God is Our Guide

Matthew 15:18-19 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

In my last post I talked about the fact that God wants our hearts.  He is the One who searches out our hearts and knows the evilness that is in them that can defile us.  The above verse was spoken by Jesus Christ and He is pretty blunt about our hearts.

If God knows the evil that lies in our hearts, then He knows that our hearts will want to lead us to speak and do the things that are sinful, correct?  But if we confess our sin and walk in the Spirit, then we can be led by the GUIDE of all guides in every single step we take. 

You will never have to question if the circumstance you come into is from God or allowed by God if you are walking in the Spirit, because you will KNOW it was GOD HIMSELF that led you there.  You won’t feel doubt at the calling in your life if you are submitted to His will because you will KNOW He is the One guiding you in it!  That is really a wonderful thought that will bring peace to anyone who is wondering “why” things are the way they are! 

My husband and I used to pack down our little boat each week with our children and supplies before heading an hour and a half into the jungles of the Amazon.  Mark would guide our boat with much skill through the rainforest and hidden passages.  I think back on those days and wonder how in the world we never, not once, got lost weaving in and out of the little water ways.  But do you know that Mark was not born with the innate knowledge of how to arrive in the village of Bulixu?  As a matter of fact, up until we were in our late 20’s we had never even heard of the river Quiuni where our village was located.  So, how did we ever become confident enough to travel there by ourselves?  A guide spent weeks showing Mark the way.

Each week before we ever began evangelizing the people who lived in this remote spot, Mark would gas up his boat motor and a man who was raised in Bulixu would get into the front of the boat and point where Mark should go.  They would start out on the wide black waters of the Rio Negro and then as they sped along, the man would simply lift his hand and wave it towards an opening in the trees.  To the inexperienced eye, it would look as if you were going into a wall of green and about to crash, but this man knew where he was headed and Mark trusted him.  Mark did this for quite some time until he learned the way.

You and I have a Guide in our Christian life Who knows the way we should take.  He knows our individual paths and where we are headed.  He has mapped it all out in His Word and as long as we follow the gentle waving of His hand we will never ever be where we shouldn’t be.  We won’t find ourselves at a dead end, we won’t be lost and we won’t have to make any u-turns.  We WILL be able to have confidence at the red lights, yellow lights and green lights along the way because we will know it is HIS guidance stopping us, warning us or giving us the go ahead. 

God is the only guide we need.  He has placed you in your church where each week your Pastor stands and presents to you a message or two or three about what to do and where to go.  Are you listening?  Are you too busy in too many ministries that you are confused all the time?  Serving God should never lead you to be harried, worried or frustrated.  If you are fully trusting His guidance, you will know when to tell someone “No, I can’t add that to my schedule” or “Yes, I would love to help out”.  Don’t follow your heart!  Your heart will make you think that by being the busiest Christian at church makes you the best Christian! 

American Churches are constantly entertaining their people.  There are programs and studies and activities everywhere, all the time.  Have you ever thought that you may be putting pressure on your Pastor to do something that God has not guided Him to do?  Be careful to not seek out your heart's desires and hurt those around you!  Imagine if we had churches full of people truly committed to following God and God alone?!?  (We probably would be out knocking on doors more instead of planning the next shindig) 

Let’s get to know our Guide and learn to listen to His voice and obey It!

Until next time, Lord willing,

Sheri