Ctwccofgw #5 - The Guarantee Of Guidance Series

Cool Things We Can Count On from God’s Word

#5 – The Guarantee of Guidance

Proverbs 3:5-6

Introduction

The guarantee is only as good as the person or persons making it.

Not that everyone who makes a guarantee and fails to live up to it is bad. Sometimes circumstances come up that keep a person from fulfilling the guarantee, which they made with the best intentions and information available at the time.

But if there is one thing that I’ve tried to hammer home since the beginning of this series, it’s that God can be counted on.

His guarantees are good at all times.

I’ve made guarantees that I haven’t been able to fulfill. And so have you. Chances are you didn’t make that guarantee with the plan to never fulfill it, although there are plenty of people out there who are willing to do just that.

I’ve also learned that I shouldn’t be in the guarantee business – at least not in terms of making guarantees that I might not be able to fulfill.

But I can tell you what God guarantees. I can tell you what God says. I can pass on the guarantees that God makes.

The reason is that God is the one behind the guarantees, and all I have to do is communicate them to you.

Or of course, you can always find them yourself by digging into the Bible…

Here are the guarantees we’ve looked at so far:

If you possess Christ, you possess heaven.

Prayer through Christ makes prayer effective.

A Spirit-filled life is a victorious life.

If it’s confessed, it’s forgiven.

There are lots more guarantees and promises of God, but I’ve wanted to focus on these five, because if a person can get a hold of these five, making them a part of them down to the core of their being, they can live fruitful and productive lives for Christ.

Why? Because I believe if these really get inside a person, they’ll want more of Christ and they’ll want to live for Him.

Today we look at the last of the guarantees we’re going to look at in this series, the guarantee of guidance.

God guarantees that He will be active and involved in helping us find direction for life in general and in situations where we need to lean on Him.

I would guess that most people at times ask God for help in times of trouble.

But I would also guess that most people, and maybe even a large percentage of Christians, don’t look to God for help for such things as career choices, mates, how to spend their money, or other stuff like that.

I think it’s because they don’t understand that God is intimately interested in every area of their life and wants to be invited to be a part of whatever it is we’re going through.

I’ve said time and time again since starting here almost 7 years ago that God wants to be the Lord of every part of our lives, not just those areas that we think are the “religious” parts – whatever that really means.

And when we let Him be the boss of every area, we gain the benefit of having Him guide us as we go through life here on earth in preparation for life in heaven.

So if you have never thought of asking God for guidance, or if you thought that God doesn’t care or is too busy to be involved, then this message is for you.

And for the rest of you, let this serve as a reminder of the God who wants to continue His work in you by guiding you as you walk through life.

Our passage for today is Proverbs 3:5-6 –

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Some translations say, “He will direct your paths.” And translators and commentaries seem pretty evenly split on which they prefer.

But I like the way it’s written here because I’m of the opinion that this passage is not a promise that God will make all your decisions for you.

God doesn’t promise that anywhere in Scripture. He gave you a brain, and the capacity to use it, and He expects you to use it.

But the good news is that He is willing to help you use it so you can make good decisions from good character.

How do some people seek guidance from God?

> Signs – like a falling star, a chance meeting between people, something in a fortune cookie…

Here’s something that I think would be good for a fortune cookie:

“Stop trying to find your fortune in a cookie and go get a job!”