Knowing and doing God's will is tied to walking as children of light. In Ephesians 5:8-10, doing what God commands is how believers "prove" what is acceptable to Him, and obedience precedes understanding: God eventually gives insight into why He commands something, as with forgiving repeatedly, being swift to hear and slow to speak, or submitting to one another, and Psalm 111:10 supports this. Such obedience is an act of faith that builds character. Ephesians 5:15-17 calls for walking circumspectly and understanding the Lord's will, yet many situations have no explicit scripture or example to fit them. The answer offered is that God's will can be discerned by knowing His character, since He acts out of it. Believers are children of God and so should imitate Him and Christ (John 8, I John 2:6, I Peter 2:21, John 13:15), asking what God would do in their shoes. This narrows options and eliminates wrong ones. Mature Christians should not need to cry out for intervention at every small matter, because under the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:33-34) they are expected to know the Lord well. Holiness, the foundation of all God's other traits, is the starting point. It is moral purity and separation, not mere ritual, as Jesus showed in Mark 7. It gives a general direction rather than specific answers. David's eating the showbread, which put mercy and preserving life above ritual law, illustrates how understanding God's holiness leads to a right decision.

Knowing God's will comes through doing what He commands, not merely hearing it. Ephesians 5:8-17 shows that those transferred from darkness to light by the Father's calling are to walk as children of light, "proving what is acceptable to the Lord." Putting God's way into practice over time yields visible fruit and a growing record of proof, so conviction and wisdom develop, as in the apostle John's confident "we know" after decades of faithful living. Walking circumspectly in wisdom moves a believer beyond rote obedience to applying God's principles within His standards where no explicit command exists. Jesus' defense of His disciples plucking grain on the Sabbath illustrates mercy taking priority over the letter of the law. Because God's will is tied to His character, emulating traits such as holiness, faithfulness, patience, sacrifice, goodness, and forethought aligns a person with His will in dealing with others. No one need feel unequal to the task, since God supplies what is needed. In every trial, 1 Corinthians 10:13 promises that the temptation is common, God limits it, and He provides the way of escape, which must be taken by faith. The Father and Son dwell in believers through the Holy Spirit, and asking according to His will, seeking, and knocking bring help. Godly examples in Scripture and the church also guide decisions. Believers should endure and finish strong, having what is needed to do God's will.

Seeking God's will, grounded in Ephesians 5:17's command not to be unwise but to understand what the will of the Lord is, means studying God's character, since He always acts according to it and His will follows from it. One key trait is His foresight, the habit of considering the end before acting. Israel's failure in Deuteronomy 32:28-29 shows the opposite: a people void of counsel who would not link their disasters to their sins, with God lamenting, "Oh, that they were wise, that they would consider their latter end!" The same blindness appears in Haggai's "Consider your ways" and in modern nations that forget the God who blesses them. God's forethought appears in creation, in barring Adam and Eve from the Tree of Life so that sinful, deathless beings would not become like Satan, and in Christ, who looked past the cross to the glory and the many children of God it would bring. Christ's ministry, including the delay in raising Lazarus, shows deliberate planning for God's glory. Adam and Eve, by contrast, acted on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life without thinking ahead. Walking in the light as sons of the day, developing faith, love, and hope, attunes believers to God's goals and the mind of Christ, so that they can foresee the results of their words and actions. Parents should teach children to think ahead, and all should consider their ways and repent, as in Ezekiel 18.

Seeking God's will begins with understanding His character, since Ephesians 5:17 says not to be unwise but to understand what the will of the Lord is. Each trait of God, studied closely, shows what He wants in almost any situation, and this matters most in resolving personal conflicts. When people act in a godly way toward one another, the bumps and bruises of collision are diminished and things work out far better. Sacrifice is one of those traits: freely giving up something for the benefit of another. The Father and the Son sacrificed infinitely more than any human can. The Father gave up His only companion, and the Son emptied Himself of glory, endured a lifetime of temptation, and shed His blood, all out of pure agape love so that humanity could become children of God. Their will is that those who come under Christ's blood follow His example. Jesus gave Himself until He was weary, went without the comforts of home, endured ridicule and abuse without retaliating, and taught that whoever loses his life for His sake will find it. God's will for His people is therefore to be living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2), offering continual praise and thanksgiving to God, and doing good and sharing with others, especially the brethren, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

When faced with situations like an impending storm, we often grapple with how to pray and what to ask of God. Many of us ponder if we truly understand God's will, wishing to pray more accurately by knowing His desires precisely. If we could grasp His will more clearly, our prayers would align with what He is working out, eliminating the need to say phrases like "if it's Your will," because we would know it. We would be able to pray with certainty, submitting in full knowledge of what He aims to accomplish. Jesus, in His model prayer, instructs us to ask for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, without specifying what that will is. By praying in this way, we submit to His will, acknowledging that often we do not or cannot know it in specific matters. This submission requires faith, as there are times when His will remains beyond our understanding, no matter our righteousness or insight. God desires us to know His will as much as possible, yet certain matters exceed our human limitations compared to His infinite knowledge. In the example of Abraham, though God revealed His intent to judge Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham remained unaware of His specific will toward Lot. Despite this, Abraham's understanding of God's character—that He would not destroy the righteous with the wicked—guided his bargaining for the righteous in the city. Abraham exercised faith, leaving the determination of righteousness to God, trusting in His mercy and perfect ways to protect those who follow Him, even without knowing the outcome. Knowing God's will is a lifelong pursuit for us, often fraught with complexity and frustration. We spend our converted lives striving to grasp it better, learning, like Abraham, to leave certain things to Him in faith. God's instructions, such as those for keeping the Feast of Tabernacles, represent His will for us during specific times. His will calls for dedication and devotion, prioritizing our spiritual relationship with Him above all else, trusting that He has revealed what we need to know through His Word. God's will encompasses both His revealed and secret aspects. His revealed will, found in His instructions and law, is what we are to follow to avoid curses and destruction. His secret will, the future things He has not disclosed, remains in His domain. We are to focus on what He has made known, trusting that if the secret things were essential for us now, He would have revealed them. Our task is to walk in wisdom, filling our time with understanding His revealed will, having faith that He knows best when to unveil the rest.

God urges us to reason with Him, inviting us to come and let us reason together. Reasoning with Him means offering reasons for our requests, not arguing or seeking to change His laws. However, our pleas must align with His will, for if what we ask is not according to His will, or if it would be detrimental to us or others, or if it does not fit His master plan, He will not grant it. His decisions are always based on what is best for everyone. We have confidence that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us favorably. Jesus Christ Himself sought not His own will but the will of the Father who sent Him. Effectively reasoning with Him requires understanding His will, which comes through constant contact and obedience to Him. Abraham, being close to God and submissive to Him, understood His plan and felt confident in reasoning with Him about Sodom. David also sought to learn God's will, asking in prayer to be taught to do His will. Christ teaches that if we abide in Him and His words abide in us, we will ask what we desire, and it shall be done for us. Obedience is key, as we receive from Him when we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight. God wants us to reason with Him, using this interaction to gauge our spiritual growth, to see if we are carnal and self-centered or showing love for others. To know His will, we must remain in constant contact with Him and be consistently obedient. How He answers our prayers may be flexible, depending on the reasons and sincerity behind our requests. Reasoning with Him according to His will has the power to change the course of history and can profoundly impact us and our brethren.

The first words Jesus speaks in John, "What do you seek?", pose a question every called person must ask daily: are we seeking what God wants, or merely what we want? Many are drawn by self-serving motives such as healing, prophecy, escape from a violent world, or curiosity, but conversion requires moving beyond them toward outgoing concern for others in service to God. Personal experience illustrates the pattern: a pursuit of becoming better Catholics, a Wednesday Sabbath, and a search for a better Christian group were all self-righteous seeking on human terms until God redirected the search. Judas may have never moved past a desire for a political Messiah, and the crowds in John 6 sought Jesus for bread rather than for the One who is the true bread of life. The Greek dzateo means to desire something and attempt to realize it, so the test is whether that attempt lines up with God's purpose. I Chronicles 16 commands seeking the Lord and His strength and His face continually. The Hebrew words darash (to inquire, consult, enter covenant relationship) and baqash (to seek with a state of mind and the whole heart) describe studying Christ and living in His presence day and night. Jesus at twelve, saying He must be about His Father's business, shows that a lifetime must be devoted to seeking the Father's will, putting aside self-pleasing as Christ did, and growing into the fullness of Christ.