Placing Your Heart Into His Hands
Praying for the leading of the Holy Spirit
Psalm 31:1-5
Introduction
The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message" "Alter your course 10 degrees south." Promptly a return message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north." The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am the captain! "Soon another message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am seaman third class Jones. "Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear it would evoke: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am a battleship. "Then the reply came "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am a lighthouse."
Perhaps you have heard the Story of the Doctor who comes to a split in the road on a Vermont back country lane. The road sign at the fork points both directions for the same town. Seeing a farmer beside the road he asked him, "does it matter which road I take to get to town?" The Farmer replies, "Not to me it don’t."
I. Ask Him To Orchestrate Your Journey
Exodus 13:21
21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.
A. Protection from the enemy
Exodus 14:19-20
19 And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.
20 So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.
II. Ask Him To Illuminate Your Paths
Ps 25:4
4 Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.
A 3 years old and she and her father went to the amusement park. They went into the house of mirrors and the girl disregarded the advice of her father, that she hang on to his hand. She got lost and began to cry. She was lost, frighten and couldn’t find her way out of the mirror maze. Finally, she heard her daddy calling "Don’t cry, honey. Put your hands out and reach all around. You’ll find the door. Just follow my voice." As he spoke the little girl became calm and soon found her way out and ran to the waiting arms of her father."
A. Teach me to walk
1 Sam 17:39
39 David fastened his sword to his armor, and he tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these,
Hosea 11:3
3 "I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms...
B. God’s Progression
Isaiah 40:31
31 But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
a. Mount up on wings
b. Learn to run
c. Learn to walk
d. Learn to stand
Eph 6:13-14
…and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore…
III. Ask Him To Bring The Right People Your Way
Luke 10:30 and 33
"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead… "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.
IV. Ask Him To Touch Someone Through You
Luke 10:34
34 "So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said "We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions. We may pass them by, preoccupied with our more important tasks, as the priest passed by the man who had fallen among thieves, perhaps -- reading the Bible. . . . . it is part of the discipline of humility that we must not spare our hand where it can perform a service and we do not assume that our schedule is our own to manage, but allow it to be arranged by God."
V. Ask Him To Bring A Sense Of Purpose To Your Day
Eph 1:11
11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
Years ago on the Tonight Show, a guest appeared that was a body builder. As he entered the stage with his huge muscular body the crowd went crazy as the body builder began to flex his muscles and show his power. The first question asked of him was this: "What do you use all those muscles for?" Without answering, the body builder again stood up and began flexing his muscles while the crowd cheered wildly. A second time, the question was asked, "What do you do with those muscles?" Again, the body builder flexed his muscles and the crowd became almost ecstatic. After asking three times, "What do you do with all those muscles?" the body builder just sat in silence and had no answers. The man was all power but his power had no purpose other than to show off and bring attention to himself.
VI. Ask Him To Open Doors Of Opportunity
Ps 78:23-24
23 Yet He had commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven,
24 Had rained down manna on them to eat, and given them of the bread of heaven.
VII. Ask Him To Close Doors Of Destruction
Gen 19:10-11
10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
11 And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.
A musical team from an Indian church traveled to Tikapur, Nepal, to attend a church conference in October, the India Missions Association reported. Hours before they were scheduled to return to India, police arrested the team leader and confiscated their van. Several officers then used the van for a personal trip to Dhan Khadi, 150 miles away. Robbers attacked the van as it traveled through a forest, the team leader said. They had expected the van to be full of Christians and were planning to kill them and take their equipment, but police jumped out of the van and shot at the robbers, forcing them to flee. "Praise be to God who saved our lives," the leader told IMA. When he told the Tikapur police chief that God used his arrest to protect the Christians, the chief agreed that the team was blessed and decided to release them. The pastor then preached to the police chief and other officers at the station and prayed with them.
VIII. Ask Him To Open Your Eyes So You Can See All These Things Happening.
II Kings 6:16-17
16 So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."
17 And Elisha prayed, and said, "LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Paul Little made this observation "I was frustrated out of my mind, trying to figure out the will of God. I was doing everything but getting into the presence of God and asking Him to show me."
Conclusion
Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows, and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses, and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer. One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. "I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking." Often the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are being still enough, and quiet enough, to hear.
Let us listen for the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit.
