Importance of God’s Guidance

The importance of God’s guidance cannot be underestimated. The fact remains that where God guides then God will also provide. But if Christians start their own so-called “ministry” out of human self-effort then they will be required to keep it going out of self-effort as well because God is not obligated to support any work that he has not initiated. I would rather not start anything at all than to start something by human self-effort (of the flesh). Trying to operate a ministry started in the flesh can be compared to paddling a canoe upstream against the current. They will have to labor and paddle furiously just to remain in the same spot and the moment they stop or slow their efforts they will immediately float backward again. In order for a real-ministry to be established, it is therefore of utmost importance that the founder hear or (perceive) God’s direction. They are to do nothing more and nothing less than what God has directed them to do. They are not to add anything to God’s directions and they are not omit anything from God’s directions either.

1 Samuel 15:10–15 (NASB95)
10 Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night.
12 Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal.”
13 Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.”

God gave King Saul the command to utterly destroy the Amalekites and everything that they owned. But Saul was greedy and did not utterly destroy everything but keep those things which he thought were valuable. It was because of this disobedience that King Saul was rejected from being King. God expects total obedience with nothing less and nothing more than what God has commanded to be done. It is essential that all believers learn how to discern God’s guidance for this reason and this is particularly true of those in the Fivefold ministry.

See the link “Led by the Spirit of God” for more details.

Matthew 9:37–38 (NIV)
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

God is in charge of all ministry that takes place on earth. It is God who sends out laborers into the harvest. Conversely believers must also understand that they cannot send themselves out but it is God who sends out workers into God’s harvest field of the ministry of the gospel. The problem with those who send themselves is that they will have no anointing or power and God is not obligated to support financially them either because they sent themselves out and they invented their own plans for ministry that were not initiated by God.

God has a Plan

It must be understood that God has a plan and believers are to cease living their own lives and cease from following their own whims. As believers they are to follow the plan that God has for them. Those who live their own lives independently from God are like sheep gone astray from following the good Shepherd.

Isaiah 53:6 (NKJV)
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

When people live their own lives and go their own way without consulting God for direction then they are like sheep that have gone astray. Going their own way is sin in the sight of God. When a person accepts Christ this means that they come under the lordship of Christ and can no longer live their own lives for themselves anymore. They have to know and understand that as a believer they are to live each moment of their lives under complete submission to Christ who is their good shepherd.

John 10:27 (NASB95)
27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

Those who are believers and have made Jesus the Lord of their lives, become his sheep. Those who are God’s sheep will hear God’s voice and they are to follow the Lord like sheep which follow the good shepherd. The Lord is a good shepherd because following him is the best thing any human can do during their time on earth. The Lord has a good plan for their lives and if they submit to the Lord then he will lead them into that good plan for abundant living.

Isaiah 58:11 (NIV)
11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

This scripture says that the Lord will guide the believer always. This means that God will show them the right path to take. They are to wait upon the Lord and seek God’s direction for their lives. If God is not speaking to them then they should remain faithful where God has planted them and do not change course until such time as God gives them new direction.

Jeremiah 29:11–13 (NASB95)
11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
12 ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
13 ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

God knows the plans which he has for every believer. These are good plans for their own welfare (not for calamity). In following God’s plan they will have a bright future with a good hope! The believer is to call upon the Lord and come and pray to God and he will listen to them. The believer can ask God for direction for their lives and he can guide them into his abundant plan for their lives. If the believer will seek the Lord then they will find him if they will set themselves to seek the Lord with all of their hearts.

Psalm 32:8 (NIV)
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

God will instruct the believers and teach them the way that they should go. God will counsel them with his loving eye upon them. This means that God loves them and has a good plan for their lives and will lead them to fulfill such a plan if they will seek the Lord for his direction for their lives.

When the believer prays to the Lord, they should make specific prayers so that when that prayer is answered then they will know that it was God who granted their requests. A good example of this is my wife Helen who prayed for a spouse. God had told her specifically “According to your faith be it done unto you!” So Helen made a specific prayer request for her spouse and went into great detail in this request. She prayed for an American traveling minister, with light brown hair color and 5′ and 11″ tall and of the same beliefs as herself and many other specific requests. God gave her the impression that she should wait in Korea because he would bring her man to Korea to meet her. Helen even prayed that when the right man came that he would propose right away. Helen found that I had fulfilled every request she had prayed for to the Lord. I even proposed to Helen only four hours after meeting her because I never found a girl like her before and did not want to take the chance that I might lose her to another guy so I proposed before I had to leave the next day. I share all of this because it illustrates the fact that God will guide his people and if they will seek him then he will fulfill his plan for their lives.

See the link “Helen Levite Woman Story” for more details.

Isaiah 48:17 (ESV)
17 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.

This scripture specifically says that God will teach his people to profit (meaning he will lead them into the best plan for their lives). God will lead them in the way that they should go. Never should a believer do their own thing but instead seek the Lord for direction in every step that they take. They should not make any changes until God has given them new direction about what they were supposed to do.

Proverbs 20:24 (NIV)
24 A person’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way?

Believers’ need to understand when they accepted the Lord as their Savior then they became the sheep of God’s pasture. Their steps are directed by the Lord so they cannot understand their own future by their own natural understanding. They have to just follow the leading of God as they go along and soon they will look back and see God was guiding them all of their lives (even if they often did not realize it).

Psalm 37:23 (NKJV)
23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.

The steps of a good man (those under the lordship of Christ) are ordered by the Lord and God delights in their way. This means God orders the steps of the believer and takes delight in leading them in the pathway of their lives.

Psalm 73:24 (NIV)
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.

God guides the believer with his counsel and afterward (after their life is completed on earth) God will take them into glory (in heaven) to live with God eternally. The believer must to seek the Lord for direction on earth because God will provide them with his counsel so they can deal wisely in the affairs of life and make good decisions for their own benefit.

Psalm 31:15 (NIV)
15 My times are in your hands . . .

This scripture can be applied to believers because their times and seasons on earth are in God’s hands so they are to wait upon the Lord and he will promote them in due season when the time is right.

Jeremiah 10:23 (7KB)
23 O Lord, I know that our lives are not our own and it is not in us to direct our own steps or plain our own course (during out time on earth).

When a person accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior then they come under the lordship of Christ. Therefore, their lives are not their own (to live as they see fit by their own human understanding). It is not in them to direct their own steps because they cannot see the future. Only God sees the future and he can prepare them for the plan he has for their lives. Humans cannot plan their own life’s course because this future knowledge belongs to God.

God Grants Desires

Psalm 21:2 (ESV)
2 You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah

It should be stated that God can also impart the desires of the hearts of believers to cause them to fulfill his plan and purpose on the earth. My wife Helen for example had a desire to marry an American traveling minister and her specific request was fulfilled in great detail. But before she wrote down her prayer request, God had already imparted the desire for a specific person with specific qualities. God told her in an audible voice that he would grant her request according to her faith. So she make a specific prayer request for a specific spouse based on the desires God imparted into her heart for a mate. The principle here is that God can also lead a person by imparting specific desires within their hearts to fulfill a specific purpose for their lives.

Psalm 23:1 (NASB95)
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.

David boldly declares that the Lord is his shepherd. This same principle applies to all believers because they are also a sheep under the guidance of the good Shepherd Jesus. David constantly sought the Lord for direction for his life and the believers are to do the same for every step they take.

Inquiring from God

2 Samuel 5:23 (NASB95)
23 When David inquired of the LORD, He said, “You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees.

David would constantly inquire of the Lord for direction (even for what he should do in time of battle). God would speak to David and tell him what to do in order to obtain the victory in each different situation.

Being Willing and Obedient

Isaiah 1:19 (NIV)
19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;

The believer is to be both willing to do what God tells them and also obedient to everything God directs them to do. If they are both willing and obedient then they will eat the good of the land. This means that God has a good plan for their lives and eating the good of the land means they will dwell in a place of peace and prosperity and the blessing of God will come upon them because of their obedience. Of course it is evident that they must hear God’s voice otherwise they could not obey God in what he instructs them to do.

See the link “Led by the Spirit of God” for more details.

Using the Lord’s Name in Vain

Exodus 20:7 (NASB95)
7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

The believer must understand that taking the Name of the Lord in vain is more than just using God’s name as a cuss word to curse someone else. Included in taking the Name of the Lord in vain is also using God’s name to justify their own “flesh-works” of human self-effort. Often someone will say that the Lord told them to do this or that thing only because they do not want anyone to resist them in doing what they want to do. So if they say the Lord told me to do this or that (and this is untrue) then this is also taking the name of the Lord in vain. Oftentimes there are believers who say, “Thus says the Lord!” only to utter some sort of nonsense derived from their own imagination but which was not from God.

See the link “Idols of the Heart” for more details.

Never should any believers lie and use deceit or claim God has spoken to them to do such and such thing (when God in fact did not speak to them about that matter). They should be slow to speak and keep what God tells them quiet to see first if God is working to confirm what he told them. Helen knew that God answered her prayers when she had a man of exact description propose to her right away. That was confirmation that she was indeed hearing the voice of God! But at the same time Christian woman should not use the name of the Lord in vain saying, “The Lord told me so” about things they want to do which are not of God. That is using God’s name in vain to justify themselves and to manipulate their husbands to keep them from resisting what they want to do. But when those things which they claimed was from God (then comes to failure), it will be obvious for all to see that it was not God who initiated this but it was only derived from the imagination of a rebellious woman (who did not want to submit to her own husband who told her not to do such a thing).

So the importance of hearing God’s voice cannot be underestimated because believers must hear God and obey God in all that he tells them to do.

Again see the link “Led by the Spirit of God” for more details.