How God Leads People-- how to make decisions.

I see different extremes on how God leads and directs people.

One extreme is the idea that if you make a decision, or a major decision, without getting specific direction from God, that you might seriously miss God's will.

The other extreme is the idea that God does not direct people, specifically, at all, and that we just follow the moral principals of the Bible and that is all that is ever available to any Christian.

Let's talk about the first extreme. One of the worst examples is this idea I heard on YouTube that God has a 'rib'-- a spouse-- out there and if you just get married to someone, even a believer, that that might not be the right person and you would have to divorce and marry your real divinely ordained husband or wife. I heard someone else say that once, that if you marry the wrong person you might have to get a divorce and marry the right person.

There are major problems with this. It goes against the Bible. Paul says, 'If you marry, you have not sinned." He doesn't say you have to hear God first. There is a context. The husband is not to put away his wife. The wife is not to depart from her husband and if she does, she is to stay unmarried and be reconciled to her husband. Paul writes about the virgin being 'given' in marriage. Other scripture says not to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. If you are a single Christian man and a father gives his single virgin daughter to you in marriage and she wants to marry you, and no one is married or engaged to anyone else.... to say that is not from God is a big moral problem and can lead to the sin of adultery and not providing for one's own.

There is also the problem of people who hear the idea that they have to 'hear from God' about everything, and then don't, feeling guilty about making decisions or just being indecisive and unproductive.

On the other hand, there are those who say that the only direction we get is from the Bible. But if we look in the Bible, we see God directing and warning through dreams-- Pharoah and the famine, Nebucadnezzar's dreams about upcoming kingdoms, Joseph deciding to marry Mary, flee for Egypt, and return from Egypt, the wise men taking a different route home, and Pilate's wife having a dream about Jesus. Job 33 says that God warns man through dreams.

If we look in the Bible, we also see that Nehemiah said that God put in his heart to assemble the nobles, the officials, and the people (Nehemiah 7:5.) He could tell that God put it on His heart. We also see many examples in the Old Testament of God directing through the gift of prophecy. In Acts 11, we read that Agabus prophesied a famine and the disciples in Antioch gathered funds for the poor saints in Judea after this.

An angel directed Philip the evangelist to a certain road, and the Spirit told him to walk alongside a chariot. This led to an Ethiopian believing and being baptized. The Spirit would not let Paul and his companions preach in the provinces of Asia and Bythina on one occasions. Paul had a vision of the night about a man in Macedonia, and he and his companions went there after that vision.

But we also see Paul and the brethren making decisions and making plans.

A lot of us don't hear a voice or get supernatural revelation for all of our decisions. Paul had some general direction from the Lord as to his calling. He operated within those guidelines, but when the Spirit gave specific restrictions or direction, he followed that. Otherwise, he had a 'wide berth' within which to act. We see wording in the epistles like 'if the Lord permits.' James wrote we should say, "If the Lord wills, we will live, and do this or that." Even in their writing and their speech, when they made decisions, they acknowledged it was subject to God's will. We should have a similar attitude.

If you are praying about a really big decision you want to get right, like making a big decision to go a certain direction in ministry, who to marry, and you __want__ direction, is it wrong to pray for supernatural direction? I would say 'no.' Asking God for direction is presented in a positive light in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 18 forbids going to soothsayers and diviners and such, but allows for the ministry of the prophet of the Lord. Israelites could ask a prophet to inquire of the Lord where lost donkeys were. It was not forbidden. They were not allowed to go to occultists or the gods of other nations. Elijah sent a rebuke back to Ahaziah who had sent to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, "
Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?" (II Kings 1:3). It was allowed to ask a prophet of God. We also see that kings could enquire of the Lord through Urim and Thummin, stones in the high priest's breastplate worn on his ephod. David used the ephod to inquire of the LORD about strategic moves.

There are Biblical legitimate avenues the Lord may use to guide us-- God putting things on our hearts, the Spirit speaking to an individual, a prophecy or some other manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit, wise counsel, God moving the hearts of those in authority, seeing God work through answered prayer (e.g. Isaac and Rebecca), God giving us wisdom, and God working things out according to His plan as we acknowledge Him. We are allowed to pray for these things.

James 1 promises the readers wisdom if they ask in faith without doubting.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says,
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

One way to make decisions is to pray for wisdom, confess sins, repent of any areas of one's life where one is not acknowledging God, consider if scripture gives any principals of guidance and direction, consider other Biblical means of input-- like godly counsel from wise people, consider whether the Lord is giving direction through dreams, visions, prophecies, etc. If you aren't getting anything specific from the Lord and it is time to make the decision, just pray to the Lord about all these things and your reasons for making the decision. Tell Him you trust Him to answer your prayer for wisdom to make the decision, and then decide, trusting in God to work things out for you.

God does not have to tell us every decision to make through some supernatural means. We can make decisions on the basis of praying for wisdom, trusting and acknowledging Him. We can also pray for God to reveal things through legitimate supernatural means.

But waiting around for something supernatural before making a decisions--- and then not making a decision is still making a decision, a decision to do nothing. So don't let yourself get stuck when it is wise to decide and move forward. Trust God and acknowledge Him in all your ways.

I think this is great advice!

This reminds me of a quote from the book Answers to Prayer from George Mueller's Narratives that outlines the steps George Mueller followed when he was seeking for the will of God in both the small and large decisions of his life:

"I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.

2.—Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.

3.—I seek the Will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.

4.—Next I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God's Will in connection with His Word and Spirit.

5.—I ask God in prayer to reveal His Will to me aright.

6.—Thus, through prayer to God, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters, and in transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective."

George Mueller notes in another journal entry that this process does not always happen immediately (or on our time table at all for that matter) but can take weeks or even months before an answer is clearly received. Having said that, these steps are more of a process and attitude of humility, rather than just a one-time event where we ask and move on so to speak.

George Mueller lived in Europe in the 1800s. He became converted in his early twenties and felt convicted to build an orphanage purely based on his faith in God. Part of how he used his faith to trust God was to not ask anyone for funding, either directly or indirectly. He would never mention his mission publicly in case someone would feel compelled to donate when it was not in God's will for that person to give at that time. The book is full of miracles and answered prayers!

This morning in my devotional time, God lead me to 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." I love this verse! We sing it at church every week.

Anyway, I think if we all confess our erroneous ways and intentionally seek God's will like you mentioned, this world would be a much nicer place.