Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Trust Him to guide you.”

Attempting to seek guidance from God about anything is often a confusing and anxiety-inducing time for many people, but it shouldn’t be. As I’ve explained several times throughout the course of our study this month, God wants to be understood by His people so He can then be obeyed. It would be unfair on God’s part if He expected to be obeyed but then didn’t make Himself clear about what He wanted us to do.

As we complete our study of seeking God’s guidance, I want to conclude by reviewing a couple of key points. First, I’ve decided to use Proverbs 3:5-6 as our Bible verse for today even though it’s already been used once this month. I’m doing that because it teaches such an important truth. When seeking guidance from God you must trust Him. Then make sure that to the best of your ability you are seeking His will and not your own. If you are doing that, you can be sure He will guide you as necessary. Even if you don’t receive specific step-by-step instructions, you can go forward in confidence that since your heart is right and you are sincerely seeking His will, He will guide you.

That then brings us to the second important point we need to remember. Many times God doesn’t give us specific instructions. Instead, more often, He simply gives us Biblical boundaries within which we are to stay. It is then up to us to use our spiritually mature good judgment, make our best decision, and get on with life. In most cases there are multiple potential choices we could make that would be just fine with God, as long as we stay within the boundaries.

The story Dallas Willard used to tell about guiding his children when they were young is a helpful illustration of this point. Dallas would often send the children out to play in the fenced backyard. Once they were in the backyard they were free to swing on the swings, play in the sandbox, sit under a tree and read a book, or any number of other activities they might choose, as long as they behaved themselves and stayed within the boundaries of the backyard. Dallas didn’t feel as if he needed to give them specific guidance regarding particular activities, as long as they were being obedient to the general rules of good behavior and they were staying within the established boundaries of the backyard they were free to make their own choices.

The same is often true for us with respect to how God is guiding us. As long as you behave yourself and stay within the boundaries you can make your own choices. So, don’t fret about it and don’t get bogged down in indecision which prevents you from doing anything. Pray, sincerely seek God’s will and not your own, give God plenty of opportunity to speak to you if He wants to, but then make a decision and get on with life.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

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Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Distinguish between wants and needs.”

Do you know the difference between a want and a need? Many people confuse the two. Food and shelter is a need. A new iphone is a want. Protection in a dangerous situation is a need. Praying for the Braves to win the pennant is a want. The dictionary tells us that a need is something that is a necessity and which is required; a want is something that is desired and wished for, but not really necessary.

When praying for God’s guidance it’s important to distinguish between a legitimate need and something that is only a want. Over and over again throughout the Bible God assures us that He is aware of our true needs and that He is committed to caring for us. The words of Jesus in Matthew 6:25-34 may be the most reassuring passage in all of scripture regarding this (it’s the “do not worry” passage). In that passage Jesus assures us that our Father in Heaven knows what our needs are and that He will provide for us, if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.

Likewise, in Philippians 4:19, the Apostle Paul boldly proclaims his confidence that his God (the God that he knows so well and so personally, and who has provided so well for him through all of his own times of trial and need) will also supply all of our true needs.

Beyond that, God will often also grant us our wants as well. We know from scripture and from personal experience that God blesses us abundantly, over and above what we had hoped for or expected. But, it’s essential that we remain clear in our own minds which things are genuine needs and which are only wants. And should we get confused about it, I think God will help to clarify things for us, probably by denying us the want we are confusing as a need, and He will do it in order to help us see that we really don’t “need” that thing after all.

We can be much bolder in our prayers about things that are genuine needs. But when it comes to things that are merely wants and nice-to-haves, it’s still okay to pray for such things, but we better be sure to tell God we understand and appreciate the difference. Otherwise He might have to teach it to us.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Seek God’s will, not your own.”

In his famous Bible study, “Experiencing God: Knowing and doing the will of God”, Henry Blackaby teaches an important lesson about how a congregation in a business meeting should prepare themselves for making decisions. He teaches that the business meeting should begin with a time of silent prayer as each person asks God to help them put aside their own opinions, preferences, and biases, and to the best of their ability genuinely seek only His will in the matters to be decided upon. If enough people in the meeting are determined to only seek God’s will, so they can then obey it, you can trust that God will reveal His will to those people. This is a pattern that we use at all of our business meetings at Oak Hill Baptist Church.

What’s true for an entire congregation is also true for us as individuals. When it comes to seeking guidance from God we have to do what Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane, we have to put aside our own wants and desires, and to the best of our ability seek only God’s will in the matter.

Jesus certainly had a strong opinion about how He would have preferred that matter to have been resolved. He would have preferred for God the Father to come up with some other solution, rather than He (Jesus) taking upon Himself the sins of the world and then dying a torturous death on the cross. In His flesh Jesus wanted a different outcome. But it was God the Father who had the good and perfect plan. It was true that Jesus would suffer terribly for a relatively brief time, but His suffering would result in eternal glory for Him and deliverance from sin for all those who would place their faith in Him. The Father’s plan was best, and Jesus knew it. And so, He submitted His will for the Father’s and simply did what He knew He needed to do.

As you are seeking God’s guidance for anything, you have to be committed to submitting your will for His – even if that means accepting an outcome that is different from the one you were hoping for. There is no better place for you to be than right in the center of God’s will.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored in him.” Matthew 12:34-35 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Follow your heart.”

In yesterday’s devotional I explained that God is in the process of transforming you into the man or woman He wants you to be. Your life is a work of art in His hands and you are His masterpiece in the making. It is actually your heart that He is molding and shaping. The rest of your life is the outward manifestation of what is in your heart. That’s what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 12:34-35.

To a very large degree a person’s actions are driven by what is in his or her heart. It’s true that those impulses and inclinations can be controlled to an extent, and for a while, through simple will power and discipline, but ultimately it’s what is in your heart that will determine how you think; that will then determine the choices you make; which will dictate the actions you take; and the actions you take will collectively add up to the life you have.

With respect to seeking God’s guidance in any given moment, there are two lessons in this for us. First, commit yourself to the daily spiritual disciplines that will keep you in a position before God whereby He can progressively transform your heart. This is the first and best way to conform to God’s will for your life. If your heart has been molded and shaped into something that is good and holy, the rest of your life will follow along. Good decisions on your part will occur largely automatically simply because of who God has transformed you into.

The second lesson in this for us involves conscious choice on our part. As you are considering the choices before you, consider which one would most likely be made by a person with the kind of heart Jesus described in Matthew 12:34-35 – a heart that is a storehouse of good. That’s the kind of heart you want to have, it’s the kind of heart that God is trying to form within you, and it is the kind of heart that will lead to good decisions.

It’s we are often confronted with desires and impulses that are not consistent with a good heart, and which pull us strongly in a different direction. So think, which choice would be most consistent with the kind of heart Jesus described? Then make that choice. Make it regardless of any other impulses or desires you might be experiencing at the moment.

When I encouraged you to “follow your heart”, this is what I meant. Consider the good that is stored up in your heart and let that be what guides your thinking and your actions.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “For we are His workmanship (His own master work, a work of art), created in Christ Jesus (reborn from above – spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used) for good works, which God prepared (for us) beforehand (taking paths which He set), so that we would walk in them (living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us).” Ephesians 2:10 (Amplified Bible)

Our thought for today: “Your life is a work of art.”

The Amplified Bible is a special translation of the Bible which uses all the English words necessary to capture the full meaning of the Hebrew or Greek words used in the Bible. Hebrew and Greek are rich languages and the words often have many layers of meaning. Therefore it sometimes takes multiple English words to capture the full meaning of a single Hebrew or Greek word. The Amplified Bible uses as many English words as necessary in order to do that. It makes for awkward reading, but it does help us to gain a fuller understanding of what’s being taught in the verse.

Paul’s intent in Ephesians 2:10, was to help us understand that God is at work in our lives creating a masterpiece, a work of art. God is in the process of molding and shaping us into the men and women He wants us to be. You have been reborn in Christ Jesus, renewed in the Spirit, transformed from who you used to be, and prepared by God to accomplish His good works in this world. In His eyes you are becoming progressively more and more beautiful, and you are slowly becoming the person He wants you to be.

Some of the most beautiful people I have ever known were old and wrinkled, sometimes in poor health and with few worldly possessions. They might not have been “beautiful” in terms of physical attractiveness, fashionable clothes, expensive jewelry, but they were beautiful in spirit. They were beautiful in their expression of the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

As you’re seeking God’s guidance for the various decisions you have to make in life, remember that He is in the process of transforming you into a spiritual masterpiece, and any guidance He gives you will be intended to move you along in that process of transformation. So ask yourself, “Which of the choices before me would produce the most positive change in me, or would be most likely to bring out the Fruit of the Spirit in me?” Since your transformation is God’s ultimate objective, answering such a question could be very helpful in discerning His guidance for you in this moment.

Your life is a work of God’s art. You are His masterpiece in development and God is guiding you in that direction.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearby; for God said, “The people will change their minds and return to Egypt if they face war.” So he led the people around toward the Red Sea along the road of the wilderness.” Exodus 13:17-18 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The path forward is seldom straight.”

The country music singer Garth Brooks once wrote a song called, “Unanswered Prayers”. It was about a night when he ran into an old high school girlfriend. As they talked, he remembered how he was so in love with this woman and how he used to pray that God would make her his wife. But the romance fizzled, they both moved on, and eventually he met and married the real woman of his dreams.

After that high school romance ended, there must have been some number of years of more failed relationships, aloneness, and periods of wondering why God had not answered those original prayers. But as he looked back on it the man realized that although the path that led him to his wife was long and took many twists and turns, it had been the right path after all and God knew exactly what he was doing.

In today’s Bible verse we read of how the time when God delivered the nation of Israel from captivity in Egypt. He didn’t lead them straight to the Promised Land by the most direct route. That would have been too easy. And if it was too easy, they wouldn’t learn and grow and become strong. Instead they would be weak.

So God led them out into the wilderness for awhile. It would be during the wilderness years that the people would have to face challenges, deal with struggles, learn to rely on God, and they would become strong and resilient. The easy and direct route was not the best route for them. It usually isn’t the best route for us either, and for the same reasons.

As you seek guidance from God you will naturally be looking for the easiest and most direct route from where you are to where you want to be; in your mind that answer would make the most sense, but you will probably be wrong. Our paths through life are almost never straight. There are always twists and turns. And the problem is, if we’re looking for and expecting God to give us a simple, easy, direct way forward, we will probably dismiss any guidance that doesn’t look like that. We will assume it isn’t from Him because it’s not what we were expecting. But you would then be dismissing the very guidance God is giving you, and potentially missing the good things He wants to lead you to.

Don’t dismiss God’s guidance just because it isn’t a quick and easy solution and therefore not what you were expecting.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “There is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads to poverty.” Proverbs 14:23 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Do something.”

Proverbs 14:23 is intended to spur us to action. It’s supposed to inspire us to do something. It establishes a contrast between someone who talks a good game, and someone who just goes out and does the thing.

The most specific and direct application of that Proverb is with respect to working, and the fact that a lazy person talks about work but a diligent person actually does the work. Solomon’s point is that you need to stop talking about work and just go do some work.

But the same lesson can also apply to seeking God’s guidance. Sometimes Christians use the claim of “I’m seeking God’s guidance”, as a reason for not doing anything. We claim, “I don’t want to get ahead of God on this”, and as a result we end up getting far behind God because God has moved on and we’re still sitting there undecided about what to do.

As was noted in yesterday’s devotional, often we’re looking for a grand vision and specific guidance, but God just wants us to get off our duff and do something. He has given us skills and abilities and opportunities. He has given us a mind with which we can think, and evaluate, and decide, and He has outlined for us the Biblical boundaries within which He wants us to stay. Beyond that we just need to use our judgment, make some choices, and get moving.

One of the things I love about President Teddy Roosevelt, and the reason he has become one of my role models in life, is because he was a doer of deeds. He got stuff done. He wasn’t tentative and indecisive. He considered, he evaluated, he made a decision, and he moved. He once wrote, “I have always had a horror of words that are not translated into deeds, of speech that does not result in action.”

Of course you should seek God’s guidance. You should pray, search Scripture, consider circumstances, discuss it with friends, and give God some time to speak to you if He wants to. Just don’t get stuck there. Don’t use, “I’m waiting for God’s guidance” as an excuse for doing nothing when you should be doing something.

Most of the time God just wants you to make your best decision and get moving. Just do something.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: