Receiving Guidance From God

Pt. Dave Kenney

Week 1 : How to Hear God Speak

1. Cultivate an open mind
2. Allocate time to listen
3. Eliminate distractions
4. Cooperate with what God says

Week 2 : How God Talks to You

1. God speaks through the Bible
2. God speaks to us through gifted teachers
3. God speaks through impressions
4. God speaks through pain

Why is it so important to really hear to God speak? There are three reasons:

1. It assures me that I'm in God's family.
2. It protects me from mistakes.
3. It is the secret of a productive life, listening to God on a moment by moment basis.

Week 3 : How to Recognize God's Voice

1. Does it agree with the Bible?
2. Does it make me more like Christ?
3. Does my church family confirm it?
4. Is it consistent with how God has shaped me?
5. Does it concern my responsibility?
6. Do I sense God's peace about it?

WEEK 4 : RECEIVING GUIDANCE FROM GOD

I will stand at my watch
and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what He will say to me,
and what answer I am to give this complaint.
Then the Lord replied:
"Write down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald may run with it. Habakkuk 2:1-2

1. BACKGROUND : HABAKKUK, PROPHET TO JUDAH
He's a minor prophet also asked "Why there is injustice things happened?" -We aren't the first to ask that.
a. "How long, Lord?" Habakkuk's first prayer.
b. God's Answer - bring Babylonia to wiped the Israelites
c. "How can You use them, Lord?" Habakkuk's second prayer - them : wicked people, worse enemy
d. Waiting for God's answer
e. God's second answer - don't worry. I'll destroyed them for their wickedness. God will use them first to fulfilled His purpose.
f. "I will rejoice in the God of my salvation" Habakkuk's third prayer.

Habakkuk saw injustice occurring in Judah and cried out to God for an answer. We cry out to cry in the midst of crisis, in the midst of sickness, in the times when we can't go on in our own strength. God hears the cries of His people, and responds to them. Example : The nation of Israel in slavery in Egypt (Exodus 3); Jehoshaphat when Moab and Ammon invaded Israel (2 Chronicles 20); Peter's deliverance from jail (Acts 12); Paul and Silas in prison (Acts 16)

2. HOW TO REQUEST GUIDANCE?

a. I must realize that God cares about the details of our lives - most of us only asked for the really BIG questions.

Matt 6:31-32
Sometimes we don't ask Him, coz we thought He don't care about the details.

b. I must ask a specific question
James 4: 2b "You do not have, because you do not ask God."

c. I must believe He wants to answer
James 1:5-6

3. FIVE STEPS TO RECEIVING GUIDANCE
While Habakkuk was waiting for God's answer - Hab 2:1-2

a. W ith draw
"I will climb my watchtower"

watchtower: someone getting away from everything.
This is Suzanna Wesley's watchtower : in the rocking chair, under the apron.

"..Suzanna Wesley had no less than 17 children! Some people have looked at my wife and I with five children and asked if they were all ours! A lady in Little Rock, AR just this past week was notified she was pregnant with her 18^th child at the age of 41. Suzanna Wesley somehow found time to pray every day by lifting her apron over her head… that was her prayer closet! The children knew they had to be quiet when mommy was praying. John and Charles Wesley, the founders of the Methodist Church were among those children. Again, while John and Charles have their names all over history and theology books Suzanna may be less known but was a primary influence in their lives. Her influence lived on in her boys."

b. W ait - be patient, coz God's time line isn't ours. His plans aren't ready yet.
"I will station myself" - hurry is the death of prayer

c. W atch - take a look around you, how God works, what He had for you.

"I will look to see what He says to me"

d. W rite - we need to remember it.
"Write down clearly what I reveal to you."

e. W orship
Habakkuk wasn't happy with what God said, but still worshiping Him for being Him.
"I will rejoice in the God of my salvation"

4. WHAT IF THERE IS NO ANSWER

a. Sometimes God let's us choose - Go and choose whatever. He will be with you anyway. The critical thing is your relationship with God.

b. Make sure you evaluate your choice.

*is it biblical?
*does it make me more like Christ?

c. Make a decision based on confidence, not on fear.

"God, who loved us enough to send His Son to die for us, will walk with you
no matter what you decide." Pastor Dave Kenney

"...whatever decision your making, Am gonna make it work it out..." [God]
He's not sitting up there just watching and doing nothing