Recognising leading
Leading & You - Following God’s Plan For Your Life • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Recap
Recap
Many times in our lives we are faced with decisions, options of what to do, when to do it and much more;
We tend to have our own born desires, that is, that which we would like to achieve, we would like to accomplish etc. Sometimes even, they become what we are passionate about.
It is what we labour for over and over again, and the reality is, many of them are legitimate, i.e. they are to be prioritized, and we can’t do without them.
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
We started exploring the meaning of this text, and said James presents to us choices.
If the Lord’s wills, we shall live and do this or that.
This is a choice as against our own bosting, we choosing to say “I will do this or that”, that is our own boasting, then the second option is “The Lord’s will”, what is the Lord’s will as against my own will? This is James teaching here.
In other words, we ought to ask is; “IS THIS WHAT GOD WOULD HAVE ME DO, OR SOMETHING ELSE?”
Rather than boast in my own plans, and pursuit, I ought to seek to find out, “is this God’s plan?”
Brother Hagin will say often;
“Don’t make your plans and ask God to bless them. Discover God’s plan, for it is already blessed.”
Now, having looked at this, we ought to therefore ask, “can I know the leading and will of God?”
Can I be led?
Can I be led?
The emphatic answer is Yes. We started exploring the words of Psalm 23;
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
When examined, the Lord leading and shepherding, was expected and anticipated by David.
Let us study this further;
When we get to verse 4;
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
What is the shadow of death?
What is the shadow of death?
In ancient Palestine, shepherds had to lead their sheep through deep, dark, and dangerous ravines to get from one grazing area to another. These valleys were vulnerable to flash floods and concealed wild animals like wolves and bears. The deep shadows in these treacherous passages would disorient the sheep and make them feel vulnerable.
It became a metaphor for the darkest and trying times. When everywhere seems dark, he said, I will fear no evil, why?
Your Rod and Your Staff
Your Rod and Your Staff
Why will he associate comfort with the rod and staff? If we are to think of this in probably our day and language, that is the opposite, rod and staff to us are discipline tools, but no; The shepherd doesn’t beat the sheep with the rod and staff, hence, they weren’t correction tools.
Rather; The rod was used to fight off predators and wild animals, hence, offering comfort to the sheep, also, for stubborn sheep that are wandering off, it is thrown to get their attention (not beat them), and the staff with it’s hook, is used mainly to guide the sheep, to nudge them on the correct path.
Hence they were tools for protection from enemies and careful redirections.
Now, David associated his journey through life to that of a Sheep, with God as the shepherd.
Meaning therefore, as an attentive shepherd, he will call us to ourselves, and also, he guides us continually on the right path.
Meaning therefore, that leading is not a sudden thing for us, it is what we have now, and what we have always had and what we will always have.
1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. 3 Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Hallelujah! We are the sheep of His pasture. You see, it is vital to therefore know and to see that the Lord is with me. It is important to not see being led as something strange, or as something new, or something that happens once in a while. We are always led by God.
God is keeping us on the right path, why? we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Sheepfold
Sheepfold
You know, when David wrote this, he wasn’t referring to you and I, we are gentiles and not God’s people initially, he was referring to Israel.
52 But He made His own people go forth like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
It was a methaphor (direct comparison of two opposite things) used directly for Israel, and look at what he said; “and guided them in the wilderness like a flock”. Leading was their everyday experience.
But, why then can I have such assurance? Let us look at it;
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
Notice Jesus’ audience, was directly Israel, and he was speaking of this shepherd, that won’t abandon the sheep but lay down his life for them, but he didn’t stop there, he spoke of “other sheep”.
16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
The other sheep are those who are not of this fold i.e. they aren’t Jews, but then, he will bring them in, and there will be “one flock” and “one shepherd”.
Meaning, those who weren’t directly called the people of God, who aren’t originally of the fold, are brought in, and they are part of the flock.
Hence, leading is primarily for us, why? we are amongst the people of God. His rod and staff they comfort us!
Leading is not strange, the voice of the good shepherd, we hear and we follow.
Now, how do I recognize leading?
Now, how do I recognize leading?
Guidance is not second guessing, leading, divine direction or guidiance, is definite. You can be certain about it, and why is that? It is because leading is primarily around God’s plan.
Look at Genesis
1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Now, pay attention to this text, “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you”.
It is important to understand this leading carefully, and the circumstance surrounding it.
1 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods. 3 Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.
Notice the situation surrounding Abraham, the first thing you will notice is, he was a man born into a family that worshipped or served other gods. Now, when we study this further, we discover that what God did in that he called Abraham, was referred to as God LEADING Abraham.
Now, let us examine the leading;
1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
“I will show you” — That means the journey to Cannan was God’s direction.
The leading was functional, it was instrumental to God blessing all the families of the earth. The leading was surrounding God’s plan. The thing is, leading is not abitrary, it has more to do with God’s own plan for his world, why? That is man’s destiny.
It is not my own plans, then I try to say, God, bless my own plans, my own direction, leading redirects man into God’s plan for our lives.
Look at Isaac;
1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. 2 Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Live in the land of which I shall tell you — It is God’s leading been experienced here.
You, see again that being led by God, had everything to do with God’s plan for his life, not his own plans.
Often than not, God’s leading comes to us to redirect us to his own plan, to his own vision and to his own will.
Meaning, the very first leading we experience, is that we find ourselves doing God’s plan and will, and every other minute leading, are found within this ultimate plan of God for our lives.
Hence, our daily guidance, are within his ultimate plan for our lives.
Look at Israel;
As early as Genesis 28, God already made it clear that the descendants of Abraham, were to exist for a plan and a purpose.
10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
Consistently, what you will discover is therefore, God leading the children of Isreal was within his grand plan, and man’s ultimate purpose and plan.
Look at it again;
Hence, often, while we focus on the minute details, we try to focus primarily on the little decisions, we have to find the little things as it were, within the big plan of God for man and our lives.
For example, some of us will busy ourselves with has God called me to be a pastor, as he called me to just faithfully serve in the local church, what about my job? Is this God’s best for me e.t.c.? We often begin with the wrong question.
Whilst a man like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had plans unfold gradually, we have the priviledge of hindsight, and we can see that leading is all about God’s plan, and our lives are in his very leading.
The beautiful reality is that, God has revealed to us all, his ultimate plan for our lives; we have studied this over and over again;
26 And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image and according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every moving thing that moves upon the earth.” 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the likeness of God he created him, male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven, and over every animal that moves upon the earth.”
To fill God’s world with his glory, that is the ultimate plan of God for you and I.
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
We are called to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
What do we do then when faced with decisions?
Begin from the known. — The known is generic, the known is for all of us, the known is the very will of God for all believers.
For example; God’s will for us in filling the earth with his glory is that we work with our hands, not stealing;
Ephesians 4:28 “28 The one who steals must steal no longer, but instead must labor, working with his own hands what is good, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need.”
That means, I cannot equate being lead of God with stealing; it will be against the expansion of his plan for us all.
We begin with the known. Also, that means, Money is not the leading factor in making this decision, Money won’t cause me to make a decision to take a job that immediately puts me at risk.
Not all jobs are yours to take, or to do.
Are you because of opportunity, taking up a job that is expressly going to affect you and God’s plan for your life?
Another example;
Regarding Marriage, what will beginning with the known look like?
1 Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Do we have no right to eat and drink? 5 Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
You see then, of what use will it be to pray when it is not a believing wife? Of what use will it be to attempt to take a wife that is unbelieving? Paul was pretty clear here, “she has to be a believing wife” — That is the known.
Regarding other things; there are for example believers we are admonished not to associate with;
9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
So, in picking a spouse, this becomes important to watch out for. Do they fall into any of these categories? This is what it means to begin with the known.
We begin with the known, why? every leading is within or towards God’s plan. God won’t be leading you and I contrary to his will and plan.
Leading primarily, is towards God’s plan, both for man, and his world.
So, the question to ask, in seeking more specific leading, are you ignoring his express will? Are you choosing your own plans and will and purpose, as against that which is his own?
Most times, what we seek to pray for steers us in the face, within that which is God’s plan and his will.
David will say, God’s leading is in the path of righteousness, that is, God is directing his steps to and into right living. That is something God does.
In the quest for more, we most times, miss out on the simple leading that we already have.
Hence, the primary question to always ask first is, WHAT IS GOD’S WILL STATED CONCERNING THIS MATTER? Why do we ask? Because in that, we find his already revealed plan, and we can walk in it.
Next week, we will then pick up along this line, first of all, seeing, what id they are two similar choices? What if I can’t find God’s express will on this matter, or what if, it is PERSONAL AND PECULIAR? WE CAN DISCOVER HOW OTHERS WERE LED IN SUCH INSTANCES.
But at first, we begin with the Known.
