The King's Church in Ilford
The following is the text of the talk given on 23rd August 2009 by Robin Hawkins
"How God Guides Us"
Reading: Acts 11:1-18
I believe the Lord wants me to talk this morning about how He guides us. How do we know what is the right thing to do in any situation? It can get a bit messy because it's all based on relationship. (How do our wives or husbands communicate with us? - All sorts of ways - so we'll never be able to reduce it to a formula.
I wrote this satire once on guidance. The chorus went:
Oh let the lightning fall from heaven with the writing on the wall To show me just the way I need to go. Give me that sign - you oughta; drench that lambskin rug with water. If You dry it out again, I'll really know.
We only ever sang it once at this inter-church gathering. It was a disaster - because some people took it seriously! It shows what a minefield this whole area is of how God guides us. Some of us struggle deeply to hear from God, and others appear to find it very easy.
A new church member turned up at the vicarage and was met by the vicar's teenage son. "I'm sorry, my father's busy at the moment - he's just had a phone-call offering him and industrial chaplaincy." "But he's only been here two years," the visitor replied. "I know. But he'd get a new car, a big house, and a huge salary." "What's he going to do?" "Don't know. He's in the study praying for guidance." "And your mother?" "Oh, she's upstairs packing!"
There are times God has to be in our face, and this story in Acts was one of them. Jews did not mix with non-Jews (Gentiles). Didn't speak to them, let alone eat with them. You may think we have racial problems today, but they are nothing compared with this major cultural taboo that the Jews had. But God wanted them to take the Gospel to the Gentiles, so it was going to need a fairly major intervention on His part to convince these early Jewish Christians that the Gentiles were part of the deal. So we've got pretty much everything here - Trances and visions, angels, the inner voice of the Holy Spirit, divine appointments and circumstances. But God still had to intervene powerfully. There was Peter, preaching perhaps a little half-heartedly, still not convinced, and wondering where all this was going, when suddenly God takes over with a glorious outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It can take a lot to convince us sometimes of what God's Will is in a situation!
God's Will has different levels. His Sovereign Will is those things things He determined to do, and no-one will stop Him. The coming of Jesus, His death & Resurrection, the Coming of the Holy Spirit, and His Second Coming. These all happened and are going to happen because God's determined they're going to. The gospel going to the Gentiles in this story was another example of God's Sovereign Will.
But there's also His General Will. These principles apply to all of us. We don't have to ask God, "Do I have to love this person? Do I have to forgive them?" - because it's all written down for us in the Bible. So we know it's His Will for all of us that we should love one another, be holy, give generously, be forgiving, pray, read the Bible, and witness to our faith. He wants to work these thing into us, but we can stop them happening if we resist Him. He doesn't force us to do these things because He wants us to respond to Him out of love. He doesn't want robots!
Then there is God's Permissive Will. He has given us Common Sense and expects us to use it. Within reason, He doesn't mind what clothes you put on in the morning, or what you have for breakfast. We don't need to pray about such things - and I've known people who did.
But there is also God's Specific Will. Things which are right for you only as an individual. Each of us was made differently, and God made each of us for a purpose which only we, individually can fulfil. It should be a major priority in our lives to find out what that is. Some of us get very anxious about this. We're afraid that at some point, we've been disobedient, or made a wrong decision, and there's no getting back. God can't use you any more. I want to encourage you that it really isn't like that - believe me, I know! We need to remember, that He is more concerned with what we are than what we do. His primary Will for our lives is that we become like Jesus. The amazing thing is that Father takes even our mistakes, and redeems them, bringing something good out of them.
Many of those that God used greatly in Scripture were also the biggest failures. I have a song about that too! "My Song"
I sometimes find it helpful to see myself in a game of Chess against God, the Master Chess Player. No matter what moves I make, He'll get me where He wants me in the end.
In all this I've made a basic assumption - that we WANT to know God's Will for our lives. Following hard on the heels of that assumption is a second one, namely that we are WILLING to do it, whatever the cost. Across this country are young people with aspirations to compete in the 2012 Olympics. They all know that it's not enough to want it - do they want it enough to pay the price? It'll take all of their time and energies over the next three years. It'll be the focus of their lives, everything else will have to be subordinated to this one goal - to win that gold medal. That's the heart of an Olympic competitor. It's also the heart of being a disciple of Jesus. Yet one is to win a fleeting moment of glory as you hear your national anthem played. The other is to win a crown and glory that will last forever.
Stuart Broad spent hours watching videos of his Dad playing Test Cricket in 1986. Likewise the true disciple of Jesus will want to find out what Jesus is like, and what Jesus asks of us. So they will study this Book, not just read it, but to do what it says. They will learn to stay close to the Master - in case He has any specific instructions.
But How will He communicate them, and how can we be sure it's the Lord speaking?
How can I know I should choose this job rather than that job?
How can I know I should choose this course rather than that course?
(Let's assume the Bible is neutral on the matter.)
1. I think you should start by asking yourself: "What's really in your heart about this? What do you really want to do here?" Paul says "We have the mind of Christ", and generally, we'll want to do the things that He's calling us to. Sometimes discerning God's Will is as easy as driving along Eastern Ave, and all the lights are green. But I would urge you, be careful! Our hearts are easily deceived, and we can find ourselves acting from selfish motives. (Jer 17:9). I've got to be honest! There've been occasions God has clearly told me to do something that I did not want to do. I didn't want to move to Ilford, but God told me to. Peter certainly didn't want to mix with Gentiles. The apostle Paul didn't relish being thrown in gaol - but God had a purpose in it. So, "What's in your heart" is not the whole story. You will need something else.
2. You may find, as I did, that you have a strong conviction about what you should do. It may, or may not be what you want to do, but deep in your spirit you know it's right for you. Nevertheless, test it. Look for other indicators that confirm it.
3. You may hear the Holy Spirit speaking directly into your heart. This was what had happened to Peter in v. 12. When we started King's, it was in response to a word I got one evening when I was before God, and very clearly, I heard Him say in my heart, "It's time to leave Cranbrook..." Needless to say, I had to test that word very carefully.
4. While the Bible may not have anything to say directly into your situation, we can find ourselves reading verses that resonate with that situation, and give us direction. The day after I got that word about leaving Cranbrook, I was asking God to confirm it, and the Spirit took me to Jer 1:10 "See this day I appoint you to... build and to plant.." There are other times when the Lord is trying to tell me something I don't want to hear, and it seems every verse I read says something about that issue!
5. Somebody may give us a Prophetic Word about our situation. But be cautious about directional prophecies. Most of the time they can only verify something that's already in your heart. Be even more cautious about people who come to you with words that start, "God says this to you..." We can't say that until a word has been tested by others in the Church. Test it yourself. Does it bear witness to other things that you think God's been saying to you?
6. We may hear the confirmation we need through other people. When two or three people all come independently to you saying the same thing concerning a new direction in your life, it's time to start listening. When I was challenged about going full-time in Christian work, I asked the Lord to get three people to tell me, in the space of a week, that that's what I should be doing. Three people did!
7. God still uses Dreams and Visions to guide us. While Chris Vincent was praying about planting a church in Dublin, one of his children, who knew nothing of this, had a dream about moving to a house there - a house they later saw in an Estate Agent's window in Dublin! But it was only one of a series of ways God spoke to them.
8. Circumstances too, play their part; but again they can only verify what God is saying to you in other ways. "Lord," I once prayed, "if you want me to have this job, open the door." I was offered two jobs on that occasion. As it turned out, I believe they were both wrong! God was speaking to me in other ways. I could have interpreted those circumstances as either God wanting to bless me with a new job; or Satan trying to lead me astray! For me it was the latter. We need more than circumstances.
9. Beware of taking major decisions in your life if God's not said anything to you about it. It maybe we get restless, and we feel we need a change. Perhaps we don't like the church or job we're in, and we start looking at others. Then comes the big "Should I or Shouldn't I?" We're praying about it, but not getting much response from God, and we end up really confused - all because we decided we needed a change - not God. He's not saying anything because He didn't tell to go in that new direction. He expects us to continue where He's put us without constantly being told to stay. When a change is due, He'll tell us. Meanwhile, He expects us to work it out where we are. You see, that restlessness that we think may be God unsettling us, can so easily be from our own hearts and desires - and they need dealing with.
Jean Darnelle used to speak of guidance being like a ship entering harbour at night. There were three lights on land that the pilot had to get in a vertical line to show him he's on the right course. For us, those lights are:
A) Word from God - in some form,
B) Conviction in our hearts that this is right
C) Circumstances coming together.
In all of our struggles to hear what God's saying, I want to rejoice in the fact He does speak to us and He has a specific purpose for each one of us, which He will show us if we ask Him. I may be slow to recognise His voice; but if He can break through Peter's reluctance to hear, I think He can manage to break through mine. He can break through yours too - whether you consider yourself to be a Believer or not. But let me close with this: "If you do hear His voice today, don't harden your hearts against it." Don't try to explain it away. Don't try to justify yourself. Rather, open your heart to Him and respond to what He's saying.
