How does God guide us? - Alpha Course 07
Video of the complete Livestream where Matt asks, “How does God guide us?”
Talk: How does God guide us?
When I was a kid, there were three channels on TV. That's right, three - BBC One, BBC Two, and ITV. Some of you will remember those days. I even remember the day Channel Four was launched. It was a huge deal. We were going to have four channels! And then the VCR came along, which gave us more and more choice on what things to record and watch.
Having more choice feels great, doesn't it? But having more choice doesn't necessarily make it any easier to make a decision. How many of you know what I'm talking about? It can actually make it harder. Now, if you're like me, you can spend around 30 minutes deciding what to watch on TV, because we have a pretty unlimited number of options now, don't we? And we don't just see this on TV. We see this everywhere.
There is so much choice, so many decisions for us to make. Are we alone in this? Or is this something God is interested in? Is it possible that God wants to guide us through the myriad of choices we face every day? Well, Psalm 32, verse eight says this,
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”
So yes, God does want to guide us. God has a plan to guide us. How crazy is that? The idea of the Supreme God actually wanting to guide us through life. What do you think about this idea of God guiding you? I asked Anna Grace this same question. And here's what she had to say about it…
For someone who finds decision making sometimes quite overwhelming and daunting, I have found a lot of peace in knowing that there was someone greater than me. Greater than any situation that I've been in, greater than my fear, trying to communicate with me in really creative ways.
- Anna Grace
So for Anna Grace, God guiding her gives her peace and security. And it's not just Anna Grace that thinks this way either. Here's what Jackie has to say about it…
For me, it's security and hope. I became a Christian when I was 14. And God has always been with me. And so anything big or small I can take to God.
- Jackie
So for Jackie, God guiding her has been a lifelong thing. Something that she has experienced over and over again, which is just amazing to me. So how does it all work? How does God actually guide us? Well, without limiting God or oversimplifying the conversation, we're going to look at four key ways that God guides us. There are more, but we're going to look at just four of them today - 1. The Bible, 2. The Holy Spirit, 3. Advice from other people, and 4. Our ability to use common sense.
#1 - Guidance through the Bible
Here's what Mr John Farrington has to say about this…
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”
Sometimes God does say particular things to us. And I think he does guide us into specific jobs and places and all kinds of things. And sometimes, we need to hear that and be obedient to that. But other times, I think it is hard to know what God is specifically saying to us. Or maybe sometimes God isn't saying a specific thing to us or calling us into a particular thing.
Psalm 1 says if I delight in the law of the Lord (His Word) and if I get to know God and listen to Him through His Word. If I delight in that and meditate on that day and night, then it says, God will prosper, He will bless everything that I do, that I will bear the right fruit in the right season, that I will be like a tree planted by streams of water. And that's a really encouraging thing. I know that even if I'm not sure I might be doing the right thing, I know that God will bless what I'm doing so long as I stay rooted in Him and His Word. That's been a real encouragement for me. And I hope that encourages you.
- John Farrington
When we delight in God's word, He leads us and guides us. And it's not just John that has found guidance through the pages of Scripture. Here's Trevor,
We've always asked God where we should live in our married life. And there was a time in the early '90s, we wanted to know, and there was a particular scripture from the Old Testament about advancing into the hill country. And the hill country, close to where we were, was actually much more hilly than where we lived at the time. And we felt that was a real sign from God, to move out from the town, into the village. And so we stayed there for 26 years and got involved with the village, in the hill country.
- Jackie & Trevor
So for Jackie and Trevor, it was God leading them through the printed verses on a piece of paper, the Scripture itself, that led them to where they lived for 26 years. Your word is a lamp unto my feet, the Bible tells us. God illuminates our path through His Word. There are many ways that God guides us. One of them is the Bible. But another is when we feel the Holy Spirit prompt us.
#2 - Guidance through the Holy Spirit
So how does the Holy Spirit guide us? Here’s Anna Grace again,
One of the stories that I love reminding myself in those moments where I feel he's far, and maybe not listening, is when I lived in the north of India. And I was doing a lot of work with monks. So we would do English lessons with them and try to find ways of sharing the gospel. And we weren't allowed to say that we were Christians explicitly. And so we had to be very careful with our language and conversations that we had with people there in that city. We made sure to pray that these conversations would come up naturally because we weren't allowed to initiate conversations about Jesus or the gospel during these lessons. But if they asked us questions, we were allowed to answer. So I was a part of a team that would pray while the English lessons were happening.
One night, my friend and I felt an urge to pray for a girl on our team who was having an English lesson with one of the monks. And we felt that we were supposed to pray and pray hard and didn't know how to pray specifically. So we just really let God guide us in our words. And then, as we were praying, we heard the monk ask our friend about the gospel. And it was incredible because as we were praying for a gospel conversation to happen, we could listen to it happening on the other side of the wall. This monk asked our friend who Jesus was and what he had done for him out of nowhere. And he heard the whole Gospel story. And that's been a fantastic story to carry with me and to have in moments of confusion or worry because I know God is near, I know that he's speaking and that he's with me.
- Anna Grace
So Anna said she felt the urge to pray. That was the Holy Spirit prompting her to do that. The Holy Spirit who comes and lives in us. And you know, the longer you are a Christian, the more you get to know and recognise the voice and the prompts of the Holy Spirit. So we get direction from the Bible. We have the prompts of the Holy Spirit. But we also have guidance through people.
#3 - Guidance through people
Here's what Sally has to say about all of this,
When my husband & I got married, we had planned to move to Bristol. Various things happened, and we were given this opportunity to come to Liverpool. And it was a huge decision. We didn't know what to do for the best. And it was actually through speaking to some friends and praying about it and taking their advice that we decided to come to Liverpool. And then just feeling that real peace once we'd made that decision, that it was the right thing.
Some people might say that's the Holy Spirit, just showing you that it is the right decision you've made. So we didn't feel, oh no, should we have gone to Bristol? Have we done the right thing? And we just felt a real sense of peace that it was the right thing to do. And look at us now. Twenty plus years later, and here we are still in Liverpool and loving it!
- Sally Burch
So notice how it was speaking to friends and seeking their advice that helped James and Sal make the right decision. God speaks to us. God guides us through the Bible and the Holy Spirit's promptings. He helps us through other people and also guides us through our ability to think.
#4 - Guidance through our ability to think
Paul said to his mentoree in ministry, Timothy,
“Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.”
Reflect on what I am saying. In other words, use your mind, use your thinking, and God will guide you. Sometimes, when you hear Christians talk, it's like common sense has just flown right out of the window. But God has given us a mind for a reason and to reason. A classic example for many Christians is choosing a spouse or a job. You think it through and reflect on it. You see, God has given you abilities and qualities and character and strengths. He's given you experiences in life, and they're not to be wasted!
I've been running my own business for over 20 years now. And there's a lot of experience there that I can draw on. And every day at work, I use the mind that God has given me to make many decisions. The Bible also guides me, and I take its principles and put them into my business, on things like dealing with people. I have friends and wise counsel around me that I regularly talk to who have my best interests at heart. Christian business people who think and understand the world differently from me.
I also have the prompting of the Holy Spirit leading and guiding me. My business is where it is today because, in 1998, I followed a very simple prompting of the Holy Spirit to do a particular project. And that kick-started a journey that has led me to this point. And I followed his promptings many, many times since. I've been in meetings where I've heard him speak to me about specific ideas or insights that have changed everything.
That doesn't mean everything has been rosy, but in whatever, and wherever we find ourselves, we know and can believe and trust that he guides us. And we can have that divine peace. Because we know he's in control. And, amazingly, God in His infinite self is interested enough in you and me to take the time to guide us through our lives. It's an incredible thing. Does God guide us? He sure does!
CONVERSATION STREET
Questions we ask this week
Conversation Street is part of our live stream, where the hosts (in this case, James & Anna) chat through Matt’s talk and answer questions that were sent in through the live stream. You can watch the conversation in the video, it starts at 28 min 40 seconds into the live stream, or you can go straight there by clicking the button below. This week’s questions and topics of conversation are:
When God spoke to you, was it a very audible voice or just a thought in your head?
Have you got a sense where God tends to talk to you in a particular way more than others?
Do tough times teach us to rely more on God?
What is a Serenity Prayer? How is it useful?
If you put God first, does it mean that He’ll give you whatever you want?
