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.
From that time
60-0716 §129
I see a woman sitting way back here. She's got on a blue and white polka dot dress. She's got a lump in her left side. Have faith; don't doubt. Don't miss it. God... Mrs. Griffith, have faith in God. Believe with all your heart, and God Almighty will heal and make well. Now, do you believe with all your heart? What do you think about Him? Do you believe God can heal, sister? Sure He does. You believe it's going to be gone? All right. You can have what you ask for. Now, do you believe Him? Then the Spirit that taken...
Perseverance
62-0520 §18
Now, Noah one day while out on the plains, perhaps digging around, fixing his crop, God came down and began to speak to him. And He said to Noah, maybe something like this, "I can see your heart, and I know the sins of this world vex you. Therefore... They're all great cultured people, and they've gotten completely away from me, and they're smart, highly educated, polished men. But I want you, for the saving of your household and all that will come in, go over and start preparing a great boat, because I'm going to...
Perfection
57-0419 §15
Now, God, in the beginning, required perfection. Jesus, when He come to earth, said, "Be ye perfect, like God in heaven is perfect." And the law, having a shadow of things to come, could never make the worshipper perfect. You get the picture? Now, let's go it again so you'll be sure not to miss it. God requires perfect holiness. No one can stand in His image, with one little speck of sin. Jesus witnessed the same, and said, "Be perfect, just like God in heaven is perfect." And the Bible says that the law could neve...
A Paradox
62-0128A §111
Do you believe? Here's a lady sitting right back here. She's suffering with a condition on her breast. She's had three operations. She's missing it. God help me. Miss Alexandra, receive your healing in the name of the Lord Jesus. If that's your name, and we're strangers, stand on your feet. Stand up on your feet if that's right. I never seen the woman in my life. Do you believe it? If that isn't the same Jesus that once lived, I don't know I'm a man. Do you believe? Receive Him. Here. There's a woman sitting right...
Does God change His mind?
65-0427 §31
Notice, Balaam used a phony text here, for his, conscience's sake, see. He said, "Peradventure, you stay another night, and maybe I'll ask God," you see. "Maybe He might have changed His mind." But God don't change His mind. When God give us the declaration of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, on the day of Pentecost, that's the way He has to keep it. He did all through the Bible age. And He will any other time that man will come upon them basis, that He offered there. If you'll come believing, repenting, being baptiz...