2009 Letter No 10Each month Bill writes a pastor's letter for our monthly church magazine called 'The Messenger'. Here is the letter for October: (This has been edited to protect the privacy of people referred to in the original article) Knowing the leading of God is a difficult thing. Some Christians talk about hearing from God in a very matter of fact way, and I can become quite envious of their direct line to and from the Father. I must admit that I sometimes need convincing that they have really heard from God. When we are honest we have to admit that we sometimes don’t hear clearly. It is far from easy to disentangle our own hopes, fears and preferences from the leading of God. If we make no effort to listen to God then we are unlikely to hear his voice, but even listening to God in prayer is no guarantee. What do we have to guide us beyond the quiet promptings we sense in our own hearts when we pray for guidance? Let me mention just two. We have the eternally relevant guidance of Scripture, through which the Spirit speaks to us. And we also have the wisdom and discernment of other Christians.
At the moment we are trying to discern the way forward as a church regarding our mission. In all of this we need to be open to the leading of the Spirit through Scripture and through one another, as well as through the promptings in our own heart. And together we can move forward in Christ.
One mistake is to rush forward with every idea that comes to mind without committing matters to God in prayer. We can be so full of human wisdom that we miss the wisdom of God.
But there is also another mistake, and that is never to move forward into any new venture unless we are 100% completely sure that it is God’s perfect purpose. In practice the Christian walk is messier than that.
We nudge forward, trying things that we believe please the heart of God, especially in the light of what we know about his priorities and plans from Scripture. But as we move ahead we should be open to God leading us in other directions. It seems to me that that was the way of the apostle Paul. He had definite plans – to visit Rome and Spain among other places – but he was also open to God leading in different directions. (See Acts 16:6-10 for example.)
As we seek guidance regarding our future we should listen to God in prayer, we should read and meditate on the Scriptures, and we should be attentive to one another and to the advice of other Christians. And in all of this we should try out what we believe pleases the heart of God, staying open to the possibility that he will lead us in directions that we had never anticipated. |
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