The Guidance of God

It is absolutely wrong for a child of God who truly wants to obey the will and the Word of God in their life to live in turmoil regarding their wanting to discern the will of God in their life. You see, living in fear is not the will of God for you, period. But living in fear, lest you're going to bring upon yourself spiritual ruin because you missed out on God's perfect plan for your life.

That is not of God. Welcome to Leading the Way, featuring the solid and practical Bible teaching of Dr. Michael Yusef, author of the new book called Never Give Up. So as a Christian, how many times have you stressed over God's will in your life? And how did you or how do you get through those times without second guessing yourself into inaction?

It happens to me a lot. Well, today we have a practical message from Dr. Yusef about seeking and discerning the will of God as you journey through life. Also do remember that Leading the Way is listener supported. You can discover ways to stand with Dr. Yusef in passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth across six continents. Go to ltw.org or give us a call.

866-626-4356. Now they'll listen with me as Dr. Michael Yusef shares a powerful and practical message called The Guidance of God. The most asked question among Christians, believers, is how do I know the will of God in my life?

It's the most asked question. What is God's plan for my life? How can I know God's will in my life? And then how do I know that it is God's will for my life and not a trick of the devil to get me off track? I've read and I shared this with you also the last message is that whenever there's a seminar or a conference and the advertised title is that, you know, Come and discern the will of God for your life, they say that seminar or conference sold out before you even get there. So obviously people want to know. People are longing to discover God's will and His plan for their life.

And that's what I'm going to talk about. Single people listen carefully and know the question you have. Is it the will of God for me to marry? And if it's so, to whom I'm supposed to marry?

To those who are in the middle of a career change or those who are unhappy in their workplace. They want to know what is the next step? Is it going to be in town? Out of town? Where is it going to be? Who? What?

Where? Those who are contemplating going to college, you want to know what is the will of God for you? Which is the college that God would have you go to? For those who may be feeling God's call upon them for a full-time ministry, they want to know when, how, where, and they want to know. Then there are those believers who are constantly living in turmoil. And they live in turmoil and they lack peace in their lives because they are often worried and concerned and wondering if they are in the perfect will of God or have they missed out on God's perfect will in their lives. Many of them go from one person to the next, from a counselor to counselor, from advisor to advisor, and they forever going around asking people to discern the will of God for them. They can go up between 10 to 20 people asking them, what do you think the will of God for me is? What do you think of the will of God for me is?

You know what? Most times when you go to so many people, you're often going to get conflicting advice. I remember one time, more than 20 years ago, I was going through a restless time and I wasn't sure about things. And this dear friend of mine told me about a man, he said he actually can literally close his eyes and then bring you a message from the Lord, tell you exactly what God wants you to do. Well, you know, I was desperate. I said, okay. So he put him on the phone and I sat down and I began to listen to this dear friend and whom I've never met. And I'm sure he closed his eyes.

I didn't see him, but and he said, okay, Michael. And then he began to tell me what I need to do, because that's what God wants me to do. Now, folks, I want to tell you, he was wrong. He sent me on a wild goose chase, which was not the will of God at all. So be careful. Be very careful. I have to teach you from my mistakes, so you don't have to repeat them. Be careful of anyone who tells you that God told them to tell you to do this, Uso.

Run for your life. It is important to know your God as the guiding God. He is our guidance.

We have begun a series of messages which I'm calling God Talk. And we saw in the very first message that the sovereignty of God is a hub around which all of God's attributes revolve. Then we saw the holiness of God upon which all of our lives should be molded and muddled.

And today we're going to see the guidance of God upon which all of our decisions should be based. It is absolutely wrong for a child of God who truly wants to obey the will and the word of God in their life to live in turmoil regarding their wanting to discern the will of God in their life. Look, wanting to discern what God has for you next is fine. It's healthy, it's admirable, it's commendable, it's wonderful. And I can't think of any more adjectives to give you.

It's great. But getting yourself into spiritual frenzy in trying to discern the will of God, I want to know the will of God, I want to know the will of God. And you go from counselor to counselor, advisor to advisor, friend to friend and frantically trying to find out what the will of God is, that's wrong. That is immature and it is spiritual unhealthy. You see, living in fear is not the will of God for you, period. But living in fear lest you're going to bring upon yourself spiritual ruin because you missed out on God's perfect plan for your life. That is not of God.

That is not of God. Let me give you a common scenario that many of you will identify with this. I identify with this in certain stages in my Christian walk.

Here's a common scenario. You go to the Lord and you pray and say, Lord, I want to know your will. I want you to guide me, I want you to lead me and I want you to just let me know that this is you and not a trick of the devil. So God answers your prayer and then he opens a door for you and you go through that door. And then you got through this door and things really didn't work out as you would have liked it to work out. So you go back to the Lord and say, Lord, I don't know what happened, but obviously things are not working out.

Could you please help me? I want to discern your will. I want to know where you're leading me.

I want to know what the next step is. Please, Lord, hear my prayer. And the Lord does. He hears your prayer and what does he do? He opens another door and you go through this second door and things work out.

And you have peace and you have joy and you are being used of God and you can see an opportunity for witnessing and things are really working great. What is the most common understanding or comprehension or description of the door number one? What do most people think? You made a mistake, right?

Wrong. You did not make a mistake at all. You did not make a mistake. Sometimes in order for you to get through door number two, God has to take you to door number one. Somehow, if you think that door number one was a mistake, if you think that door number one was a waste of time, if you think that door number one was a terrible disaster, you're on the wrong track. Now, I'm not talking about disobedience and sin here. I'm talking about just discerning the mind of God for things in your life.

That's wrong thinking. If you sought the Lord with all your mind and if you inwardly wanted to obey the Lord and His will in your life, whatever it may be, you have made that decision based on obedience at the time, then door number one was never a mistake. It was never a mistake. Door number one was the sovereign God's way of taking you to door number two.

For reasons known only to the sovereign Lord, He allowed you to go through door number one in order to get you to door number two. And whenever God leads you, it is not a mistake. Don't live in regret. Don't ever sit and wonder.

Don't waste your time on regrets. But you know what the number one secret to knowing the will of God in your life is? Do you want to know what the secret is? The number one secret for knowing the will of God is your inward willingness to obey the will of God when He shows it to you.

I'm going to unpack that, okay? You say, how is that a secret? Well, first of all, before I answer the question, I want you to know that you can never learn inward obedience in your life or inward willingness for obedience for the will of God in your life. You cannot learn that from books, and I write books. You cannot learn that from sermons, and I love preaching. You cannot learn that developing that inward obedience for the will of God in your life from running to counselor to counselor or advisor to advisor or a friend to friend.

You won't learn it that way. You cannot develop inward willingness to obey the will of God in your life by listening to someone who claims that they have seen a vision for you or they have seen a dream for you or have a word from the Lord for you. You can only develop that inward willingness when you spend time with God and His Word. So the secret of knowing the will of God is inward willingness to obey the will of God. And only then will you discern, because that comes not from running around but from spending time with His Word. And you know what He's going to teach you? He's going to teach you some things you don't want to hear and you don't want to learn. He's going to teach you that where you are right now is the will of God for you. You see, this is a scripture that I hope you memorize and that you let it seep deep into your heart and into your mind and into your soul. And it's Psalm 25 verse 9.

It's a wonderful, wonderful... I could stand here and give you dozens of texts from the scripture about the will of God, but here's one. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble His way. You see, if you allow the Holy Spirit of God to take this verse and let your mind, your heart and your spirit feel it deeply, think through it, meditate on it, practice it, you will have the greatest blessing as you walk with the Lord.

I promise you. But here's the problem. The problem with most of us is that we secretly, secretly want or wish that God will obey our will. We secretly crave that God would bless our plans. We secretly desire that God will just come around to our way of thinking.

If He can only just understand what I want Him to do for me, we would have good times together. When I talk to people and I hear and I listen very carefully and somebody would say to me, Michael, I really, really, really, really, really want to know and do the will of God in my life. I say, really, really, really?

Yeah, really, really, really, I want to know. So what's the trouble? Well, the trouble is I want out of my current job. I want out of my current situation. I want out of my current circumstances. I want out. I want to marry this particular person or I want this particular business deal to work out. I want this.

I want that. I say, wait a minute, wait a minute. You just told me that you really, really, really, really want to know and obey the will of God.

Yes. Then how do you know that it is not the will of God for you to be where you are right now? In the job that you're in. In the situation that you're in, the circumstances you're in.

How do you know that? Oh, no, no, no, Michael, you just don't understand, Michael. You really don't understand. I am miserable where I am. I'm not a stranger to miserable situations. If you want to read more about that, get my book, If God is in Control.

You'll read all about it. Do you want to do the will of God or do you want God to do your will? That's the question that you need to ask yourself today. Do you really want to do the will of God or do you want God to do your will? I read this week, in fact, about an architect who was complaining bitterly about how so many of his clients, they come in and they ask him to design a house for them. He said, but they really have already made up their mind what kind of a house they want. They already have the design in their minds. He said, all they wanted for me is to sanction their plan. And they want the satisfaction of seeing me draw their plan on paper.

And you know what? We do the same thing with God. We really do. We ask for wisdom and we ask for guidance and we ask for direction. But in reality, we want God to bless our plans. You know, I've learned through the years that when I am in a situation where I am not really fulfilled and happy, I learned to know what it is to rejoice in the Lord. Until God himself opens another door.

I've learned to be contented where I am. And you know what God does during that time when you think you're miserable and you want to jump ship and you want to get out and you want this and that? You know what God is doing? He's teaching you. He's instructing you. He's molding you. He's training you. He's testing you.

Do you know why? Because God guides us. We don't guide him. We obey him. He does not obey us. God is sovereign and he is in control of us. We are not in control of him. It's arrogance to think that we can control God. The sovereign God moving things in our lives for his purpose and for our good because he loves us so. Of course, there are some things that have been settled in the Scripture and for you and I to pray for God's will about these matters is a sin.

It really is. Issues that are settled in the Scripture are not the issues you go and pray and ask the will of God about. Let me give you some examples. The Bible does not tell you whom to marry. But it is clearly in the Scripture and it tells you not to cohabitate with that person before you marry them. Fornication is condemned in the Scripture.

You don't have to ask the will of God for that. The Bible may not tell you whether you should become a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer or a salesman or whatever. But the Bible tells you you can't be a thief.

You can't be a prostitute. You can't be anything that is hurting people. Romans 12 1 and 2 says, God's will for you is your sanctification and therefore anything that is going to hinder your Christ-likeness sanctification process is not the will of God. Back to the things that are not clearly spelled out in the Scripture. When you are inwardly willing to obey the will of God, even if you don't like it, but if you're inwardly willing to obey it. When you're inwardly willing to obey the will of God, even when you think that you're making a mistake or you have made a mistake, God takes the so-called mistakes and he in his economy weaves them around and he makes a stairwell out of them to his purpose in your life. And therefore you need to understand that sure there are some practical things and I'm going to share some of those with you right now very quickly that you need to go through as you're making a decision. But ultimately when you make a decision in obedience to the Lord, even if it's not the ultimate door, it's his way of getting you through to that door.

Let me give you seven questions that I ask myself when I'm making a major move in my life. Number one, I ask myself the question, Is this the best way for me to serve the Lord? Secondly, is this consistent and not contradictory to God's Word? And the third question, Will I be able to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ in that circumstance? And the fourth question is this, Do I have the confirmation of a godly Christian leader?

Not two dozen people. Number five, has God set restless spirit within me in order to prepare me for the move? But the move is not yet. Number six, do I have inner peace toward the matter? And finally, has God opened the door wide or am I trying to beat it down? But beloved I want to tell you whatever you do, I want you to listen to what I'm going to tell you. God is a covenant God. God is a covenant God. And when you may be terrified about making a mistake, if you are willing to obey His will, He will redeem even the so-called mistakes.

God can take these so-called mistakes and He uses them as stepping stones for you to get to His purpose. I'm going to tell you this and I'm going to conclude. F.B. Meyer, one of the great men of yesteryear, one night he was crossing the Irish Channel on a boat and it was a dark night, it was a starless night and he was wondering how in the world is the boat going to make it? And so he went to the captain and he said, Captain, how in a dark night like this, how can you know where Holyhead Harbor is? And the captain said something very simple. He said, look at those three lights over there.

Can you see those three lights? He said, yes. He said, when all those three lights line up together as one, when we see them in unity, we know the exact position of the harbor's mouth. And Meyer said something to the effect that whenever you want to know the will of God in your life, three things must line up in a piece, the word of God and the need of the hour. So what is the secret of discerning the will of God?

It's an absolute inward willingness to obey the will of God, whatever it may be, including being where you are right now. Dr. Michael Yousef with practical biblical questions to consider as you pursue God's will in your life and in your family. In fact, if you'd like to walk through specific life questions that you're currently facing, consider a conversation with one of our Leading the Way pastoral team. Fill out a short contact form at ltw.org slash Jesus.

They'd be honored to speak with you. That's ltw.org slash Jesus. Now, as you probably know, Dr. Yousef is more than a pastor and an international Bible teacher. He has passionately dedicated his life to sharing the gospel with those who have never heard, also to equipping believers to serve God, to reach their own communities with the gospel message. And one vital part of this outreach is through the books that he's written over the years. In fact, he has penned more than 50 books, and his newest release, in fact, it was just released earlier this month, is called Never Give Up. What an encouraging title. Dr. Yousef helps you listen closely to the words of the Apostle Paul where he shares words of wisdom with Timothy about intimacy with God, prayer, service, and never giving up the faith.

And frankly, haven't many of us kind of pondered giving up in some way in recent years? I know you'll be so glad you read this book. In fact, I think you're going to want to read it and then share it with others. So get your copy today and maybe go ahead and get another one to share with a friend. Order your copy of Never Give Up today at ltw.org.

Read more about the engaging, relevant content and more. Once again, that's ltw.org. Now, you can also call us, 866-626-4356. That's 866-626-4356. And, of course, we love getting your cards and letters as well. You can write to us at Leading the Way, Post Office Box 201100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325. That's Post Office Box 201100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325. Okay, hear that big music?

That's telling me it's time to say goodbye. Thank you for being with us and do accept this invitation to join Dr. Youssef next time right here when he passionately proclaims uncompromising truth on the next Leading the Way. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Connect with us through our YouTube channel, Facebook, Twitter, and all of our social media networks. Learn more at ltw.org. .