Question: "How can I receive divine guidance?

"

Answer: The desire for direction and divine guidance is universal. In every culture, the wise and
learned are revered and their answers sought by those struggling with decisions. Unfortunately,
this wisdom is often the manmade variety and can lead to catastrophe, since every human being
is fallible and our wisdom often questionable (1 Corinthians 1:20). When man seeks supernatural
wisdom, he often turns to the spirit world by consulting mediums, witches, or other avenues
forbidden by God (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6; Deuteronomy 18:14). However, Isaiah 8:19 says,
“When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not
a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?”

So how do we receive answers from God? If our hearts are set to truly seek His wisdom, how do
we find it? Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your
heart.” So God promises that those who seek His counsel with all their hearts will find it.
However, there are several factors that must be in place before we can claim this promise:

1. We must do it God’s way. The Lord God Almighty is not a slot machine or a genie who grants
wishes. But often that is the subconscious attitude of those who claim to want His guidance.
Many live life as their own bosses, but, when faced with tragedy or heartache, become
temporarily interested in God. If we want direction from God, we must come to Him the only
way He provides for such relationship—through His Son. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Our only access to the
Father is when we come through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son. When we
make Jesus the Lord of our lives, we become the children of God (John 1:12; Romans 10:9–10).
God’s promises in Scripture are for His children. So when we come to Him in the way He has
provided, we can claim His promises for wisdom and guidance (Proverbs 3:5–6; James 1:5).

2. We must know what God’s Word says. There is much guidance already given to us, and we
need only to read it in the Bible. We do not need to seek direction about whether or not to sin. If
God has already stated something in His Word, He will not contradict it. He will not instruct us
to murder someone, steal, or commit adultery. Prohibitions against such things are already
clearly stated in His Word, and He expects us to follow them (Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20). For
example, many unmarried couples try to insist that “God understands” the fact that they are
sleeping together before marriage. Some even claim that they “prayed about it and feel it’s OK.”
This thinking is in clear defiance of God’s stated commands against sexual immorality (Hebrews
13:4). To justify sin by saying that God has made an exception to His own commands is to reveal
one does not really want the guidance of God.

3. We must be in continual fellowship with the Holy Spirit. God speaks not only through His
Word but through the confirmations of His Spirit within us. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit
himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” How does He “bear witness
with our spirit”? When we are born again (John 3:3), the Holy Spirit moves into our hearts and
changes us into “new creatures” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our human spirits that were once dead and
under the control of our flesh are made alive with new power and a desire that come from God
Himself (Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 2:5). As we give Him more control over every area of our
lives, He speaks within our spirits, convicting of sin, guiding toward wisdom, and confirming
His pleasure at our obedience (Psalm 16:11; 2 Corinthians 5:9; Colossians 1:10; Galatians 5:22).

4. We must ask for divine guidance. James 4:2 says, “You do not have because you do not ask.”
When our hearts are in right relationship to God, then James 1:5 assures us that we can ask for
wisdom and believe that we have received it. We can ask that He guide us into all truth (John
16:13; Psalm 25:5). When we ask in faith, we can then move forward with confidence in the
direction that appears wisest, asking all the time for God to shut any door that He did not open.
We move ahead with eyes wide open, staying in prayer and seeking God’s answer with a heart to
obey.

5. We must be willing to obey when He gives us guidance. Often, when people say they want to
know God’s will, what they really mean is this: “I want to know God’s will—and then I’ll decide
whether or not I’m going to do it.” God already knows the deep things of our hearts and many
times will not reveal His plan to a stubborn heart who will not obey (Psalm 51:10–12; Proverbs
1:28–29; John 14:24; Isaiah 1:15–16). Surrender must accompany any prayer request. He does
not exist to do our bidding; we exist for His pleasure and His glory. He desires to work in our
lives to accomplish His purposes for us (Philippians 2:13; Colossians 1:16).

The Lord is a communicating God, and He delights in giving divine guidance to those who seek
Him (Proverbs 20:24). He wants to direct the heart surrendered to Him. When we come to Him
in the way He has provided for us, when we seek His wisdom with a heart to obey (Proverbs
3:13), then we can walk in the confidence that He is directing our paths (Proverbs 3:5–6).

Guidance by the Holy Spirit?

John E. McKinley — February 1, 2017

Does God speak to Christians in dreams or in our hearts? If we have never had this experience,
then are we missing something and should expect it? Is there a danger of relying on a personal
word from God instead of looking to the definite word of God given as the Bible?

Disclaimers and qualifiers: I agree that the “God told me” ploy is sometimes abused to claim
authority for subjective impressions, and some self-generated ideas. Many young Christians hear
of these experiences and then expect to hear God speak to them. Hearing nothing, these novices
become discouraged or bitter. I think that any reporting of individual encounter with God should
be done very carefully, and is better left to face-to-face conversation than blogs, books,
conferences, or sermons.

Against the deniers that God speaks to Christians directly, apart from the Scripture, I disagree
that this aspect of living in relationship with God contradicts the sufficiency of Scripture as some
assert. We must take seriously the statement in Romans 8:14 that Christians are led by the Spirit
of God, but what does this mean experientially?

I think that since Jesus’ experience is the pattern for us, then we should take his experience of
having been taught by and having heard from his Father as the model for our experience (e.g.,
John 7:16-17). In the book of Acts, Luke continues this picture of Jesus’ life in the Spirit as
normative for the church led by the Spirit, both for the gathered church (Acts 13:2; 15:28) and
individually (Acts 8:29; 10:19; 11:12; 16:6-7; 20:23).
If we look across Scripture, we find dozens of cases in which God “stirred up” or “opened”
human hearts, and spoke to people directly or through dreams and visions. These are direct and
subjective encounters with God, and they are much more prevalent in the New Covenant because
of the cross and the indwelling Spirit. Clearly some of these cases are exceptional, but the New
Covenant experience of life in the Spirit is a new situation of receptivity to verbal
communication with God. John 10:26-30 “My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me” seems
especially clear that God desires to engage us in direct and personal communication, as a
shepherd with sheep.

Scripture is given to us as the public revelation and ground for all religious experience (Sola
Scriptura), but I think the passages cited above are clear that God does not limit himself to
speaking through Scripture.

Some of the difficulty is semantics, since Christians on the Pentecostal side will make larger
claims for experience of the Spirit’s leading, while non-Pentecostals can have the same
experiences and speak of them much more modestly. Pentecostals that I know will say revelation
to describe their experience, but they actually mean illumination as something distinct from
canonical revelation, and not additional to it.

Most people who affirm God’s ongoing communication in personal life are quick to say that the
sure word of Scripture and the discernment of mature fellow Christians are important for
discerning God’s thoughts that may be communicated in the midst of our minds. I agree that any
Christian should have long experience of several years in hearing God’s word as written before
they should expect much of God speaking in a direct, relational way described above. Scripture
is the guide to recognize God’s voice, just as in any personal relationship knowing the person
gives us the ability to discern “that sounds like him” from what may be dismissed as self-
generated or another imposter voice. I think that God can be trusted to provide assurance that
indeed he is speaking, and we can also ask for confirmation.

In my own experience, I have had startling guidance and assurances through reading the Bible
habitually. Phrases jumped out at me or gripped me in heavy ways. When I did not expect it, I
have also experienced God reminding me of Scripture at odd times, or giving me a sense with
nearly a physically felt pressure on my chest of what he wanted me to do (or not do). I think that
God does speak in the midst of our thoughts, even about what may seem to be small matters in
daily life. I think we are able to dismiss or ignore God’s warnings, assurance, and guidance as
self-generated; alternatively, I think we can imagine that self-generated initiatives were God
speaking to us, so we must be careful.

Many things God might have to say to us do not correspond to some statement in Scripture, but
they must not contradict it. Knowing the Bible is necessary for discernment here. Perhaps God
will refrain from speaking until he knows we are ready to respond. God always meets us where
we are, and then leads us from there. Sometimes, I think that we might not want God to speak to
us; we prefer to keep him shut up in the Scripture instead of intruding into our thoughts and
challenging us in uncomfortable ways: “You must forgive him…Go and talk to her…I love
you…I will take care of you…I want you to love her…” Several times for me, the startling
contradiction to my own way of thinking has helped me recognize God’s verbal presence, the
action of a mind alien to my own. This strangeness of God’s guidance is common in the prophets
who were told to do crazy things that made them seem like madmen to others.

On the level of theology, we can argue about whether or not this is a biblically-warranted
experience that God speaks to people. I think that in the New Covenant, we have many examples
that God wants and has provided for this sort of experience. People have abused it, as noted
above, but the abuses do not mean that we abandon any expectation or despise others who live in
it.

On the level of experience, we can be boastful or disdainful (two unhappy responses), or willing
(with some fear and trembling, cf. Phil 2:12-13). I hope that we would all be willing for whatever
encounter with God that he might provide for us. I warn that there is a cost that comes with
listening to God if he does speak—we are obligated to respond and cannot pretend we did not
hear. This warning holds for all of God’s speaking that is already written for us as the Bible, and
for any of God’s speaking that might intrude upon us when we least suspect it.