Remaining in His direction

Roadmap

  1. Where do you want to go?
  2. How to get there?

 

  1. Where do you want to go?
  • We all have to decide where we want to go: by that I mean it is either letting Jesus be in control or we have the control.
  • If Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.
  • Following Christ’s leading would lead us to tremendous blessings and greatness.
  • There will be challenges or trials, but we can overcome with His power and His leading.
  • The ultimate end of wanting to do God’s will is to become acquainted with His ways; becoming like Jesus.
  • Isaiah 46:9-10 Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,’
  • God knows the end before we even make our decision, that is why He wants us to trust Him.
  • Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
  • We are often tempted to trust ourselves but the fact of the matter is, we cannot trust ourselves.
  • When we are told to “follow your heart”, it is certainly not wise and not according to the word of God.
  • Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
  • Decision making Process: Position (Situation or Context of what we know or experience) > Perspective (Desires or Fears) > Prediction (our best guess of a possible outcome)
  • That makes our decision-making subjective and our prediction of the outcome of our decision is simply our best guess.
  • God knows all the Positions (situations) we are in, He knows the outcomes of all the decisions we make. He wants us to follow His will because He desires the very best end for us.
  • Through His word, the Bible, we have learned that those who trusted Him till the end enjoyed blessings and achieved greatness whilst those who did not, ended up having to face all the negative consequences.
  • God wants us to keep trusting Him, so that we will become more and more familiar with His ways. As a result, we will naturally choose His ways when we need to make decisions.
  • In so doing, we are able to discern His will.
  • Where do you want to go?
  • In all your ways, acknowledge Him…
  • Acknowledge (Hebrew-Verb): Yada` – means to know Him, to be riveted, be focused, right on line with God, be doing it.
  • The main idea here is that as we trust in Him, leaning not on our own understanding, more and more, not only do we grow to know Him more intimately, but we also become more like Jesus.
  • We all have to make this choice and when we do so, it gives us clarity.
  • Clarity has nothing to do with where you will be at the end of your life.
  • Clarity is about knowing who you want to be.
  • The world teaches us to follow our passion. It is no wonder there are so many indifferent and lethargic people around.
  • Don’t follow your passion, but to let your passion follow you.
  • Don’t just count the cost you have to pay, but make the cost you pay count.
  • Trust in God’s road map for us: Align our lives in His direction; Choose His direction; Remain in His direction.

 

  1. How to get there?
  •  Isn’t it powerful when you find such direct instruction in the Bible? A well-established cause and effect relationship. When you do these things, GOD shall direct your path. It is important for us as Christians to memorise these two things and always reflect on them in our lives.
  • But how can we get there? To the position where we want to be? Whenever I pray and meditate on this topic, one word always comes to mind – visibility; vision; being able to see. I think that is the key. When you want to find strength and perseverance to remain in GOD’s direction, visibility is key.
  • I believe our environment here has changed over the past few years. It seems like no matter where we are at which part of our lives, there are always things that seem very urgent. Be it the upcoming final exams, a job interview, a meeting with clients or an end of year report at work that is going to affect your promotion. There is always an urgent goal we have to achieve, and sometimes when we are too focused on what is in front of us, we end up losing sight of what is really important. Sadly to say, many people I have encountered seem to be very shortsighted; it is almost like living a life in blindness. I know how it feels because I used to be that blind, and now that I see, I would like to share what I have learnt.
  • Today I want to share a story to illustrate what I am sharing: The 3 types of sailors in life.

 

Sailing Illustration Introduction

  • I always visualize life as an open sea and we are all on little rafts, little boats. Every one of us aims to get to land, to the kingdom of God, and our life here is like a journey in the sea. I am in a little boat and I am surrounded by many other people also in their little boats.
  • I look to my left, and see people paddling really hard; day and night, paddling non stop and comparing their progress with each other- almost like in a race, a competition. In the rough seas, they struggle to move forward, but the currents keep pushing them back. They are all sweaty and look very angry when things do not work out. They are always looking down. When they see their friends moving forward, they get jealous and frustrated and go on to paddle even harder.
  • I look to my right and see a group of people looking very gloomy- some of them tried paddling but gave up after being pushed around by the currents; threw their paddles into the sea and just lay back on the boats and let the currents (life) push them around.
  • Then I look in front and I see a generation of people, like a tribe, moving together in formation. Their paddles are rested by their side; they are not using the paddles.Instead, their hands are on the ropes of the sail, and their eyes are all fixed in front in the direction where they want to go, and they are sailing.

 

The Sailors

  • They were not relying on their own strength to paddle and move forward. They were constantly adjusting to the direction that the sail sheets were facing to align to the direction that they want to go and let the wind push them forward. Their eyes were always fixed upon the direction that they want to go. That is the group of people I want to join. That is how we should deal with life. Jesus is the Captain of our little boats, and He will guide us like the wind if we choose to align our sail with Him.
  • Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Constantly check yourself, and adjust and align your life to HIS direction, and never lose sight in your journey. Whatever obstacles or failures you encounter in life, look up to God, and He will direct your paths.
  • Set goals, work hard, stumble along the way… When life pushes you down, get back up, try again. When you fail again, return to Jesus, try another direction, find friends with similar directions as you, form a tribe, support each other and sail in formation. Through it all, fix your eyes upon Jesus and make sure you never lose sight.

 

The Paddlers

  •  In life, we have all encountered this group of people who think that they have got their whole life figured out. They worked very hard to get what they want. They got too focused overcoming the obstacles right in front of them, that they lose sight of what is really important. I like to further elaborate on this group of people because I used to be one of them, and I know how easy it is to be carried away.
  • For example. I want to seek the Kingdom of God; I want to do well in life; I want to be in a position where I can have great influence and do good things to honour and glorify God. I look at my life- I there is a wall in front of me: “O-levels”. Then for the next few years, my eyes are set on O-levels. Then when I get past that, my eyes were on A-level’s, I worked hard again. Then my eyes were on University.
  • Some of us cannot see a clear vision of our calling in life. I admit I too cannot see clearly. It has always been a question mark. But personally I believe it is okay not to know what your calling is, as long as you know that calling exists. Even though you see a question mark, or a blurred image, it is okay because it will get clearer as you move towards it. What is important is you have to set your eyes on it and move towards it. But if we are so focused on what is in front of us we might blind ourselves to our calling. Many people think that the goal in life is a specific point. Like a dot where you can reach. But I believe the goal is never a single point.it is a path and not a finishing line.it is an arrow, not a dot. It is a direction, not a destination. You reach the objective the instance you stepped on the path and you can instantly lose it the moment you step away. Our goal is not to reach a KPI. Remember, it is not about our performance. Our goal is to move forward in GOD’s direction for us. It is not about performance- it is about embarking on a journey, taking a direction.
  • When we come to a point whereby even before we know what God’s will is, we have already decided that our answer to God is a “yes”, He will direct our path or make our path straight.

 

The Lost

  • The group of people who seemed lost- they tried and failed and gave up; let everyone else push them around.
  • Set your Priority.
  • What is important and what is urgent?
  • Have a plan – Set Goals and be ready to inspect them
  • Ask why? Purpose
  • Imagine
  • Act
  • Risk – Trust in the Lord with all your heart
  • Vision – Upgrade Knowledge – Plan – Make time
  • Be a problem-solver and problem-spotter
  • Passion – NO – It is Perseverance
  • When we arrive at our destination, we achieve greatness
  • Greatness has nothing to do with materialism or being famous.
  • Greatness is about Influence.
  • When God shows us His sovereign will and gave us the moral will, it reveals who He is. It is knowing God personally and knowing His ways so that we will know His personal will for us. “I do not get to know God and then do His will. I do His will to get to know Him” – Philip Yancey
  • The more we are in line with God’s Sovereign will and obedient towards His moral will, the more we will discover His personal will for us

 

Application

Spurring one another through Accountability – Goals setting for 2018