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Basics: Guidance

Thursday Evening Bible Study

March 25, 2021

Today’s topic is Guidance

Does God have a plan for my life?

Does He have a specific plan for MY life?

The answer to that is … YES.

(Ephesians 2:10 NKJV) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

God has created us for the purpose of doing “good works”.

Those “works” are like blueprints that He drew up for each of our lives long before we were even born.

Those “works” are things that He has designed each of us specifically to do.

So how can I find out what God’s will is for me?

I want to divide this subject into two parts.

First, the importance of doing what we already know is His will.

Second, how do we handle the situations where we don’t know what His will is?

The first principle is…

A. Do what you KNOW is God’s will

When Abraham sent his trusted servant to go and find a bride for his son Isaac, this servant said something special after he found Rebekah.

(Genesis 24:27 AV) And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.

I like the way the Old King James reads here.

He was “in the way”. He was on the path he knew he should be on.

And God took care of the rest. God led him.

So what is “the way”?

We are “in the way” when we are doing what God has already told us is His will, things He’s told us in the Bible.

We will find the answers about “the way” in the Bible.

(2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV) —16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Sometimes we will even find the words “God’s will” in an actual verse.

Other times we will see the Scripture relay a “command” to us, something that we are told we are supposed to do (like “love one another…”)

Let’s focus on four places where we see the word “will” being used.

1. Believe in Jesus

(2 Peter 3:9 NKJV) —9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

(John 6:29 NKJV) Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

What is God’s “will”?

He wants everyone to turn and believe in Jesus.

If you are watching this video and you still haven’t made the choice to follow Jesus, let me tell you that you are going to have a difficult time knowing what God wants you to do until you stop and turn your life over to Jesus.

Let Jesus know that you need Him. Open your heart to Him.

2. Be filled with the Spirit

(Ephesians 5:17–18 NKJV) —17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

God wants us to know what His will is.

It is God’s will that we be “filled” with the Spirit.

Every believer has the Holy Spirit inside of them. This takes place the moment you believe.

Yet God desires that we go a little further.

He wants the Holy Spirit to empower us, to overflow us. This is called the “filling” or “baptism” of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said,

(John 7:37b–38 NKJV) —37 … “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

God doesn’t just want the Holy Spirit “in” you, He wants it to overflow you. He wants the Spirit of God working in and through your life.

It boils down to this – recognizing my need for more of God, learning to yield my will, my choices, my whole self to the Holy Spirit.

It can occur when others lay hands on or simply pray over me.

It can happen when I’m alone in my bedroom as I simply learn to yield to the Spirit.

This isn’t a one time thing, but a daily, moment by moment yielding to the Holy Spirit.

Learning to take each step of my life yielded to the Holy Spirit is called “walking in the Spirit”.

3. Purity

(1 Thessalonians 4:3 NKJV) For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;

“Sanctification” is a fancy word that describes the process of becoming more “holy”, or maybe a better word is “pure”.

Sexual purity is not optional for the believer.

It is God’s will.

Paul will go on to say in 1Thessalonians 4 that the reason God wants this is because we have the “Holy” Spirit in us, and the “Holy” Spirit wants to make us more “holy” or “pure”.

If you are looking to be “in the way” and letting God guide you, don’t overlook what the Holy Spirit may be doing as He tugs at your heart.

4. Gratitude

(1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 NKJV) —16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

We may not always enjoy the circumstances we may find ourselves in.

We may not be grateful for the actual difficulty that is afflicting us.

Yet there is still room to learn to be thankful while we are “in” those circumstances.

Illustration

Corrie Ten Boom in The Hiding Place relates an incident which taught her this principle. She and her sister, Betsy, had just been transferred to the worst German prison camp they had seen yet, Ravensbruck. Upon entering the barracks, they found them extremely overcrowded and flea-infested. Their Scripture reading that morning in 1 Thessalonians had reminded them to rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks in all circumstances. Betsy told Corrie to stop and thank the Lord for every detail of their new living quarters. Corrie at first flatly refused to give thanks for the fleas, but Betsy persisted. She finally succumbed. During the months spent at that camp, they were surprised to find how openly they could hold Bible study and prayer meetings without guard interference. It was several months later when they learned that the guards would not enter the barracks because of the fleas.

We may not always understand what God is doing, but His ways are best, and we can learn to thank Him in all things.

Remember that story about Abraham’s servant?

God led him because he was “in the way”.

For us, we will find that God will be leading us when we are doing the things that we already know are in God’s will.

That’s when we are “in the way”.

So, how do we handle the situations where we don’t know what His will is?

B. How God leads us

You are going to find that there may not be a specific scripture for every situation you are facing.

I do not know of a verse that tells me which new refrigerator I should buy. Do I choose the Kenmore or the Maytag?

To be honest, there are some decisions in life where God may simply want us to use common sense.

I think there are choices we face where God would be okay with either choice we make, as long as we just make a choice.

I think some folks take too much time worrying about the details in life when God would prefer us to focus on some of the bigger choices we make.

I do not know of a verse that gives me the name of the person I’m supposed to marry.

Yet I suspect that’s a decision that God would like to be involved in.

Let me share seven things that can help give direction.

1. Pray

Perhaps this seems obvious, but it isn’t always.

Sometimes we wait far too long before we “resort” to praying.

James wrote,

(James 1:5 NKJV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

God says,

(Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV) ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

Prayer is a good place to start when you are looking for God to guide you.

2. The Voice

The prophet Elijah was looking for some answers and direction from God…

(1 Kings 19:11–12 NKJV) —11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

It was then that God began to speak to Elijah.

Sometimes we wish God would shake up our world and make the answers clear.

Sometimes I wish God would just skywrite His directions, you know, write it clearly in the clouds above us.

Yet more often than not, He will speak with that “still small voice”.

If we want to hear that voice we are going to have to learn to be a little quieter and spend more time listening.

Through the book of Acts we have more than a few occurrences where the Holy Spirit “speaks”.

(Acts 8:29 NKJV) Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”

(Acts 13:2 NKJV) As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Jesus talked about how the Holy Spirit would lead us,

(John 16:13 NKJV) However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

Sometimes this guidance comes through that “still small voice”, like a “whisper”.

It may be an “impression” on our mind.

It may be a nudge or a tug at our heart.

The question is, when this happens, how do I know it is God speaking to me and not just the pizza I had for dinner?

The next couple of points bring balance and answers to those kinds of questions.

3. God’s Word

(Psalm 119:105 NKJV) Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

It might be a passage that has a command that applies to all believers, such as…

(Ephesians 4:32 NKJV) And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

When I read this, does this affect decisions about how I’m supposed to treat others?

It might be a story that teaches me some practical lessons.

(2 Samuel 11:2 NKJV) Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.

This is the story of David’s adultery with Bathsheba. I might learn a principle that I should probably not be out on my rooftop staring at my neighbor…

Because God’s Word is “living and active”, sometimes there will be a passage that jumps off the page and I sense that God might be answering my question.

Years ago I was an assistant pastor at Calvary Anaheim. I was put in charge of finding a new place for the church to meet.

We tried one place, then another, but neither seemed to be right.

When we found a third place, even though it was a mess inside, we began to think this was the place.

We even read a Scripture that day about Isaac trying to find a new place to move his family to – and it was on the “third try” that he found it …

(Genesis 26:22 NKJV) And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

For us, it seemed like confirmation that our third try was the one. And it was.

God can speak to our hearts through His Word

4. Advice

(Proverbs 15:22 NKJV) Without counsel, plans go awry, But in the multitude of counselors they are established.

To be honest, I can’t always trust myself when it comes to discerning God’s voice.

It’s not a bad idea to have trusted people that you run things by.

And though even they can make mistakes, but God often uses trusted people to help keep us on track.

Deb and I had been dating off and on for a year during college. I was always the one who broke things off, usually when my college work was getting too stressful for me.

During one of our “break up” periods, God used my dad and one of my best friends to remind me that Deb was a pretty special girl.

It wasn’t the only thing I relied on, but their encouragement went pretty far to move me back in the right direction.

5. Open Doors

Another word to describe this principle is “circumstances”

There are times when God will use certain circumstances in our lives to guide us.

We get this phrase from a letter Jesus wrote to the church in Philadelphia, and calls Himself

(Revelation 3:7 NKJV) … “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”

The general idea is this.

When God has put an “open door” before us, He is working through our circumstances to give us an “opportunity” to do a certain thing.

There is a word of warning though here.

An “open door” isn’t necessarily the “easy path”.

If I have two choices before me, the “easiest” choice isn’t necessarily the “open door” (though it could be).

Look at how Paul uses the term “open door” to discuss his plans for the future as he is writing to the Corinthian church while he is living in the city of Ephesus.

(1 Corinthians 16:8–9 NKJV) —8 But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. 9 For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

Paul says an “open door” has opened in Ephesus.

He is saying that he is having opportunities for ministry, opportunities to preach the gospel and teach the people.

Yet … he also says there are “many adversaries”.

Paul would face plenty of adversaries during his three years in Ephesus, yet he stayed while he still had an “open door”.

When the adversity got to be too much, he finally left.

God will use circumstances in our lives.

It may be you getting laid off that “closes” a door.

It could be an accident or an illness that changes the trajectory of your life.

It could be a friend asking you out for coffee, and a door opens.

Ask God to lead you in the open doors. Even when there is adversity.

6. Consecration

Paul writes,

(Romans 12:1–2 NKJV) —1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Paul is using the language of sacrifice to describe what it is to follow Jesus.

Another term for consecration is “commitment”

Illustration

The Rev. Robert Ard, president of the Black Leadership Council, explains the difference between involvement and commitment: “When you look at a plate of ham and eggs, you know the chicken was involved. But the pig was committed.”

I am the sacrifice, and I place myself upon the altar to give myself completely to God.

I work at not letting the world influence me, and I work at letting God work in my mind.

When I learn to live my life daily like this, I will “prove” something.

I will prove what God’s will is.

I will prove that God’s will is good, acceptable, and perfect.

7. Faith

The last idea is this –

There are going to be times when we simply aren’t sure which road is the right one.

We don’t always “see” where we should go.

And yet we may be in a situation where we have to make a decision.

All we can do at those times is commit the situation to God, and take that step of faith.

Paul wrote,

(2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV) For we walk by faith, not by sight.

In other words, we don’t always see what’s up ahead. We don’t always see the right path to choose.

So we have to trust God.

Illustration

Years ago before the days of GPS and radar, the old Norwegian sea captains devised a way of navigating through the sometimes treacherous fjords at night. They set up a system of light houses at certain key points in the fjords. All the captain needed to do was to point his ship towards the lighthouse until he could see around the corner and get a glimpse of the next lighthouse. Then he’d turn his ship towards the second lighthouse until he could see the third lighthouse.

We may want to see the whole map of what is up ahead for our lives, but often I find that God just shows us the next lighthouse.

Trust Him. He’ll get you where you need to go.

Hope that helps