Can I Miss God's Will?
1) Direct Answer
Yes—a person can step out of God’s perfect will by unbelief or disobedience and miss His best in a season. But if you truly belong to Him, His purpose will stand; He will correct and bring you back. The Bride will not miss her place.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- The Bible shows a perfect will and a permissive will. “Prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). That means some things are allowed, but they are not His best.
- Israel wanted a king. God let them have Saul, but said, “they have rejected Me” (1 Samuel 8:7). Permitted, yet outside His perfect plan.
- Balaam pressed past God’s “No” until he got a “Go,” and it led to judgment (Numbers 22; 31:16). That’s permissive will—dangerous ground.
- Jonah ran from God’s will, but God corrected him and set him back on the path (Jonah 1–3). You can detour, but God can bring His own back.
- Not everyone doing religious works is in the will of God (Matthew 7:21). We must do the Father’s will, not our own way.
- For those who are His: “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me” (John 6:37). “My sheep hear My voice… and no man is able to pluck them out of My hand” (John 10:27–29). He finishes what He starts (Philippians 1:6).
- We are told, “Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17). That means it can be known, and it can be missed if we are unwise.
- God’s will is first moral and spiritual: “This is the will of God, even your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). As we walk clean, He orders our steps (Proverbs 3:5–6).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- If everything that happens were God’s perfect will, there would be no warnings to “understand” His will, no call to “prove” it, and no need to pray “Thy will be done.” The Bible gives those commands because our choices matter.
- You can miss timing, peace, and reward by choosing your own way (1 Corinthians 3:13–15). But if you are His, you won’t miss salvation or your ordained place; He disciplines and restores His own.
- The Bride hears the Word, follows the Spirit, and will not fail to take her place. She is called, washed, and kept.
Practical counsel to stay in His perfect will
- Yield fully: Present your body a living sacrifice so you can “prove” His perfect will (Romans 12:1–2).
- Stay in the Word: His will never contradicts Scripture (Psalm 119:105).
- Be led by the Spirit: “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14).
- Watch the fruit and the peace: The wisdom from above is pure and peaceable (James 3:17); let His peace rule in your heart (Colossians 3:15).
- Don’t force God after He has spoken: Balaam did and paid dearly. Wait, obey, and don’t press past the check of the Word and Spirit.
- If you’ve stepped off: Repent now. He restores and even redeems lost time (Joel 2:25). “All things work together for good” to them that love God (Romans 8:28).
Short reinforcing statement
Don’t live in the permissive will. Walk in the light you have, and God will make the next step plain. His perfect will is knowable, walkable, and sure for those who yield to His Word and Spirit.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The Easter Seal
65-0410 §81
...e of Enoch. When a new thing come along or something came along, and said, "Well, now, we have to go back to the old school, or this, that, or the other," Enoch walked with God. Whatever God said do, Enoch never missed one word. He walked with God. What was he? He was a son of God. He was an eagle that had been called to that day, and when it came time, he was so full of that quickening power... Remember, he had walked five hundred years or more before God, and not one time had he missed his Word. Not one time did...
Trying to do God a service without it being His will
65-0718M §58
The Levite's shoulders was God's original way to do it, and they had put it on a new cart. Now, it'll never work. They didn't consult the right way, see. So they got about it ... went about it in the wrong way, and that's what's happened today. When men, no matter how sincere, try to do Him a service outside of His provided way of revealing it, they always mess it up. God sets it in His way. Man, no matter how sincere you try to do it outside of that, you'll mess it up.
Be certain of God
59-0125 §21
You know, He loves to test us. He loves to see the reaction of your faith. Did you know that? God likes to see how you'll react. When you say, "Oh, Lord, I believe You; Thou art my Saviour. I believe that You are the healer; I believe that You are the One who gives the Holy Spirit; and the things that I am requiring, You are the God who gives that!" And then when you confess all your sins and promise God what you'll do if He will let you get well, and then because it don't happen, you run off like a coward somewher...
The Kinsman Redeemer
60-1002 §91
Father God, that's truly our testimony. Lord, we want to be like Him: meek and lowly, humble, sweet, always forgiving those who are mistreating Him and doing wrong. We want to be that way. We thank You for this woman who came up this morning. How do we know what this life will come to be, after a while. Maybe through all of her mistakes and things in life (as we all have made), seeing them plunged beneath the flood this morning, I pray, God, that this woman will live a consecrated life that will lead all her associ...
Does God ever change His mind about His Word?
65-0418E §71
Now, Balaam should have knowed better. He should've dismissed himself from such company, but all them nice gifts and the promise of this king... Said, "You know, I can do it. I'm the bishop. I can do just whatever I want to. And I'll promote you if you'll come do it for me." And God done told him, "Don't do it," but yet Balaam said, "You stay all night, and I'll try again," see. He had the word. You don't have to argue anymore about it. God's done said so. With a group like that, they always talk you out of the wil...