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.
Does God change His mind?
65-0427 §14
So we really believe that God never changes His mind about what He said. He always keeps it true. But He has a permissive will. Now, there's where the trouble lays. We try to work on God's permissive will. And He will permit it. But also, if we take His permissive will, though it's not right, He will make His permissive will to work out together to glorify His perfect will. There's nothing will go wrong with God. We're... He knows just where the clock's ticking at tonight. There's nothing wrong. Every lick is hitti...
The Voice of the Sign
64-0313 §16
...ached it in a scientific way, it would have never talked to him. And so is it today, when we're trying to approach through school and education, in a scientific way, you'll miss God a million miles. Approach it like Moses, with his shoes off---humble, humility.
Does God ever change His mind about His Word?
65-0418E §59
That's the duty of a prophet, if he's called to be a prophet. First, what must a prophet do? Is seek out the will, the Word of God. He must do it! Because, being a prophet, the Word of God comes to him. They say, "Well, you're not a theologian." Never does the Bible say the Word of God come to a theologian; they're the one who messes it up. The Word comes to the prophet of God. And here was a man who was a prophet of God. And when he was hired ... to be hired to come over and curse another people of God, notice, he...
Does God ever change His mind about His Word?
65-0418E §49
...ad a beginning has to have an end. All sin has to come to annihilation. All sin has to be done away with. Therefore, in the great millennium when the resurrection comes, we will not have to be reborn again by our fathers and mothers, but God, like He did in the beginning, will call man from the dust of the earth and his helpmate with him. That's right. That's the way He did it at the beginning. So therefore God never changes his mind about anything, but He will permit you to go on. Now, this is a long ways around t...
A Greater than Solomon is here
61-0515 §59
Now, but you see they've took their traditions and made the commandments of God of none effect. Jesus was trying to tell them, "I've come just exactly the way the prophet said I would come, and you would believe it not." And just a word behind here---they said, "We would seek a sign from thee. We would seek a sign." Oh, every generation God has had gifts in his church. Now, we notice (before we get to our text) He referred back to Jonah. And a lot of people has always thought of Jonah as being a man that missed the...