Living By God's Guidance – Dr. Charles Stanley

start your day off right with the free in-touch devotional subscribe today [Music] who are what is guiding your life think for just a moment when you think about a given day in your life who's really guiding your thinking your attitude your wishes your desires how you operate how you work whatever it might be are you guided by someone by some philosophy or attitude that you have in life are you guided by your feelings and your emotions some people live by their feelings their emotions up to day and down tomorrow in and out and so they have no real stability in life because they're living by feelings and god does not intend for us to live by feelings he intends for us to live by a relationship that we have with him who gives us stability and strength and clarity and guidance in every area of our life well we've been in the book of exodus and the hebrew children are out of egyptian bondage and they're on their way across the desert and to the promised land it should take them a few weeks but it took them 40 years because of their unbelief if they had obeyed god and exactly what he had said that he reached the promised land a whole lot easier and a whole lot earlier but like many other people they took their eyes off god started thinking about something else looked at uh where they were going and who was there and so their fear overtook them and they as you and i would say backslid and missed it and spent 40 years wandering around in the wilderness dying off when they could have been living in the promised land so i want to talk about this whole issue of being guided by god if you name the name of jesus as your savior you should be guided by the word of god and when i think about that i think about the fact that god has given us a compass really that compass is really the holy spirit who lives inside of us to give us guidance and direction every day of our life so i want to think for just a moment about the fact that these hebrews were walking and living in a strange country now they're out of captivity and they have the scripture says a cloud by day and a fire by night and more than likely if you'll think about it that cloud by day also kept a little bit of the sun off of them but it also acted like a compass as a guide they also had fire in the evening which probably kept them a little warm from a desert breeze and so god is leading them out of egyptian bondage and he's leading him to a whole different perspective if they will follow him they will be in canaan shortly the place that god has preserved for him and yet that's not what happens and so what i want us to think about for just a moment is this whole idea of who guides us we have this as our guide so we don't have to wonder about how god thinks about certain things and how he feels about certain things we have the word of god to give us guidance and direction and we thank god for that so if we want to be guided by god there's certain things we need to remember and some people don't think about having a guide they just think about in the morning they wake up and face life and they deal with life today they'll deal with life tomorrow and it's the next day and so forth god does own us living that way that's why he gave us the holy spirit when we were saved to endure us and one of his responsibilities is to guide us in every circumstance of life every area of our life is within the scope of his vision of his power and of his will and so what we have to ask is this am i willing to live by his guidance and direction in my life am i willing to be guided by god i or my god just going to have it my way and so the children of israel once out of a bondage could have had a fantastic life soon but they chose not to do it many people today have heard the gospel they've heard it clearly they heard it from their parents or they heard it from a preacher from an evangelist or whatever it might be they've heard the truth they've made a decision just like you you've made a decision you made a decision to trust christ as your savior you made a decision to listen to the holy spirit who indwelled you you made a decision to be careful to be obedient to god because you know in your heart that obedience always brings blessing and disobedience brings to something entirely different so the issue is this when i think about what they had a pill of cloud and fire to guide them keep them warm keep them cool lead them to the promised land what do we have and that's this book there's not any direction of your life that's not covered here whatever you're looking for whatever you're seeking whatever guidance you desire in life you open the word of god and he will give you that living in this world reading the bible every now and then is not sufficient we live in a wicked vile world it's very evident from what we see happening and we live in a world that is against god against the lord jesus christ and opposed to so many things that you and i believe so we have to decide am i going to live by my emotions am i going to live by what other people are doing or am i going to live by the one thing that i know will absolutely give me clear true true true guidance every single day of my life that's the word of god so i want us to think about that and when i think about what god says number one meditating upon the word of god now those hebrews didn't have this we have something they didn't have and if you will look at the 119th psalm for a moment and i want you to notice a verse here and the scripture says in this 119th psalm and verse 105 your word is a lamp to my feet and the light to my path now look at that do you believe that the word of god is a lamp to your feet which means he will always show you the right path to take and a light to my path that is what the cloud and the fire were to israel in those days of desert times the word of god is to us what is it a light to my path and a lamp to my feet that is if you want to go and you want to be in the right place at the right time you get in the word of god you say well the word of god doesn't know everything about me listen the god who penned these words knows exactly where you are what you're facing in life and listen there is a passage of scripture here somewhere in this book that applies to who you are where you are today no matter who you are and it is an adequate word to give you guidance and direction the problem is not that we don't have direction the problem is we've closed the book and if the nation of israel had said forget the cloud and forget the fire let's just go where we want to go that's exactly the way people are living and many people only open the word of god when they're in trouble a lamp to my feet a light to your path listen you and i should always be walking in the path of righteousness and what's good we have we know which way to walk and god has told us that secondly we need to be sensitive to the leadership of the holy spirit and one of the things that jesus made very very clear to his apostles he said i'm not going to leave you alone he says i will come to you and he was speaking of of the holy spirit and and the scriptures he makes it very very clear the 16th chapter and uh in this 13th verse he says when he the spirit of truth comes and all of us have the holy spirit living within us he will guide you listen to this he will guide you into all the truth so that if you own a copy of the word of god you don't have any excuse for not being able to discern what is right what is wrong what it's true and what is untrue what's good what's evil we live in a world with all kind of philosophies and telling us that well you know jesus that's the ancient times no jesus is alive living within us today and he says when he the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his own initiative but whatever he hears he will speak and he will disclose it to you that is what's to come that is watch think about this when you wake up every morning as a follower of jesus you have abiding within you living within you in all of his eternal power and being the very person of the holy spirit to give you guidance direction strength energy discernment and all the rest all day long we have everything we need to live a godly life and so when somebody says well i got saved way back yonder and somewhere i just felt like god left me no he didn't leave you and you may be seated here today and you're just absolutely a backslidden christian you're living in sin disobedient to god looking back and thinking about what your mother taught you years ago it's brought back to you some things that you learned right after you got saved and when you were surrendered to jesus and you look back and you ask yourself this question how did i get where i am i'll tell you how you got where you are because you close this book you stop listening to the holy spirit who's living within you you decide to make some choices apart from god now you're in a mess you cannot blame it on your parents on your children who you work for your friends or whatever it might be god gave us the book is a guidebook think about this every one of us is responsible to almighty god to be good stewards of the knowledge and the experience that the word of god tells us about about every single circumstance of our life we're to be we're to be guided by the spirit then one of the things we have to wait for if we're going to follow the lord is to wait for his timing and one of my favorite verses is isaiah 64. and when i think about this verse and how many times i've read it and have said yes lord please give me wisdom enough to do exactly what it says and so here's what it says in this 64th chapter listen this for from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear nor has the i seen a god besides you are like you listen a god who acts on behalf of the one who waits for him so ask yourself the question well let's say when you get up in the morning you're going to start the day off with prayer you get up and you get on your knees or you read the scripture and then you just take off what does the bible say about waiting upon god if you're going to read the word of god listen carefully let's just say you're going to read the 23rd psalm which you already know by heart you know what makes the scripture stick in your life what makes it register in your mind in your brain what causes you to be able to remember it is when you read it you think about it you forget everything else for the moment and you ask yourself this question and you talk to god about it lord help me to remember what you're saying don't let me forget this simple verse you act in behalf of those who wait upon you how much time did we spend waiting upon and we said well i read my scripture this morning and i had to hurry up think about this every single day of your life in my life is totally uncertain and what's happening about us is very evident of that we need to begin every day in the word even if it's one verse or a whole chapter or whatever it might be remembering that the spirit of god who lives within us takes that word drives it to our mind to our heart to our spirit and does what intends to use it to guide us throughout the day god has given you the most treasured thing you own you can stack up all of your stocks and bonds and money over here and cars and houses and farms and whatever it might be over here none of that all of it together can equal this because none of that can get you to heaven only the word of god can get you to heaven and only the word of god god can give you clear instruction for your life so likewise if i'm following him i'm going to be able to walk sometimes where it's not clear i want you to turn to one of my favorite passages proverbs 3 speaking of guidance and direction verse 5 trust in the lord with all your heart do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways not some of them acknowledge him look to him listen to him wait for him and he will make your paths straight instead of crooked listen to this do not be wise in your own eyes fear the lord and turn away from evil and he says here's what you can expect it'll be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones what can promise you that and if you just had one passage of scripture that you want to memorize and say you can you can say you can say that passage to yourself every morning and praise god listen when you put the key in your ignition and you turn it what do you expect to have is that all you expect to happen you expect the engine to start right when you read this passage of scripture daily or quote it to yourself and you'll find yourself quoting it to yourself often what happens something turns on inside of you and you know what that is that is your awareness of the spirit of the living god who will guide you enable you empower you give you understanding how to face every circumstance of life today listen god has given us this because he knows we can't live a successful life from his perspective or even from our own unless we are doing what we have they had their eyes on the cloud by day and the fire by night to be sure they walked in the right direction we have the word of god to do what to give us clarity understanding and insight so we can walk in a holy way every day of our life the word of god we're talking about being guided by it here's some verses that i just want you to remember so i want you to turn to joshua for example and um let's let's look at the first chapter joshua another one of my favorite passages because i had to turn to this many times i remember when i preached my first sermon i can still see my mom she called me she came into my bedroom and she says i want you to read this before you preach your first sermon tonight because she knew i was a little bit frightened but here's what my mother gave me she says i want you to read this verse have i not commanded you to be strong and courageous do not tremble or be dismayed for the lord your god is with you wherever you go so i read that about two or three times i wrote it down when i got i walked out about two blocks from my church when i got i remember i was standing on the street calling a light there and so i pulled my little note and uh then i turned to the bible and just stood there for a moment and read that verse and the first sermon i preached uh you thought i've been preaching a long time but it had nothing to do with me because in my mind the bible says have not commanded you to be strong and of a good courage fear not need to be there as me for the lord thy god is with you wherever you go watch this carefully if you walk in the spirit of god you'll have to be strong and courageous because god is going to tell you don't go here and you have to decide whether you're strong enough to be obedient to god or you yield the pressure from somebody else or whatever be strong and courageous fear not neither be that dismayed but the lord your god's with you how blessed we are to have the word of god and it's our light and our fire and our direction and our help and our hope and our strength and our energy and there's something about reading the word of god that does energize us because what happens is this we are reminded of the presence of the holy spirit within us we're reminded he's the one who empowers us strengthens us guides us helps us keeps us protects us we're reminded we have within us the living god in the person of the holy spirit we should be able to start every day with confidence and boldness and assurance and when you look around to see what's happening not a single person knows whether they'll be able to get home tonight or not we live by faith we live by hope and many people live by a faith that they don't even realize what that faith's all about the truth is those of us who have a copy of the word of god and lived by the word of god know the source of our hope and of our strength and we know the source of our protection and our watch care you and i have the written living perfect word of god to give us direction about every single solitary aspect of our life with no exception you can't think of anything the word of god doesn't have an answer for that some people would say well i've asked god about some things he didn't answer well you probably aren't listening very carefully or probably you didn't like his answer but everywhere in the word of god he's got a word for us so i think about we're going to find ourselves facing conflict and so somebody says well you don't know where i work and i go to work every single day and i go to work in a situation that's not very helpful not very encouraging and so i want to give you this passion scripture in acts chapter 5 and verse 29 listen to what he says peter and the apostles answer to those who are persecuting them we must obey god rather than men the god of our fathers raised up jesus whom you have put to death by hanging him on a cross he is the one whom god exalted to his right hand as a prince and a savior to grant repentance to israel and forgiveness of sins we are witnesses of these things and so is the holy spirit whom god has given to those of us who obey him listen you have the treasure of god deposited in your life to do what for guidance and direction think about this would god ask you to do something he wouldn't help you do no but if you don't know about the holy spirit you would end up doing it in your own strength and energy this is why oftentimes people just they say well i've tried to live a christian life but somehow i'm not doing too well the spirit of god who indwells one of us is the spirit of god who endures every single one of us and he has equipped us and enabled us to face difficulty in hardship and opposition so if i should ask you this morning how many of you have been through a tough time in your life and the only thing you had was god was he there all of you to raise your hand if you if you know that he's been there you know that there have been times when all you had was god the bottom dropped out the sides fell off the top disappeared and there you are helpless and hopeless and the only thing you have is almighty god when people say to me once in a while one of these days i'm going to think about becoming a christian but i think to myself think about this who said you have one of these days the only day you and i have for sure is right now and the spirit of god the spirit of god came to live in our life to do it to give us assurance so that we don't have to worry about today we just live in his presence knowing that he's within us he is our god and our guard and our health and our strength and everything we need so we can live happily we can live with a discerning spirit to know some things that are not wise for us to do and if for example if god let's say you headed into some store or something or whatever it might be and you had a reservation in your spirit don't do that and you say well why not let me just say this to you when the spirit of god tells you something do exactly what he says he said if he tells you if he tells you don't do that don't argue with him and ask him to tell you why he is under no obligation to answer your why his obligation is to give you direction guidance and protection if i disobey him i suffer the consequence god speaks to all of his children once you trusted him as your personal savior the spirit came into your life to do what they give you direction and all these other things we talked about so therefore you have you have living within you holy god in the person of the holy spirit and one of his primary responsibilities is to give direction to your life and to show us what to do not to do where to go and not to go who to meet and what not to meet what to buy not to buy where to live and not in other words he has the answers you say i can't just go around asking god what to do why not you have within you the voice of the living god who will urge you not to do something and i i can just tell you something this very week i was working on and i thought i had this all planned out and so forth and it's like at the last minute god just gave me a check in my spirit so i had realized lord that was my choice we can do what we believe is right it wasn't a matter of right or wrong it was a matter of wise or unwise or the proper thing to do and so god is just as willing to speak to you and i wish i knew how to get this into your mind you listen and say amen god will speak to you personally it won't be loud you won't hear it with your ears you will hear it with your spirit now listen carefully if you're living in sin here's what that does put something between you and the spirit you don't you don't quite hear it if you're not hearing god it's because you're not listening because god wants to protect you and give you guidance and wisdom and direction it's so clear to me when all of a sudden it's a check that that that's not the right direction that that's not that's not what i want you to do in it's crystal clear and he will do the same thing for you if you listen if you say to him lord i'm coming to being obedient watch this i'm committed to being obedient god's committed to showing you what obedience is but if you say lord i want you to show me your will and so you think that's not exactly what i want to do you do something else next time you ask god the next time the next time after a while you don't even ask him many of god's people are living oblivious to the very presence of holy god who lives within them and so they wonder why they get in trouble do things they shouldn't do go away they shouldn't go see you name it it's not because god doesn't care it's not because god's not speaking it's because we're not listening listen carefully it's dangerous absolutely dangerous in this day and time to live close to god we all need him and he's just that clear that you may be sitting in you may be thinking well i don't think that's absolutely necessary and and i don't think i just don't think god will speak to me that way yes he will asking listen to this asking that you've been given you seek in this you'll find knocking that shall be open unto you everyone who asks receives seeks finds knocks opens as a promise so do you believe the word of god if you believe the word of god you must believe that when you come to him and ask whatever the situation is he will answer your petition i believe one of the most important lessons we learn as a believer is how do you listen to god now you heard me say this many many times obey god and do what is that what you're doing are you obeying god leading all the consequences to him what that says is obey god and trust him with everything would you say that god is trustworthy that he can handle your everything absolutely for the hebrews it was a cloud by day fire by night and trusting moses for us it's the living word of god that we have with us every day of our life we can find out whatever we need to find out we can find clear direction for every single issue in life you said you mean to tell me do you you believe that god will give you direction for every single thing in your life yes like what what would he not give me direction for god listen god doesn't act like we do god is true to his word and in these days this book is the most important possession you have because here's the source of all the promises of almighty god and so many of us here are grandparents what have you ever said to your grandchildren about the bible have you ever made that an issue with them who do you talk to about the word of god or do you just take it for granted this to us is like a cloud by day fire by night and moses was their leader the holy spirit is our leader so look how precious we are look how good god is to us he let us be born in the time when we got it right here and the holy spirit to god is in this if you've never trusted jesus as your savior you should do so immediately how did i do that you asked god to forgive you of your sins you acknowledged him that you believe that his death on the cross paid your sin dead in full and that if you confess your sins and surrender your life to him and accept him as your savior by faith that he forgives your sins writes your name in the lamb's book of life and you're forever a child of god and dwelt by the holy spirit who will help you interpret his word the rest of your life that's who you are father we bless you and praise you worship you and adore you treasure dear god your precious word and pray that you will lead every person who hears or watches this message to know the truth and to walk in your ways but we ask it in jesus name amen amen [Music] you

Channel: In Touch Ministries

Views: 300,793

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Keywords: Charles F. Stanley, Charles Stanley, In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley, In Touch Ministries, Preaching, Bible teaching, Dr. Stanley, Intouch ministries, intouch

Id: N4Dgu0zXf6M

Length: 30min 53sec (1853 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 24 2021