Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Confidence”
Our Bible verse for today: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “If your heart is right, you can have confidence that God will guide you.”
I want to return to the question we considered in yesterday’s devotional, “How can I have confidence that I’m doing the things that God wants me to do?” For the serious disciple of Jesus, it’s an important question, and the answer almost always comes in subtle ways that require spiritual discernment. Seldom does God peel back the clouds, poke His head through, and say “Hey Jim, take a left at the next light.”
So how do we know, especially when it comes to the big things in life? Unfortunately there is no simple five-step formula we can apply for discerning the will of God. As has already been noted, knowing when God is speaking, and understanding what He is saying, is a subtle thing that comes with spiritual maturity. But there are many principles and patterns given to us in the Bible that are intended to guide us in spiritual growth, and help us to better understand God and His ways and His desires for us as individuals.
One lesson that comes through loud and clear in the Bible is that God wants to be understood by us so that He can then be obeyed. We also see on the pages of Scripture that God goes to extraordinary lengths to communicate His will to His people.
Although God can communicate with us in an infinite number of ways, in our age He typically does so in five basic ways: through the Bible, through prayer, through the circumstances of our lives, through the counsel of other mature Christians, and sometimes through the testimony of the church as a body.
As we learn in Proverbs 3:5-6, the starting place for understanding and obeying God is to have a heart that is fully surrendered to Him. If you are determined to trust in Him rather than in yourself, and your desire is to honor Him with your choices, you can then trust Him to guide you in the way He wants you to go. That then gives you the confidence to just begin moving forward the best way you know how, trusting that He is guiding you.
We will consider this subject in much greater detail in our Sunday night Bible Study, “What on Earth am I Here For?” which begins at Oak Hill Baptist on Sunday March 22nd, at 6:00. I encourage you to join us.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 