Obtain Step By Step: Divine Guidance For Ordinary Christians Articulated By James C. Petty Available As Document

this book with my small group, This is a heck of a book, Both reassuring you can't fail your way out of God's "plan A" for your life and challenging God will grant you wisdom if you ask for it, this book encompasses the best advice I've been given on making decisions.
I was impressed with all the different options and arguments it brought up and dealt with, and the professional yet encouraging manner it dealt with those things.
Very cool.
Big review shout out to Mike for suggesting the book and letting me borrow his copy, He read it "before he stopped highlighting", It was like Mike pointing certain things out, At least half of my lunch appointments seem to come around to: "What is God's will for my life" In my floundering to help people with this big God's will' question over the last few years, I have been particularly influenced by two books: Bruce Waltke, Finding the Will of Godand Sinclair Ferguson, Discovering God's Will.
While both are fundamentally in agreement with Petty's basic approach, reading Step by Step has helped me organize their thoughts and mine in helpful categories, and further distinguish them from alternative approaches.


As Petty ably illustrates, the stakes are high in this venture, As we seek God's guidance, we are indeed more like pilots in flight' than students in a library! p.
. Especially helpful were Petty's explanation of the three views, ' What Petty somewhat disappointing labels the Traditional View is certainly the most popular today among evangelicals pp,. It holds that guidance from God involves discovering the specifics of God's particular plan for our lives through various combinations of "circumstances, spiritual promptings, inner voices, personal peace of mind, and the counsel of others" p.
. Guidance occurs when God reveals his plan through these means p,.

Petty next distinguishes the Traditional Charismatic view pp,. The key difference between this view and the one preceding it in Petty's summary is that in the Charismatic view God communicates directly.
Essentially, "each means of revelation that God used to give us the Scriptures is still available to individual Christians today" p. often with a new twist,

The third view, the Wisdom view, is the one endorsed by Petty pp,. This approach contends that while God does have a specific plan for each Christian, this plan remains hidden.
God generally does not lift the veil, Instead, "guidance comes by God making us wise, The wisdom view sees God as guiding his children mediately, not immediately, his guidance is mediated by comes through the illumination of our minds and hearts by the Word of God" p.
.

Petty favors and unpacks the Wisdom view in relation to four topics:, the doctrine of providence,. the sufficiency of Scripture,. the doctrine of illumination,. the current work of the Holy Spirit p,. Applying each of these criteria, it is clear that the Wisdom view in broad outline is more Biblically faithful than the proposed alternatives.


The first three parts of the book pp,explore the theology of guidance, The fourth part pp.consists of a helpful case study, illustrating ways this model can be practically applied to our lives, The reader is invited to a robust confidence in the Bible alone not the Bibleplus', Through it, "God guides us by progressively placing within us spiritual wisdom and understanding to know the will of God.
. . He never leads us with a guess the signs' model" p,. This occurs as the Christian progressively consecrates herself to Christ, "The path of wisdom is a lifestyle of repentance from serving functional gods like security, safety, control," etc.
p

VERY practical, wildly applicable book, An excellent example of practical Biblical Wisdom, Petty tackles the disputed topic of how Christians are to discern God's will in life decisions, He compares three views traditional, charismatic, and wisdom and lands on the wisdom view as the Biblical position.
The main point of the book is that God guides us through wisdom, through the Bible,

He also addresses questions such as: Can I fall out of the Will of God Can I know the specific will of God for me Do I have freedom to make decisions How does God Guide us In addition he has a chapter on how to become wise.


The last section of the book is very practical and I found the most helpful, He gives seven steps based on biblical principles that can guide us in making a decision, He also uses a case study of a man named Don who was contemplating making a career change.
He shows how Don worked through the steps, Step by Step: Divine Guidance for Ordinary Christians Resources for Changing Lives by James C, PettyGood book on finding the will of God for your life, I haven't read Friesen's book, Decision Making and the Will of God, for a long time, but it appeared to be pretty much the same good stuff.
One of the most important books I've ever read, Changed my whole way of thinking about knowing God's will for your life, We make decisions every day, and the wisdom on decisionmaking in this book is something I still think about all the time.
Excellent comparison and contrast of the three main views on biblical guidance, I learned that my

belief on the subject was wrong, Wisdom from the Scriptures through which the Holy Spirit speaks is what should be my guide when making decisions.
Neither the discerning of events or signs to determine a "specific will" for my life nor charismatic phenomena are biblically sound approaches to guidance.
It was comforting to know that I am still on God's "Plan A" for my life, not Plan B, C, D,.
. . Z, even though I made poor choices in the past and continue to sin now, God is working through those things and means for those things to happen for my good and His glory.
As Christ conforms us to Himself and renews our minds to be like His, we grow in wisdom.
This is the best book that I have read on the will of God DeYoung's book is a close second.
This book is especially good, because it interacts with many of the other great books that have been written on the topic.
This is a must read for every Christian on this topic! This book provided great insight into how God's sovereign will impacts our lives.
What do you say to someone who tells you that Jesus told them to do this or that Is that Biblical Does God care or direct my decisions of career, marriage, home, car, etc.
This book provides a great understanding of the different schools of thought and then takes what Scripture says to provide a clear picture of how God uses providence to always direct, yet allows autonomy of decision for the above mentioned things.
A great model is used with three categories for decision making, A very good book. I had to read this for my Bib, Docs. class so I wasn't really interested in it, It is however an easy read and is great for those in the Biblical career or just seeking some guidance.
I think this book is an appropriate read for our season of life, I'm one chapter in, so far, so good, . .

Now that I've finished it, I will be recommending it to anyone who is seriously seeking to know God's will for their lives.
. . which, let's be honest, is many of us! It is a nice balance of theological truth dispelling many of the Christian myths about "God's will" and practical stepbystep tools to use in making wise decisions.


It is quite worth reading! And it's even better to know the author personally he was my landlord when I first moved to Philadelphia and I went to church with Jim and his wife, Marsha.
They truly embody this wisdom that he writes about so well here! How can I know God's will for my life Sifting through confusion about divine guidance, promptings, "fleece," and inner voices, Petty clearly illustrates how to make biblically wise decisions.
.