United In Love and Faith (Page 5)

Isaiah 20:31 (NIV) Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Walking in obedience to the Lord every day will reduce the need for  “special guidance.”  The greater a person’s faith, the greater their ability to tolerate uncertainty.  The long stretches of time between special revelations (visions, dreams, signs, angels, etc.) aren’t an issue of concern for someone who is walking out…

I Samuel 10:7 (The Message)  When these confirming signs are accomplished, you’ll know that you’re ready.  Whatever job you’re given to do, do it.  God is with you!  Saul had not been campaigning to become king.  His search for his father’s lost donkeys led him to the prophet, who declared the call of God upon his life and anointed him.  Be sure to read all of chapters 9 and 10 to get the context of this story.  Have you ever…

Jonah 1:3 (NIV)  But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish.  He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port…  Clearly, Jonah was not in God’s will as he fled away from Nineveh, in spite of the fact that a ship was readily available.  Favorable circumstances are not necessarily a sign of being in God’s will.  (And UNfavorable circumstances are not necessarily a sign of being out of God’s will – see…

Matthew 5:45b (NIV) …He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  God’s divine providence is sometimes exercised unconditionally—without requiring anything on our part as a condition.  At other times God’s divine providence is exercised conditionally—contingent on our meeting certain conditions (II Kings 18:4-7).  “As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success” – II Chron. 26:5).  Where have you seen this in your life?

Galatians 5:22, 25 (NLT) (Focus verse 25) Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  There are conditions for having the peace of God.  He gives us peace as we live a righteous life.  (Isaiah 48:18 – If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.  Isaiah 48:22 – “There is no peace” says the Lord, “for the…

Colossians 3:15 (NIV) Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace…  The Holy Spirit provides guidance through  “the peace of God witnessing within us for or against an intended course of action or state of being.”  There are specific characteristics of the nature of God’s peace.  “Negatively – It is not a mere absence of disturbance because of favorable circumstances.  Positively – It is a conscious rest, independent…

John 16:13 (NIV) But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.  He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.  The Holy Spirit guides us in a wide variety of ways.  He speaks distinct words within your heart (Acts 8:29), or through the words of someone else (your pastor or Christian counselor).  He can forbid you to take…

II Timothy 3:16 (NIV)  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.  The NLT translates it this way:  Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.  It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.  The NLT goes on in verse 17:  God uses it to prepare and equip His…

Psalm 119:105 (NIV)  Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.  There are various ways that God guides His people.  The word of God is the supreme criteria.  The Holy Spirit also guides us (Romans 8:14) in the diversity of His mysterious working (John 3:8) “whether in action (Luke 4:1) or in active inaction (Numbers 10:12).  God also guides His people through divine providence (I Samuel 9:1-17)—the ability of God to make all events…

John 6:38 (NIV) (Jesus said)  “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me.  What are some characteristics of a surrendered will?  “It does not regard its own will as the purpose of life.  It does not seek its own will as the desire of life (John 5:30).  It resolutely sets aside its own will for God’s will (Luke 22:42).  And it embraces the Father’s will as…

Jeremiah 3:4-5 (NLT) (Focus verse 5b) You say to me, “Father, you have been my guide since my youth…”  So you talk, but you keep on doing all the evil you can.  What are some requisites for divine guidance?  We must recognize our need for it.  We must be meek in spirit (Psalm 25:9).  We must be willing to obey (John 7:17).  We must have compassion for others (Isaiah 58:10-11).  We must acknowledge God (Proverbs 3:6).  We must develop a…

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) (Focus verse 5) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  Self-sufficiency is one of the things that get in the way of divine guidance.  Other things are selfishness (Isaiah 58:10-11), stubbornness (Psalm 32:9), insincerity (Jeremiah 42:20), disobedience (Zechariah 7:1-7), and impatience (II Kings 6:33).  Quite a list!  May God help us to  “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with…

Isaiah 58:10-11(NIV) And if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.  The Lord will guide you always…  There is such a thing as  “conditional guidance in which the leading of God is contingent upon our compliance with certain conditions.”  How has God’s divine guidance in your life depended on some kind of condition?  Sometimes we need…

Isaiah 45:2-5 (NIV) (focus verse 5)  I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.  I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me.  There is such a thing as an  “unconditional guidance in which God acts in sovereignty without any requisite for such guidance, and regardless of man’s attitude.”  Cyrus was the King of Persia from 559-530 BC.  He was not a follower of the God of the Bible, but a…

Psalm 32:8 (NIV)  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;  I will counsel you and watch over you.  This verse shows two aspects of divine guidance:  1) God INSTRUCTS by imparting the knowledge of His will by precept, and 2) God TEACHES by imparting the knowledge of His will through experience.  Sometimes a lesson is learned from hearing a truth taught in a good sermon and then followed by an experience.  But sometimes a…

Psalm 106:13 (NIV) But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His counsel.   God’s complaint is that we fail to wait for His counsel.  When we persist without waiting for His guidance, we can suffer terrible consequences (see Joshua 9:3-16).  It is easy to lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5) when we have many arenas of proficiency.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight (NIV).  Don’t leave…

Jeremiah 10:23 (NLT) I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own.  We are not able to plan our own course. It is clear that man is not able to direct himself in the ways of God.  How wonderful is the promise of Psalm 32:8 – I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;  I will counsel you and watch over you.  God is our provision, our guide.  He is willing to guide us,…

Romans 12:1-2 (NLT) (focus verse 2a) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think…  Changing the way we think involves refusing to let our thinking be patterned after the thinking of those who don’t know God.  It means allowing our minds to be enlightened to spiritual understanding through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:17-18).  It means surrendering our bodies to God in order to enable…

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) (focus verse 2b)  …Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing, and perfect will.  “We can know the will of God by meeting the necessary qualifications”  and that ability necessitates the transformation (“transfiguration” as in Matthew 17:2) of our mind.  “The thought processes of the renewed mind are based upon…

Colossians 1:9 (NIV)  For this reason since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  The meaning of the term  “divine guidance”  is  “the leading of God in the personal life and experience of man.”  It is clear in the Bible that it IS possible to know the will of God; and we should aim to know…

Genesis 18:1 (NIV)  The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.  The Lord can pay a visit in any circumstances.  For Abraham, it was in a time of rest.  But the Lord has also made visits to people at other times and places: in a time of trouble (Matt. 14:23-25); in a public gathering (John 20:19); during the night (I Kings…

John 20:14 (NIV) …she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.   There are  “diverse attitudes toward the Lord’s visits: unrecognized (John 20:14); unwanted (Mark 5:17); unexpected (Matthew 24:40-42); and not understood (John 6:60-66).”  The natural man is not tuned into the things of God because they are unnatural to Him and cannot be understood apart from the Spirit of God connecting with the spirit of man.  The human mind cannot…

John 14:21 (continued) (KJV) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.  The King James Version uses the word  “manifest.”  It can also be translated as: show, exhibit, reveal, and disclose.  It is so strong that it implies a manifestation perceivable by the human senses.  The Bible is full of examples—Moses and…

John 14:21 (NIV) Whoever has my commands and obeys them, He is the one who loves me.  He who loves me will be loved by my Father; and I too will love him and show myself to him.”  God wants to show Himself to us.  He wants to visit His people.  How does He do that?  He answers prayer (I Sam. 2:21).  He providentially intervenes (Zeph. 2:7).  He fulfills His promises (Luke 1:67-70).  He supernaturally delivers (Luke 7:15-16).  He personally…

Luke 9:59-61 (Focus verse 59)  He  (Jesus)  said to another man,  “Follow me.”  But the man replied,  “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”   “The call of the Master will inevitably reveal where our first loyalties lie.”  I will never forget the scene of my Aunt Velma saying goodbye to her youngest son, Gary, as she and Uncle Jim packed the last suitcase into the car to leave for India.  Gary was in high school and had…

Luke 14:21-24 (focus verse 23 – NIV)  Then the master told his servant,  “Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full…”  Those on the original guest list were preoccupied with conflicting interests and excused themselves from the invitation.  So, the invitation was extended to others.  What does this text teach us?  If we do not respond to the invitations that the Lord extends to us to sit at…

Luke 14:16-20 (NIV) (focus verse 18a) …But they all alike began to make excuses…   “There is a danger in allowing conflicting interests to become an excuse to justify unwillingness and lack of interest”  in prioritizing the Lord’s table, His work, and His calling to an intimate relationship.  How many times have we made excuses, been too busy, had other responsibilities and refrained from the ultimate opportunity of knowing God and walking with Him through this life?  What do you…

Mark 1:16-18 (NIV) As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,”  Jesus said,  “and I will make you fishers of men.”  At once they left their nets and followed him.  There are things we need to overcome in our response to the Lord’s call, such as occupational claims (Luke 5:27-28).  What social claims must you overcome to follow the Lord…

Hebrews 4:12 (NLT) For the word of God is alive and powerful.  It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.  It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. The Lord  “knocks” (Rev. 3:20) on our heart’s door in diverse ways.  First and foremost, He knocks as we read the Word.  He also knocks by His Spirit (I Corinthians 14:22-25).  He knocks through a sense of need (John 7:37).  He knocks by His…

Revelation 3:21 (NIV) To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne. Response to the Lord results in  “overcoming things instead of being overcome by them”  through Him who has made us kings (Rev. 1:6).  God has a much higher objective, viewpoint, mark of high calling for us than we set for ourselves.  He wants us to become overcomers, undefeated,…

Revelation 3:20-21(KJV)  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock;  if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. We must pay attention.  He seeks to arrest our attention  “to make known His desire and obtain a response”  from us.  The opportunity is  “if ANY man” (any person).  The opportunity for communion with the Lord is given to all;  but we must hear, not…

Revelation 3:20-22 (NIV) (focus verse 20) Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. The general thought of this verse is the Lord’s call to fellowship between Himself and His people.  Our communion with Him is contingent upon our response to His approach (vs. 20).  Our response may involve a conflict between Him and other interests. (Notice…

Proverbs 8:34 (NIV)  Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.  God’s response to our waiting  “may come through certain gates (KJV) or doors, i.e., through certain means and circumstances.”  Remember, He is sovereign, omnipotent, and omniscient.  He wants to enable us to live on a higher plane above the things of earth (Eph. 2:6).  What He sees and values is so much greater than we can understand with our natural…

II Kings 6:33(NIV) …Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? “There is a danger of becoming impatient with God and His seeming delays and failure to respond.  “But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for his counsel” (Psalm 106:13).  There is a danger in failing to wait for the counsel of God (see Joshua 9:3-16).  But those who wait for God will not be put to shame because of God’s failure to respond…

Isaiah 64:4 (NLT) For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for Him! “God sets the wheels of divine providence into motion on behalf of those who wait for Him in loving anticipation.  God works while man waits and continues to work as long as man continues to wait.”  Are you trusting God for something particular and continuing to wait for Him to come…

Proverbs 8:17 (NIV) I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.  (NLT – those who search will surely find me.)  (The Message – those who look for me find me.) We must seek the Lord preferentially.  “Those who desire Him in preference to anything else”  will find Him.  Revival comes to those who love to linger in that holy waiting space.  Revival comes when a group of people prioritize time with the Lord above all…

Lamentations 3:26 (KJVS)  It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. (The Message: It’s a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God.) HOW we wait before God is important.  We must wait hopefully,  “with quiet and unwavering confidence in the ultimate response of God.”  He will come to us when we are sufficiently prepared to hear what He wants to say and to receive what He…

Psalm 40:1 (NIV)  I waited patiently for the Lord;  He turned to me and heard my cry. We live in an American culture that demands quick fixes and easy answers.  How difficult is it for you to slow down and sit quietly before the Lord?  Does your mind race, are you easily distracted, and do you keep looking at the clock?  Contemplative prayer requires us to bring our whole selves before the Lord and to sit quietly before Him.  Your…

Proverbs 8:17 (KJV)  I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. As we wait before the Lord in prayer, we do so with proper postures of heart.  Do we love God?  Then we will come to Him early—early in the morning, and early in any escalating situation.  We won’t turn to Him as a last resort.  We will listen for His guidance first and foremost.  We will come to Him daily and systematically,…

Psalm 37:5 (NIV) Commit your way to the Lord;  trust in Him and He will do this… We will find rest from the burdensome need to fix everybody and everything if we will just commit our ways to God and turn our problems over to His care.  What changes are you facing this year?  What challenges loom before you or those you love?  “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you” (I Peter 5:7).  As you wait…