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2009-07-29 - Summer Questions
2009 #4 ~ The Right Path
Joshua, 21:45, "Not one of the good promises which the
Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass."
Today's Question: "Hello,I'm confused as to what and how do you know
if you are on the right path? With so many opportunities out there, I try
one, get discouraged, stop, try another, get discouraged, stop, try another.
It keeps going and going. I get to the point where I don't want to do anything.
I have prayed about it, but nothing is clear. I know I have to wait on God
and his timing, but in the meantime do I keep on doing the above, starting
and stopping. I guess you could say I'm impatient and want answers. Maybe
you could put this in perspective for me, so I feel I'm not waisting my time
starting and stopping." (sic)
Thank you for this question. I think it is very practical, and something
that everyone of us, at some time or another, asks ourselves. In matters
of faith I think we can simply say what Jesus says in John
14:6, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father,
but through Me." As far as faith goes, this answers the question about
what path we should be on. If you are following any person, religion, or
any thing but Jesus and His revelation of Himself, salvation, forgiveness
of sin, eternal life, and peace with God -- if you are looking for these
things in any other place but Christ, you are on the wrong path and you can
know it.
I don't really think that is what you are asking. I think your question is
much more practical and life-today-focused. I think you are asking, "How
do I know if I am in the right job?" "How do I know if I should send my children
to Christian school or public school?" "How do I know if I am going to the
right church?" If I can sum this up, "How do I know that my life is pleasing
to Christ and in His will?" "How do I know if I am being led by Satan, myself
or Jesus?" I hope this is what you are asking, and in one sense I think your
comment that you pray about things and seek the Lord means that you have
an essential basic down, but I hope I can give you, and us all, something
else to take away from these thoughts.
Someone might say, "I had intended to live a good life and I have not been
able to serve Jesus as I have wished with my life. I think the devil has
hindered me in my life." This might be true, and it might not. One thing
we do believe is that God's guiding and sovereign providence has best placed
us, where we are, if we are His children. We should not always think that
when things go "not our planned way," that Satan has hindered us. It is more
likely that this is the providence of God in our lives.
How do we know when satan is hindering us? satan's grand object is to do
anything that takes away from the glory of God. If something has gone on
in your life that has prevented you from being holy, useful, humble, and/or
sanctified...then we may wonder if Satan is at work. If there is something
in your life that has turned you away from God, away from righteousness and
into sin...That is the kind of thing that Satan has a hand in. The issues
are deeper than surface matters such as job, school, recreation, or use of
our time. Those are the things we see, but the matters that really lie at
the core, behind what we see, are the spiritual matters that form the basis
of what shows up in our lives. We know that God does not put things in the
way of His children growing in His grace. That is the temptation that Satan
leads us into, and that we are ever so prone to succumb unto. Anything in
our lives that does not grow the grace of the Lord in our hearts, that cannot
be sanctified to His glory, that - if we are honest - we would have to call
sin. Those are the sorts of things that Satan works in us.
So when we come down to the specifics of our life, we ask questions regarding
the various things we are given as opportunities. "How does this help my
consecration to Christ?" If it doesn't in its present form, then how can
we change this matter, so that we can grow spiritually in it -- or barring
that, how can we eliminate it from our lives? Respecting things that are
not opportunities but necessities, such as work, family, eating, sleeping,
we might ask, "What is it about this that can be more sanctifying?" "How
can I make this more advantageous to my growth in the grace of Christ?" I
will give you a general rule: Whatever is an impediment to usefulness in
your service unto or growth in Christ, even if it is pleasing and gratifying
to you, consider it from satan. Seek to eliminate all aspects of the darkness
of the practice, and seek to only do those things that your soul can prayerfully
agree with, in accordance with God's Word.
This means we bring the Lord into everything -- every aspect of our lives.
This means that if that TV show is the type of "recreation" that can only
be called unsanctified...it is not recreation anymore. It is a certain tool
of the devil, in which he takes our mind off the things of the Lord and sets
them upon the things of this world. You can see how this transfers into all
of life.
How do we know if we are on the right path? We ask ourselves if this is what
Christ would have us be doing right now, at this moment, in these circumstances
in our life. He may send us providential redirecting discouragements if we
are on the wrong path -- and this is a blessing. I think there are two ways,
and I am not saying that they are easy ways -- they require diligence on
our part, to keep ourselves on the right path. The first is to prayerfully
be a student of God's Holy Word and pray for the Spirit to help us apply
it to our lives. The second is to take that application and live faithfully
in God's presence, in all that we undertake.
Soli Deo Gloria,
T-
GodRulesTB@aol.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org
Editor's Note: The questions in this series are stated in the exact
form sent by the readers - unedited, unproofed, in order to remain true to
the reader's original wording. |
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