how does god guide us?
TRANSCRIPT
How Does God Guide Us?
Bible Readings:James 4:13-16Acts 16:6-15
1
Friday, 1 May 2015
How Does God Guide Us?• Our loving heavenly Father
wants to guide us like any loving parent wants to guide their child.
• Every person is special to God.
• “I follow close to You; Your right hand holds on to me.” (Psalm 63:8, HCSB)
2
Friday, 1 May 2015
Who Knows Best?
• The theory we know God knows best.
• Too often in practice we act as if we know best.
• Some of the ideas that come into our minds are from God.
• It is always better to follow God’s guidance.
3
Friday, 1 May 2015
Who Knows Best?
• “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you.” (Psalm 32:8–9, NKJV)
• God wants us to be watching Him carefully so that he only needs to give a small sign of what He wants us to do.
4
Friday, 1 May 2015
Three Keys to Guidance
• Understand that God wants to guide you.
• Learn to recognise when God guides you.
• Learn to obey what God has given you.
5
Friday, 1 May 2015
How Does God Guide Us?
1. His voice
2. His Word
3. Your heart
4. Prophecy
5. Dreams
6. Visions
7. Circumstances
Seven ways God guides us:
6
Friday, 1 May 2015
How Does God Guide Us?
• As you are thinking or praying about something a thought or a word or a picture passes though your mind. Is this from God?
• Three sources of the thought:
• Your own imagination,
• The Tempter,
• The Holy Spirit.
His Voice
7
Friday, 1 May 2015
How Does God Guide Us?
• From the Lord?
• Does the idea keep returning?
• Is the idea unexpected?
• Should I try doing it?
His Voice
8
Friday, 1 May 2015
How Does God Guide Us?
• The Bible - has commands and instructions that apply to everyone.
• As you read the Holy Spirit draws your attention to verse or word. “It speaks directly to your situation.”
His Word
9
Friday, 1 May 2015
How Does God Guide Us?
• A strong feeling or conviction you must do something.
• Feelings can be very deceptive and changeable.
• Feelings of the heart need to be tested and backed up in some other way before we act on them.
Your Heart
10
Friday, 1 May 2015
How Does God Guide Us?
• In the bible we often read how how God spoke to people through words of a prophet.
• “And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.” (Acts 11:27–28, NKJV)
Prophecy
11
Friday, 1 May 2015
How Does God Guide Us?
• This was the way the Lord spoke to Joseph at the time Jesus was born. “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20, ESV)
• Dreams often need careful interpretation.
• A repeated dream may be from the Lord.
Dreams
12
Friday, 1 May 2015
How Does God Guide Us?
• These are like dreams but happen when you are awake.
• Paul's vision of the man from Macedonia is one of them. “That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.” (Acts 16:9–10, NLT)
Visions
13
Friday, 1 May 2015
How Does God Guide Us?
• Acts 16:7 “After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.” (Acts 16:7, NKJV)
• How did the Holy Spirit stop them from travelling to the place called Bythinia? Circumstances?
• God opens doors.
• God closes doors.
• Sometime we need to find out by trying the door to see if it will open.
Circumstances
14
Friday, 1 May 2015
How Does God Guide Us?
1. Is the word in agreement with Scripture? No guidance or instruction from the Lord will require you to act in a way that is against what God has written in the Bible.
2. Seek the counsel of the saints.“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22, NIV84)
3. Be patient. “Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14, NKJV)
Testing the Guidance
15
Friday, 1 May 2015
16
Friday, 1 May 2015