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 ever change His mind about His Word?
65-0418E §90
But God will prosper you. "Why, He blesses me." I don't doubt that. He blessed Balaam too, see. Certainly He will. You're walking in his permissive will, not his perfect will. God doesn't change his mind because He blesses you. He blessed Israel right out there for forty years. What did they do? Married wives, raised families, kissed the children, paid their tithes, lived right out there, and God blessed them in the wilderness, fed them with the manna on and on. And every one of them perished, because they never ke...
God making His promise
56-1209A §21
Now, way back, we're going to speak now on the subject of God Making His Promise. Now, this text that we have under consideration today, I think is one of the most outstanding texts in the Bible. I do. It taken place on the river of Jordan some two thousand years ago when the world had been in a chaos for a long time. Israel had rejected God, rejected His laws, His statutes, His ordinances, and had been carried away. Never was Israel ever harmed as long as they stayed in harmony with God's command. Never will a chu...
Hebrews, Chapter 2, part 2
57-0825E §11
God must have first place in your heart, first place in your life, first place in everything that you do or what you are. God must be first. He doesn't want the second place. He doesn't deserve the second place. He deserves the best and the first and all that we've got. He deserves it! Blessed be His holy name. For God also bearing ... witness, [He gave testimony] both with signs and wonders, ... divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will ... [Not what men say, what the church said; but...
Trying to do God a service without it being God's will
65-1127B §110
And God doesn't need any of us to interpret His Word. God is His own interpreter. He don't need our seminaries. He don't need our wisdom, it's nonsense. See? Eve got that, and missed the interpretation by her wisdom. Say, "Oh, boy, that guy's a smart man." Well, that don't mean a thing. Sure. Ahab was a smart man. Belshazzar was a smart man. Satan was most cunning and crude, subtle, nobody could withstand him, none at all. Now don't depend on no wisdom, just depend on God. See? How is God? He is the Word. And then...
Does God ever change His mind about His Word?
65-0418E §85
Notice, as God said to Balaam, after he had heard the true-cut decision Word, "Don't go"... Yes, then He told him after He seen it in his heart what it was to do, He give him his permissive will, so He said, "Go." And you can do the same thing. If you don't want to walk in the truth, you can go ahead and have a great ministry. Certainly you can. But you're taking his permissive will. You're walking over his Word. He'll prosper you, certainly, just like He did Balaam. He was a success, but he couldn't curse that peo...