Finding God’s Direction - 4

Finding God’s Direction - 4

Subject: Finding God’s Divine Direction in Our Lives

By Rick Welborne

Proverbs 3:1-10 (NKJV)
¹  My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands;
²  For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you.
³  Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart,
⁴  And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
⁵  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
⁷  Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.
⁸  It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.
⁹  Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
¹⁰  So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine. 

--Last sermon:

1. To find God’s direction you must avoid that one stupid mistake. 

2. To find God’s direction you must start where you are.
3. To find God’s direction you must start flossing.

--Tonight’s message…we must all realize that there is a cause and effect. Good decisions, good results. Bad decisions, bad results. The stories we write are the result of many variables. 

--You don’t get to choose your parents, your family, or where you are born. As children, all the big decisions are made for us…where we lived, which schools we went to, what we ate, even when to go to bed.

--You learn if you drive over the speed limit, you get a ticket. You date the wrong person, you could end up brokenhearted, struggling to trust again. 

--If you choose the wrong friends, if you attempt to drink an entire six-pack in less than a few minutes, your decision may leave you in an intimate relationship with a toilet. Don’t want to throw it up to you!

--On the other hand, if you choose to show up to work on time and work hard…your boss notices and gives a promotion and a raise. You make good choices with what you eat and how you exercise…you lose weight!

--Every choice you make, both big and small, affects the aspects of your life. You either learn to take responsibility for your actions, or you make excuses always looking for someone to blame.

1. God’s navigational tool…wisdom.

--Before I counsel with anyone who comes to my office…I do the same thing every time…I pray this portion of scripture and truly believe that God is going to do it. 

James 1:5-8 (NIV)
⁵  If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
⁶  But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
⁷  That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;
⁸  he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

--God wants us to find His direction and He wants us to receive His wisdom but we do not stop and ask Him. From someone who loves you, can I offer you some good advice. Ask God.

--Many times things are out of our control; conversations escalate in a direction we never intended for them to go and wisdom is needed to navigate treacherous waters…what are we to do?

--Many of us just plow on through as if we had good sense or as if we did not care what the collateral damage will be. Ok, Pastor, what should we do in those moments?

--Hit the pause button…don’t say anything and for sure, do not do anything. Even if you cannot pray it out loud, pause and pray for wisdom and then, listen to what God speaks. Any verse for this?

Psalm 46:8-11 (NKJV)
⁸  Come, behold the works of the LORD, Who has made desolations in the earth.
⁹  He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire.
¹⁰  Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
¹¹  The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah 

--Maybe I read these verses different than you but they definitely work for me. 

A. Stop and behold or see what God has already done!

B. Stop and see how He even controls wars…things bigger than us!

C. Stop! Be still! Be quiet! Don’t do anything or say anything! Know I am God!

D. Stop and realize the Lord is with us and He is our refuge!

--Wisdom is God’s navigational tool for helping us make decisions about the life we want to live. The tricky part is stopping for a moment and actually using it before we make the wrong decision.

2. God’s beautiful gift…seeing into the future. 

--No! I am telling you with certainty that God has given us this gift of seeing our future. God has given us the ability to effect what that future will be. Example of someone not using wisdom.

--We had been somewhere and we pull up in our driveway and get out of the car…we hear a voice in the wilderness crying…hey! Hey! Dad! Mom! Help! It was our son Jeremy when he 14 or 15 years old.

--We hurry out to the pasture where we thought we had heard the sound coming from. We look half way up in a very large tree and there is Jeremy holding a saw yelling for help. What are you doing?

--As we look at the tree and inspect his dilemma, we see that he has climbed higher and higher cutting off each limb that was under him. We burst out laughing at his predicament! We get the ladder for him.

--Now I ask you, do you believe that if Jeremy would have just hit the pause button for a moment before he started cutting the limbs under him, he probably would have laughed to himself. 

--He would have seen in his mind what we saw in reality and he could have averted the situation. Our decisions are like this and the scriptures bear this out from Gen. to Rev. God says:

2 Corinthians 9:6 (NKJV) ⁶ But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Luke 6:36-39 (NKJV) ³⁶  Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
³⁷  "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
³⁸  Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
³⁹  And He spoke a parable to them: "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? 

--If you give generously now…in your future it will be given back to you generously. Choose now not to judge people and in your future God will surround you with people who do not judge you.

--An example…I worked for people who were cruel, mean, stingy, abusive. This was in the ministry. People encouraged me to expose what was happening but I said emphatically “no!”

1 Chronicles 16:22 (NKJV) ²² Saying, "Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm." 

--I chose to honor God’s man who was pastoring the church even though it was difficult. Why? Because I could see into the future! I could see God surrounding me with pastors who are loyal.

--I could have created my own future in a much different light if I had chosen to attack the man of God and to write a letter telling of his abuse. When I left there, I honored him before the people. 

--Can the blind lead the blind? If you hang out with someone who is ungodly, with someone who is willfully disobeying God’s Word, who is spiritually blind…the ditch is in your future.

--If you are a person who forgives others even when they do not deserve it…you have a wonderful future!

Luke 6:37 (NKJV) ³⁷ …Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

3. Seek God’s wisdom for each situation.

1 Chronicles 14:8-17 (NLT2)
⁸  When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they mobilized all their forces to capture him. But David was told they were coming, so he marched out to meet them.
⁹  The Philistines arrived and made a raid in the valley of Rephaim.
¹⁰  So David asked God, “Should I go out to fight the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The LORD replied, “Yes, go ahead. I will hand them over to you.” 

¹¹  So David and his troops went up to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. “God did it!” David exclaimed. “He used me to burst through my enemies like a raging flood!” So they named that place Baal-perazim (which means “the Lord who bursts through”).
¹²  The Philistines had abandoned their gods there, so David gave orders to burn them.
¹³  But after a while the Philistines returned and raided the valley again.
¹⁴  And once again David asked God what to do. “Do not attack them straight on,” God replied. “Instead, circle around behind and attack them near the poplar trees.
¹⁵  When you hear a sound like marching feet in the tops of the poplar trees, go out and attack! That will be the signal that God is moving ahead of you to strike down the Philistine army.”
¹⁶  So David did what God commanded, and they struck down the Philistine army all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
¹⁷  So David’s fame spread everywhere, and the LORD caused all the nations to fear David. 

--Everyone say strategy…God has a strategy. He wants us to pause and to inquire of Him what His plan is for this particular situation. David had the wisdom to inquire in both situations.

--One enemy needed to be taken head on…the next time…circle behind them and listen for marching feet in the poplar trees. Wow, this is totally different. So important to get right now direction and wisdom from God. 

--So many times we put God in a box and can I say it…God does not do boxes! He expects us to seek Him in every situation for His will and wisdom to defeat our enemies.