If you knew clearly what God wants, you would likely do it, wouldn’t you? But, if you’re like me, sometimes it’s unclear. I can tell you 1 time in my life I have heard the audible voice of God, and 2 times I have felt the undeniable promptings of God. Outside of those 3 instances, the rest has been a little uncertain.
I have to think if I were God I would send a personal text message daily, outlining exactly what each person should do. I would make the best path clear, in writing. I would give you a 3 step plan for the day and a clear 5 year plan for the future. I would erase uncertainty. I would eliminate the fear of making the wrong choice. But guess what, I’m in charge of none of that.
God sees beyond my limited view. He intimately knows his creation, what is best for his creation, and how to guide them to his best.
Understand this, he didn’t just plop you into this universe and leave you here to fend for yourself. He’s not sitting on his throne in heaven watching you like some experiment. He’s not throwing problems your way to watch you freak out.
God is offering his guidance. He is offering his divine help. It just doesn’t come in the form of a text message … usually.
Yesterday I discovered a woman I mentor had moved out of the country and her US number had been transferred to someone else. I was unaware of this change and had continued to send a daily text to this number. Messages like “remember who you were created to be” and “you have unstoppable potential within you” and “today is a gift, enjoy it”. Imagine being on the receiving end of these daily texts, having no idea where they’re coming from. Finally, I received a reply from the number yesterday asking “who are you?” Oh, if I would have only been more on my toes, I would have said GOD with the boom emoji.
I would like to receive a daily text from God. It sure would be helpful as we’re less than 3 weeks from being homeless and our plans of where to go and what to do were changed. I bet you would find a text from God helpful right now too. You have uncertainties as well and your genuine desire is likely to do the right thing, isn’t it?
I send over 500 personal texts daily. It’s a whole lot of texting. It takes a lot of time. Maybe God doesn’t have time to text each of us? Maybe that’s a little much for us to ask. There are 7.5 billion people, then you add in the 6,500 different languages he would need to put the messages in … it’s all a little overwhelming. I don’t blame God for not texting us every morning with his plan.
But then I’m brought back to the same scripture on the daily, Isaiah 55:8-9:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
So if my way would be to send a daily text with clear steps and a big picture plan so we would know for sure what to do, and God’s way is HIGHER, BIGGER and BETTER than my way, what exactly IS his way?
How does God show us his will? What’s his plan here?
Bigger than mine, indeed. I thought maybe God wasn’t sending a daily text to us because of the effort it would involve on the daily, but when you understand what God has really done to guide us, it’s mind blowing.
He sacrificed his son so that his spirit could live in us.
We don’t need signs and we don’t need texts, we are being guided by God’s spirit.
Paul explained it like this in Colossinas 1:9:
“We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives …”
Understanding God’s will and knowing what to do comes from the wisdom and understanding only the Spirit gives. This is the spirit Jesus said he was leaving behind for every believer in John 14:16 when he said “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.” Then in verse 26, Jesus says “This Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things.”
If you have accepted Jesus as your savior, if you have invited him into your life and accepted his sacrifice for you, then you have the offering of God’s Holy Spirit to guide you. If you have never made that decision, or unsure if you’ve really asked God to make this change in your life, today would be a really awesome day to do that! I’m available to help guide you. Reach out to me through social media, I personally read every single message, and I would be honored to pray with you as you commit your life to God.
As a result for all of us who have made that decision, we received a gift. A gift better than a daily text message. The gift of God’s almighty and powerful Spirit dwelling within us.
I honestly have a hard time wrapping my mind around that, but it’s true. The spirit of God is what gives me wisdom. The spirit of God is what directs me. The spirit of God is what helps me see what I’ve been missing. And he will do the same for you!
You are not in this alone. God is with you. He is guiding you. He is giving you wisdom. Lean into his promptings instead of busying yourself with the advice of everyone else. Why are we so quick to worry, complain and ask someone else to pray, and forget we have the greatest power right inside of us? That power is desperately trying to guide you. Desperately trying to help you see the next right step. Maybe you haven’t been listening.
God promises, seek and ye shall find. Ask and it shall be given to you. Knock and the door will be opened. Okay God, I am ASKING for your guidance. I am asking for wisdom. I am seeking your will, trusting your plan is better than mine.
And what does Paul say you will receive as the result of being guided by God’s spirit? Colossians 1: 10-12
“You can live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in his inheritance.”
Okay, two things here:
First, Paul, that is the longest run on sentence ever! It’s like he was so excited to lay out all the details of what God’s spirit offers us, he couldn’t take a breath.
I like to put it in bullet points with a breath in between.
When we are guided by the Holy Spirit, we
Can live a better life
Please God
Do good
Understand God’s plan better
Receive strength & patience
Keep going & not give up
Be grateful
And oh yeah, go to Heaven!
So, that brings me to my second thought … uhmmmm, sign me up. I need all of that! That’s exactly what I need. I want to live a better life and I know you do too. We all want to understand this whole thing better so we can do good and please God. We need some strength and patience up in here so we can keep going. And we know gratitude changes what isn’t enough into more than enough.
All of this comes with the Spirit of God living in us.
Girl, you gotta tap into that!
As a follower of Christ, that’s what you have in you. Have you forgotten? God is guiding you. He is showing you the way. He is offering you exactly what you need for today.
Better than a text message with 3 steps and a 5 year plan; the life altering, earth shaking, change every-dang-thing-EVER power is right inside of you.
This is why I will not fear. This is why I won’t freak out. This is why I will show up and live today with an unshaken heart and a grateful attitude … because I have the power of God living in me.
And so do you! (or if you don’t, you can … today!)
So, I guess God does text us, he just doesn’t require a cell phone. He communicates directly with us through the power of his Spirit within us. Cool. You can’t lose that, you can’t break that, and you’ll never run out of data.
