God's guidance...

Oh, how I wish the leading of God in my life was as obvious as this arrow, 

(which is actually a piece of a broken branch, that I came across on my walk recently).

The good new is, God promises to instruct us, to teach us, to counsel us in the way we should go,

if we are willing to be instructed, taught and counseled by Him.

It's rather up to us isn't it?

In my opinion, we can make going the right direction in our life far too complicated.

God's will for our life isn't some mysterious, nebulous thing that God dangles in front of us like a carrot on a stick, and just when we are about to grasp it, He jerks it out of the way, 

laughing with glee at our confusion and frustration.

I believe God delights in leading us clearly.

Here are some common ways that I believe God leads us.

 Through His Word- 

 In the Bible we can find guidance on what is God's will and what isn't.

There are some pretty clear "arrows" pointing us in the right direction in the Bible.

For example, it's God's will that we love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.

It's God's will that we love our neighbor as ourself.

It's God's will that we glorify Him with our life.

If we just sifted our life decisions through those three filters, 

that alone would eliminate a lot of poor choices.

By the leading of His Holy Spirit- 

If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then the Holy Spirit lives in you.

He is the Spirit of Wisdom.

He is the Counselor.

Let's pretend you're standing in the grocery line and the young mama in front of you

 is five dollars short on her purchases.

That inner knowing that you should give her the five dollars is the Holy Spirit in you.

So is that sudden feeling that you need to pray for your neighbor, or your son who's away at college, 

or that missionary from Uganda that you know. 

Likewise, that sick feeling, that lack of peace, about an upcoming decision, 

may well be the Holy Spirit telling you to wait or to not do it at all.

How do you tell if that "inner voice" is the Holy Spirit, your own thoughts or even the devil?

The voice of the Holy Spirit will always agree with the Word of God,

thoughts in opposition to the Word of God are from the enemy.

The voice of the Holy Spirit will never speak words of hopelessness to you,

again, these types of thoughts are from the enemy of your soul.

He wants you to despair, to give up and quit.

The Holy Spirit will speak words that will direct you to exalt Jesus not yourself, 

in other words, self focused, selfish thoughts aren't from God,

but from your own soul.

By the opening and closing of doors-

I'm a firm believer in the fact that sometimes God answers our prayers for His guidance, 

by simply shutting doors that aren't His will, and opening those that are.

We can be stubborn, though, and refuse to accept a closed door.

We can waste our time and effort beating on it, or figuring a way around it.

Perhaps God has closed the door for now because it's not the right time yet.

Perhaps it's not the right door for you at all.

I think we should give God permission in our lives to open the doors that are from Him,

and to close those that aren't, and then we should trust Him to do just that.

By godly counsel-

It's a good idea to consult trusted and proven godly people in your lives when you are facing a big directional decision.  

Ask them to pray with you.

Ask them for their input.

I'm so thankful that God wants us to know the way we should go.

I'm so thankful that His eyes are on us, that He's watchful over us.

still following,

Also happily linking up with the lovely Lisha Epperson 

and Cheryl McCain Photography.