Picking The Path God Has Prepared

Picking the Path that God Has Prepared For You

FOCUS: Learning how to hear God's direction and choose the path that leads to life.

Prayer

Proverbs 3:1–6 KJV 1900

1 My son, forget not my law; But let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 For length of days, and long life, And peace, shall they add to thee. 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: Bind them about thy neck; Write them upon the table of thine heart: 4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding In the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.

I want you to do one thing for me.

Close your eyes; now breathe in; now break out

Now do it one more time

Tonight our key verse deals with trusting in the Lord.

Proverbs 3:5–6 KJV 1900

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.

However before we look at these verses, it’s always good when you read the Bible to put some context around what your are reading. So let’s start with verse 1.

Proverbs 3:1 MSG

1 Good friend, don’t forget all I’ve taught you; take to heart my commands.

We have to learn everything that God has taught us. Our personal experiences. Everything that God has commanded us to do, we can not forget them.

Proverbs 3:2 NIV

2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.

My parents always taught me to do what’s right. Have your parents ever told you to do something because they already knew the outcome based on what they had done in life? I find myself telling my children not to go down that path because I have already been there. If we learn what God teaches us we can live. Growing up, there was a time were if I didn’t listen to my parents, I would always be looking over my shoulder. You can’t live in peace and prosperity if you are constantly looking for something to happen because you are not taking heed of the things you have learned.

Proverbs 3:3 NIV

3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

What did Jesus say about love?

1 Corinthians 13:12–13 NIV

12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Love and faithfulness are the key qualities that should guide our life.

Why do we bind them around our neck?

Just as you might wear a necklace, you should make love and faithfulness a prominent feature of your life, always near and readily apparent. But at the same time, write them on your heart.

Luke 6:45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

Proverbs 3:4 KJV 1900

4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding In the sight of God and man.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume Proverbs 3:1–6

A good man seeks the favour of God in the first place, is ambitious of the honour of being accepted of the Lord, and he shall find that favour, and with it a good understanding; God will make the best of him, and put a favourable construction upon what he says and does.

You want to find favor, walk in love and be faithful to that which God had commanded

After we have done all this, after we have all the prerequisites out the way then we can move to the next verse.

Proverbs 3:5–6 KJV 1900

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.

Once we get rid of our own understanding and then we have the ability to speak His language. We are able to know the path that he has for our life. So often we hear that God speaks to use through His word. This is so true. You want to find out what God says about your life and the plans for your life. Read the bible. Search for Him until he can be found.

When it comes to picking the path that God has for you, we can look at this like there is a fork in the middle of the road. Which direction do we take. We can go left or we can go right.

We can go 1 of 2 ways. God’s way or what we think is the correct way. If we choose our own way, the Bible states in Proverbs that

Proverbs 14:12 KJV 1900

12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death.

Look at it this way, the decisions that we make are vital to our existence.

We can choose life or we can choose death. Now I’m not talking about a physical death although that can happen depending on what we choose but for now I don’t want to be that harsh.

Death can take on so many meanings.

Death of our finances.

Death of a relationship. Death of a job.

See death means that something has ended in our life. Death means that thing that you were involved in has come to a screeching halt.

Death means that something has become non responsive.

Many times in our life we try to take the shock paddles that the paramedics use to revive something that is dead.

We holler our ‘Clear’ when the paddles have been charged with the electricity and for people to move out the way when it’s time to put the paddles on that issue. We click the button, and the issue moves, but there is no sign of life. We do it again and again. We try to breath on the issue and do our CPR techniques. But there is no sign of life.

God often gets our attention by allowing something to die in your life.

Testimony about dating an ex-girlfriend and getting involved in an accident.

While dating this young lady, I knew that she wasn’t right for me but I insisted in putting the shock paddles on the relationship in hopes that I could bring it back to life. I kept trying and trying until one day that accident happened. I no longer was able to keep the relationship going. She was badly injured. But I kept trying. I involved other people trying to figure out what was going on but she was being very secluded. It’s funny because the old adage that says misery loves company is so true. We want everyone to gather around to wallow in our circumstance but when they try to help to get us out we say ‘Clear’ and we are back at it trying to make this thing work.

We allow ourselves to get in the way of what God is really trying to do in our lives. We take things in our own hands and often mess it up.

As the scruptures have said, you have to trust God with ALL your heart.

That means that the pain that you are going through, you have to trust Him.

The job situation that you are facing, you have to trust him.

The next meal that I will eat, I don’t know where its going to come from but I have to trust Him.

My bills are due, yet will I trust Him.

The trust for God has to be so engrained in your spirit that you have to wear blinders. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of dealth, I will fear no evil! God I’m trusting you. God I’m trusting you to get me through. Oh God I need you!!

We can’t depend on our flesh to understand what God is doing in our life but we have to trust Him.

Here is the central part to this passage. “In all thy ways, acknowledge Him”

In some of the ways?

Just when I want something?

Only when I’m looking to find a relationship?

See we only acknowledge God when its the right time for us. God says in all thy ways. Even went it doesn’t feel right. Even when we know what God is going to probably say. We have to take the good with the bad.

In all they ways, acknowledge Him and he will direct your path!

So to pick the path that God has for you, I’m going to give you four quick points to take note of.

Pray - man ought to always pray. This is having a conversation with God. This is a form of acknowledgement. This is a form of relationship. We think that we have to go a certain way to God. He just wants you to start the conversation just like you would do with your friends. Luke 18:1 “1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;” 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “17 Pray without ceasing.” Ephesians 6:18 “18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

Read - If you want to find out what God has for you the you must read the Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 “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 perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” Psalm 119:105 “105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.”

Patience - Don’t speed up God’s time by doing what you think is right. Psalm 37:7–9 “7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. 9 For evildoers shall be cut off: But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.” James 1:2–4 “2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” Hebrews 10:36 “36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”

Respond - Once God shows you your path you have to respond. You have to do something. You can’t just think its going to fall into your lap. Responding is faith. You desire a Husband and or wife, how are your going to respond? God has shown it to you. That means that you have to clean yourself up. Dress the part. You can’t just go looking any kind of way. God want’s the best for you. Reach up and grab it. What did Samuel do when he hear the voice of God? First he had to train his ear to hear Him. Samuel had to be teachable. What did his Father, Eli say to Samuel, 1 Samuel 3:9 “9 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.” 1 Samuel 3:10 “10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.” You have to get up. Some of us are so busy that when we hear Him we don’t move. Some of us are stubborn that when He speaks, then we are not teachable. We go against what He is trying to do in our lives.

Receive - We have to posture ourselves to receiving the blessing of the Lord. Proverbs 10:22 “22 The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, And he addeth no sorrow with it.”

Some times we have a hard time receiving. We have false humility meaning that we know we want the blessings but say no to receiving it. We were blessed at our launch I mean really blessed but it was so hard for me to receive it without wanting to give back. Just receive by faith.

To pick the path that God wants you to go on, trust Him, lean not to your own understandings, acknowledge Him, and watch Him direct your path.

How many people are read to do this? Now this time, I want you to think about this and breathe in, now breath out.

One more time, breathe in, and now breathe out.

Relax. You should feel different than when you did it at the beginning of this Bible study.

Trust Him

I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe that You came to Earth. You lived and You died on the cross.

You shed Your blood. They buried You and for three days You remained in the grave, but on the third day God raised You from the dead, and today You are alive forever more.

Jesus I believe this and I receive You as my Lord, and as my Savior. I ask that You forgive me of my sins and with that I thank You Lord for forgiving me of all my sins.

Thank you Lord for saving me. Right Now I Am Saved