DIVINE
GUIDANCE
By
Pastor‑Teacher Don Hargrove
(dnphargrove@hotmail.com)
Pastor Don Hargrove
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Man cannot guide himself
3 The Plan of God
4 God’s peace in God’s plan
5 Where do I begin?
6 Claiming God’s Promises
7 One Step at a Time
8 Positive Volition
9 Knowing the Guide
10 Present yourselves to God
11 Renew the Mind
12 This is the Will of God
13 Divine Directives
14 Leading of the Spirit
15 Prayer
16 Circumstances
17 Supernatural Signs
18 Dreams and Visions
19 Use your head
20 Peace like a River
21 Wait on the Lord
22 The Five Lights of Divine Guidance
23 Missed God’s Will
24 God’s plan is greater than our failures
1‑ Introduction.
What is divine guidance? There are actually two sides to divine
guidance: the divine directing and the
human response. Divine guidance can be
defined as the activity of God in guiding the believer in the pre‑designed
plan of God and the response of man in ascertaining and walking in that
plan. Divine guidance then refers to the
determining of God’s specific and unique plan for your life.
One of the most fascinating and
encouraging truths about divine guidance is that God is guiding each and every
person all of the time. God never stops
in His attempts to guide man regardless of any other factor. God never stops guiding man. This is true of the unbeliever (1 Tim 2:4),
the spiritual believer (Psalm 23; 1 Cor 2:9‑10), as well as the carnal
believer (Eph
Since God is always guiding us, the
remaining question is if we are going to be guided the easy way or the hard
way. The easy way comes through
listening, assimilating, and applying God’s Word. The hard way is to reject God’s Word and be
mulish, Psa 32:8‑9. God would much
rather guide you with His Word than with bit and bridle. God is either guiding the believer through
the ministry of the Holy Spirit or through the unbearable pain of divine discipline.
Divine guidance assumes that man has
freewill. If man does not have freewill
then the acts of seeking, discovering, and enjoying divine guidance are
nonsense. If God capriciously decreed
all that would take place and man has no freewill then man need not concern
himself with divine guidance. Although
there is not even one passage in all of the Bible that says that God has
predestined all things that would come about, there have been elaborate systems
of theology which so caricatures the sovereignty of God that all free‑will
is excluded. The truth of the matter is
that God in His sovereignty has given man freewill even though that may mean
that man will use it to reject the will of God (Luke 7:30). The fact that God earnestly seeks true worshipers
(Jn
2 ‑ Man
cannot guide himself.
Jeremiah 10:23, O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in
man who walks to direct his own steps.
Evidence that man is incapable of
adequately guiding his own life abounds all around us. There are broken and unfulfilled dreams on
every street corner and disappoint can be seen in the eyes of countless people. In spite of the fact that Christians are
spiritual billionaires according to the riches of God’s own glory (Eph 1:7;
First, man is not the author of the
Plan of God. The plan of God for every
person was written by God. God
determined many things about your life in which you had no input. He decided both the time and the place in
which you were born (Acts 17:26‑27). You had no say so about your birth
or those circumstances in which you were born into this world. Apart from God you would not exist.
He also determined
the length of your life and the manner in which you are to leave this world (Jn
21:18‑19). The verb in Jer 10:23 behind "direct" (!WK, kûn ) means to
establish. It is not within man to
establish his own steps. God has
established a unique plan for every person.
Just as there was a unique plan for Noah, Moses, and
Isaiah, so there is one that has been established uniquely for you. This plan is very specific and all you need
is positive volition.
A second reason that man has so much
trouble discovering and entering into God’s perfect plan has to do with the
corruption in man’s own heart, The heart of man is deceitful above all
things, and desperately sick; who can understand it (Jer 17:9). Every person is born with corruption and
disease with respect to true spirituality.
Each person is born with a heart that is filled with deception with
regard to God and spiritual realities.
Though society tries to cleanup man, deep down man is inherently corrupt
with reference to God and really does not care about the will or the plan of
God. One of the most deceitful things
the heart of man does is to baptize its own plans under the name of God. Not only does man not really desire the plan
of God, he inherently distrusts God’s will and plan. Man’s old sin nature resists and opposes the
workings and promptings of the Holy Spirit (Gal
A third reason man cannot guide
himself is found in his flawed human viewpoint of life. There is a great difference between the way
that God thinks and man thinks, Isa 55:6‑11. There are many things that seem right,
pleasant, and good to man, but the end is death, Prov 14:12;
3 ‑
The Plan of God
Experts in every field tell us that
we must have a plan to achieve success.
They tell us we need to set goals for ourselves of where we want to be
in five, ten, or even twenty years from now.
They tell us if we ever want to accomplish those plans we must write
down the goals in order of priority and work on them daily. They tell us to plan our work and work our
plan. This is all fine and good from a
human perspective, but it is possible for a person to do all of this and
achieve all that they planned and still fail miserably by missing the plan of
God for their lives (cf. Mt 16:26; 2 Tim 4:10).
A man can achieve human success in life and win the respect and
admiration of friends and still experience a sickening emptiness in his soul
(cf. Ecc.) all because he missed God’s plan for his life.
God has a plan of divine success
according to His perspective for every person (cf. Jer 29:11). This plan is very specific and unique for
every believer. For some reason it is
hard for many today to believe that God has a very specific, unique, and
detailed daily plan for their lives.
This is unfortunate because a careful study of all great believers
reveals that each one had a strong sense of a unique and individual divine plan
and mission for their lives (cf. Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, Jesus Christ). Unless
you are convinced that God has a specific plan for your life, you will do your
own thing. You will make your own plans
in life.
God’s plan for your life is perfect,
Rom 12:2. Man’s innate arrogance is
revealed every time he believes he can actually devise a plan that is better
than God’s. God’s perfect plan is tailor‑made
by God for each individual. It is the
best plan that could ever be devised. It
is far better than anything
that you could ever devise.
If you want a full and satisfying life you must live in God’s
plan. The plan for your life is unique
and takes into account your own uniqueness even as God was forming in your mother ’s womb (Psa 139:16).
Before you were even born God established this unique
daily plan for your life. Each day
of that plan was placed in His roadmap for your life. God has sketched out provisions to live out
the spiritual life for each and every day of your life. God’s Word contains the game plan for life.
There is no reason for any believer to fail in this plan. God’s plan and provisions are perfect.
God’s plan includes every future
contingency. It does not matter if you
are five or ninety years old. God has a
plan for every single day for your life.
He knows the future. Only God
knows all the consequences of our decisions.
Every decision we make has the potential of ruining our life. We live in a very dark world and it is
nothing short of madness to go running off into the darkness without the
roadmap or the Guide, who not only knows the way but ultimately controls all
consequences and events. Consider the
fact that no other human "guide" claims to be able to control the
future.
The plan of God for your life is
fixed and settled, Psalm 37:23, The steps of a man are
established by the LORD; And He delights in his way. The course or the race that is set
before you (Heb 12:1) has already been established. The path you are to take has already been
mapped out for the rest of your life.
The book has already been written down to the last "step" in
life. No man knows all that awaits him
in the future. Your lives
is like a book which has a beginning and an end and can only be turned
one page each day. Each day God has
established a way for us to handle the various blessings and testings of
life. When we live by God the ministry
of the Holy Spirit, then we keep in step with God (Gal
The plan of God for the believer has
a beginning and an end and revolves around Jesus Christ and Bible doctrine
(Acts 22:14‑15; 2 Tim 4:7).
Advancement and fulfillment in the plan is always about keeping the
faith. Consider the apostle Paul who is
at the end of his life sitting in a cold dungeon speaking about accomplishing
God’s plan for his life. He had enormous
satisfaction in knowing he fulfilled his course in the plan of God. He completed the path God laid out for
him. He completed God’s will for his
life and the reason for his existence on earth.
Paul did fail from time to time but he always turned it around and
gained more spiritual momentum than he had lost. From a human perspective he looked like a
failure. However, from God’s perspective
Paul finished the course God laid out for him. Paul made it to the pleroma of God,
Eph 3:19.
God has a pre‑designed plan
for our lives for specific works of divine production, Jn 15:1‑2; Eph
God has a great desire to reveal to
you His plan for your life. The amazing
truth of the Bible is that God is interested in the daily details of life. Our lives are filled with decisions each and
every day from the decision of when to get up, what to wear, eat, ministry to
our spouses, attitude to work, dinner, family, to when
to go to bed. There are hundreds of
decisions we make daily. Whether we
realize it or not we are also making hundreds of decisions with reference to
the Lord, the Word, and the spiritual life.
Either we make decisions for the Lord and His plan or ignore Him, His
plan, and His Word on a daily basis.
What is fantastic is that God’s Word says He is interested in all of the
details of our lives and wants to guide us wherever we go. He cares about all of the
minutia of everyday life (Psa 32:8‑9; 121:8; 139:1‑5; Prov 3:5‑6;
Isa 58:11; Mt 10:29‑31; Rom
4‑God’s
peace in God’s Plan
One of first things that we
experience when we orient to God’s plan is a sense of peace. Regardless of what is happening around us
there is always peace from knowing you are in God’s plan, safe and secure. There is peace with God because of Christ’s
work on the cross (Rom 5:1). There is
peace because we can cast all of our anxieties upon the Lord (1 Pt
5:7). In His plan we can give all of our
worries and anxieties to the Lord and He will grant us a supernatural powerful
peace (Philip 4:6). In the plan of God
we trust and acknowledge God in all of our ways and receive peace from
knowing that He is in control and He will never forsake us (Heb 13:5). God’s plan of peace is far greater than
anything we could devise. There is no
true peace in the greatest of man’s plans.
5‑
Where do I begin?
Now that we have established that
God has a specific unique plan for your life that brings great peace, a plan
that He wants to reveal to you, you might ask, how do I find it? Where do I begin?
The best place to begin is in a
passage that gives us the general mechanics along with a most specific promise
for guidance: Prov 3:5‑6, Trust in
the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all
your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths
straight.
The two main ideas or conditions for
God’s personal guidance is trust and acknowledge. The first thing we must do is trust
God. Apart from faith the believer leans
on his own understandings and devises his own plans. Faith is means of entering into the family of
God and the means of appropriating God ’s power and
solutions. Acknowledge is the
Hebrew word yadah ([d;y") which means to know. So the place to begin is to trust God rather
than lean on human viewpoint and then to know God in all your ways. This is only possible through the Word of
God. You not only have to trust Him,
you have to take notice of His presence in all of the details of life. This means you have to know that He is with
you and that He will guide you. The more
you grow in Bible doctrine the more you have the capacity to both trust Him and
to know Him in all details of life. In maturity the believer lives a life of
acknowledging God in all his ways. The
more you trust and acknowledge Him in all of your ways, the more God will guide
you. All divine guidance revolves around
trusting & knowing God. What God
wants most is for you to know Him and trust Him.
6 ‑
Claiming God’s Promises
The key to trusting
God and knowing God is the Word of God
(Jer.
God promises to guide us into a successful
life. God promises to lead us in His
way of success ( Isa 48:17; Jer 29:11).
There is a way in which He wants you to go that is filled with
success. He is fully able to lead you
out of any failure.
God promises to guide us all of our
lives right through death and then into His very presence, Psa 48:14; 73:24.
God promises to guide us for His own
name sake. He is the Rock and Fortress
who will lead and guide us for His own name sake, Psalm 31:3. His very reputation is on the line as far as
guiding us in life. He is very
interested in guiding His own.
God promises to guide those in the
dark and make darkness into light before them and make all crooked things
straight, Isa 42:16. No matter how far
out of the will of God someone has drifted, God is there to bring him back. God is fully able to guide you out of any
darkness or any set of bad decisions.
God is ready right now at this moment to guide you. He is the Shepherd.
God promises to guide his sheep
through the four basic spiritual stages of life, Psa 23. First, God leads us into nourishment and rest
to feed and restore our souls with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. Second,
God leads us on the journey of divine production of walking in His Word. Third, He leads us into conflict (with
provisions). Fourth, He leads us into
His presence.
7 ‑
One Step at a Time.
God’s wonderful promises to guide us
through the four stages of life, to bring us out of every dark or bad
situation, to teach us success, and to bring us into the glory of His presence
is all accomplished one step at a time.
One of the biggest mistakes that we make in divine guidance is looking
too far in the distant future instead of looking for divine guidance in the
everyday issues of life.
Divine guidance is all about God guiding us
step by step, Psa 121:8; Prov 16:9; Isa 58:11. He never fully reveals the
distant future. God’s light is placed
right in front of our feet so that we can see how to walk now, Psalm
119:105. God does not shine a light miles ahead of us ‑ that would be too
distracting. He shines His headlights on
the road that is right before us.
Consider what would happen if you were driving down the road at night
and kept looking a mile ahead in the dark instead of looking at the road that
is lighted up right before you. There is
enough evil in each day in which to battle (Mt
I am convinced that one of the
reasons God does not reveal the distant future is because we are not strong
enough to handle some of the tougher tests and issues of life which demand more
maturity. Consider Abraham. God never told Abraham that he would have to
sacrifice his son until Abraham became a very mature believer. As I consider God’s plan for my life as a
pastor‑teacher, I may not have gone to Tulsa Seminary of Biblical
Languages, if at the time I went I knew I would become a preacher. I may not
have accepted the pastorate in a church in
Walking one step at a time keeps you
from getting ahead of the Lord. When the
Israelites were in the desert, God instilled in them the need to follow Him as
He revealed Himself in the Shekinah glory cloud above the tabernacle (Ex 40:36‑38). They never knew when the cloud would move,
but when it moved they followed it with precision. This cloud led them step by
step right to the promised land. God too
will lead you step by step into the promised life. Although they were exactly where God needed for
them to be geographically, they failed to enter the promised land because they
lacked capacity. They lacked capacity
for the blessings of God because they failed to enter into a personal
fellowship with God along the way.
Instead of trusting God along the path, they griped and grumbled along
the way, and therefore were unfit for the blessings of God. God warns every believer about the dangers of
developing a complaining attitude along the paths of life (1 Cor 10:10‑11). It is possible to be exactly where
God wants you to be and yet fail miserably because of how you traversed
His path. The plan of one step at a time
is designed to keep us very close to God.
God wants us to completely trust Him.
8 ‑
Positive Volition
One of the most exciting things
about divine guidance is that all you need to find God’s will is positive
volition (Jer 29:13). If you really want
God’s will, you can have it. All it
takes is non‑meritorious positive volition. You see when you have positive volition then
you seek God’s will because you seek God (instead of using God as a means to
further your own plans). To the person
who seeks God’s will, God will reveal not only His plan but the means of
finding, walking, and growing in that will with all of the grace His plan
requires.
If you have gotten ahead of the Lord
or have taken the wrong fork in the road but are still seeking the Lord, He
will let you know, Isa 30:21. He has a
multitude of ways of getting your attention and getting you back on His path ‑
if you are pursuing the Lord. He has a
way of making His plan very clear when you stray.
The only way you can miss God’s will
is by insisting on our own will ‑ by being mulish (Psa 32:8‑9). When you insist on your own will and live the
self‑centered life then you miss out on the greatest plan ever devised
for your life. In negative volition you
miss the very purpose for your life which is to bring glory to God. When we face difficulties and turn to the
Lord and reflect His goodness and strength, we glorify Him. God is never glorified through the murmuring
of believers. If you are not a living
witness to the grace and power of Jesus Christ then you are missing God’s
purpose for your life. All believers
are designed to be a living epistles of Jesus Christ ‑ to be read by all
men (2 Cor 3:2‑3).
There are many examples in the Bible
of the positive volition of believers who decided to live for the will of God
even at great sacrifice. Moses decided
to live with an ungrateful generation of Israelites rather than live in the
Egyptian palaces of pleasure (cf. Heb
11:24‑26). From the moment of conversion Paul was focused on doing God’s
will (Acts
The greatest illustration of true
positive volition is the Lord Jesus Christ (Mt 4:4; Jn 4:34;
God’s will for Christ’s life
included not only a detailed plan for specific accomplishments, but the means
to accomplish God’s will. It was not
fellowship alone, it was not the Holy Spirit alone, it was not even the Word of God alone that
gave Him power to walk in the will of God.
To find God’s will is one thing, to fulfill it is quite another. To fulfill the will of God or to advance in
divine guidance requires three elements as illustrated by Jesus Christ: fellowship with God, the power of the Holy
Spirit; and the Word of God. We were
called to walk like Jesus Christ (1 Jn 2:6). This requires the same attitude
and resources for guidance
9 ‑
Knowing the Guide
"My sheep hear My voice, and
I know them, and they follow Me;" (John
We really are like sheep (Psa
100:3). Like dumb sheep, we really do
not know what is best for us. Left to
ourselves, we will always get ourselves into dangerous predicaments. We need a shepherd to guide us. We need to know the Shepherd and know what He
wants. Divine guidance is really a
matter of following the divine Shepherd.
Failure to follow Him is just plain stupid.
Two inescapable facts of life are
that God has a pre‑designed plan for your life and you must know the
Guide to be guided into that plan. Apart
from knowing the Guide it is impossible to walk in the center of God’s
will. Everything revolves around knowing
God in divine guidance. Failure always
leads to confusion.
A believer can know all of the
mechanics of divine guidance but apart from a personal relationship with God
based on true fellowship, personal divine
guidance is impossible. You can even
know a lot of Bible facts and know what you should or should not do, but fail
in divine guidance because you do not really know God.
There is a sense in which every
Christian knows God (John 17:3). You
cannot be saved apart from knowing something about God revealed in the
Gospel. However, there are degrees of
knowing God. A standard question on many
personal and professional referrals is
‘how well do you know the person?’
If the question was posed to you about God and the choices were: intimately, casually, hardly at all ‑
what would your choice be? What if you
were asked about your pursuit of really knowing God? How does it compare with Scripture (Jer 9:23‑24;
Hos 6:6; Philip 3:3:7‑10)? The
best thing in life, bringing great joy, delight, and contentment is a real
personal knowledge of God (Psa 34:8).
If we do not know God intimately, it
is not His fault. God is unceasing in
His efforts to make Himself known to every believer. He is constantly making overtures to reveal
Himself and His character in our lives.
What He desires is for us to respond to His grace and mercy. Consider how well He has taken care of you
and the mercy He has shown you (Psa 36:5; 57:10; 103:11; 108:4). In spite of His great desire to have a
fellowship with believers, many have never really taken the time to
really get to know God in a very personal way.
The result is tragic: a loss of blessed fellowship and a loss of
confidence with regard to divine guidance.
God primarily reveals Himself in His
Word. However, He is also actively
revealing Himself through the various tests of life. Consider
how God tried to reveal Himself to the Israelites (Exodus 14:10‑13) and
their tragic failure to get to know Him in the various tests of life (Num 14:1‑11). They lived out their lives in misery for
forty years of testing in the desert, simply because they did not take time to
know the Lord. God is trying to reveal
Himself to us through the various tests of life in the same way as He did with
the Israelites. The reason God allows
suffering, sickness, sorrow, and loneliness is so that He can reveal Himself to
us intimately. Right in the
middle of all of the problems of life, God is there revealing Himself. He is constantly reaching out and making
overtures to us. He is constantly
telling us something about Himself. Time
after time we are tested like the Israelites.
We are to stand still and see the deliverance of the Lord; we are to be
still and know that He is God. God is
not only teaching us about Himself but about our own weak and sinful natures. The person who rejects God’s revelation will
always lose when it comes to divine guidance.
Knowing the Guide is essential for
really trusting Him. You cannot trust
whom you really do not know. It is God’
s responsibility to reveal the plan and it is our responsibility to know Him
and trust Him in all of our ways. Faith
is never blind. Faith demands
knowledge. It is believing what we know ‑
but cannot see. Without faith it is
impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).
You must have faith that God has a plan, will reveal and guide you in
that plan one step at a time, and will
provide in all difficulties along the way.
10‑Present
yourselves to God
Rom 12:1‑2, Therefore I
urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and
holy sacrifice, acceptable to God...so that you may prove what the will of God
is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
This passage shows us the only tried and
proven way to know, test, and approve (dokima,zw) the will of God with absolute confidence. The term present needs further
examination.
The term present is an aorist
active infinitive of paristemi (pari,sthmi) which is a compound word made up of para
meaning alongside and istemi which
means to stand or lay aside. This Greek
term was used in two different ways in the New Testament era. First, it was used technically of a
worshiper who laid his sacrifice on the altar as a act of consecration to God.
The idea here is of complete surrender of the sacrifice by giving it to
God. Note in the above passage that believers
are challenged to present their own bodies as a living sacrifice to God. The bodies refers to everything that is in
enclosed in the body ‑ mind, plans, desires, and activities. God will not
invade our bodies and force His will upon us.
Second, the term present (paristemi) was used of a slave who stands alongside his
master available to do his bidding. The
slave was at his owner’s disposal. Paul
is urging believers to make themselves available with a willing compliant
spirit. The aorist tense of the verb
shows that this is to be a decisive decision ‑ which lasts for the rest
of your life. There is only one act of
consecration (followed by acts of repentance).
The infinitive shows this is God’s purpose for our lives. God wants you. He wants you to be willing to be told what to
do. He wants you to stop playing games
with Him. He wants you to be committed
to what He wants you to be committed to.
God pleads with you to offer yourself to God. The attitude on the part of the believer is
to be ‘here I am Lord do what You want with me.’
Surrender to God’s will is the key
to know for certain about God’s will. We
must be willing servants. The only way
to really know if certain teachings are true is to live them (Jn
If you are willing to follow Him no matter the
costs, He will lead you. Continual
guidance will only come to those who really present themselves to the
Lord. Apart from presentation of life to
the Lord, the best you can hope for is sporadic, isolated guidance ‑ a life lived in the
permissive will of God rather than the perfect will.
Consider the hypocrisy, blasphemy,
and sinfulness of man in this whole area of surrender to God. There are countless ways man tries to do an
end‑run around the presentation of his life to the Lord. How many do not really care about God’s will,
until there is a decision which could impact their temporal life? How many say they want God’s will, only to
forget all about it after they get what they want? How many promise to give self to God, if He
would sign on the dotted line of their own plan? How many gimmicks have been tried on
God? How many make their own plans,
then tell God what they will do with His blessings? How many conditions have been given to God
before one promises to give their life to the Lord (Gen 28:21)? God’s will is not for bribe or barter.
God is not interested in conditions
and exception clauses or playing ‘Let’s make a Deal.’ He wants full and complete obedience. He wants absolute unreserved willingness. There is no more important decision in divine
guidance or in the spiritual life than a willingness to do the will of
God. Why should He guide a believer who
really does not care about the will of God?
If you want to live right in the
center of God’s will and advance in His plan to a life beyond dreams (Eph
3:20), you must have an unreserved willing spirit. You must be available for whatever God wants
you to think, believe, say, do, or go.
This is the kind of person God will lead (Psa 25:9). We need to be more concerned with the condition
of our hearts than temporal life issues.
We never lose with God. He is a such a good God (Js
If we first delight
ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts, Psa
37:4. What He wants is for us to subordinate all wishes
to Him. Walking in the will of God is
never a drag, it is never boring. It is
the most exciting thing in life. Life in
the center of God’s will makes everyday a fresh new day with the Lord.
11‑
Renew the Mind
Rom 12:2, stop being conformed to
this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may
prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
After the believer decides to commit
himself to God and His plan wholeheartedly (i.e., positive volition), the next
step is transformation. All attempts at commitment to Christ breakdown apart
from the transformation of the mind. The
believer must go from presentation to transformation. We go from giving ourselves to the Lord to
letting Him renew our minds.
The term conformed in the
above passage (suschematidzo, suschmati,zw) means to shape one thing by another thing; to fashion; to
squeeze something into its mold. The
present middle imperative shows that the subject is participating in the action
and that the action is ongoing and needs to be stopped. The Romans are participating with Satan in
this activity. Satan and his hordes are
constantly attempting to capture the mind.
If they can control or fashion our minds then they can control much of
our lives, wills, desires, motivations, and perspectives. Consider the garbage he dumps in people’s
minds: prejudice, hatred, conflict, pride, sexual perversion, family abuse, hangups, frantic search for happiness, childish thinking,
secularism, unresolved conflicts, lack of forgiveness, bitterness, etc. Satan is always trying to fill our minds
with his garbage, knowing that if it is not removed the sewage will eventually
leak into the basement of our souls (unconscious area).
Satan has done a masterful job in
screwing up billions and billions of minds.
How can a believer begin to know God’s will if he has a bent mind which
is stuffed with the devil’s philosophy(Prov 16:2)? Satan has an endless array
of ways to lure man away from the will of God (i.e., approbation lust, money,
sex). Satan has done a real job on the
human race (1 John 5:19) as he implants his thoughts in man through radio,
television, magazines, unsaved loved ones, carnal believers, and even human
emotional "love." Consider the messages that are recorded on minds
today. Consider how Satan programs minds with a Christ‑dishonoring
channels.
Next we have the positive plea: but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind. But is the strongest conjunction in
the Greek. Transformed (metamorfo,w) is where we get our word metamorphosis. This transformation is a complete or total
change of the "inner" nature.
The present tense shows that this should be continuous; day after day we
should be experiencing transfiguration into the image of Jesus Christ. God’ s ideal is that this transfiguration
would never slow down. The passive shows
that we receive this action; we cannot transform ourselves. The imperative is one of command. The imperative in the Greek is the furthest
removed from certainty. Obedience to
this is key. Why should God reveal His
plan to anyone who rejects God’s own thinking?
|
Bible doctrine learned, assimilated
and applied is the agency of renewing the mind.
The Bible must be understood from the original by the teacher to insure
accuracy. It has been said that trying
to study the Bible through translations is like the groom kissing the bride
through a veil. The teacher must
understand the nuances, catch glitches in the English translations, and be able
to break these things down into principles for the listeners. The SEE or ICE method is the only way to
really understand Scripture. Each part
is absolutely critical for edification into the image of Jesus Christ. Apart from the HS the Bible cannot be
discerned; apart from exegesis there is no accuracy; apart from
dispensationalism there is no execution of the Christian way of life (consider
Mt 5:39‑ 42; Num 15:32‑35 ).
Bible was never designed to be a Ouija board.
The Word of God truly is living,
powerful, and transforming (Heb
The Word of God is more than
sufficient train us in the realm of righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16‑17). We need to be more concerned about the status
of our hearts than the decisions that will affect temporal life issues. We need to be more concerned with pleasing
God than how the decision will impact the comfort of our lives (Eph 5:8‑10). This training in the realm of righteousness
will not solve "brain problems" overnight. It takes one truth at a time assimilated and
applied one step at a time. Our minds
are like giant computers that need to be reformatted and reprogrammed. We cannot know the will of God if we are not
regularly filling our minds with God’s truth.
When God programs the mind with His Word then we get His readouts on
everything in life. We must make Bible
doctrine central to our lives to find God’s will. Trying to figure out divine guidance apart
from the Word of God is like trying to solve an algebraic problem with no
constants. The more of the Word of God
we have in our souls, the more we will think like God, and as you develop
divine viewpoint, our values and ideas will become more like Christ ’s (1 Cor
2:15‑16). This is the path to the
life beyond dreams (1 Cor 2:9‑10; Eph
12 ‑
This is the Will of God.
God has given six direct statements
with regard to His will. Most decisions
that we make in life will be affected by these six clear statements. When you are trying to decide God’s will for
your life, you should consider the six things God clearly desires.
First is salvation (1 Tim 2:4; 2 Pet
3:9). God’s first priority is salvation,
ours and others. It is God’ s will for
you as an ambassador to introduce those around you to Jesus Christ. This must be done with a respect for the
freewill of man, Mat 23:37.
Second, He wants you to be spirit‑filled
(Eph 5:17‑18). The Spirit‑filled
life is the key to spiritual wisdom.
There needs to be more focus on your life’s adjustment to the Holy
Spirit than the actual decision. He will
not only lead you but give you the capacity to enjoy God’s blessings on the
path.
Third, God wants your
sanctification, (1 Thess 4:3‑5).
Terms like sanctification and holiness may seem sanctimonious but they
are crucial to living the Spirit‑filled life with a renewed mind. We are to be set apart to God. There is to be no illicit sexual
activity. This is not limited to the very
young. You never have to worry about God’s
will in this area. Flee! (1 Cor
Fourth, it is God’s will for you to
give thanks in everything, 1 Thess 5:18.
Believers know that they are to thank God for good things, but it seems
that under certain circumstances some feel as if they have the right to
complain. This thanksgiving is not
phony. Even in great tragedy God wants
us to be thankful for the lessons that we can learn from God’s grace (2 Cor
12:9‑10). To have a bitter and
negative spirit destroys capacity for life.
Fifth, God wants us to be submissive
(1 Pet 2:13‑15). He wants us to
obey the laws of divine establishment.
Unbelievers are always looking for our faults in this area. We are not to toy with circumventing the
law. This submission certainly includes
being submissive to the pastor‑teacher as leader of the local church (Heb
Sixth, there are times God wants us
to suffer for divine good, Philip 1:29; 2 Tim
When faced with a decision or choice
it is always important to orient to these six declared wills of God. If a choice will result in the violation of
any of these clearly expressed wills of God, you can rest assured that it is
not God’s will for you to go that way.
13 ‑
Divine Directives
God not only gives us six direct
statements on His will, He has placed several road signs along the way to keep
us on His path to a life beyond dreams (Eph 3:20). These road signs are in the form of commands,
directives, and principles.
Every command and directive is a
revelation of the will of God for your life.
There are literally hundreds of imperatives in the Bible that have major
impacts on our lives. These commands
enable us to chart God’s plan for our lives. These commands should never be
used in a legalistic manner. The proper
way of viewing the commands of God is to see them as expressions of God’s will
for your life. Love for Jesus Christ
naturally translates to a desire to keep His commandments (Jn
The commands and principles in the
Word of God are extremely relevant in finding and walking in the will of
God. There are some things that we
simply do not even need to pray about.
As a matter of fact if we are living in disobedience, the Lord will not
even hear our prayers (Psa 66:18). The
more we study God’s Word the more principles we have in which to navigate.
Consider just how many commands and
principles God has given to guide us in life.
Let’s start with the spiritual life.
God has commanded that we put away sin and consistently feed on His Word
so we can grow spiritually (1 Pet 2:1‑3) and enter into His blessings for
our lives (James 1:21‑25). He commands
us to live, walk, and keep in step with the Holy Spirit (Gal
God has given us a great deal of
divine guidance with respect to the local church and fellow believers. We are to love one another (Jn 13:34), be
compassionate, patient and forgiving toward one another (Col 3:12‑13),
minister to each other with our spiritual gifts (1 Pet 4:10), strive to keep
unity and peace in the local church (Eph 4:3), handle problems with believers
privately when possible (Mt 18:15; Js 4:11), and support the pastor‑teacher (Mt 10:10; Rom 15:27; 1 Cor 9:11‑14;
Gal 6:6; 1 Thess 5:18; Heb 13:17). You
never have to wonder if God wants you to be part of a local church (Heb
God has given us a great deal of
guidance with respect to our families.
Every husband is to love His wife as Christ loves the church with a love
that is sacrificial, sanctifying, purifying, nourishing, cherishing, unifying,
and glorifying (Eph 5:25‑33).
Every wife is to submit to her husband as a helpmate (Gen
(Eph 6:1‑2). The Father is to raise children in the
discipline and instruction of the Lord without provoking them (Eph 6:4). A man should not go on welfare if he can
work and there is a job available, even if that job makes less than welfare
payments (2 Thess 3:10‑12). It is
not God’s will for any man to be a freeloader.
God has given a great deal of
guidance with respect to the workplace.
The employee is to be submissive even when boss is unreasonable (1 Pet
The above commands and principles
related to our spiritual lives, the local church, fellow believers, our
families and work are but a sampling of God’s directives for our lives. There are millions of principles in God’s
Word to guide us in every single issue of life.
As we study God’s Word it enlightens the conscience to a point where it
too acts as a guide for us (Rom
14‑Leading
of the Spirit
The Scriptures teach that there is a
personal leading by God the Holy Spirit.
In Acts, during the transitional period of the church age. the Holy
Spirit was very active in leading Christians in a very personal and even
audible way (Acts
There are indications today that the
Holy Spirit continues to lead believers although not as directly as in Acts ‑
since the Bible is now complete. His
primary leading is through the Word of God.
Every time the Word of God is taught the Holy Sprit is attempting to
guide believers into the truths of God’s word and the Christ‑centered
life (John 16:12‑15). The Holy
Spirit is always leading the believer into the righteous life and a personal
experiential relationship with God (Rom 8:13‑14).
The Holy Spirit also places desires
in us (Philip
This leading of the Holy Spirit is
the most subjective area. While the Holy
Spirit does impress upon us certain things, there are a lot of false and
foolish impressions we can receive.
Those desires may be our desires or impressions from cosmos‑diabolicus. These can be very powerful. Satan comes as an
angel of light (2 Cor
The believer is commanded to test
all things 1 Jn 4:1, 1 Thess 5:21. The
only true standard to test the spirits, impulses and even our own motives is
the Word of God, Isa 8:20; Heb 4:12.
Every impression from God is in perfect alignment with His Word.
15 ‑
PRAYER
Prayer is critical in divine
guidance. God stands ready to give
wisdom on a liberal basis without reproach (James 1:5). James is dealing with conflict and
persecution. James says go to God for
wisdom in dealing with difficult situations.
The present imperative of "let him ask" shows that this action
is commanded and it is to be continuous (Mat 7:7). If you want to know what to do there is no
better person to go to than God Himself.
Prayer must be offered in faith,
James1:6. You must believe what God
says. He must believe He has a plan, He
will direct your paths, and He will answer your prayer. Many do not have because they have never
asked or asked with the wrong motivations (James 4:2‑3). Prayer is an admission of need of God and His
guidance.
Consider the prayer of Jesus in
picking the disciples (Luke 6:12‑13).
He knew that God had twelve men in mind.
Ever wonder where He got the list?
Consider the fact that it took all night in prayer for divine guidance
in this area.
We cannot afford to move along
without God’s counsel in divine guidance (Josh
Consider the prayer life of David
who recognized the dangers of barging ahead without asking God (Psa 25:4‑5;
27:11; 31:3; 43:3; 143:10). If you are
seeking God’s will, you must spend time talking to God about it. He is there and He is not silent. He has promised to lead you every step of the
way.
16 ‑
Circumstances
Circumstances may be the single
greatest factor used by Christians to determine what God is trying to tell
them. Countless Christians use
circumstances to determine what God is trying to tell them. But is this legitimate? What light does the Word of God shine on the
use of circumstances in divine guidance?
The first thing that needs to be
established is that God is sovereign and is actively working out
"the" all things (ta. pa,nta, all these [grace] things]) in His grace plan, Eph 1:10‑11;
Rom 8:28. While the Bible nowhere says
that God has decreed every single act in human history, the fact remains is
that God is sovereign and this means that He is superior in position, supreme
in power, and independent of and unlimited by any other outside of
Himself. Simply stated God does as He
pleases and is always in control of the situation even though man continues to
operate with freewill. God foreknows all
future events and has made arrangements for every circumstance. Even when God permits man to use his freewill
for evil, God is behind the scenes actively working out His plan ‑ though
it may seem that He is not (Gen 45:5).
What about the issue of open and
closed doors? The Bible teaches us that
when Jesus Christ opens doors for faithful local churches, no one can close
them (Rev 3:7‑8). Likewise when He
closes a door, He often opens a wider door of opportunity (Acts 16:7‑9). Christ is the divine Doorkeeper and holds
the key that unlocks doors of opportunity.
Regarding doors of opportunity, Paul challenged believers to pray that
God would open doors for him to get out more Bible doctrine related to the
church age mystery doctrines (Col 4:3).
God still opens and closes doors of opportunities in many areas ‑
from college applications to job opportunities in and out of the ministry. God does use circumstances to guide us in
life.
While God does guide through
circumstances, there are several reasons that guidance through circumstances
alone is an uncertain guide at best.
While God is in control of circumstances, the same set of circumstances
can be interpreted in different ways.
Different things can be read into the same circumstances due to personal
desires. As a matter of fact circumstances
can be used to prove just about anything you want them to.
Another problem with being led by
circumstances is that Satan can also manipulate circumstances. With the latitude that God gives him, Satan
is able to manage or influence circumstances to the point of hindering
opportunities for even the greatest of believers (1 Thess 2:18). At first it
may not be evident if the closed door was closed by the Lord or by Satan. If it is a Satanic hindrance, God will
ultimately remove all obstacles and open the door. God will clear the way in such a
situation. We will not need to break
them down. Perhaps God will allow Satan
to shut a door to motivate us to ask, seek, and knock (Mt 7:7;
What about the issue of divine
guidance and disagreeable circumstances?
There are occasions when an open door actually leads to reaching fewer
people for the Lord (Acts 8). Philip
actually left a very successful ministry to deal with one person. The Lord ’s open doors do not always bring
more opportunities (in numbers).
Consider disagreeable circumstances like persecution in
Divine guidance primarily by
circumstances simply does not work.
There are too many variables. God
does not expect for us to understand all that He is doing around us, Prov
20:24. Divine guidance by circumstances
alone can never be conclusive. While
there is a place for the evaluation of circumstances in the confirmation of God’s
will, circumstances should not be used for the determination of God’s
will. God may use circumstances to give
a general direction or even to cause one to make a major turn in life, but as
far as divine guidance, every circumstance must be considered in light of the
Word of God with an attitude of prayer and full commitment to the renewing of
the mind (Rom 12:2). One thing that we
can be sure that God is trying to tell us in all circumstances is that He
expects us to trust and obey Him in everything ‑ not to understand
everything.
17 ‑ Supernatural
Signs
Another issue in divine guidance is
supernatural signs. While God did use
supernatural signs in certain situations like the guidance of Shekinah glory
cloud for the Israelites in the desert and the Urim
and Thummim to guide with certain decisions, there is
no record of believers ever seeking signs after the day of Pentecost.
The most often Biblical example used
to justify the seeking of signs is Gideon in Judges 6. However, this passage is really a strong
rebuke against the seeking of signs.
What Gideon did was sin. Gideon
even admitted twice that he knew what God’s will was (Judges 6:36‑37). God told Gideon that he would be delivered
but he simply did not believe God.
Gideon’s fleece came about because Gideon would not trust God’s Word on
the matter.
Consider our Lord’s evaluation of
sign seekers: an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign (Mat
16:4). The Lord wants us to live by
faith and not by sight. Seeking signs is
in the realm of sight and not faith. God
is not looking for a mechanical relationship with believers based on
signs. God is looking for a
relationship of faith. He wants us to
trust and obey Him.
One of the worst practices in sign seeking
is when Christians tell God what to do or not to do. Instead of living by faith, some people
actually tell God what He has to do ‑ instead of letting Him show them
what to do. Never lay conditions on
God. Some Christians actually use signs
as a cover for lack of positive volition to the Word of God, the spiritual
life, and plan of God. Instead of
fulfilling the various commands of growing in spiritual discernment, many used
signs to cover their spiritual indolence.
Signs become an easy excuse for not truly seeking and developing the
spiritual skills necessary for discernment.
There are many believers who are negative to the Word of God who try to
use signs as a way out. Sign seeking
often became an excuse for negative volition ‑ as with the Jews who
rejected Jesus Christ.
There is no justification for pleading for
special signs. We have the ministry of
the Holy Spirit and the completed Word of God to guide us through life. We have so much more to guide us than those
in the Old Testament who at times needed special guidance. Why look for signs when we can open our
Bibles and look into the very mind of Christ?
1 Cor
18 ‑
Dreams and Visions.
There can be no doubt that God did
reveal and guide individuals through dreams and visions in the Old and New
Testaments (Gen 37:6‑10; Acts
Dreams and visions are very
unreliable. In the Old Testament God
gave strong warning about putting dreams ahead of God’s Word (Jer 23:28). It is the Word of God that must always be the
focus of our lives, not our subjective dreams.
In Hebrews 1:1‑3 we are told
that in many portions and in many ways (like dreams) God spoke to the
fathers, but in these last days He has spoken to us in His Son. This full revelation in the Son is recorded
in the gospels, epistles, and in Revelation.
Many wonder about the source of
their dreams. Dreams are expressions from our subconscious minds. They reflect our wishes and our fears. They often ventilate the anxieties and stress
we experience during our waking hours.
Dreams also serve as a tool for the subconscious to keep us asleep when
we are drifting toward consciousness (which is why our dreams are most active
right before we wake up).
19 ‑
Use your Head
While Prov 3:5‑6 instructs us
not to "lean" on our own understanding, God expects us to use our
heads in divine guidance. God expects us
to develop and use sound minds (Tit 1:8;
God has also given us conscience to
help in guidance (Rom
20 ‑
Peace like a River
If only you had paid attention to
My commandments! Then your peace would
have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea (Isa
48:18).
What wonderful news it is to know
that if we live according to the Word of God we will have peace like a river and
righteousness like the waves of the sea.
When we follow His direction we will have an inner quietness and
assurance that has all of the abundance, freshness, and persistence of a deep
flowing river.
One of the markers of living in the
center of God’s will is peace (~Alv'). It is life outside of the will of God that
brings so much aggravation and stress.
God never gives peace to a person who is living in contradiction to His
Word and plan. We can never know the
peace of God when we go our own way. There
is no peace for the wicked or in any wicked act (Isa 48:22). Only when we go God’s way is there a
beautiful, deep, and ever‑flowing calm.
When we take the path of God’s own
choosing there will be a inner serenity and quiet contentment. When we are walking in the will of God, we
have a sense of confidence and spiritual self‑esteem about the direction
of our lives. God will not give peace
about a bad decision because He knows where the road leads.
If there are disquieting or
disturbing thoughts it may be God’s signal to go back and rethink our decision.
If you are really disturbed about it, it is time to go back and recheck the
Word of God, get on our knees in prayer, seek the counsel of others, check our
true motives, examine commitment to presentation and transformation, and
reflect on our own spiritual status and growth. Evidence of bickering in a relationship is a
sign that something is wrong. To ignore
these conflicts will only lead to greater problems down the road and perhaps
years of bitterness and distance. Deep
restlessness and agitation cannot be overlooked. God is trying to tell you
something. In a marriage relationship it
is time to go back and recheck the will of God for you and do it ‑
now!
This peace does not mean absence of stormy
seas and contrary winds. You can be
right in the center of God’s will and have storms of anxieties crashing down on
you. That very storm you are facing
could be the very will of God to advance you to maturity (Ex 14; Psa 34:19; Mt
14:22‑33; Mk
Peace should only be used as a final
marker in determining God’s will. As we
live the spirit‑filled life the Holy Spirit shines His light on the Word
of God, our own desires, and providence.
Only after examining these three road signs, can we use peace as a
further indicator. The apostle Paul
speaks of "peace" as an umpire (brabeue,tw) or final decider in
life (
21 ‑ Wait on the Lord.
Perhaps the hardest thing for us to
do is to wait on the Lord. There may be
times when it feels like we continue to make our 911 calls but no one is
answering the phone. We may even find
ourselves begging and begging for an answer ‑ please God just tell me.
If you ever felt this way, you are
not alone (Psa 10:1; 28:1). It is
during these difficult times that we must go back to the Word of God and wait
on the Lord.
Failure to wait on the Lord has
ruined countless lives. Barging ahead
without the Lord is sure to bring disaster (Num 14:39‑45). Life is filled with tragedies in almost every
area of life simply because people would not wait on God with regard to
chastity, marriage, work, finances and even the local church. When we get in a hurry we are bound to make
mistakes some of which will last a lifetime.
Many believers probably make their biggest mistakes because of
unwillingness to wait for God’s timing.
Stay cool! Wait on the Lord!
Why does God delay? One reason is clearly expressed in Isaiah
30:18 (KJV). Sometimes God waits until
the situation gets even more desperate because the more desperate it gets the
more amazing will be His deliverance and the more glorious will He be
exalted. This will also increase your
faith and bring more glory to Him. Often
long delays are often followed by spectacular deliverance. Periods of waiting can also be times of great
spiritual growth. He wants our faith
stretched and strengthened. We are
forced to trust Him and so get to know Him more intimately. In delays God gives us something far better
than the things for which we ask. Be alert for what God is trying to teach
you. God’s delays are always
purposeful. Although we may not know
what the purpose is, He asks to trust Him and to await. Our impatience is usually due to
unbelief. When you really trust God you
will not "make haste" (Isa 28:16).
Trust truly is our best defense.
Don’t get ahead of the Lord, He really does know better. Stay cool! Wait on the Lord! Again, God really does know better. Remember Satan may be hurrying you to do
something really stupid. Remember it is
the nature of the flesh (old sin nature) to take over.
Wait on the Lord, be of good courage
and He will strengthen you and deliver you (Psa 27:14; 40:1‑3). It is often lack of trust that causes us to
move ahead without Him.
22-
The 5 Lights of Divine Guidance.
The Holy Spirit is the Agent of
Guidance. He is always motivating us or
stirring us up in the ways of God. The
Holy Spirit shines 5 headlights on God’s will as we live, walk, and keep in
step with the Holy Spirit, Gal 5:16, 25.
The 1st light is the Word of
God. The Holy Spirit shines His light
on the Word of God. The Word of God is a
treasure trough of information on God’s will for your life. We have direct statements regarding God’s
will regarding salvation, the Spirit‑filled life, sexual purity, your
attitude, submission, and suffering.
There are also myriads of commands, prohibitions, and doctrinal
principles to guide us in life. We are
told how to live with respect to marriage, the family, the local church, fellow
believers, and the workplace. The Bible
tells us to pray to God for wisdom and He will give it to us. The Bible tells us to wait on the Lord and
His timing. The Bible tells us to trust
and know Him in all of our ways. The
Bible tells us to commit ourselves to Him and renew our minds with the Word
precisely so we can determine the will of God (Rom 12:2).
The 2nd light is on desires. God gives us certain desires related to the
plan of God. The best illustration is in
the area of spiritual gifts. The Holy
Spirit gives us very strong desires and motivations with respect to our
spiritual gifts. He is a real Person who
guides. However, this is a very
subjective area and we can also receive false impressions by our old sin
natures or by the kingdom of darkness.
The 3rd light is on providence or
the circumstances of life. The Holy
Spirit shines His light on divine opportunities. However, this is also a very subjective area
because Satan also opens doors.
The 4th
light is one of peace. If the decision
does not violate the letter or the spirit of God’s Word, if you have a strong
desire to do it, if God has provided an open door, and you still have this
peace then you are can rest assured that it is God’s will for your life.
The 5th
light is on the outcome of the decision.
It is always God’s will for us to gain more spiritual momentum.
23 ‑
Missed God’s will?
God created us with volition which
can be used to go contrary to His wishes.
We can go our own way and reject God’s will for our lives, Luke
7:30. Consider the consequences of
negative volition in the lives of such people as Adam and Eve, Abraham, David,
Jonah, and Peter. Consider how far David
went off of the path of God and how it started with simply not fulfilling his
responsibilities in the military.
Consider how Jonah ran in the opposite direction of God’s will for his
life. They all fell due to weakness of the flesh with its propensity to sin and
human viewpoint. Other reasons people
miss God’s will include procrastination
(Lk
We need to note is that there are
certain (and sometimes irrevocable) consequences from missing God’s will (Gal
6:7). These consequences are not usually
immediate, but they are certain. Even in
the very violation of God’s will there may be pleasures for a season (cf.,
Abraham, David, Jonah) ‑ but remember it is only for a season. The game is not yet over. We do reap what we sow. When we violate God’s principles we live to
regret it. Consider Abraham, David, and
Peter. Consider how God tells us how to
love our families and raise our children and the long term effects of ignoring
those principles. Consider how God tells
us how to live in each area of life and the effects of ignoring Him in those
areas. Consider the lonely people who
are so alone, simply because they have not developed friendships among fellow
believers. Consider the discipline the
Lord uses to train us (Heb
24 ‑
God’s plan is greater than our failures.
Our waywardness and self‑will
never catches God by surprise. He knows
everything and He plans for our failures
as well. Before He even created Adam He
arranged a plan to redeem and reclaim him for Himself. He made an alternate plan for them. God takes our very sins and uses them to
display His grace and bring Him praise (Psa 76:10). Before we were ever born He anticipated our
failures and improvised an alternative plan that even uses our disobedience to
serve a useful purpose. That is how
powerful God is. The Lord Jesus can take
our shattered lives and remake them absolutely wonderful. Maybe some of the mistakes and failures were
necessary to convince us of how sinful, weak and stupid we really are. Only when we recognize our weakness can we know
God’s power. God takes all the messes we
make and weaves them into a plan that glorifies Himself. It really does not matter where you have
been. God is in the business of
salvaging lives.
The plan of God starts for you right
now. At this point right now you need to
realize that God has a plan and it is the best plan possible for your
life. Regardless of where you are the
plan of God starts right now. It is
still the best plan around. God is
perfect and His plan is perfect. His
plan starts with lining up with the Word of God (Jonah). There comes a time when we simply have to
"forget" the past and get in sync with the plan now (Philip