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God’s Guidance in 2017

God’s Guidance in 2017. God’s guidance. Guidance is never a simple matter for a Christian because it cannot be reduced to a formula applicable to all individuals or circumstances . The heart of guidance is a personal relationship .

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God’s Guidance in 2017

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  1. God’s Guidance in 2017

  2. God’s guidance • Guidance is never a simple matter for a Christian because it cannot be reduced to a formula applicable to all individuals or circumstances. • The heart of guidance is a personal relationship. • It lies in knowing God, loving Him and speaking with Him. • How can you know God better? • How can you know His goals for you? • What attitude should you have towards God? • We are good at asking God for guidance but do we trust Him and Listen to Him? • God has an overall plan for our lives. God’s concern is not simply a matter of telling us to do A and B but of changing and maturing us.

  3. God’s goal for us in 2017 • Romans 8:28-39 (NIV) • 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

  4. Can anything prevent God’s will taking effect in my life in 2017? • 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[c] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  5. Can anything prevent God’s will taking effect in my life in 2017? • 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

  6. Can anything prevent God’s will taking effect in my life in 2017?(Psalm 139 ) • No, because I have a Loving Father! • 1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. • 3 You discern my going out and my lying down;    you are familiar with all my ways. • 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. • 13For you created my inmost being;    you knit me together in my mother’s womb. • 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. • God can still guide us even when we are confused and unclear! • 23 Search me, God, and know my heart;    test me and know my anxious thoughts.24 See if there is any offensive way in me,    and lead me in the way everlasting.

  7. God is our guide in 2017 (Psalms 25) • God is intimately concerned with the whole of our lives because Christ lives in us. • This is our confidence that we can hand over control of our lives to Him. • God wants our fellowship, trust and love. • Guidance is a by-product of that relationship • Psalm 25:3-5 No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame 4Show me your ways, Lord,teach me your paths.5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,    for you are God my Savior,    and my hope is in you all day long.

  8. Conditions for God’s guidance (Psalm 25) 1) Humility • 9He guides the humble in what is right    and teaches them his way. 2) Fear of God / Reverence • 12Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?    He will instruct them in the ways they should choose. 3) Integrity and Uprightness • 21 May integrity and uprightness protect me,    because my hope, Lord,[c] is in you.

  9. How will God guide us in 2017 (Psalm 25) • 9 The Lord will guide me in what is right    and teach me His way. • 12He will instructme in the ways I should choose. • 13 I will spend my days in prosperity, • 13  My descendants will inherit the land. • 14 The Lord willconfidein me because I fear him; • 14 The Lord will make His covenant known to me. • 15The Lord will release my feet from the snare. • 20 The Lord will guard my life and rescue me; • 20  I will not be put to shame, for I take refuge in the Lord.

  10. Divine guidance • Psalm 23 3 He guides me along the right paths(Paths of righteousness) for his name’s sake. • David proclaims the reality of God giving guidance is for His own glory. • The Holy Spirit leads us within the limits which the Word sets, not beyond right paths. • Belief that divine guidance is real rests upon 2 fundamental facts:- 1) The reality of God’s plan for us (Psalm 139) 2) The ability of God to communicate with us

  11. Hearing God’s voice • How can I know that it is God speaking to me? • Can I confuse the voice of my own emotions with what God is saying? • We can test our feelings against the constant, impartial, revealed Word of God. • We can learn to distinguish God’s voice from others. • John 10 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[c]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

  12. How God communicates to us 1. Through His Word in general. • 2 Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is “God-breathed.” His Word sometimes gives us a warning, a word of encouragement, or a lesson for life. It’s ”His-story”–written with love as God’s guide for life, “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

  13. How God communicates to us 2.  Through His Son, Jesus Christ • The New Testament was the fulfillment of God’s special plan. It’s the gospel: the good news of Jesus Christ. • “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe” Hebrews 1:1-2, NIV).

  14. How God communicates to us 3. Through Nature and God’s Creation • “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse ” Romans 1:20, NIV). • Through the intricate details and magnificent beauty of all that God has made, we can “hear” His voice. How? E.g. By observing the ant’s strength to store up food all summer long, we learn about wisdom and industriousness. By studying the heavens, we understand more of God’s greatness.

  15. How God communicates to us 4. Through Other Believers • God may use a friend, a teacher, a parent, or a preacher to convey His message of truth to us. Their words may come as a warning, a blessing, or as a prophetic truth about our lives. • Whether we choose to hear it or ignore it, depends on us. Do their words line up with Scripture? Will God confirm or affirm that truth in us? • “The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere” (James 3:17, NIV).

  16. How God speaks to us • 5. Through Music • Praise brings instant attention, like a sergeant’s command to his soldiers. The words and the notes bring a soothing comfort, excitement, and passion that open ears and heart and lift our spirits immediately to God. • In 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat faced a huge army of enemies who could have easily destroyed His people, but he did a strange thing. With a declaration that his eyes were on God, he sent in a choir of praise singers: “Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever’” (2 Chronicles 20:21, NIV).

  17. How God communicates to us 6.  Through Circumstances • When others claim to hear God through circumstances, it is important to caution them to test their conclusions with other evidence. • God is a Holy God, and often uses circumstances to get our attention. But He will usually confirm it in other ways.

  18. How God communicates to us 7.  Through His Spirit • We are made in the image of God, and when we confess Jesus and follow Him as our Lord and Savior, His Spirit comes to live in us (John 14:17, 1 Corinthians 3:16). • 1 Cor 2 7we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  9 However, as it is written: • “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard,and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

  19. How God communicates to us 8.  Through Prayer • God often speaks to us through His Spirit, through prayer. We may not know how to pray, but God’s Word tells us His spirit makes intercession for us (Romans 8:26-27). • Often through a combination of fasting and prayer, our minds become clearer and our hearts are more sensitive to God. Again, we may not hear God’s literal voice, but His Spirit confirms a certain direction or answer for us. As the distractions fade, we can sense His leading in a new way. Sometimes while praying, God’s Spirit will remind us of a Scripture or a truth in His Word that we can directly apply to the situation.

  20. Hindrances from Being Led by the Holy Spirit • 1) Unwillingness to think /’Consider’ Deut 32 29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! • 2) Unwillingness to think ahead – Consider their latter end. Thinking ahead is part of the divine rule of life • 3) Unwillingness to take advice Proverbs 12:15 (KJV) 15The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.

  21. Hindrances from Being Led by the Holy Spirit • 4) Unwillingness to suspect oneself. We dislike being realistic with ourselves! Psalm 139 23Search me, God, and know my heart;    test me and know my anxious thoughts.24 See if there is any offensive/wicked way in me,    and lead me in the way everlasting. • 5) Unwillingness to discount personal magnetism – blindly following a person, treating them as an angel, prophet and taking his/her words as guidance without checking them out 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (KJV) 21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

  22. Hindrances from Being Led by the Holy Spirit • 6) Unwillingness to wait. • It is not God’s way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide us more than one step at a time. • When in doubt do nothing, but continue to wait on God. • When action is needed, the light will come.

  23. Does God sometimes lead us to trouble? • Acts 20:22-23 (NIV) 22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. • Divine guidance set Jesus at a distance from His family, brought Him into conflict with all nation’s leaders, religious and civil and led him to the cross. • God does not always tell us the why and wherefore of the frustrations and losses which are part and parcel of the guided life. • But God is in control 1 Cor 1 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory

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