5 Things God Will Do to Let You Know You Are on the Right Path

Here are 5 things that will happen in your life when you are on the right path that God wants you on.

1. When You Are on the Right Path, God Will Allow Tests, Trials, and Even Temptations That Benefit You

God’s way is the best way, but God’s way is not always the easiest way.

People often get really confused when they start following God because they were told that their life would be amazing if they put their faith in Jesus. While I agree that our lives will be amazing if we follow Jesus, the Bible is clear that our lives will not be amazingly easy, amazingly calm, or amazingly unopposed.

No, when we are on the right path with God, this means we will be in the thick of a cosmic battle for lost souls. Your flesh will fight you, the world will fight you, and the devil will fight you. But God will use this all for your good when you are following him in faith. While God never causes temptations in our lives, he does allow them. God also uses tests and trials to grow us and bring himself glory.

Psalm 23:3-4 (NIV) says, “He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me . . .” So don’t think your valley is an automatic sign you are not on God’s path. For David knew God was leading him on “the right path” “even though” he was going “through the darkest valley.” God was doing this for his glory and was with David through it all.

As James 1:12 also states, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” You will know you are the right path when God is blessing you through the trials you are going through.

2. When You Are on the Right Path, You Will Not Be Perfect But You Will Be Protected By God

Even when you are on the right path and doing exactly what God wants you to do in life, your sin nature will still be within you. As Christians we are always growing, but we will not live perfectly until we receive our new glorified bodies.

We must never accept our sin; but when we are truly following God he will establish our steps and keep picking us up no matter how many times we fall. For as Psalm 37:23-24 (NIV) explains:

The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”

When you are on the right path, you will still stumble at times; but you won’t completely fall when God is truly with you.

3. When You Are on the Right Path, You Will Attract Likeminded Saints and Repel People Who Love Their Sin

Being a Christian is both amazingly lonely while also providing amazing avenues to connect with other brothers and sisters in Christ.

When you are following God and you are on the right path in your life, you will be living differently than the world around you. God will use this to bring people into the light, but your light will also cause people who love their darkness to then hate you. As Jesus said in John 15:18-19, which says:

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

So at times you will know you are on the right path with God because people will begin to dislike you. You will feel lonely at times when people you once connected with begin to reject you. While this is painful, it’s also a good sign you are leaving the old path and are now walking on the new path with Christ. Overtime, God will unite you with his other children walking on the same path as you.

In John 17 Jesus was praying for his disciples because he knew he would be leaving them soon. But he also then transitioned into praying for all of us. In John 17:20-21 Jesus prayed:

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Through the disciples’ teachings and witness about Jesus, God has brought Christians onto the right path with him. But we are not called to walk this path alone. We are actually called to “be one” in our unity through Jesus as a witness to the world.

So you will know you are the right path with God when your path diverges from the world and converges with God’s other true saints.

4. You Will Know You Are on the Right Path When The Holy Spirit in You Puts Your Conscience at Peace Because Your Life Is in Alignment with God’s Prescribed Will

When you read through the Scriptures, there are basically two different types of “God’s will” that are referred to. They are connected but they are different. There is God’s sovereign will and there is God’s prescribed will.

God’s sovereign will is the preordained events that are going to happen because God wills that they happen. God’s prescribed will, on the other hand, is what God wants us to do but which we can obey or disobey. God’s prescribed will is also known as “God’s will of command.” When talking about God’s prescribed will, in one sense, God’s will for your life is that you obey God’s word in your life.

When you are not following God’s prescribed will and the Holy Spirit is in you because you are a Christian, he will bring a loving conviction to your heart. You will feel a lack of peace in your inner being. You will feel a godly guilt that makes you want to repent. As 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 says:

As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves . . .”

When you are on the wrong path, the Holy Spirit will give you a godly grief that will lead you back onto the right path. When you have this peace in your conscience, your life will still be hard and confusing at times, but deep down you will know you are doing the right thing and are truly following God’s will for your life.

5. If You Find Yourself in the Spiritual Minority, This Is a Good Sign You Are on the Right Path with God

As Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

It’s a dangerous thing for a church or even an individual Christian to try to be so like the culture that there is really no major differences between their way of lives. It’s impossible to obey God and believe in the truths in his word while also finding spiritual unity with people who hate Jesus and reject him as Lord.

When you are truly following God, you will always be in the spiritual minority.