Divine guidance
Divine guidance is about communicating with God. God guides us, especially Christians, in diverse ways.
The principal and frequent way He uses is the ‘inward witness’ which is an alert on the inside of a person.
The inward witness was explained in more depth in “How God leads 2”. God also leads through prophecy, visions and dreams and these were explained in “How God leads 3”.
There are other ways in which God leads too, but these are beyond this present teaching. The emphasis here is to always obey divine guidance.
Following divine guidance
Our response to divine guidance is to “Do whatever he tells you to.” (John 2:5 TLB).
- Wise men were re-routed by God and their obedience spared the life of Jesus (Matthew 2:12).
- Joseph was directed to locate his family in certain cities and countries and his obedience further preserved the life of Jesus (Matthew 2:13-14).
- Philip was directed to go to a particular location and that yielded a fruitful outcome (Acts 8:29-39).
Consequences of not following divine guidance
Not following divine guidance is counter-productive. Whenever you look back at an instance where you have failed to follow God’s guidance, you will discover that it was not a wise decision at all.
Paul, an accused prisoner (in Acts 27:10-21) warned the soldier guards not to embark on a certain journey. Paul warned them by divine guidance. The guards disregarded this guidance and consequently had a shipwreck. In fact, they nearly lost their lives.
Moses and Aaron were divinely led to speak to a rock so that water will flow and quench the thirst of the people. Moses rather struck the rock in anger – not fully following the guidance he was given.
Consequently, God said that both he (Moses) and Aaron will not reach the Promised Land (Numbers 20:8-12).
Saul hastily conducted a sacrifice instead of waiting for the prophet Samuel. This cost his family and lineage the kingship of the nation of Israel (1 Samuel 13:13).
Eve disobeyed divine guidance and ate of the tree which God had asked them not to eat. Consequently Eve (and Adam) died spiritually and the rest is history.
In these examples, we see that following God’s leading is the best thing to do. Mary the mother of Jesus knew this principle and thus advised them to do whatsoever Jesus told them to do.
Jesus himself, as son of man, knew this principle and operated by it. Thus He prayed and said: “not my will, but your (Father’s) will be done”.
Jesus was saying: I know the will of God, and that will is for me to suffer and die on the cross. However, I don’t want to do it; but if that is what God wants, I will do it.
Imagine if Jesus had consciously decided not to go to the cross! The plan of God for salvation would have been thwarted!
Each time we disobey the leading of God (divine guidance) we suffer loss. Sometimes the loss is minimal and sometimes great. Whether small or great, God does not want us to suffer losses and leads us to avoid such. Aim to avoid losses in life through divine guidance.
As you follow His guidance, you will avoid ‘danger spots’ in life. Some wise men had promised a king that they would return to him with some news he was desperate to get.
They meant it, and wanted to fulfill their promise, but divine guidance led them to do otherwise (Matthew 2:12).
If these wise men had disobeyed the divine guidance, it would have killed Jesus pre-maturely. Sometimes, when God leads, we may not see the consequence immediately but we need to learn to trust Him and just obey.
It is often difficult to explain to others why you acted in a certain way as the divine guidance you are following can seem irrational.
Quite rightly, the consequences of divine guidance are sometimes not immediately apparent.
However, you will eventually get to understand why God led you in certain ways. You may wait for days, weeks, months, and sometimes several years before you fathom why God led you in a certain way.
If however, you are sure that God is leading you, then go ahead and do it. Not following divine guidance is surely counter-productive.
Prayer for divine guidance
God (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) speaks with his children but many do not hear Him. It is my desire that you begin to hear Him clearly.
You may want to pray a simple prayer and ask God, in your own words and sentences, to speak to you clearly and regularly, via the inward witness and in other ways He deems fit. Remind God in your prayer that:
- All Christians, including you, should be led by Him (Romans 8:14)
- His sheep, including you, are meant to hear His voice (John 10:16&27)
- The steps of the righteous are ordered/led by the Lord (Psalm 37:23)
- When you are about to take a wrong turn, you will hear a voice saying, this is the way (Isaiah 30:21)