19. My Guide (2)

Names of God Meditations No.19:  My Guide (2)

Jn 16:13 “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will GUIDE you into all the truth.”

Recap: In the previous study we considered the fact that God does guide us as a loving shepherd with His sheep. We also observed that, as our loving heavenly Father, He may need to discipline us, correct, train, realign us, and that is not always comfortable. Sometimes He teaches by allowing us to see how He deals with other people, and we had previously considered a number of biblical examples.

Summary Direction: But now we are going to turn right away from the subject of discipline and focus entirely on the way the Lord does lead and guide and we may summarize them as – through His word, by His Spirit, within us, and within others and by the circumstances that surround us.

Circumstances: Let’s start with possibly the least obvious but maybe the most common one. Life goes on around us. On one occasion many years ago, the firm I worked for in the City of London decided to move office, adding a half an hour to my already one-hour commute. My wife and I prayed and decided I would take the redundancy package being offered and I left London. For twelve months I wondered where to go next and when an advertisement in the local paper showed the local college looking for a lecturer in my sphere, a new direction in life opened up. Circumstances prompted action. Retrospectively, I am sure the Lord was a) reassuring us to leave London, and b) prompted me to look in a local paper, but otherwise, I had no sense of guidance, but I’m sure it was there.

Common Sense: I’m not so sure about this but I believe God has given us brains to use, to reason, to consider, and so when we do that in the light of His Word, which we’ll come to in a moment, wisdom, or a sense of a right course, as tenuous as that may sometimes be, can get us there. But there do need to be other checks because ‘common sense’ can be very self-orientated if we’re not careful. That leads me to say that for ‘big issues’, more often than not God will use more than one form of guidance.

His Word, the Bible: The teaching and examples we find here should act as a bedrock for guidance and if so-called guidance seems to run directly contrary to God’s word, throw it away. I once had a couple tell me, indirectly of course, that their committing adultery was God’s guidance. No way! Also beware, for the believing young person having a relationship with a non-Christian (listen to Paul! 2 Cor 6:14). Beware snatching verses out of context to suit your own desires. God may use random verses leaping out at you from your Bible reading, but it will need checking against other forms of guidance.

His Spirit: The ways and workings of the Holy Spirit will always, if it’s Him, guide us into truth, as our starter verse says, and truth here is what is right before God. It’s that simple. If God is unhappy about a potential decision you are about to make, He’ll communicate it to you IF a) you are completely submitted to Him and His will and b) you have learned to be sensitive to His Spirit. Many have learned to take note of that sense of ‘disquiet’. Alongside other forms of guidance His peace or disquiet may give strong signs of direction. But again this is a major learning zone. I was about to take a radical course of action once, and declared to my mentor, “But I have complete peace about it,” and he simply replied, “Do you know that when someone has decided to commit suicide, they have peace?” and he then went on to tell me the course I needed to follow to fulfil my responsibilities. Always look at the bigger picture. It may be that sense of disquiet (see Acts 16:6) that lets you know that the suggested path ahead is not for you, but see it in the context of the other guidance you get.

Gifts: I simply use this word to cover any expression of the Holy Spirit’s enabling in us. So it may simply be a word of wisdom (1 Cor 12:8) that shows you the ‘how’ of when to move or how to act. It may be a word of knowledge that reveals a truth of the situation you may need to see. It may be a straight word of prophecy (1 Cor 12:10) which may arise as an instruction or simply a revelation which may come in a dream or vision (e.g. Acts 16:9). Many are the ways He may communicate directly to you if you are open to Him.

People: Now of course, as I’ve just said, the guidance may come by the Spirit directly to you, but it may also be that the Lord communicates to you through other people. This could be during the Sunday morning preaching, through someone’s revelation in the midweek Bible Study or House Group, or it could very simply be a friend sharing, either consciously and directly a sense they have from the Lord for you, or it may be indirectly as they simply speak without any specific purpose, but the Spirit suddenly gives you an awareness that this was Him.

And so: You may think these things are fraught with danger, but most guidance comes in the same form as the prophecy Paul referred to, bringing strengthening, encouraging, and comforting (1 Cor 14:3). Letting His Word speak to you through a regular daily reading habit is a key starting point. Watch for when you are praying, and you suddenly find yourself praying with what must be revelation. When it comes to making big  ‘directional’ decisions in life, a) make sure you are given over and committed to Him (Rom 12:1), b) seek to conform to His word (Rom 12:2) and c) be open to wise, mature, spiritual leaders who can help check you out. In all things pray, “hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth [in my life] as it is in heaven.” (Mt 6:10,11). Amen.