He leads me in right paths for his name's sake. I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me with honor. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on a level path. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble.
Jeremiah The Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away ever tear from their eyes.
Many of us experience great difficulties in trying to find God's purpose for our lives. We are paralyzed when confronted by difficult decisions. And so our life's motto might read: 'Why pray when you can worry?!
These difficulties are compounded when we read the biographies of certain 'great' Christians who seemed to find God's will so unerringly. And they found it sometimes by uncanny means - visions and voices, or special signs and 'feelings'.
A negro cotton-picker in Alabama threw down his cotton one very hot day, and looked up to the sky in exasperation: 'O Lord, de cotton am so grassy; de sun am so hot; de work am so hard; that I believe I'm called to be a preacher!
Surrendering to the will of God is not the negative thing it has seemed to many a struggler after holiness. Nor does our acquiescing in his will reduce us to mere puppets and automatons.
Some sincere Christians believe, for example, in the 'dabster' method: choosing a text from the Bible at random and out of its context, and using it to help us steer a path through tricky decisions. A young Christian soldier used the 'dabster' method when deciding with the doctor about having his leg amputated. The text he found: "He shall not suffer thy foot to be moved!
The Scriptures teach us that God wants us to know his will. For example, Paul, who like the other biblical prophets and apostles, was 'chosen to know the will of God' and to tell others what he had seen Acts ,15 later told the Ephesian Christians not to be fools, but to know the will of the Lord Ephesians In 1 Samuel we see where the Israelites were crying out for a king like the other nations.
So God answered their requests and gave them King Saul. But God had told the prophet Samuel to warn the people what would happen when they got a king to rule them like the other nations around them. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.
The second point I want to make is how the Apostle Paul worked as a tentmaker, as he went about ministering in different towns. He did not stay in one spot because he prayed to the Lord regularly and allowed the Holy Spirit to direct him.
How many of us do this in our lives today? This is quite different than the way we live in the United States today. We often worry. We must rely on the Lord daily and give Him our lives since that is what He did for us on the cross.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6. In conclusion, it is a challenge. We must trust, pray continually, and not focus on what we see around us.
I know I, myself am guilty. Lord, help us to trust you more! Lord, I thank you for allowing me to find this website. Please help us to have ears to hear, hearts that are open to you and help us to be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. Freely you have received; freely give. Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting.
If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.
Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. But how do you receive this guidance? The secret is a close relationship with God. Lord, thank you for your promise to be my guide and that you guide me in the context of the community of your people.
But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.
But they were afraid of the people. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. Whose image and inscription are on it? And astonished by his answer, they became silent. He did not shy away from controversy and confrontation.
The servants were beaten, sent away empty-handed, treated shamefully, wounded and thrown out — Divine guidance led Jesus to the cross. However, it also led to the resurrection. What Jesus did had the appearance of failure but Jesus accomplished more in his life, death and resurrection than any other person in history. Of course, much is said in the New Testament about the way in which God guided Jesus.
In the passage for today we see:. Commanding Scripture Be extremely careful to avoid any situation in which ministry is being used for personal gain. Jesus sees people who are trying to make money off the back of spiritual activity.
He confronts the activity with the word of God. This is the supreme way in which God guides us all. It came from his close relationship with God. Jesus was not willing to curry favour or to show partiality. He was guided by what he knew to be the truth. He spoke the truth fearlessly. Jesus challenges the premise behind their question: to what earthly power should we give our primary allegiance?
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