The Price of Conviction

Living in the will of God.

Up next on Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yousaf. There are some people who think that the moment you obey the will of God and you go somewhere else and there you face problems. All of a sudden says, Oh boy, am I really in the will of God?

What have I done? Listen to me, please. Because you are at the center of the will of God does not mean you will not face problems. But by placing your desires in the neutral, you will give God the opportunity to work in your life for his glory, regardless of the difficulties. Most everyone has had questions about the will of God.

You know, wondering about big life stuff like school and marriage and job, even the hurts in life. Well, today on Leading the Way, Dr. Yousaf offers practical words about finding and responding to God's will. Now, before he begins, a quick reminder that Leading the Way is listener supported. Dr. Yousaf relies on God's provision through the generosity of God's people who are blessed or impassioned by the ministry of Leading the Way. You can learn more at ltw.org or 866-626-4356.

Listen with me now to Dr. Michael Yousaf. How do I know the will of God? How do I know the will of God? How do I know the will of God for my career? How do I know the will of God for my job? How do I know the will of God, which city to live in? Should I live in city A or city B?

If I'm miserable in my job, does this mean that I should leave or should I stay? And all important questions for single people. Is there one specific person that God has for me to marry? But I want to tell you something. I hate to disappoint you, but I think I will disappoint some of you because I'm not going to answer any of these questions that I just mentioned.

But I tell you what I'm going to do today. I'm going to give you the biblical tools that are designed to help you answer these questions when they pop up in your life. I'll give you the biblical tools that will instruct you to know what to do when you are at a point when you're trying to discern the will of God in your life. As I deal with the Apostle Paul discerning of the will of God in his life from Acts chapter 21, I want to give you some practical tools that are going to help you in discerning the will of God in your life. And they are as follows.

There are four of them. Number one, you must be in submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Secondly, expect God to speak to you in some way.

Thirdly, test the spirits. And fourthly, you must always be ready to wait for the timing of God. What does it mean to be in submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ? You hear that word used all the time, the lordship of Jesus Christ. And people talk about it.

They memorize verses. And it's constant part of conversation. And I want to explain to you really what it means. It means that you are going to make your desires to be neutral.

That's what it means. It means that you're going to make your desires to be neutral. Hear me right on this one. We all have desires. We all have preferences. We all have strong feelings. We all want smooth sailings. We all want everything to work without a hint of problem. We all do not cherish difficulties and hardships. None of us welcome trials and uncertainty. And somebody says, well, I really love suffering and cherish it so much. Well, you need some help. But submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ means that you are willing to put all of these in the neutral.

Why? Why the neutral? You see, the neutral, when you're driving your car and have it in the neutral, you're giving it the opportunity to go straight either drive or reverse.

You don't have to go through a lot of gears when it's in the neutral. You place your desires in the neutral so that God can lead you to his perfect will for you, if that's what you're praying for. Actually, in Acts chapter 20, when Paul was talking to the Ephesian elders in Miletus, he said to them in Acts 20, he said, he said, I am going to Jerusalem and I know that I'm going to be facing difficulties and trials and tough times in Jerusalem. Then he says, but God is calling me to go.

I wanted to say, now, wait a minute, Paul, wait a minute, wait a minute. Most people want to know the will of God so that if they see a hint of difficulty, they'll run away from it. And you're trying to tell me that you know the will of God and you know that you're going to face difficulties and you are determined to go. But that's not all.

That was not just a situation where he was in and then it passed. No. Acts 21, 10. There's a prophet by the name of Agabus. He comes in and he, in a most dramatic way, warns the Apostle Paul that in Jerusalem there is difficulty and he takes his belt and he ties it around his hand and his feet and says that's what's going to happen to the person who owns his belt. Paul, that's you. Will you not go to Jerusalem? Will you stop?

But that's not all. You get down to verse 12 of 21 of Book of Acts and the Christians in Caesarea began to beg the Apostle Paul, oh, Paul, please don't go to Jerusalem. We need you here. Oh, Paul, please, please. Now it's time for Paul to get on with the program, look. All his friends everywhere he went told him not to go to Jerusalem. But because he placed all of his desires in the neutral, he was determined to go to where God has called him no matter what. Paul was not afraid. Paul would not hide. Paul would not run and Paul would not cower. Paul would not be persuaded by well-meaning Christians. There are some commentators who say that actually they're good people, I mean people who love God, and they say actually at this point in his life Paul was disobedient to the voice of God and he was outside of the will of God when he went to Jerusalem.

You need to know that. But if you really look at the text, as I have, sideways, upside down, in every angle from other languages, there is not one occasion that anybody said that God is saying to you, Paul, do not go to Jerusalem. All they said that you're going to face difficulties there. That's all they said. Not one time did God the Holy Spirit say to Paul, Paul, don't go to Jerusalem.

I think Paul would have obeyed the Lord immediately. Not one time. Please hear me right on this one. I want you to listen carefully. It's okay to say to the Lord, Lord, I prefer A over B. Lord, I really like A. I don't like B. It's really okay to say to the Lord, Lord, my heart is set on A, not B.

It's okay. It's okay to do that. As long as you place A and B in the neutral and let God lead you. It's okay to say to God, now God, I would rather be in this place and not that place.

It's okay to do that. As long as you're willing to joyfully go whichever place He finally chooses for you. Submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ means making your desires to be in the neutral and that is not easy.

I want you to listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you. There are some people who think that the moment you obey the will of God and you go somewhere else and there you face problems. All of a sudden it says, oh boy, did I really listen to God right. Am I really in the will of God?

What have I done? Listen to me, please. Because you are at the center of the will of God does not mean you will not face problems.

Ask Paul, he'll tell you. Sometimes we do get ourselves into trouble, but not always the case. Sometimes when we are at the very center of the will of God, you'll face difficulties and trials. At times often the enemy will come to you and say, if you had not obeyed God, if you had done your thing, you would not have faced these problems.

The devil will do that to you all the time. But by placing your desires in the neutral, you will give God the opportunity to work in your life for his glory, regardless of the difficulties. The second thing is this, expect God to speak to you in some way.

For me, it is simple. The Lord often speaks to me through his word. I'll be sitting there early hours of the morning as it is my custom, and I'll be reading the word of God, and I would be wrestling with a problem or thinking of a difficulty or something that's going on in my life, and I'll be reading the word of God, and the voice of the Spirit says, now here, this is for you, Michael, this is for you. Here is the promise that you can appropriate today.

Here is the answer that you're looking for. Occasionally God speaks to me through godly friends, and occasionally the Lord speaks to me through the quiet voice of my wife. Many times God speaks to me through my godly prayer partners. But I want to give you a big warning, listen carefully, huge warning here, okay, listen carefully. Be sure that your godly friends are not speaking to you out of their own emotions. Be careful, lest your godly friends are speaking to you out of their own needs. Be careful, lest your godly friends are speaking to you out of self-interest.

Be careful, lest your godly friends are speaking to you to get you to do what they want you to do. In Miletus, the Ephesian elders, and in Caesarea, and in Tyre, Paul's friends were trying to dissuade him from going to Jerusalem. Why?

Why? Because they were emotionally attached to the apostle Paul. Paul don't go to Jerusalem, Paul don't go to Jerusalem, Paul don't go to Jerusalem. Now listen, I am not for one moment blaming Paul's friends for trying to dissuade him from going to Jerusalem.

I'm not blaming, not one moment, not one second. I am not blaming them for trying to persuade Paul to avoid troubled waters. I am not blaming them for trying to protect their friend and the apostle Paul. But they were not trying to discern the will of God.

They were only wanted to protect Paul. They were being practical. They were being pragmatic.

And yes, they were being human in every sense, in every good sense of the word. And that is why, listen carefully, that's why thirdly you must test the spirits. You must test the spirits for yourself. No matter who says what to you, if it is inconsistent with the word of God, it is not from God. If it is not going to glorify God, then it is not of God. If it is going to lead you into sin, it is not of God.

If it is not going to build you up in the faith, then it is not of God. The Bible exhorts us, test the spirits, test the spirits, test the spirits. Why? I want to tell you why.

Listen carefully. Because Satan has the uncanny ability to appear as an angel of light. Because Satan's deception is so good that you can easily fall for it. Because Satan's desire is to trick you and deceive you.

Paul tested the spirits and he followed only the voice of the Holy Spirit, not even his dear friends. Submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ means placing your desires in the neutral. Expect God to speak to you in some way.

Test the spirits and finally, fourthly, always wait for God's timing. Now I'm going to go from preaching to meddling. And not necessarily with you as much as it is with me. If you're a person who has trouble waiting, I want to tell you something. I understand you. I really do.

I know exactly where you are. Because it is one of the hardest things. Waiting does not come naturally to most of us.

It may come to some. God bless you. Not only that, but most often young Christians particularly confuse waiting for God with idleness. A young man came to me one time. He said he's waiting for God to call him. I said what are you doing? He said I'm spending a lot of time in the library. I said aren't you doing some work somehow, ministering?

No, no, no. I'm just reading and getting myself ready to hear the call of God. I said you're not waiting for God. You're an idle man. You need to go and do something.

Because I'll tell you something. What helped me in my understanding of waiting for God and what it means is that dear saints more than 24 or 23 years ago when he explained to me the difference between waiting for the Lord and being idle in the name of the Lord. You see the word waiting in the Bible does not mean the way we use it in English as you are waiting for a train in a train station. When you're waiting for a train in a train station what do you do? You sit down and you look to the right and you look to the left and you look at your watch. You look to the right and you look to the left and you look to your watch. You might be frustrated and you get up a little bit and you pace the floor. If the train is late, whatever it is you're waiting for is late, you're frustrated. You get more frustrated by the second and you keep waiting and waiting. That is not what waiting upon the Lord in the Scripture means at all.

Let me share with you what had blessed my life for a quarter of a century. Waiting for the Lord comes from the term of a waiter or a waitress in a restaurant. A high-class waiter or waitress, they have the towel around their hand and what is he doing or she doing all the time? They're watching you. They're waiting for you. Hey, I need you immediately there. Yes sir, what can I get you?

That's waiting. They see your water running down and he comes in and brings the water in there, fills it up all the way to the top. Now that's a high-class waiter.

Your plate is finished. What is he doing? He's watching you so he comes in immediately. He takes the plate. What has happened when a good waiter, really a high-class waiter is working, what does he do? You get up, you go somewhere and you come back.

Your napkin is folded and right there by the arm of your chair. That's what waiting upon the Lord means. It means that you are always serving the Lord, that you are always ministering to the Lord, that you're always watching for the Lord's directions, that you're always ready for his command any moment but you're working, you're busy, you're serving, you're paying attention, you are all attentive to the voice of the Lord. That's what waiting for the Lord means. When you are in that mode, do you know by the way that not a single person in the Old Testament, not a single prophet that God called to serve was idle sitting there, you know, biting their fingernails or wasting their time.

They were doing something and the voice of God came and they said, now you Amos, you, you, you go and proclaim the word of God. When you are in that mode of waiting at the Lord's table, you can be sure that he will let you know his will in his time. He will tell you what he wants you to do. He will tell you what he, where he wants you to go. He will tell you when he wants you to move. He will tell you where to be.

He will tell you how to respond even. You see, Paul knew that he was obeying the will of God. He was obeying the voice of God. He knew there were some difficulties, yes, but they were incidental.

Why? Because he knew if he is going to be at the very center of the will of God, God is going to be with him and that's enough. When Paul got to Jerusalem, he was bringing an offering from all the Gentile churches and we know that from the Corinthian letter. He brings this offering from the Gentile churches and he places it there in the church of Jerusalem. But you know the first thing they said, they didn't say, oh, thank you, Paul, man, you went to this great trouble. We thank God for you.

No, the first thing he got was a criticism. Paul, there's rumor here that you are not living as a Jew and you're telling the Jews not to live as Jews. You're turning your back on your culture.

You're turning your back on all the things that we believe in. Now, remember, Paul said, I don't want to offend anybody and he's a Jew and he felt he's offending the Jews so he went ahead recognizing that these are not important issues in the Christian ministry. They're not necessary for salvation. He went along. I am personally convinced as I looked at this passage in every way I could that Paul, because he had learned to wait upon the Lord, because he had learned to discern the will of God, he also learned to major on the majors and minor on the minors.

They go together. When you are waiting upon the Lord, you will learn to choose your battles and your battlefields. When you are waiting upon the Lord, you will discern what is necessary for salvation and what is a matter of Christian liberty.

Why? Because it is in the Lord's will that your life will operate at its best. When you are in the perfect will of God, oh, there may be storms brewing all around you. There may be battles taking place and waging everywhere. Difficulties are insurmountable, but you are at peace because you are in perfect harmony with your maker.

Looking Up When Life's Got You Down. That's the title of Dr. Michael Youssef's challenging series on leading the way audio. So as you consider God's will, maybe you have questions that have stalled you in your faith walk. If so, take note of this website, ltw.org. A compassionate Leading the Way team member would be so happy to begin a conversation with you, helping guide you toward a deeper walk with Christ.

It's ltw.org. In addition to being an international Bible teacher, Dr. Youssef is also the author of many books, more than 50 to date. Each one provides content centered in God's Word and seasoned with the experience of a pastor who has a heart for seeing people walk closer with Christ, serving Jesus passionately.

In fact, let me quickly mention Dr. Youssef's most recent book. It's called Never Give Up, and it explores the last days of the apostle Paul, challenging readers of all maturity levels to remain vigilant in faith, especially in these last days when persecution and opposition to Christ is widely evident and growing. My name is Victor Castillo, and I'm a pastor of Rio Grande Bible Church in McAllen, Texas.

At the age of 13, in a home group, the pastor came and shared the gospel, and that's where I came to Christ. Now, as a pastor, I am also leading the men's group that are being trained to be leaders in church. I had mentioned about Never Give Up, the new book by Dr. Michael Youssef. Never Give Up focuses our eyes back to the truth, and that is huge.

I mean, just that blew my mind. So this book tells us never give up in these discouraging times. There are so many movements out there that are leading people away from the truth of the word. One of the first sections that I really loved about this book, the Bible tells us that when we're rooted and established in the word of God, that's when we're going to bloom. But you must proclaim God's truth. You must remain, abide in the truth and the true vine, which is Jesus. So this book, Never Give Up, basically encourages to never give up on faith, to never give up on our calling, to fulfill God's calling.

And what I love about the book is that everything is just around Jesus. Thank you, Dr. Youssef, for what you do. Thank you for the books.

Thank you for letting God use you. Reach out to Leading the Way today for details about getting your copy of Never Give Up. The number to call is 866-626-4356. That's 866-626-4356. Or you can always order online at ltw.org. ltw.org. Thank you for joining us and do listen again next time right here for Leading the Way, when Dr. Michael Youssef continues this powerful series, looking up when life's got you down. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth.