GPS – GUIDANCE by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction:  We come to our final message in our series “GPS: Knowing and Navigating the Will of God.” We know that this has been life-transforming for many of you. We have heard from so many about how much it has benefitted your life, and some of you wish that we could keep it going for a while. Just so you know, we will return to series like this time to time. By the way, my favorite part of the series, as someone also said on Facebook, was all the “Discernment with the Dr.” videos with David! I am going to miss those! Today’s message is titled GPS – GUIDANCE. Main Point: God wants to guide us in our lives. His Word and prayer are the means by which we hear his voice. He often confirms his guidance through emotions, circumstances, and mature Christians. God’s guidance is not just for the spiritually elite. It is available to all those who are humbly submitted to him. Ultimately, he wants us to trust his loving sovereignty.

Mark 2:8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?”

Context: “When Jesus perceived in his spirit” – the Greek word for perceived is “epignosis,” which can mean full knowledge or recognized. In other words, he sensed the truth about what the scribes were thinking and saying of him, and he questioned them. How did Jesus know what the scribes were thinking and saying of him? Was it only because he was the Son of God that he had the divine ability to know their thoughts and their words or is the same ability also available to us? Can we also perceive in our spirit? Can we also know the guidance of God in our lives? In this final message titled “Guidance,” we’re going to focus on how to “perceive in our spirit” when God is guiding us, like Jesus did.

Before we do that, is God guiding you to be saved? As you’ve been hearing message after message, week after week, can you perceive in your spirit the voice of God calling you to be saved? Are you going to answer his call and be saved?

Having said that, how can you perceive in your spirit the guidance of God in your life?

1. Guidance is not between right and wrong but between good, better, and best.

Philippians 1       9 “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent…”

You don’t need God’s guidance on—

• Should I rob the bank?
• Should I lie on my resume?
• Should I walk out on my marriage?

Neither do you need God’s guidance on—

• Should I go to church?
• Should I share the gospel with my neighbor?
• Should I give my tithes and offering to God?

Here we are seeking God’s guidance between one career over another, a person in a relationship, or some financial decision.

Question: Are you seeking God’s guidance regarding something God has already commanded in the negative or positive?

2. Guidance comes from being grounded in the Word.

In other words, the more we are in the Word of God, the more we can recognize the Voice of God. The only way we can know the mind and heart of God is through the Word of God. The Holy Spirit will not give any new revelation. Neither will he contradict Scriptures. Yes, he provides illumination of the Word, but he also guides us, prompts us, and directs us in life. We can understand his guidance, prompting, and direction only if we are in the Word, the Scriptures.

• John 14      15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
• 1 Corinthians 2:12 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

The Word of God builds the receiving station in our heart to hear the Voice of God.That’s why we have such emphasis on preaching the Scriptures at Clearview. Plus, you need a daily time on your own in the Scriptures. This will help you discern the voice of God.

Application: How grounded are you in the Word of God?

3. Guidance comes through Prayer.

Of course, prayer is how we ask God for what we need, but prayer is also how God sends the answer to our needs. Prayer is Asking and Listening.

Exodus 33:13 “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight…”

James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

Romans 8       26 “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Many times, I have received answers to my questions in prayer. A thought will come to my mind about what I need to believe, think, or do. Time and again, I have found out later that this was exactly an answer to my prayers. Sometimes, the thought is not during the time of prayer, but as I am going about my day.

Personal Story: After I met Nicole, we talked for a while and decided to hold off dating until the end of the semester. Yes, there were several qualities that I had prayed for, but just wanted to be cautious. I remember like it was yesterday. I had come back to my room after a class, and God said in my heart, “Ask her out now.” At first, I relented. Then I called her. She was shocked. I’m glad I did or who knows where life would have gone today.

4. Guidance can be confirmed through Emotions, Circumstances, and Mature Christians.

Emotions: Many times, people trust in their own emotions (good or bad) to discern God’s voice: “I have an uneasy feeling about it,” “I have a check in my spirit,” “I have a good feeling about it,” or “I have peace about it.” Unfortunately, our feelings are not fool proof. As J. Sidlow Baxter would say, “Your emotions are the shallowest part of your nature. God doesn’t do His deepest work in the shallowest part.” In fact, Satan loves to work on our emotions. He will give you false joy. He will work on your pride, telling you that you have the gift of discernment. He may even get you to feel sorry for self in false humility – “I am a nobody and nothing.” He will get you to be angry, fearful, or discouraged. Don’t make decisions in the middle of good emotions or bad emotions.

Sometimes people discount emotions completely, and that’s not good either. Emotions are like a flood: they can either destroy or clean everything. God sent emotions can actually flood away the crud of life. A true feeling of remorse may lead to repentance. A true feeling of love can actually overlook a multitude of sins. Unfortunately, we allow the bad emotions to rule rather than the good ones. People often wonder: How do I know if my emotions are coming from God and not from myself or Satan? God’s voice will never contradict his Word. Your emotions are not for yourself but for God’s glory and for others. Philippians 4       6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Circumstances: We learn to connect the dots and see God’s handiwork.

Mature Christians: We need godly people who truly know the heart of God and have our best interests in mind. Such relationships have to be prayed for and cultivated.

Application: How do you see Emotions, Circumstances, and Mature Christians in deciphering the will of God in your life?

5. Guidance is not just for the spiritually elite.

A big misconception that many people have is that “You have to be a spiritual giant in the faith” in order to have God’s guidance in your life. In many of the books on the subject of guidance and discernment, the list is 10 points and 15 points. I was thinking to myself – if that’s really true, none of us would ever qualify! A good example to consider is King David. In 1 Samuel 13:14 “…The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart…” In other words, David knew the heart of God, he was guided by God. Here’s the question: When did David become a man after God’s own heart? When he wrote Psalm 23? When he became the King of Israel? Actually, he was the “man after God’s own heart” way before that:

• As a young boy, when he fought a lion and a bear that came against the sheep and rescued them.
• As a young man, when he charged Goliath saying, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”
• When he fought bravely against the Philistines.
• He knew the heart of God when he fled from Saul and had to hide in caves to survive, even though he was the rightful king. By the way, when Saul found out that David was in Keilah, a fortified town, he said in 1 Samuel 23:7 “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.”
• To the contrary, God was guiding David. He even consulted the ephod (apronlike garment with precious stones, worn by the high priest) and God guided him.
• He knew the heart of God when he refused to kill Saul even when he had the perfect chance. When David was in the Wilderness of Ziph and Saul came into the same cave that he was in to relieve himself, those with him said in 1 Samuel 24:4 “This is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’” His answer was – “I will not touch the Lord’s anointed” – and he restrained them from killing him.

Did David always follow God’s heart? No.

• When he fled to Gath to the Philistines for help, and when they recognized him, he acted like a mad man.
• When he ordered a census to see how powerful he was, and 70,000 died in a plague.
• When he gave into his own lust and committed adultery with Bathsheba and even had her husband Uriah the Hittite murdered.

David also knew how to return to the heart of God:

• When, he was confronted about the census, he chose to fall into the hand of God.
• When he was confronted by Nathan the prophet, he repented.
• When God told him that it was his son Solomon who would build the temple, he did not disobey.

At each stage of his life, David knew the heart of God when he was humbly submitted to him the best he knew how.

Principle: To be guided by God, you must only humbly submit yourself to him the best you know how. Neither your age nor your spiritual age matter. 

So also, the example of Ruth. She followed God’s guidance as a Moabitess and she was grafted into the family of Jesus.

By the way, the more you live by God’s way the easier it is to discern God’s will, at the same time, the lessons and experiences also get harder. You have to learn to Trust God’s loving sovereignty. It doesn’t get easier, but you know that he knows what’s best for us. 

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Invitation: How do you see God’s guidance in your life? Are you saved?