Rebellion is in the heart of all. Adam chose to rebel against God to achieve independence “to be like God”. All men have that burned into our hearts. By God’s grace we can be freed from the captivity of rebellion, and live in a right relationship with Him. We need to understand that it is not only teens that struggle with the sin of rebellion, adults do also and we need to remember that only God can transform and uproot that sin in our lives and in the lives of teenagers.

“According to Dr. Grace Ketterman, behavior that a parent may interpret as rebellion can fit into three categories: “when parents are obviously too strict, children rebel to draw attention to the fact that they are growing up. But the same misbehavior is much more common among children whose parents are terribly inconsistent. I label the actions of these teens testing-out behavior, because they aren’t actually rebelling. They are only trying to find out if the parents care enough (and are powerful enough) to stop them. The bad behavior is very similar, but the reason is just the opposite. Rigid parents need to let up a little and be flexible. Inconsistent parents must tighten up and set some standards. The third condition I call wild behavior, which is exhibited by some children as an attempt to get away from their emotional pain. Many kids have their own variety of pain-broken homes, loss of parent etc., so they act out their feelings, and their actions are interpreted as rebellion.””

I believe that as a Christian we should first seek and obey God’s universal truths, if we can not do or accomplish those things why should we know what his specific will is for our lives (all of God’s specific will branch from His universal will, they are synonymous). After we are accomplishing God’s universal will we are ready and already practicing and aligning to God’s specific will for our lives.

There are four principles we can follow to help discern God’s specific will for our lives. First, scripture. We have to know the heart of God, and what better way than to actually get to know His heart.

Next, prayer. It is necessary to communicate our desires, and freedom to ask His for our lives. Talk to him like a dad who can actually give you what you want (if your heart is close to His).

We also need good council, people in our lives we can trust to speak truth to us, not a lie, and help direct us to the right things.

And last be open to the surrounding circumstances that are set in front of us.

Ultimately if we are pursuing hard after God, and his universal will I believe that Psalm 37:4 will ring true “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart”.

I think the biggest question among young Christians is “what is God’s will for my life”? And the question is not that hard to answer, it just knowing and actually doing it, that is the hard part.

It is very important that we instruct and teach our children that God has a specific destiny for each person and it is not a hunt to try and find it, Rogers writes “Finding God’s will is not like going on an Easter egg hunt, with God hiding it somewhere and you trying to discover it. It is not our job to find God’s will. It is God’s job to reveal it, and our job to be receptive and ready”.

But how do we instruct our teens to be receptive and ready? We must first instruct our teens that there are two main perspectives on God’s will. First is His Universal will, God’s universal will is simply what is required of all Christians; salvation, obedience, evangelism, fellowship, purity, operating in the gifts of the spirit, etc. That idea is fairly easy to discern, it is clear commandments in scripture.