How Can A Believer Seek Guidance From The Lord?
Q: How should a believer look to the future and make wise decisions versus trying to forecast or control the future? How to hear guidance from the Lord without putting words in his mouth? Can you give an example of how to tell the difference?
A: Guidance from the Lord is usually only seen with confidence in retrospect. In the present moment, we shouldn’t wait for the Lord to give specific detailed instruction about which stock to invest in or which courses to take. We should do as we think best. We should pray about it, “Lord, guide me as I do this thing.” We should surrender to God. We should look for perhaps sinful or fleshly motives on our part. We should do all those things, but at the same time, we shouldn’t look for a voice from heaven. To do so is generally setting yourself up for deception.
Now, I won’t deny that there may be times and places in which God extraordinarily guides His people. He may do that. He’s God! He’s free to do that, but we don’t expect it to happen like that. I tell people all the time, “If you want God to speak to you, open your Bible. That’s the way you can know that God is speaking.” But in subjective decisions, go forward in wisdom and evaluation. And don’t leave your own desires out of it. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that if you want it, it can’t be from the Lord. Just ask God to guide you along the way, and He will. He’ll be faithful to that.