Asking for God’s guidance.
We can confidently engage with God when we
need guidance on important issues.
It WILL prove its value.
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1. INTRODUCTION
Importantly, please read the introductory article, “God’s guidance” to this subsection of the website, of the same name, before going on. That is if you have not done so already. It briefly describes the various methods of God’s guidance, available to us. And it discusses how they can assist us during life. That is if we decide to use them.
This is the final article in that “God’s Guidance” subsection. For those readers who have not been exposed to the likelihood of such a thing – i.e. God guiding us in life – it may all be a bit hard to accept at first. I understand that. But it is like the rest of this ‘believing in God’ and ‘accepting Christian faith’ stuff. Essentially, those who don’t ‘have a go’ will ‘never know’ the positive outcomes that were available to them during their lives as a result.
I write that as the analytical old dude that I am. (To read about the ‘who’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of this website please click here.)
This “God’s guidance” stuff WILL prove itself to you, I am sure, just as other methods of engaging with God in life can. I explain this evaluation process under sub heading 5.2 in the article “God’s presence in our lives“.
2. RECOGNISING GOD’S GUIDANCE
When they’re evaluated, the odds of these things relating to God’s guidance in life, happening as they do, are indeed ‘plain old’ just too hard to explain away. I say without doubt that it becomes all the more obvious as time passes … if and when we are actually open to it. So, maybe, if you have not read the articles before this one, in this subsection, take your time and think about all their contents.
We should, after analysis of these sorts of past events, recognise that all guidance from God is actually related to better life outcomes. That is, our life’s purpose and contentedness. We’re talking about our ‘real needs’ here and not our ‘wishlists’ of course. And I mean for both ourselves and those other people who rely on us.
3. REQUESTING GOD’S GUIDANCE
The next step in our journey with God, in this regard, is to deliberately engage with him through his methods of guidance. Really connect! As such we start to relax into ‘trusting God’ more; moving forward in his loving presence. I know I run the risk of sounding ‘corny’ here, as I now read my own words as the atheist that I once was.
But I ask you to consider this different way of approaching life – that I share with so many other Christians of course. That very different outlook on life is explained more fully in the articles, “Trusting God day to day” and “Trusting God with your life”.
As far as we are concerned here then, why not start to ask for God’s guidance when faced with hard decisions. Of course this takes us into new territory, i.e. speaking to God. We are deliberately engaging with him; applying faith to our lives, just as God intends of us. Again it can relate to all those important areas of our lives: family life, personal relationships, spiritual path, education, career and daily work, helping others, buying essential assets etc.
Admittedly it takes some time, as beginner Christians, to relax into this mix of faith and openness. Yes, it is here that we are placing ‘trust’ in God’s love. From the Old Testament:
Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the Lord’s unfailing love
surrounds the man who trusts in him.
[Psalm 32:10]
When we are faced by important decisions that are ‘hard to make’ we can, as believers, simply ask for guidance ‘through prayer‘ (another subsection in this “God in life” section of the website). It is then just a matter of recognising the guidance – which is generally made clear to us – when God responds to our request.
4. HOW GOD RESPONDS
How then, as Christians, do we expect God to guide us after asking for it?
Firstly, we might hold up the logic behind our plans, with our hearts and minds open to him. We slow our thinking processes and wait. It’s certainly not unusual to receive strong feelings, one way or the other, on the issue we face as a result. This process is known by Christians as “discernment”. That is, after the prayer, we wait for God’s response. Please also have a read of the article, “Advice through God’s own voice“. As such, we can at times recognise the Lord offering advice, through a genuine message, directly into our minds.
Knowledge of Bible scriptures, in the case of experienced Christians, also assists by highlighting Biblical advice on what is right or wrong in our expectations. In the words of the Psalmist [119:105], “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path”.
Secondly, and not surprisingly, we should look out for advice from people we respect, especially Christian friends and mature family members. In other words, as I have previously explained under “God’s advice through others” God will at times respond to our request (for guidance) through these people.
Thirdly, and again not surprisingly, we would look for positive and/or negative ‘hints or leadings’ from God as presented in an earlier article in this subsection.
No matter which method God chooses to show us the best way forward, I can assure you that we do eventually learn to trust him in his guidance. Again from the Old Testament:
Let the morning bring me word
of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
[Psalm 143:8]
5. CONCLUSION
For the final words on guidance I offer this Biblical quote from the Old Testament:
Your ears will hear a voice behind you,
saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
[Isaiah 30:21]
I also write in full confidence, based on my many positive experiences, that if we ask for guidance from God and he provides it, then he will LOVINGLY SUPPORT US when we do follow it.
In simpler words: God WILL help us WHEN we follow his advice.
So, continue to the next article, “God’s helping hand”.