“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)
God wants to lead and guide us in all our decisions, whether big or small. When we are standing at a crossroads and do not know what to do, we can always ask God to lead us.
There are two parts to this devotion. Part One teaches the issue of our hearts and attitudes, and Part Two provides some keys to how the Lord can lead us.
Part One
Let us start with the condition of our hearts regarding receiving God’s guidance. The question is what we will do after God has revealed His will. Will we be obedient to Him or not?
In the Book of Exodus, the Lord led the Israelites through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). Then they arrived at the edge of the Canaan land. Moses sent the twelve spies into the Promised Land to bring back a report before entering it. It was a bad idea because there were ten spies who spread fear among the people about the inhabitants living in the land. The Israelites did not want to proceed forward. They looked at their circumstances with their natural senses and concluded they were no match for the giants.
Let us ask ourselves, what would we choose if we were in their shoes?
What would our decision be? What would we do when standing face to face with the giants in our lives? Would we use our instincts? Would we make decisions only by using our logical thinking and the advice of “wise” friends?
It was true that the Israelites were no match for the giants. However, they had forgotten that it was the Lord who defeated the army of Egypt. He would fight the giants for them. The failure of the Israelites to enter the Promised Land is recorded for us as an example.
It was to warn us not to commit the same mistake as them (1 Corinthians 10:6; 11). We need to learn this lesson on obedience to the Lord. There will be giants along the way when the Lord leads us in our spiritual journey. The Lord will fight and go before us to defeat our giants and give us victory. But we must decide to walk in faith and obey Him every time.
Part Two
Next, let us examine the promises from God’s Word about seeking the Lord’s guidance and direction.
1. God reveals Himself to us through nature, His Word and His Holy Spirit (Psalm 19:1-4; Hebrews 1:1,2). He is a self-revealing and communicative God. He is a God who spoke and is still speaking today. We must learn to listen to Him.
2. The Psalmist tells us that God sends revelation about Himself to the world through His creation. Its message reaches all parts of the world. And the final revelation comes through His Son, Jesus Christ, through whom we have a relationship with God.
3. God will speak to a believer through the written Word of God first. Hence, every believer must partake in God’s Word as his daily bread. It is our spiritual food, just like our need to breathe air to live and to eat food to survive. We need to partake in the Word of God daily. We can develop our relationship with the Lord by reading and meditating upon God’s Word daily and obeying it. Having established a vibrant and dynamic relationship with the Lord, He can reveal his thoughts, plans, and feelings to us (Psalm 25:14).
4. Jesus has given the Holy Spirit to all believers as their Helper, Teacher and Guide. As mentioned before, we develop our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit by reading and applying the Word of God to our daily lives. Building and keeping any relationship takes time and effort. It is also the same when we develop our relationship with the Holy Spirit. This is the key to growing our sensitivity to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
5. Jesus is our Good Shepherd; He loves us and cares for us. A shepherd’s job is to lead his sheep to green pasture and water and to keep them out of harm’s way.
6. Since Jesus says His sheep will recognise His voice and follow Him (John 10:2-4; Ezekiel 34:11; 15; 31), we should ask Him constantly to lead us and direct our footsteps. The Psalmist tells us that the steps of a righteous man is being directed by the Lord (Psalm 37:23).
7. Paul says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” (Colossian 3:15a). The word rule can also be translated as a referee, as we commit our decisions to the Lord. One method where God shows the way can be the giving or withholding of His peace from us. We know something is amiss when our spirit man loses peace and feels disturbed. We sense that there is no peace or joy in our hearts. We should not make any hasty decision but spend more time in prayer. It is also advisable to seek godly counsel from spiritual mentors and authorities and ask them to pray for us.
8. The Lord has promised us that when we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). This promise assures us that our effort in seeking the Lord will not be in vain. God is faithful, and when we seek Him with all our hearts, we will get an answer from him.
Just as the Apostle Paul says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14). Our lives should always be directed and led by the Lord. Let us make it our life’s goal to want to do His will and ask Him to lead and guide our footsteps. He will help us know what the right decision in the time of need in order that we can be blessed in our lives and fruitful in our service to glorify Him.
Monday : Psalm 32:8-9
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.
Tuesday : Romans 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, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be 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.
Wednesday : Psalm 143:10
Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
Thursday : John 16:13
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
Friday : John 10:3-4
To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Saturday : Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
Sunday : Isaiah 57:15
For thus says the high and exalted One
Who lives forever, whose name is Holy,
“I dwell on a high and holy place,
And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
And to revive the heart of the contrite.
All scriptures are quoted from New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).
By Pastor William Tan
