[Pastor Ralph]

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them? What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

[Mario Angel]

I think that we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them, due to our narrow view of the big picture, we are beings who cannot see beyond our own scope, we many times want to trust our own instincts without seeing the bic picture, in our conditions many times we can only see a small fragment of the whole scenarium. The spiritual danger here is that we may disobey God by refusing to follow His commands when we can't confirm or see beyond our limited area of view.
I don't think that we should be afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks, because we all know that the world has rejected our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and any thing that comes from God. I think that we can balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust by always checking our bibles and asking for guidance through prayer and fasting. The Bible teaches that we should confirm everything with the word of God.

[Pat Beckner]

I am sure that Abraham did not understand why God would want him to sacrafice Issiac. Paul said that when he was called to preach the gospel to the gentiles that he confered with no-one. When Peter was sent to Cornelius, he went. These men did not have to understand why....they just had to obey. Guess that's why God chose them. Does my unbelief keep me from God's goal for me in His kingdom? Help my unbelief.

[Omie]

+ We humans don't understand that God's timeline is different from ours and so is his vision of life's circumstances. God sees the whole picture as I creep along on a mission I am not certain of.

[DEBORAH]

Q4 OUR NARROW MINDNESS, THAT IS WHY. WERE A CONTROLLING WORLD, AND WE WANT TO BE IN CONTROL. THAT IS NOT OUR JOB. OUR JOB IS TO LISTEN, ASK, AND IN FAITH WE WILL BE GUIDED,ALSO....
I THINK THAT THE LAST SUPPER WAS BUILT ON A FORMAT OF THIS QUESTION. DID NOT THE LORD BASE HIS CHURCH ON PRAYER AND FELLOWSHIP TO ONE ANOTHER?

This post has been edited by DEBORAH: 31 January 2003 - 03:41 AM

[Peggie]

We see things in human terms, so we look for human answers. But God says "My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts."

The spiritual danger here is the lack of showing truth faith, like the faith of Abraham. We often are afraid of being considered religious kooks. That is showing that we still worry about what the "world" thinks instead of having our main focus on obeying God, regardless of what He asks of us.

Confirmation regarding what God wills us to do should come from prayer. If we seek, we shall find....that includes finding God's will.

[Wendy Reid]

We cannot always "hear" that it is God's directions. We need to try and understand things we before we generally do them.
Our Spirits will beome deaf to God's voice.
By asking people we trust to pray with us about certain matters that we need confirnmation on. To ask God ro reaffirm His will for us as His ways our not our ways.

[Darleen Nelson]

Often we are afraid of what others will say or of what they think. We are strong in believing what God shows or tells us until others question it and then we began to doubt. Asking someone else's opinion may improve your confidence if you have faith in that person and his relationship with God but remember God spoke to you and you must decide to obey Him. It it lines up with Scripture than move out in faith. Gideon didn't have the complete Scriptures we have to use in judging the directions he had been given.

[Elwood C O'Dell]

I feel it is more than likely that it is my humanity that seeks to have everything make sense before I venture into the unknown. The problem here, at least for me, is that if I insist on this being so, then I will more than likely miss out on some of the greatest spiritual adventures and journeys that God his in store for me. Those times when He says "just trust me, I know what I am doing."

As to a balance between blind obedience and having confirmation by spiritual people I would like to know that those who are giving the confirmation have the gifts do do so. Also I feel it would be most advantageous to remember the truth taught in James 1:5-6.

[gripofhisgrace]

I think the problem here is that we want to put God to work in our world. We should be looking to be working in His world according to His divine Plan.

I think we often forget how big God is and has plans and ideas for us bigger than we could ever dream.

The danger is that by doing this we could miss the opportunity to serve God.

Could we be perceived as religious kooks ? Of course, but we probably would be anyway. I mean how sane did Noah look building an ark in the middle of the desert.

susan

[Chris]

Personally I feel that we are only human and that with our scope of knowledge and wisdom cannot always fully appreciate what God is capable of. I do not feel that there is anything wrong with first trying to understand God's will for us rather than obeying immediately. God knew right from the beginning of time that there would be times that His followers would have times of doubt and I strongly feel that he would prefer us to question him rather than bulldoze ahead in a particular direction not knowing why we are going in that direction. I am sure He doesn't look upon it as a weakness in our part but like Gideon that we are pursuing to strengthen our own understanding and faith in God.

In a proportion of our Christian life we may have no doubt whatsoever in knowing what God wants us to do but none of us can be exempt from situations whereby we are unsure and cannot determine in which direction to take. In these situations we must humbly come to God for spiritual guidance and even more importantly than this we must ensure that we are listening 100% for the answer even if it means we have to ask again.

If we do not listen 100% to what God has to say to us then we are in danger of not carrying out His will so I do feel that we need that assurance sometimes that we are doing the right thing. Sometimes God may use another person to point us in the right direction when we go through those times when we are unsure of His will. I know in my own life I have times when I am in no doubt atall as to what God wants me to do but there are other times when I have not been so confident and on those occasions He has used fellow Christians to reassure me.

[nelda huffman]

Pray and Wait for Gods direction always. when you are unsure.
Gods ways are not our ways, we are questioning people and we need to be able to be confirmed on what and how God wants us to do, I quess you can say we seem to need a lot of guidance even though we want control over our lives and what we do. We do not pray,wait and listen on the God ,instead of questioning him..

[Helen Spaulding]

I'm afraid we don't trust that what we feel is God's guidance, is truly Him speaking to us, so we waver on our obedience. But, I've found when I follow what I strongly feel is His guidance, it works out to have been. Someone has said that we must keep 3 guidelights in view: First, it must be Biblical--no saying "God told me to kill him!" Second, the way must open up so that we can do what we feel He is calling us to do. And third, if we feel peace in our hearts when we contemplate doing what we feel is His will, then, with these three guidelights lining up, we go ahead to do what He has called us to do. As we are "underway", He can guide us if we veer off the path He wants us on. ( such as His telling Gideon to cut his army down to 300). No one can guide a boat that is moored to the dock! We must pray for His continuing guidance, trust He will reply, and get underway! Then continue to pray! Will others sometimes think we are kooks? Yes, of course. Didn't they even think that Jesus was "crazy"? I like to be in that company! But, which is better--to have the honor of man--or of God? I want to be a "fool for God"!
Helen, author of "A Bruised Reed..."

[Lois Turley]

Getting confirmation through spiritual people is an excellent way to be reassured that what we are following is truly God's leading. But we need to be aware that even spiritual people we trust may not fully be able to see how God is working in our lives.

Sometimes we may have that nagging sense that what our Christian advisors are suggesting is not really the direction God is leading us. If we are truly in fellowship with him, reading his Word and in prayer, truly seeking his will, the fact that the pull of God in a direction seems to override the guidance of other Christians can be another type of confirmation. Once we are assured of how God is leading, we can go forward as God leads even when the directions don't make sense.

To me, the reason we demand that God's directions make sense before we'll follow them is lack of faith on our part. But once we've followed him in these directions that seemed so wrong, and seen him use our obedience in a way we never imagined, it is easier to have faith next time.

[Vickie]

God gave us the ability to decide, which in turn gives us the ability to question. I don't believe for a moment that He is angered with us when we are seeking His will and need that confirmation. He knows what gifts He gave us, and discernment is not on everyone's list!

I have found that it is usually God's will and not mine or the world's when it doesn't make since. His ways are not my ways!

[Tom Gilbert]

While I think God will often guide us to do things that don't make sense, I also believe that the more we "walk with him" by scripture study, prayer, faith and working with others the more his instructions do make sense!

There should be extreme caution to not run off and do all kinds of things that "God told us to do" if we haven't been praying honestly and asking for discernment. We should get counsel from our spiritual directors and friends. If their counsel seems to contradict what we think God is saying, then back to the Bible and more prayer. If we then remain convinced of God's direction then proceed--but we must not fool ourselves in to following our own wishful thinking or even misguided thoughts.

Cults and kooks are certainly around. True disciples and faith leaders are also around. Common sense is not always common sense when it comes to God--but the language of the heart is true. God speaks through His Spirit and that comes to us in the WORD, prayer and through the actions of others.

[DebChats]

1. Because "faith" is scary. God's directions may appear improbable or even impossible and we are surrounded by logic. However, if all things were logic, then no one would need faith.

2. God's thoughts are not always our thoughts and His ways are not always our ways, so there will be many times God's directions do not make sense to us. Disobedience and it's consequences is the danger here.

3. There are times when we cannot seek confirmation. We need not be afraid of being wrong by following what we think is God's direction when we cannot get confirmation. God can always take what is wrong and make it right. He can do nothing with fear. I would rather be wrong than afraid.

[Helen Williams]

We demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them could be for several reasons. The main one is faith. Things we cannot see or understand cause us to fear. We like to know we are standing on solid ground. God want us to trust Him at His word, yet and still we should be sure the directions are fron God.

Not all of God's directions are going to make sense. We can be in spiritual danger of not obeying and miss our spiritual blessings. We do not like being different or being considered a spiritual nut.
We all need the spiritual discernment of our spiritual brothers and sisters that we trust. We will encounter situation that are not clear or we do not understand and the spiritual insight of others may shed some light.

[Glenn Bohlander]

We're human. We have a small faith. We trust ourselves more than God.
The spiritual danger here is being disobedient and spiritual death.
I have trouble understanding God's will and how to follow God and listen to the confirmation of other Christians.
I guess I have never done or have needed to do this. Can someone give me an example of this?
I have always just accepted the will of God after it has happened to me.

Glenn

[Linda Stanley]

Pastor Ralph, on Jan 24 2003, 09:19 AM, said:

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them? What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

In hopes that I never demand from God,but as a human You always want to know the outcome of what you feel God wants you to do.We tend to lay out the fleece just like Gideon.The danger hear is not having enough faith in God or yourself to accomplish what is to be done.You have to trust God also.Just like when Jesus feeds all those people.The disciples thought,"Where is all the food to come from.Jesus showed them it could be done,and Jesus feed the people.
Yes we could be called religious kooks,like we dont know what we are talking about.like"God wants someone to build a church,or add on to the church or maybe start a Food Pantry.You ask youself"How can I do that!!?? Where do i get the funds from?
When John the Baptist preached,look what the people thought of him.How strange he was.
There are christian friends and Pastors,teachers who has more spiritual guidiance,and I feel we can turn to them for help at times as maybe they have gone through something similar, in what we feel we are to do.