Guidance Overview
By applying Biblical principles, we learn how to follow God. Henry T. Blackaby, Richard Blackaby, and Claude V. King, in their revised and expanded book Experiencing God (1994 Edition, p. 34), give some of these Biblical Principles seen on the right.
It is good to reflect on the seven principles. Principle four says that God speaks by the Holy Spirit. The indwelling Holy Spirit guides each believer.
As indicated in principle seven, we receive guidance when we obey God. As we obey, we seek to become more like Christ. Jesus only did what his father told him to do (John 5:19,20). Christ was perfectly obedient, so he received guidance from the Father in all aspects of his life. Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” ( John 5:19 NIV).
1. God is always at work around you.
2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.
4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes and His ways.
5. God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you.
“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
John 5:19
Notice that Jesus did only what he saw his Father doing. So Henry Blackaby suggests that believers look to see what God is doing in the world, and join God in that work. To be guided as Jesus was, we must submit our will to God as Jesus did. See Luke 22:42. When we are willing to submit all areas of our lives to God, God will lead us. He wants us to voluntarily follow, so he leads only as far as we are willing to go.
We can only be successful in missions to the extent that we follow God. This is why we look to see what God is doing. God’s work is not always easy to see. We may see God working in areas where the Gospel has already gone. People may be responding to Christ and churches may be growing. But in areas where the Gospel has not gone, how can we see God at work? As we spread the Gospel, we will see where God causes people to respond, and we can focus in such areas. We may have a plan for a particular type of ministry, and God may produce results in a very different way. We must be flexible in following the Holy Spirit as he leads us to successful strategies.
As we become more like Christ, we think in Christ-like ways. And when we think like Christ, we are able to know God’s will.
To summarize some of these principles, the Lord guides us when we do the following:
1. Receive the Holy Spirit.
2. Obey God’s commandments.
3. See what God is doing, and join him in that work.
4. Renew our mind as we mature as Christians.
Principle number four by Henry Blackaby reads, “God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.” This principle lists the primary ways in which God guides us. I will expound on each of these ways in the section below.
“God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.”
Henry Blackaby