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.
Children in the wilderness
47-1123 §45
Notice. Then when he said that, said he could only speak what God put in his mouth. And God told him to send them back. And he... Notice. Then Balaam, like a lot of hireling prophets now, for usury, for money, he come back again and asked him the second time. And he went to God again. Now look. There is a perfect will of God, and there's a permissive will of God. And God permitted His prophet to go on, yet he... It wasn't His perfect will. It was His permissive will. And I feel this afternoon is the same thing on t...
Does God change His mind?
65-0427 §34
Then God told him, "Go on." Why? God knew what was in his heart. God knew that was in his heart to begin with, so He told him to go on. He will permit it. He will permit you to do it. He will bless you many times in doing it. He blessed even Israel after they... Grace had already give them a prophet, pillar of fire, a deliverance, signs and wonders, brought them out of Egypt, and everything. And yet they wanted a law. God let them have it, but it cursed them all the time. He let Balaam go on, just the way he was su...
Trying to do God a service without it being His will
65-0718M §15
...'s all I can speak on. And now, I'm going to speak on a subject this morning which I thought would be good. And tonight I want to speak on "Meat in Due Season," if the Lord willing---"Spiritual Food in Due Season," and how to receive it. Now, and this morning: "Trying to do God a Service Without Being the Will of God." God is sovereign. And we see here what David done in the Scripture reading of I Chronicles 13. And he was... His intentions were good. But God does not give us merits on good intentions. There's only...
Trying to do God a service without it being God's will
65-1127B §122
And any man that builds anything, any organization or anything, outside of upon the Word of God, it's shaking sands and will fall! It'll die as sure as anything, because the Word of God is a growing body of the bride. You can't have it all foot, all arm, all thigh. These things come in their season. And Pentecost, you made it all one thing, therefore you can't accept new revelation. That's the reason you stay right where you're at and die; it moves on. (So much, going to wear you out.) But God doesn't change His mi...
Trying to do God a service without it being His will
65-0718M §16
But one great thing again about God: He's not left us, now, without knowing what's the truth and how to do it. He wouldn't be just to punish us for doing something that we didn't know how it was going to be done, and then let us stumble into something. He's not that kind of a God. He's a God that speaks a word and expects His children to believe it. And therefore, He knows what's best, and when to do it, and how to do it. We have our ideas of it, but He knows. And then, if He set up a system that what He was going...