet, please do not believe that Yahweh does not personally desire to guide each and every one of us step by step. Too many miracles occur every single day in our lives that are specific to our individual lives to believe that He is only generally guiding and not personally involved. Yahweh is not some professor who wrote some book that countless unknowns will read and learn from. He is the El of the Universe who gave Yahshua to die for us, and He is personally invested in every aspect of each of our lives. Do we always know what decisions to make, large or small? No. Do we always make the right ones? No. But is Yahweh personally interested in every single step in every single one of our individual lives? A RESOUNDING YES!!!! This author may have been well intentioned but he depersonalized the Elohim we have known so personally in his writing. I think the problem with the "traditional viewpoint" is that people cannot be our El. Only Yahweh can be our Elohim. That viewpoint is not wrong as much as it is limited by humanity. The author states "direct supernatural guidance for decisions was the exception to the rule." (pg. 92) We do not see that in Scripture or in life experience. He says "direct guidance was only provided at critical points during the formative years of the church". (pg. 92) Is the author forgetting about the Israelites? Or the countless historical and present day examples of Yahweh's direct guidance? On page 93, the author states that direct revelation came to Yahshua (Christ) because it was "fitting since He is prophet, Priest and King." In context, this is written in contrast to the lack of direct revelation in the average believer's life. But if Yahweh gave direct revelation to guide Yahshua and He commands us to walk as Yahshua walked (1 John 2:6), will He not similarly guide us? On page 95, the author writes, "But the uniqueness of Christ is so pervasive, it would behoove us to be cautious in suggesting those points at which Christ's life provides a normative example for the believer today." and "The extent to which He is our model is not open ended." Yahshua's life fully provides a normative example for the believer today and every aspect of His life is an example for us. The author goes on to suggest that only certain aspects of Yahshua's life are meant as our example to follow, but how can we possibly classify only certain aspects of our Savior that we are to model? We must model every aspect of our Savior, Yahshua. The perfect will of Yahweh is more difficult to wait for, to determine and to follow. His "permissive" will comes more quickly and more easily, but apart from repentance and restoration, it will not be as wonderful as His perfect will. Of course though, if a decision is made outside of His will or outside of His perfect will, true repentance and then whole hearted surrender will restore you. Our marriage began on an unbiblical foundation, clearly out of Yahweh's will but through repentance and wholehearted surrender, we have restoration and are in now His perfect will. The issue is not to obsess over His perfect will but to walk so closely with Him that you will enjoy the blessing and joy of waiting on Him. It will not be easy but it will be worthwhile. My most important point in this review is to reassure anyone having read or considering reading this book that Yahweh is extremely personally invested in you and in your life, every single step of it.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent, 2008-06-01
This book was really helpful for me, it produced an copernician revolution in my life.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Understanding What God's Will is and What God's Will is Not, 2007-09-03
This is a thorough Biblical study of God's will. There is God's sovereign will and God's moral will. God's sovereign will dictates everything that He allows to happen, be it good or bad. God's moral will governs how we should live (e. g., the Ten Commandments).
When humans successfully commit a sin, their act is inconsistent with God's moral will but is consistent with His sovereign will. If a human desires to commit a sin but is prevented from doing so, it means that his act was contrary to both the moral and sovereign wills of God. If we desire to do something holy but are prevented from doing so, it means that this act may have been consistent with His moral will but was inconsistent with His sovereign will.
God desires that everyone be saved, but does not force anyone to be saved. So universal salvation is part of God's moral will but not part of God's sovereign will.
Now let us consider what God's will is not. Friesen and Maxson challenge the widely-held view that God has an individual will for every decision we make, such as whom to marry or what job to take or not to take. In common with many other reviewers, I also struggled with attempting to know God's individual will for me. I never knew if the impressions I received were from God, or if they were just my imagination. We learn from Scriptures that God telling people whom to marry was only done in exceptional situations. It was not normative! Moreover, in those rare occasions when God had an individual will for a believer (such as whom to marry), it was always communicated by direct oral revelation, never by inner impressions.
The absence of the existence of a Divine individual will in no way means that we are free to make decisions according to our selfish desires. To the contrary: we should make all of our decisions in accordance with our maximum compliance to God's moral will for us.
Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.
|
Store Categories
|