Seeking Guidance: The Pattern
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Today’s Text is from: Matthew 7:7-8
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
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Today’s Notes from the Scriptures:
As we’ve seen, there is a pattern to seeking God’s guidance. The first step—cleansing—is actually important throughout the entire process. In fact, all but one of the remaining steps have no particular order and can fit together in many ways.
The exception is surrender. The Lord cannot share His plans for our life until we are committed to following Him no matter what. He certainly knows whether we are seeking direction in order to obey or merely to consider what He suggests. Therefore, surrender even precedes the moment that we ask. First John 5:14-15 says that the Lord hears and grants our petitions when we ask according to His will. It’s possible to make requests that are not of God, but believers who yield themselves will find their way to the right request and the best possible answer.
Most of the time, God guides believers to an answer through His Word, which is why I encourage people to meditate upon it (Ps. 119:105). Our reading can take us to the very passage that deals with our situation or reveals a principle that applies. Sometimes God speaks a crystal clear message to one person’s heart that nobody else would glean from that particular passage.
The key is to believe that the Lord is going to guide you, and live out that faith (Mk. 11:24).
The process of seeking guidance is often slow, so we must wait. Running ahead and manipulating circumstances can be a costly mistake. The omniscient Sovereign of the universe acts on behalf of those who wait for Him (Isa. 64:4). You who seek direction will receive; that’s a promise (Matt. 7:7-8).
Continued from Seeking Guidance The First Step 04/29/2011
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