How to Know If God Is Giving You the Green Light

When I use the phrase “the green light,” I’m referring to God saying yes to you in regards to your request about whether or not you should proceed forward down a certain path in life. For example, should you ask someone out on a date? Should you keep dating your boyfriend or girlfriend? Should you apply to a new job? Should you have that hard conversation with a family member? Should you join that certain ministry?

As we all know, when driving down the road, the red lights mean stop and the green lights me go. Likewise, when traveling down the different roads in life, we need to look for God’s signals to us so we do not cause an accident by blowing through a red light or stopping at a green light.

So here are 3 signs God is giving you a green light to keep traveling down a certain road. 

1. If the Holy Spirit Is Giving You a Clear Conscience and Compelling You to Go a Certain Way, This Is a Sign God Is Giving You a Green Light

I’m not saying to just listen to your own conscience because in sin our consciences often mislead us. I’m saying to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying inside of you. This will never contradict Scripture, but we can often know in our conscience what the Lord wants for us and does not want for us based upon the compelling of the Holy Spirit in us. If you are wondering if God wants you to keep traveling down a certain road or to take a turn somewhere along the way, it is wise to listen to the impressions the Spirit is placing on your heart.

Notice what Paul said in Acts 20:22 (NIV), “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.” If Paul would not have gone to Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit would have convicted him in his conscience because he felt compelled by the Spirit to go there. The Spirit did not give him a green light by revealing his entire future to him. He was given the green light to go because of the freedom of conscience and feeling compelled to travel that way.

Notice what 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 states about your decision to give or not to give, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” If you feel reluctant and under compulsion to give, you shouldn’t give.

These same principles apply when trying to make other decisions in life as well. If you are wondering if you should go a certain way in life but you feel reluctant about it and under compulsion from outside pressure rather than feeling free and compelled by the Holy Spirit, this is a sign you should not go forward.

But if you feel free in your conscience and compelled by the Lord, this is a sign God is giving you a green light.

2. If Your Passion and a Need in the World Are Intersecting, Usually This Means God Is Giving You the Green Light

Sometimes we feel compelled and free in our conscience but we are still unsure due to a lack of opportunity to express this inner desire we have to proceed down a certain road in life. One way I believe God directs us into certain callings in life is to align our desires and abilities with a need in the world.

If you a desire to preach, for example, but you have no opportunities to preach anywhere and no one is asking you for biblical counsel, perhaps God is not leading you down that road right now. But if you have a desire to preach and the ability and then your church expresses a need for you to teach more, this would be a good sign God is giving you the green light. For example, Paul had an audience willing to listen and he had the desire to preach to them. As he said in 1 Corinthians 9:16, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”

I talk more about this concept in the article, Two Questions that Will Reveal Your Calling.

3. When You Know Your Path Is Biblical You Will Know Your Path Is God’s Will for You

The ultimate confirmation that God is giving you the green light to proceed down a certain path is when you can apply a clear Bible verse to direct your steps on the matter. As Psalm 119:104-105 states:

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

If you want to avoid the “false way” in life and you want to travel down the path that you can actually see, then you must open the word and let its light shine on your path. You can never say God is silent with an open Bible in your lap.