WEEK 2: OPENING OUR HEART TO GOD S WAYS

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1 WEEK 2: OPENING OUR HEART TO GOD S WAYS WEEK 2: God s Ways are Higher and Better Than Our Ways We Have To Embrace God s Ways to Avoid Limiting God s Help We Gain Courage By Trusting God s Promises 11 Then Samuel asked, "Are these all the sons you have?" "There is still the youngest," Jesse replied. "But he's out in the fields watching the sheep and goats." "Send for him at once," Samuel said. "We will not sit down to eat until he arrives." 12 So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes. And the LORD said, "This is the one; anoint him." 13 So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David from that day on. (1 Samuel 16:11-13 NLT) David is brought in from the fields unexpectedly. Israel s recognized prophet, Samuel, tells the young boy that God has chosen him as Israel s future king. The Holy Spirit comes powerfully upon him. You would think that from this point forward that David s life would get pretty easy. But that s not what happened. For the next 20 years, David s life was filled with huge blessings and huge problems. David would slay Goliath, become famous as a military leader, become immensely popular with the people, and marry the king s daughter. But David also would twice narrowly escape being impaled by King Saul as he hurled his spear at David in the royal court. For years, David would be hunted as a fugitive in his own country by a jealous, paranoid Saul and 3,000 of Saul s men. He would be forced to live in a cave with other outcasts. He would have to act completely insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard (1 Samuel 21:13 NLT) to avoid being imprisoned in a neighboring kingdom. And at one point, David would come home from battle to find that an enemy had seized his men s families and burned to the ground the town he occupied. When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their families, 4 they wept until they could weep no more. 6 David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the LORD his God (1 Samuel 30:3-4; 6 NLT). Yet in spite of all the peril, what God promised David came true. David became Judah s king and eventually united all of Israel. Did it have to happen this way? Why couldn t it have been easy? This couldn t have been how David envisioned his life after being anointed as Israel s future king. How did David avoid getting bitter when life got so difficult? How did David continue to trust God when life was very different than what he expected? The answer: David viewed God as his most reliable friend and was completely open to God s ways. Page 1

2 What Is It Like to Have God as a Friend? It s hard to embrace the truth that the Creator of Everything wants to have an intimate personal relationship with each of us. Yet that s exactly what God tells us. God says to us, "Give Me your hearts (Joel 2:12 NLT), great is his love toward us (Ps 117:2 NIV) and that He longs to be gracious to you (Isaiah 30:18 NIV). Think about the most loving and trustworthy person you know. Are they also the wealthiest? The smartest? The most powerful? In humans, these traits rarely go together. So it s hard to fathom one Person with all of these qualities. Yet that s exactly who God is. God tells us, I am the LORD and there is no other I speak only what is true and declare only what is right. (Isaiah 45:18-19 NLT) What is impossible for people is possible with Me (Luke 18:27 NLT). I am the One who answers your prayers and cares for you. I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit comes from Me." (Hosea 14:8 NLT) God also tells us there is no evil in Him (Ps 92:15 NLT), that love comes from Him (1 John 4:7 NIV), that He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love (Romans 5:5 NLT), and that unfailing love surrounds those who trust Him (Ps 32:10 NLT). What would it be like if God were your most reliable friend? Wouldn t this be a huge advantage in life? What if your friend could see into people s hearts and assess their true motives (Proverbs 20:27 NLT)? Wouldn t this help you in business and personal relationships? What if your friend could open doors for you that you didn t even know existed? What if He could help you make decisions and equip you with the tools you needed to live a rich and satisfying life? Our Relationship with God is Unlike Any Other Relationship God is a Spirit person (John 4:24 NIV), so our relationship with Him is unlike any human relationship. When we communicate with each other, we typically respond to each other in an audible voice within several seconds. It s quick, highly interactive, and a familiar communication pattern. But God supernaturally sits outside of space/time, and with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day (2 Peter 3:8 NIV). If I spoke to another person and they took a week to verbally respond to me, I might wonder whether they even heard me. I might question whether they really cared about me. I probably would stop listening for their response. Much of my doubt about God comes from expecting a human communication pattern from Him in my relationship with Him. I have to be patient, learn to listen and embrace His timing. I must understand that He usually speaks to me through a combination of His Word (which I need to know) and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, which bubbles up within my thought stream and often relates back to a scripture. His advice is usually Page 2

3 provided according to His timetable, not mine. And I don t always immediately understand His guidance, because I can t see what God sees and I don t know what He knows. God says, My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT) God tells us don't be impressed with your own wisdom (Proverbs 3:7 NLT) and to trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5 NLT). For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:25 NIV). Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you (Job 22:21 NIV). God wants to guide our lives and wants us to understand that - if we ll let Him - He ll turn our lives into something beautiful, meaningful and significant! He tells us He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20 NIV). God Wants Us to Grow Into Godly Men and Women, To Be More Like Christ God tells us, "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. (Isaiah 48:17 NIV) "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. (Ps 32:8 NLT) Jesus perfectly modeled this for us. Jesus said, whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say" (John 12:50 NIV) and whatever the Father does the Son also does. (John 5:19 NIV) Following Jesus means embracing God s ways and trusting God by following His instruction. Living a godly life doesn t mean we ll always get it right. The Bible tells us that we all fall short of God's glorious standard (Romans 3:23 NLT). Living a godly life means that we are trying our best to become more like Christ, not that we are perfect. It means that we are trying to grow, even as we continually blow it. God tells us to train yourself to be godly (1 Timothy 4:7 NLT). If godliness requires training, it means that it requires intentionality and continued practice. It means that we ll get better at it over time. Things that trip us up today won t trip us up three years from now. The Benefits of Godliness God promises that godliness has benefits in this life and in the life to come (1 Timothy 4:8 NLT). Jesus echoed this when he said he came to give us a rich and satisfying life (John 10:10 NLT). Pursuing godliness is how our lives can become truly exciting! God promises abundant benefits and blessings to all who truly follow Him: The godly will flourish (Ps 92:12 NLT) and the righteous will thrive (Proverbs 11:28 NIV) The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives (Ps 37:23 NLT) Page 3

4 The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right (Ps 84:11 NLT) Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart (Ps 37:4 NIV) The godly are showered with blessings (Proverbs 10:6 NLT) The life of the godly is full of light and joy (Proverbs 13:9 NLT) The LORD takes the upright into his confidence (Proverbs 3:32 NIV) The ways of right-living people glow with light; the longer they live, the brighter they shine (Proverbs 4:18 MSG) The hopes of the godly result in happiness (Proverbs 10:28 NLT) Those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31 NLT) Really? God will withhold no good thing? Shower me with blessings? Give me the desires of my heart? God will direct my steps? He ll take me into His confidence? Can I really believe this? I can believe this if I view my life as a stewardship of God s resources. God tells us that everything in the heavens and on earth is His (1 Chronicles 29:11 NLT) and we must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord (Romans 15:1-2 NLT). God wants me to thrive! He wants to build me up so I can be part of His plan for restoring the world. If I m willing to yield to God s instruction and guidance, my life will increasingly become a reflection of His goodness and His ways, and I can confidently expect His help. Our role model is Jesus, who was the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15 NLT), through whom God flowed tremendous power and blessing. So the real question is: Can I handle God s blessings or will they derail me? Will I become proud if God helps me succeed in extraordinary ways, or will I recognize that it was God who helped me achieve it? Will I get lazy and stop seeking God if I become comfortable, or will I become even more grateful and usable by God? No loving father would give his child a gift that would cause them to stumble. The Bible says that an inheritance obtained too early in life is not a blessing in the end (Proverbs 20:21 NLT). God will give us as much help and favor as we can handle. As we embrace God s ways and open our hearts wide to Him, we can handle more of God s power and provision without being derailed by it, without getting fixated only on God s gifts. Trusting God prepares us to handle the fullness of God s blessing, by transforming our hearts so that we desire His presence, not only His presents! This is why Jesus tells us to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33 NIV) But can I really live my life based on such extraordinary promises? God encourages us to trust Him by telling us that He is not a man, so He does not lie. He is not human, so He does not change His mind. Has He ever spoken and failed to act? Has He ever promised and not carried it through? (Numbers 23:19 NLT) The Bible says, If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31 NIV) Page 4

5 If the Benefits are So Great, Why Don t I Always Follow God s Instruction? So why don t I do it? If God s promises are so amazing, why don t I always follow God s instruction? For starters, if I don t know God s Word, it s impossible to follow it. I need to learn God s instruction and His promises. I do that by learning God s Word. The good news is that if I follow God s instruction, I benefit from it even before I understand why it works! God s wisdom is embedded in it, and His full support is behind it. Second, if I know God s Word but if I m not monitoring my daily thoughts distinguishing between my godly and ungodly thoughts - then I can easily be deceived and can yield to the wrong voice. But what about when I know what God wants me to do? Why don t I always yield to God s guidance? My reluctance comes from holding on to a combination of three worldly false premises: Confusion #1: Thinking That a Comfortable Life is the Best Life I mistakenly think that a comfortable life is better than a godly life, and that I ll only pursue a godly life if it remains comfortable. In the uncomfortableness of negative circumstances, I stop listening to God and start listening to other voices in my mind. I have thoughts that God must not care about me if I m struggling with problems or that this problem is too important to entrust with God. I take matters into my hands, and my solution frequently ruins a relationship or creates a chain reaction of new problems. I end up off-track and away from God s preferred route, missing out on God s best. Think about it: Who authored the thoughts that encouraged me to not trust God? (Hint: They re not from God!) Even as we eliminate our self-created problems, Jesus tells us that here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows (John 16:33 NLT) because we live in a broken world. So it s imperative that we cultivate a different perspective on handling adversity. We ll discuss this in Week 3 of this study. God usually takes me through problems rather than around them. I tend to pray for the comfortable solution, which is that God would just fix it without any effort on my part. But God usually takes me through the problem instead of around it. Why does He do this? So that I mature and no longer get derailed every time I encounter a problem in this world. I learn to work through problems in a godly way, to gain strength by standing on God s promises, and to wait on the Lord for my help. David lived this way. He sang, Each morning I bring my requests to You and wait expectantly. (Ps 5:3 NLT); Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD. (Ps 27:14 NLT); The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all. (Ps 34:19 NIV) Page 5

6 Confusion #2: Thinking That People are the Source of My Supply I mistakenly think that my security and provision come from my job, my boss, my rolodex, family, friends, or the influential people I know. I trust more in other people for my supply than I do in God. So I succumb to peer pressure and act like others in order to remain well regarded by the group. God tells us to think differently: God says that He will meet all your needs (Philippians 4:19 NIV) and that it is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in humans (Ps 118:8 NIV). Once I am fully persuaded that God is my source, I think and act differently. I don t need to manipulate situations. I don t need to lie. I don t need to do things I m not proud of to please my boss. I don t need to worry excessively about losing my job. I don t need to give everything to my job and have nothing left for my family. My job is just a channel which God is using to take care of me, and God has many other channels of provision that I don t even know about. David knew this. He sang, LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. (Ps 16:2 NIV) Confusion #3: Thinking That It s Critical to Get a Specific Outcome That I Desire I get so fixated on achieving a desired outcome that I sacrifice God s best in order to get it. I petition God for what I want, but I refuse to listen when He gives me guidance or correction. When I do this, I m forgetting that God s ways are higher and better than my ways. I stubbornly refuse God s direction and won t make adjustments when He gives me a course correction. In doing so, I limit the help that God can give me, because I won t go where He is leading me. The Bible tells us that people ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the LORD (Proverbs 19:3 NLT) and warns "Don't be ornery like a horse or mule that needs bit and bridle to stay on track" (Ps 32:9 MSG), explaining that people who ignore God s direction must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes (Proverbs 1:30 NLT). David completely understood this. He sang, My steps have stayed on Your path; I have not wavered from following You. (Ps 17:5 NLT) We Increase Our Sensitivity to God s Voice When We Follow His Instruction When we yield to God s voice, we gain experience with God and gain confidence that His promises are reliable. As our trust increases, we give greater weight to His voice within our thought stream. Jesus said, My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27 NIV) As we mature spiritually, our trust in God not our circumstances - is where our confidence comes from. Our trust in God s character gives us strength to confidently persevere, even when we re staring at huge problems. We live by believing and not by seeing (2 Corinthians 5:7 NLT). Page 6

7 We Become Dulled to God s Voice When We Ignore His Instruction The opposite is also true. If I embrace my ungodly thoughts and constantly yield to them, I m giving them power. I m yielding to the wrong voice in my mind and as I do, the wrong voice gains influence in my heart. The ungodly thoughts start to crowd out the godly thoughts, and I have difficulty paying attention to the inner witness - the thoughts that the Holy Spirit gently contributes to my mind. The Bible calls this being deceived by sin and hardened against God (Hebrews 3:13 NIV) and warns that whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble (Proverbs 28:14 NIV). The Bible warns that people who consistently yield to the wrong voice wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against Him (Ephesians 4:18 NLT). In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God (Ps 10:4 NIV). David Trusted God and Was Totally Open to God s Ways David viewed God as his most reliable friend. He thought about God constantly! Even under intense pressure, David never stopped trusting God, no matter how brutal his circumstances were. He lamented, he cried, he expressed his frustration and fears, but David never doubted God s promises, the perfection of God s timing and instruction, or God s love for him. At one of David s low points, David boldly sang, I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. (Ps 27:13 NIV) David s attitude his willing heart - made David very usable by God. David trusted God so much that God could guide David down some extraordinary paths. God said, 'I have found David son of Jesse, a man after My own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.' (Acts 13:22 NLT) David s willing heart also made him highly sensitive to God s voice. David sang, My heart has heard You say, "Come and talk with Me." And my heart responds, "LORD, I am coming." (Ps 27:8 NLT) David knew that God was his source, not other powerful men. He waited for God s help and always sought God s guidance. When Saul s men staked out David's house in order to kill him, David sang, You are my strength; I wait for You to rescue me, for You, O God, are my fortress. (Ps 59:9 NLT) David wrote this song after being delivered from Saul and his other enemies: 3 I called on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and He saved me from my enemies. 4 The ropes of death entangled me; floods of destruction swept over me. 5 The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death laid a trap in my path. 6 But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from His sanctuary; my cry to Him reached His ears. 19 He led me to a place of safety; He rescued me because He delights in me. 20 The LORD rewarded me for doing right; He restored me because of my innocence. 21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not turned from my God to follow evil. 22 I have followed all His regulations; I have never abandoned His decrees. 28 You light a lamp for me. The LORD, my God, lights up my darkness. 29 In Your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall. 30 God's way is perfect. All the LORD's promises prove true. He Page 7

8 is a shield for all who look to Him for protection. 31 For who is God except the LORD? Who but our God is a solid rock? 32 God arms me with strength, and He makes my way perfect. 33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights. (Ps 18:3-6; 19-22; NLT) Questions to Ponder: 1) Which aspect of your spiritual growth is your biggest development need right now? a. I need to learn more of God s Word (His instruction and His promises) b. I need to better distinguish between my godly and ungodly thoughts (resisting my ungodly thoughts and giving weight to my godly thoughts) c. I need to gain experience being a doer of the Word, so that I have the courage and confidence to let God guide me down unfamiliar (but extraordinary) paths 2) Do you seek God s guidance first when you have a problem, or only after you ve exhausted your other options? 3) When you know what God s instruction is but you still don t do it, is it usually because: a. You stop listening to God because it is uncomfortable to do it God s way? b. You view your job (and other people) as your source of security/provision? c. You want a particular outcome to happen and feel it s too important to entrust it with God? 4) For believers, the thought that God doesn t care about me is directly contradictory to Romans 8:38-39 which says: 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39 NIV) So who is the author of the God doesn t care about me thoughts that surface in our mind? Actions to Consider: 1) Consider memorizing two of God s promises that you don t already know, so that you can lean on them for strength and endurance when times get tough. a. Some of God s promises are in this study; many more are scattered like gems throughout the Bible. b. Which two verses are yours? Page 8

9 Week The Big Ideas LIVING THE SPIRIT-LED LIFE Week 1 We guard our heart by managing our thoughts. o God s Word turns our mind into a powerful gatekeeper. We must identify the author/source of our thoughts. o If it seems like God is the source, then pay close attention to it (but also test it against scripture), and think about what it might mean. o If it s a rogue thought that s inconsistent with scripture, then resist it and quickly discard it. Learning God s Word removes life confusion and helps us recognize God s voice. o The Holy Spirit often teaches us the deeper meaning of scripture as we apply it to daily life situations. As Rick Warren has said, The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make us like the Son of God. Week 2 God s ways are higher and better than our ways. o If we ll follow God s direction, He will lead us down extraordinary life paths. o By their very nature, extraordinary paths make us feel vulnerable and not in control. (Because we aren t!) We have to embrace God s ways to avoid limiting God s help. o God s ways help me to avoid unintended consequences that lead to pain and heartache. We gain courage by trusting God s promises. o There are over 7,000 promises scattered like gems throughout the Bible. o Most of God s promises are conditioned upon living the way that God calls us to live. Page 9