How God Guides Us Series

HOW GOD GUIDES US

James Dobson’s story about his time in college. He practiced every day to be the best at his sport and eventually he won the school trophy for tennis. He had a chance to return to his school years later. They had done some renovations to the main lobby and as a result had thrown out all the old trophies. His highest goal turned out to be garbage. If you live long enough life has a way of trashing your trophies. There are things that seem so important at the moment. Later when seen in a different light they are ultimately meaningless. If you want to bear lasting fruit in your life, you must follow God’s plans and priorities.

When we follow God’s will for our lives we will bear fruit that will last. One of the most important things we must do as Christians is to follow God's will for our lives. George Truett said, "The greatest knowledge is to know God's will, the greatest work is to do God's will. Success is knowing God's will and being right in the center of it. "

Eph 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do

Today we are continuing in our series Walking in His will. God has a plan for your life. The question I want to ask you this morning is whether you know what that plan is?

Col 1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God

So how do we know what God’s will is for your life? To answer this question we must understand how God guides us.

Luke 4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,

We see over and over again in the life of Jesus that He was led by the Spirit in everything that He did. How does that work? How are we “led by the Spirit”?

1. Commanding Scripture

The first way we hear God’s voice is through His word. The Bible is God’s love letter to us. His general plan and will for our lives is clearly communicated to us in it’s pages. For example, you do not need to ask God if it is His will for you to commit adultery. The answer is clearly NO. If you feel led to do something that the Bible declares wrong then it is not God calling you to it! There are many things that God has laid out in His word for our direction and these are things that are black and white. The problem often is that we do not read it.

Psalm 119:24 Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors

While we can know God’s general will through the Bible, often the specifics are left up to us. The more the Bible is within us the more the Spirit can use it to shape our decisions. When we face crossroads in life there are times when God’s word seems to leap off the page at us indicating the direction we should go.

A man was hiking along a narrow ledge. Suddenly, his foot slipped, and he tumbled over the edge and fell about 30 feet, until he grabbed onto a single branch jutting straight out from the cliff. There he dangled in space. Immediately, he hollered, "Help! Help!" He listened with all his might, but there was no reply. Then he hollered, "Does anyone hear me? Is there anybody up there?" A few seconds passed, and then a deep booming voice replied, "This is God. Just let go of the branch, and I will catch you." The hiker closed his eyes, thought for a moment, and then said, "Is there anybody else up there?" If God has said it, if it is in black in white in the bible, you do it.

2. Counsel of the Saints

When discerning the will of God in your life it is often a good idea to ask people who are spiritually mature and who know you well. God often speaks to us through other people. I learned this when I was dating Naomi. I already believed that God wanted me to marry her, but I wanted to be sure so I asked the people who were in my life that were spiritually mature and who knew me what they thought.