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.
Trying to do God a service without it being His will
65-0718M §93
...fifth and the twenty-sixth verse. You can read it all when you get home, but just save time so we can get out on time, because I've got to come back again tonight, the Lord willing. Listen to this prophet speak. He had been in the presence of God. He knowed what he was talking about. Listen. Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and to the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. [That types our Millenn...
The Good Shepherd of the sheep
57-0308 §49
What is virtue? Strength. "I got weak, My strength left Me." By one little woman touching the Son of God, with the fullness of God in Him. I measure it like this: If every bit of water on earth (which almost four-fifths of the earth's been water)... If every bit of the water on earth represented the Spirit that was in Christ---all that was in Christ---and this little gift here is just a spoonful out of it. You'd never miss it. God don't have to have me, but I have to have Him. But I'm just a little spoonful. But, n...
Children in the wilderness
47-1123 §36
Oh, my. No wonder it thrills our heart, the great church, God leading it out. Then when they come to the place where they come to Kadesh, in Kadesh then was a judgment seat, and as we dealt, went through that last Sunday. And then after the Church come through, Martin Luther... There's a third stage of the journey. Martin Luther was the first stage of the journey, calling out of darkness. John Wesley was the second stage. Then there comes a Pentecost. And Pentecost brought the judgment. And the people went after th...
Thirsting for Life
58-0611 §63
...know the difference between the bleat of a wolf ... or, a bleat of a lamb and a goat. They both bleat alike. That has nothing to do with it. If your life don't tally up to God's Bible, you're still in darkness. Right. And the most deceitful thing there is in the world is a religious thing, putting on religion. We got a guy there in Louisville committed suicide the other day. He'd go down there, and old rock-and-rolls all night long, and out to big shindigs, and come on Sunday morning, and preach the gospel on the...
God's Provided Way
53-0613 §54
...n to drink it out of a bumper as it was out of the old barrel a long time ago. Right. Let me tell you something, women. If you're guilty of that, listen, I'll tell you what will complexion you better than anything: Take this little bit of the Gospel in your heart. That's right. It will take care of it. Let me tell you, there's only one woman in the Bible that ever painted her face to meet men. And that was Jezebel. And God fed her to the dogs. Now, if you see a woman with a lot of paint on her face, say, "There is...