Recognising leading (3)

Recap

Decisions and directions aren’t luxury, they are what we have to do on a daily basis of our lives, and it is often interesting that we have two approach to life which we see all over scripture;

Following our own plans for our lives.

Following God’s plan for our lives.

Now, whilst both do not need to be conflicting if well understood, often times, they are not and they become opposite of each other; James addressed us as much with this;

James 4:13–16 NKJV

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.

Come 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.

You know there is none of us without plans. For example, we make plans for our businesses, for our jobs (for example with our managers etc), but then, how do we handle such plans? This is what James was addressing;

We shouldn’t boast in the certainty of our own plans, rather, we ought to say, “if the Lord wills” i.e. The Lord might have us do something else.

For example; in making life choices, we sometimes are stuck in our own plans and ways. We are focused more on us than other things, my ambition, my job, my success story; but, “WHAT IF GOD WOULD HAVE US DO SOMETHING ELSE?”

Hence, we said last week, we are to make plans, but we are to keep them open ended. God could want us to do something else.

So, whilst man cannot do without plans, he ought to keep them open ended.

Jeremiah 10:23 NKJV

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.

It is important to know, it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. We are quite short-sighted, and could think our plans are the best things for us, but not quite so;

We need to discover God’s plan and walk in it. This is following God’s plan for our lives.

Let us study even more;

Can we always know what to do?

The answer is yes, why? We are told that leading is not strange to us, nor is it hidden from us.

Psalm 23:1–5 NKJV

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. 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. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

The Lord is my shepherd. It is important to see it that way also, that the Lord is our shepherd.

Meaning when we look at leading and direction; always, we must say “the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”.

One of the things he mentioned that those whom the Lord Shepherd won’t lack is “leading”

Say with me, the Lord is my shepherd.

That means twice he made it clear there; that THE LORD LEADS, first beside the still waters, which symbolizes a place of peace & safety, God leads us.

And secondly, he said He leads me in the paths of righteousness.

What does that mean?

It is understood as a life lived in accordance with divine will, emphasizing moral conduct, faith, and obedience to God's commands.

Look at Proverbs 4:18

Proverbs 4:18 LEB

18 But the path of the righteous ones is like the light of dawn, leading and shining until the day is full.

Now, this text in context is quite an important one, and we should look at it to understand why the Psalmist will say, “God leads us in the path of righteousness”

Reading from verse 11 makes it quite intriguing;

Proverbs 4:11–19 NKJV

11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. 12 When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, And when you run, you will not stumble. 13 Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life. 14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil. 15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on. 16 For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence. 18 But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. 19 The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble.

So, the path of the just (or righteous), is actually in direct contrast with the way of the wicked. It speaks of lifestyle of a person, not necessarily “a road”.

Now, when you consider the way of life of the wicked ones, that is darkness, and they always stumble over, they are always filled with wickedness.

Now, that means, the believer is a man in the light, his way of life is directed by the Lord, and he has no darkness in his path. We always know what to do.

Meaning, we walk in the light that is we don’t eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence, why? we are led by our good shepherd.

Meaning, right living and walking in the will of God, is something we experience and is not strange to us at all. The Lord is our shepherd.

Hence, leading is not strange to us. Our lives are directed by the Lord.

Psalm 32:7–9 NKJV

7 You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. 9 Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you.

Notice verse 9; “Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle”

Notice the promise of God to always lead and the possibility of man not to even follow. It has to be a heart that listens, not one that insists.

It also means that divine leading is not mechanical, God won’t force a man into his own leading. God doesn’t want to control us like horse or like the mule, which have no understanding.

Hence, leading seem strange sometimes, because we are insisting on our will.

Now, how do I recognize leading?

How do I know God is leading me, we begin with the known.

This is the primary way, we ought to live our lives.

Let me say it this way, that means, if you never receive another personal instruction, you never saw a vision, you never hear an audible voice, you never have an intuition on a peculiar matter, even though it is not possible not to have especially intuition on a peculiar matter as a believer, but in the event of no spectacular experience supernaturally, you can still live a life pleasing to the Lord in following the known.

All believers have to begin with the known that is generic to all of us. It is what we are already taught by God in his word.

Notice the Proverbs 4 we just read; look at verse 10;

Proverbs 4:10 NKJV

10 Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.

Notice, him prospering in the way of the Lord, was by being taught here, and that is the primary way.

verse 20 also makes it even clear;

Proverbs 4:18–22 NKJV

18 But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. 19 The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble. 20 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.

Having talked about the path of the just which is like a shining sun, i.e. we keep on growing in walking in the path of righteousness, he let’s you see that what we ought to do, is pay attention to the words. This is primarily how God wants us to get better, this is how God leads us primarily.

Judging Peculiar instructions

This, we will come back to in our “Gift of God series” — But, it is important to know that we shouldn’t despise prophecy. What does that look like?

1 Thessalonians 5:16–21 NKJV

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.

Now, we are told to not despise prophecies. This is very vital for you and I. Prophecy here has to do with the word of the Lord. It should not be despised, neither should we quench the Spirit.

You know because of excesses, what often happens is that we throw away everything, and Paul was correcting this specifically, he said, “do not despise prophecies”.

Like I said, this we will come back to in more details, but it is important to not have a negative approach to the move of God, or the word of the Lord.

Let me show you some;

Acts 13:1–3 NKJV

1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

Notice, “The HOLY SPIRIT SAID”. Say with me, God, still speaks today.

Now, in not despising prophecy, Paul yet admonished to Test all things;

1 Thessalonians 5:21 NKJV

21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.

He also said in 1Cor 14:29

1 Corinthians 14:29 NKJV

29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.

Notice also, two or three, and let others judge. Meaning, the utterance of the prophet ought to be judged.

Most people don’t know how to judge prophecies, or what they perceive as leading that is peculiar.

Now, how are they to do that?

It is still by what we have been studying; the word.

For example, a man can claim they are led by God, or God said something to them, and even they might say something to someone else, or we might perceive to have a word from the Lord for someone else.

Now, how do we judge?

Let’s start by saying, it is yet by thesame “known”. That is, the clear makes the unclear, clear. The certain, helps to discern the uncertain. Let us look into this more;

Deuteronomy 13:1–5 NKJV

1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.

So, number one is, if it derails us from God’s plan, then we are certain it is not a word from the Lord. Consider this abit, we perceived to have received a word, and it has to do with leading me to dedicate my life, time, and energy to everything else but the Lord’s, that is not a direction from the Lord, it could be our minds, or simply false.

The Known becomes our guide.

Now, the one that might seem not so easy here, is for example, it involves another’s will.

For example, “the Lord told you this is your husband” or “the Lord told you this is your wife”. Now, whilst I don’t personally think this is true in most cases, we should leave room for it’s possibility. (we will examine more in the coming days).

But what we should ask is, how does God’s word teach us to handle prophecy, or intuitions that involves another’s will?

Genesis 2:24 NKJV

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

It is a mutual will, involving two people for example.

Now, Let us consider an example of God’s prophecy;

Jeremiah 18:1–4 NKJV

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

Now Jeremiah was to hear the word of the Lord.

verse 5-10 reveals how it works when it is not solely your will, but it involves the will of another;

Jeremiah 18:5–10 NKJV

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! 7 The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8 if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. 9 And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10 if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.

Both instances, THE LORD SPOKE, yet, it was dependent on the response of the people. Hence, because the Lord spoke, doesn’t guarantee that it must happen that way, when it is contingent that is it is dependent on another’s will.

God, won’t violate the will of man, to accomplish his word to that man, AND THIS IS EVERYWHERE IN SCRIPTURES.

Meaning, it is open-ended based on the response of the person to the word of the Lord. God didn’t make for you one specific man or one specific woman, neither must it be this job to accomplish his will… What God has for us will always be good, and we can trust his heart on that.

Hence, how do we judge a word from the Lord?

By the known… Does it violate the leading of God that is explicit from scripture? Does it make me turn to other gods, does it make me walk less as his image on the earth?

When another’s will is involved, it should be seen as open-ended.

Hence some practical way to handle a word from the Lord;

Check it against God’s word

Confirm from older, elder ministers (Samuel & Eli)

Use words like I perceive, I sense … Not that I know and I am certain, when it involves anothers will.

Let me for example say something, often than not, it is open to interpretation; For example, as a pastor, when someone under me gets into a relationship or start talking to someone, even with my sister, I sense an affection, and that can be misinterpreted as God is telling me you are my wife lol. I would just go to you and ask who you are talking to etc. I had to learn that way.