Let God Lead and Do What He Says

Sunday we had a special speaker. She is an old friend of ours from our days at Vanguard University. She is on her way (in a couple of weeks) to Kurdistan (a section of Iraq) to start a Bible School to teach and train the Christians over there.

She gave us a lot of information about the political climate over there that I found encouraging. It, for all of us, was a call to pray like we never have before for that region of the world. Not only for the lost but for the Christians who are being persecuted. Sharon (our speaker) has always been a passionate person, and that certainly came through loud and clear.

But there were two important things that she said that I want to really underscore today. This will be a short post, but important.

First she talked about letting God lead instead of trying to lead Him. It sounds like a "no-brainer" but I have to ask how many of us have been guilty of trying to lead the Lord along towards OUR plan or OUR will or OUR vision? Too many of us, I am sure.

We get these ideas of what we want to do with our life (job, career, life partner, retirement, etc.) and we then pray that God will make it happen. What would happen if we all were to make those kinds of decisions based on what God is showing us and leading us to? What difference would that make in our lives and our ministries?

Sometimes we do things that are not God's will. Period. It doesn't mean they are BAD things or SINFUL things, but if they aren't God's best then we are missing out on being right in the center of God's will. We have great ideas and plans, but we need to find out if those ideas or plans are from the heart of God, or from our own heads.

When you are making big decisions about such things as career, college, or life partner you will be wise to pray seriously about it and NOT ACT until you hear from the Lord on the matter. You will also be wise to get some Godly counsel on it. (Oh, have Beverly and I learned this the hard way!)

The second thing that struck me was when she talked about the qualifications for doing what God tells us to do. The qualifications such as education (college and seminary) and accreditation and such is a construct of man. The Apostle Peter was a fisherman. Never went to college. Had no credentials (unless you consider a boat full of fish a credential) and yet he was one of the greatest Apostles ever.

Don't buy into the view that you must get training and education to do God's bidding. God may very well call you to get training before doing His bidding. If so, then do it! But if He doesn't tell you to get training, it may very well be that He wants you, upon hearing His call, to just go do what He said. Just do it!

Don't be intimidated by what you don't know or what you don't have. You have the Holy Spirit, and if He is telling you to do something, He will enable you to do it. One of my professors at Vanguard University used to say, "God's calling is also His enabling." True statement, folks!

So talk to me! What do you think about following God's lead as opposed to pulling God along in the way YOU want to go? What are your thoughts about "just do it?" I want to hear from you guys!