Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Spirit Led
Ever felt a gut feeling to double-check a locked door or an unexplainable peace about a tough decision? That’s not just instinct—it’s often the Holy Spirit leading you. Based on Romans 8:14, this inspiring teaching reveals that being Spirit-led isn’t for the spiritually elite—it’s your right as a believer. You’ll learn how God guides through gentle promptings, internal checks, and supernatural perception, all grounded in Scripture and strengthened by church community. With real-life stories—including one that saved a life—you’ll gain practical tools to recognize God’s voice and make decisions with clarity and confidence.
We're just going to start out tonight by lifting up our Bibles, if you brought them, and we're just going to say these words. Say, heavenly Father, thank you for your Word. Holy Spirit, breathe on the Word that I'm going to hear, make it come alive to me and, heavenly Father, I'm going to be a doer of the word that comes alive in my spirit in Jesus name. All right, so we're going to jump into the word tonight. You know, I was tempted to do something for me. It's fun to study God's word and to and to find new things and to discover what words mean and and how that scripture was, was applied or what the context of it was then, and I like discovering new things, and when I discover new things, I like to share new things. But one of the mandates or the instructions that God gave pastor for this church was to teach what you take for granted. One of the mandates was that he would send a hot, dry wind and that people would be uncomfortable where they are and they'd get up where they are and they'd leave there and they'd come here, and our job is to make sure that they find water when they get here. Another warning that Pastor had along the way was that he said the Holy Spirit warned him that your children not meaning his kids, but the next generation doesn't know what you know, and so, therefore, teach what you take for granted. And so I'm going to fall in line and obey that instruction and teach what we take for granted. And so the title of tonight's message tonight is Spirit-Led. So we're going to talk about being Spirit-Led and hopefully I'm going to bring some practical examples and some practical things that will help you be led by the Spirit in your life in all kinds of ways and help you be successful. So in Romans 8, verse 14, we're going to have a lot of scripture tonight. I'm going to quote some of this stuff. I'm going to read through some of this stuff briefly. You can follow along, take notes.
Speaker 1:But in Romans, chapter 8, verse 14, it says for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Another way to say that is that the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. So if you're a born again believer, you're a son of God, you're a child of God. You're entitled to be led by the Spirit of God. In verse 16, it says that the Spirit himself bears witness, and it's talking about the inward witness here. The Spirit of self bears witness, with our spirit, that we are the children of God. So that's really the very first inward witness that you have is when you become a born-again believer. Your reborn spirit on the inside bears witness, with the Holy Spirit, that you are now a child of God. That is the first inward witness that you get is when you're born again, and from then on you're entitled to have the inward witness and to be led by that on a daily basis. Notice, he does not bear witness with our brain, which is the voice of our reason or our logic, and he doesn't bear witness with our physical senses and with our emotion. He bears witness with our spirit.
Speaker 1:And so let's just talk quickly before we get too far into this. Where does he lead? Where is he leading us? Well, 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14 says Now, thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ. So there's a place. He's always leading us. He's always leading us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses a fragrance of his knowledge in every place. So what I see there is that he's leading us not to victory it would be great to be led to victory but what he did is he's leading us through victory to this celebration on the other side of victory. So victory is expected. You're going to the celebration all the way on the other side of victory. So victory is expected. You're going to the celebration all the way on the other side of that. And a triumph is the ultimate celebration. It is spiking the football in the end zone. It is rubbing your enemy's face in their loss. It is the triumph in the Roman days was you just defeated your adversary and you're leading them in a parade, disarmed, naked, bleeding, bruised, in chains behind you, and showing off the wind to the entire city, the entire region. It is put on display. So that's where God is leading us in Christ is not to the victory, but to the ultimate celebration on the other side of that victory.
Speaker 1:So I heard a recent example. We've got, you know, you've got Carol Renee Dyer-Kuntz, as we affectionately call her, around here. She plays the keyboard up here. She was invited to, I think, a demonstration, a taekwondo demonstration or karate demonstration, or something of one of the students at her school and so she went to this and she was invited up there. They were, the kids were up there, you know karate, chopping and breaking boards and so she was up there, invited to punch through a board, and she had never done this before and I think some of the other parents also got to get up there. And so some of the parents, you know the moms are up there and they aim for that board and they're aiming for the board and they come down and they hit the board and it doesn't break and it hurts really bad when that board stops you. Thankfully, carol, being the athletic person that she is, she aimed through the board to a point on the other side of it and she came down hard and went through the board and it was not nearly as bad as those who stopped short at the board. And so let's not stop short at victory. The goal is not victory, it is the celebration on the other side of that. And that's where we're being led on a continual basis.
Speaker 1:Psalm 23, another example of where he's leading you the Lord is my shepherd. If he's your shepherd, he is leading you someplace. Where is he leading you? It says the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. So he's leading you into a condition where you don't want for anything. That word there, want means I will not lack or decrease or fail. So he's leading you into that condition. Verse two he makes me to lie down in green pastures, all right. He's leading you to a place where there's provision, where there's calm, where there's peace. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness. For his name's sake, that's where he's leading you to if we follow Notice. It doesn't say he's dragging you there. He doesn't have a hook in your snout and just pulling you along. He's leading you there. So you can have that and you can go there if you follow where he's leading.
Speaker 1:Verse 4 there says Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he didn't lead you there. That was you wandering off somewhere where he didn't lead. Good news, he didn't leave you. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod, which is a corrective thing, and your staff, which is a guiding thing. They comfort me.
Speaker 1:And we could go on and read the rest of it, but I just wanted you to see a picture of where he's leading you and where he's not leading you. He is not leading you into the valley of shadow of death. He's leading you into a condition of not lacking, decreasing or failing. He's leading you into green pastures, still waters. He's restoring your soul, leads you in paths of righteousness. That's where he's taking you if you're going to follow, and so I've got some numbered points through here. There's kind of a lot of them.
Speaker 1:The numbers really aren't important, but the first one I have is to, if you're going to be led by the Spirit, by the inward witness, you've got to first understand that one God is smarter than you and that he has a good plan. I don't think that's too much of a stretch for most of us to recognize that God is smarter. But sometimes we question like what's the best thing? And we understand God wants what's best for us. But I really want that and that isn't always what God wants for you and you kind of know that. But that's how you end up in the valley of the shadow of death, not alone, but in troubled places. And so let's recognize that God is smarter and that he has a good plan.
Speaker 1:Isaiah 55, verse 8,. My thoughts are not your thoughts. This should sound real familiar to you. Nor are your ways, my ways, says the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. You know he has a good plan for you. If you've been in church any length of time, you would have heard Jeremiah 29, 11. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord Thoughts of peace, not evil, to give you a future and a hope. And so we got to recognize that God is smarter and that he's got a great plan for your life. And so that's the first step in beginning to hear from the Spirit, or being led by the Spirit, something to do on your side.
Speaker 1:One of the first things to do on your side is to always put God first. Everything in God's Word, all the promises, are conditional Things that he puts out there. There's always our side to cooperate with His blessing for our life and His plan for our life. And so Matthew 6, 33 says seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all those things that you know you need and you want and you desire, all those things. He knows you need those and he's a good father. All those things will be added to you if you just seek first the kingdom of God and so put him first.
Speaker 1:Another one out of the Old Testament Proverbs 3, verse 5, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not into your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. He will direct your steps. He'll order the direction of your travel. If you'll not lean on your own brain and your own understanding, but lean on him and in all your ways, always acknowledge him, put him first, always to acknowledge him.
Speaker 1:You might just be considering what would God have me do in this moment, right now? You kind of pause at every crossroads, at every decision, every point in life, the major things I'm talking about. Just pause and just consider. What does the word say about this? What is the Spirit trying to tell me in this situation? Just pause and just consider. What does the word say about this? What is the spirit trying to tell me in this situation? Just pause and consider. If you'll do that, he'll be faithful on his side.
Speaker 1:Number three, and I think this could be the next t-shirt that we produce around here don't do dumb things. Understand God's will. Don't do dumb things. Understand God's will, and believe it or not, there's a scripture for that. Ephesians 5, verse 15 says see, then, that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. So that's why I got the don't do dumb things. To walk circumspectly is intentional. Do things deliberately and thoughtfully.
Speaker 1:Seek heaven's wisdom. There's two kinds of wisdom. There's the earthly, sensual wisdom, and then there's heaven's wisdom, and we want heaven's wisdom. You know, if you want to have God's wisdom, the first thing to do, just to make yourself eligible for it, is to fear God, which means to put Him first, which is kind of where we just came from. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You can't even begin to have a little bit of heaven's wisdom if you haven't first put him first and have a fear of God, a concern of what he thinks in that situation. So see, then, that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
Speaker 1:Verse 17 says therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Okay, I can understand that. I need to understand what the will of the Lord is, but how do? I do that. He gives some more instruction here, verse 18, don't be drunk with wine where it is excess or dispensation, but be filled with the Spirit. So there's the solution Be filled. In fact, in the Greek it's really be being filled. It's a continual filling of the Holy Spirit, speaking to yourselves or one another in psalms and hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord and giving thanks always, in all kinds of conditions, in every situation, to God, the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. So those are some instructions right there that'll help you be in a position where you can understand what the will of God is.
Speaker 1:So the next thing in this sequence that I have here is to read his word. If you want to understand his will, read his word. His will is filled throughout this book. That's the beginning right here. If you want to understand what the will of God is, read his word God's will, for your life will never violate this word and you can call out for help all day long, but he will never help you do anything that violates this word. So if you're in a bad spot, a tight spot and you're calling out for help and God, please help me do this and you don't feel like you're getting God's help on it. You might consider am I doing his will? As soon as you shift over and get in line with his will, the help is right there. He is a very present help in need. He will help you get out of that situation very quickly, but he won't help you violate his word. And so we've got to be faithful stewards of this word. Read his word, put it in your heart. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Speaker 1:Next, one number five come to church as often as you can. Again, we're taking I'm saying things that I take for granted. These are things that we hear often around here. The reason you hear it often is because it's critically important to success. It's the basics, but the basics will get you success. Come to church as often as you can.
Speaker 1:The psalmist wrote in Psalm 73, he said and it was during a trying time. He said, until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I understood, and what he understood was the end of his enemies, the end of his trouble. In that moment. But he didn't begin to understand. He saw circumstances that were shouting one thing, and it wasn't until he came into the sanctuary of God that he understood, and so I can't tell you the number of times I've been in this sanctuary, during praise and worship, during pastor's ministry, that something came alive to me on the inside. It might have been revelation, knowledge about his word, something I needed to know, but very specific things about life and about things that Claire and I were facing decisions we had to make, things that were critical to our life.
Speaker 1:We got an answer right here in the sanctuary and it wasn't pastor saying the spirit of the Lord comes upon me and tells me thou shalt do this and go there and buy this and don't do that. It wasn't that he's preaching on something entirely unrelated. It could be during praise and worship, with words that are absolutely unrelated to what we were facing. I'll tell you, we didn't close the real estate deal, but we accepted. We made an offer on a piece of real estate and it was accepted all during praise and worship, right here in this sanctuary, and we had a witness about it in that moment and as soon as we had the witness and we agreed, I was on the phone in praise and worship, and here's the offer and there's the acceptance, and we have a great home because of it. And it happened during praise and worship and because there was a witness of the Holy Spirit right here.
Speaker 1:And so until I came into the sanctuary of God, then I understood you're going to miss some things that you can understand if you don't ever come to church. So come as often as you can. You know. Besides, that it's obedience to God's Word. Again, he'll help you when you're in line with His words. Hebrews 10, 25 says to not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some, but exhorting one another so much more as you see the day approaching. The reason for that comes in the preceding verse, which is to consider and to provoke one another unto love and good works. We should be an encouragement and provoking each other in the right direction. And so if you're facing something, you may have somebody that you're coming to church with that is there. That's an encouragement to you that will provoke you in the right direction. That will encourage you about something. They may say something to you. That is just a confirmation of what the Spirit's already talking. The Holy Spirit's talking to your spirit and you think you know. And then there's a confirmation. And then you know like God's backing you up, saying you already knew this, but I'm going to help you out. Here's somebody else and it's unrelated and it's going to witness with you even more. And then you're just confident, you know you're on the right trail.
Speaker 1:Now when you're born again. People are fond of saying I have Jesus in my heart. Well, we don't really have Jesus in our heart because he's seated at the right hand of the Heavenly Father in heavenly places far above. Now we are seated together with him in the spirit realm. But what he did is he sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and to dwell on the inside of us. So we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and so we carry the spirit wherever we go. Every born-again believer has the Holy Spirit on the inside, and so you've got to be Spirit-filled if you want the Holy Spirit to witness with your spirit.
Speaker 1:So that begins with really being born again, but more than that, be being filled with the Holy Spirit. So there's continual fillings. There's the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. That's just another level above, and so some people go through life with just having being the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that's good. But there's more, and when you find out that there's more, you won't ever be talked out of the more. The people that don't know and try to talk you out of it are the people that don't have the overflowing filling of the Holy Spirit and they don't know. And here they are trying to talk you about it, people who haven't experienced that. They can't really explain it to you any more than they can come back from somewhere they haven't been. And so don't be talked out of the more let's have, the more you know.
Speaker 1:Jesus was the really. He was the first spirit-filled person on the earth. He was the first spirit-filled, and I believe it doesn't say this, so I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I'll give you some evidence to think about. I believe, if he was spirit-filled, that he had the evidence to speak in other tongues, and I believe that he did this often. And so in Luke, chapter 4, jesus. It said then, jesus being filled with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit returned to the Jordan and was led by the Spirit. He was filled with first, so that he could be led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where then he went through the temptations, overcame the temptations and the tempter, and then began his ministry when he preached about himself the Spirit of the Lord has come upon me because he's anointed me too, and he began his ministry. So he began his ministry being filled with the Spirit and being led by the Spirit. So I told you I was going to make the case that Jesus was a Spirit-filled believer, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.
Speaker 1:So in John, chapter 16, he's prepping his disciples begins about verse 5, but he's prepping his disciples that he's going to be leaving and it's necessary for you that I go, but when I go, I'm going to send another and he's going to be a comforter to you. He's going to be the helper, and he won't come until I go and send him. And so I have to go to get him there to you. But you need him. And so in verse 12, he says I still have many things to say to you, but you can't bear them. They had come a long way and their heads were about to explode with everything I mean. He'd already talked to them about drinking his blood and eating his flesh and he's blowing their minds with all this stuff. And he says I've got all these things I want to say to you, but you can't bear them, and so you're going to need the spirit of truth. So in verse 13, however, when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come, and so that's the Spirit that's coming in. So here's the case for Jesus being a tongue talker. He just warned his disciples I wish I could tell you all these things, but I can't because you're not ready to hear them. You're going to have to have the Holy Spirit to help you with these things before you can know anything else.
Speaker 1:Did you ever notice how often Jesus went away to pray? And he did it by himself. He went away from, he left his disciples to go pray. And if the instructions to us is to be being filled with the Holy Spirit and to speak in tongues, paul boasted I speak in tongues more than you all, and that it's not for the benefit of everybody who hears it, but it's your spirit speaking mysteries to God. So in 1 Corinthians 14, 2, it says for he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him. However, in the Spirit he speaks mysteries, and so that is a way to bypass the brain and just to have your spirit praying things that you don't know how to utter, things that you don't understand. It's mysteries, things your spirit knows, and it's a communication directly with God, between you and God.
Speaker 1:And so Jesus went away, and if he was spirit-filled and the evidence of that is speaking in other tongues, he was spirit filled and spirit led then he had to have had evidence. He didn't present the evidence to his disciples because he warned them I got a lot to tell you, but I can't, and you're just gonna have to wait for the holy spirit to come. And when the holy spirit came, he came upon them in a mighty rushing wind and filled them up, and then they all spoke in tongues. So jesus isn't going to ask him to do something that he hasn't already done and lived. And so that's the case. Jesus was a spirit-filled believer, he was led by the Spirit and he spoke in tongues. So take that, you religious people, all right. So some practical application here.
Speaker 1:There's different kinds of being led by the Spirit and I'll just describe these in these ways. There's a prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit on the inside. You kind of know something. It's a gentle nudge, it's maybe like a fleeting thought, something that comes to mind. A what if that kind of draws your attention one direction and it's really easy to override and disregard it and walk away from it. Example for me is I could be walking through the church at the end of a church service and I'm locking up the building and I know I've checked those doors and I'm starting to walk the other direction and I think what if it's not locked? And I turn and I make myself go back to those doors and sure enough, it's not locked. And that was the Holy Spirit helping me. Just a little nudge. Would it have been a catastrophe? Well, maybe, maybe not. The gentle nudge is something that's just so easy to override and you just have to get to where you recognize that and don't dismiss it. Don't dismiss those little things. If I had walked all the way to the doors and checked them, they were locked. Good, but so many times enough that I believe it's a prompting of the Holy Ghost. There's been a prompting and I follow through and I'm like wow, I almost missed that. Like wow, I almost missed that.
Speaker 1:The next level of the inward witness we're going to call like a check and you heard it called a check in your spirit it's really a hesitancy, it's an internal feeling of restraint or uneasiness, something's kind of gnawing at your guts, just oh, it's not comfortable, something's not right, and really that's the brakes. You're about to do something and the Holy Spirit is talking to your spirit and your spirit is trying to put the brakes on something. And that's also relatively easy to override. Don't go past your brakes. Those brakes are very important. It's not the same as a feeling of fear. Fear has a physical response to it and it's based on circumstances around you. So I'm concerned. I've seen some circumstances. I'm making a mental prediction of the outcome if I go through with this and that outcome is making me nervous. That's anxiety, that's fear.
Speaker 1:God did not give you a spirit of fear. He gave you one, a power, love and a sound mind. So if it's fear, you can identify that fear is faith in the wrong direction. God is not the author of fear. If God's not, then it must have come from the devil. Don't ever do things or don't do things out of fear. This is different. This is an internal feeling of resistance. That's a check in your spirit. It's a warning from the Holy Ghost and you better just pause for a minute and understand what that is. You'll find peace in the right direction If you make an adjustment. If you hit pause here and you make an adjustment and then suddenly things feel right and easy again. He'll give you peace in the right direction. If you follow peace, you'll never Remember where he's leading you. He's not leading you into anxious anxiety, fearful, terrifying. He's leading you into green pastures, still waters. He's restoring you. He's leading you into a condition of peace. So follow peace. You will never miss the inward witness if you follow peace, the inward witness if you follow peace. An internal check can be something relatively minor, but it can also. It will also ramp up and be stronger and stronger and stronger the closer you get to making that bad decision. It will just gnaw on your inside and you'll know, oh, something's not right.
Speaker 1:You'll know Paul had a perceived warning in Acts when he was on board that prison ship and his warning was he verbalized it. He said men, I perceive this voyage will end in disaster and much loss, I perceive. So he didn't get up there and prophesy. And for this says the Lord God, blah, blah, blah. It wasn't that, he just perceived something. So you can perceive, and I want you to recognize that perceiving is really the Holy Ghost showing you something. It's futuristic. What was the promise of the Holy Ghost? He'll tell you things to come. He'll show you things to come. It's a perceiving. You might not know all the details, but you'll know enough to not go through with something.
Speaker 1:An example from this out of our life our daughter, thea, was on her way home from school one afternoon and she had a thought, a fleeting thought, pop in her brain what if I got into an accident? And she prayed and asked God for help and kind of got rid of the thought and kept driving down the road. And she did pray, she knew enough to pray, but then that thought and that feeling was stronger the more she got down the road. She didn't know what to do with this. She's 18 years old, she's driving down the road, and so she felt uncomfortable on the inside. Now it's like a gnawing feeling. The closer she gets to something, the worse she felt about it, and so she felt uncomfortable on the inside. Now it's like a gnawing feeling. The closer she gets to something, the worse she felt about it. And so then she did what she needed to do. She put on praise music and sang along. She sang praises and worship in the car.
Speaker 1:While she's driving down the road she gets into a turn lane. There was a line of cars that were stopped and she would have had to cross through that line of cars. Somebody made a gap for her, opened up the line and let her go through, waved her through, and on the other side was a truck coming through that she never saw, going 50 miles an hour, plowed into her passenger side of her car, and she was found unconscious at the scene. In her mind she said I saw the truck coming. This was after the event. I saw the truck coming and I was fine. I drove through the gate and I got into our neighborhood and everything was fine. And it was really weird, dad, she said I woke up and there were people messing with me. That was the paramedics, as she was coming to. She was unconscious until the paramedics arrived and Claire and I got the call that she had all the signs and symptoms of traumatic brain injury at the scene and that they were air flighting her from that scene to downtown Houston to a level one trauma unit.
Speaker 1:Claire and I on the road we turned around right there. All the feelings of fear and the circumstances were overwhelming in that moment. But you can't let yourself speak fear. You have to answer that with God's Word. And so that's what we did. She will live and not die and she'll declare the works of the Lord With long life. He'll satisfy her and He'll show her salvation. And so we're quoting the Word all the way down there. We're getting on 290. I'm driving about 100 miles an hour and there's the helicopter flying over 290. And we knew our daughter was on the inside of that helicopter.
Speaker 1:And we got to the hospital and there she is laying on the bed and she had a neck brace on and she had some blood on the side of her face and she rolled over and she said I'm fine, mom, and they gave her a shot and a Band-Aid. It was a tetanus shot and a Band-Aid. And we went home that evening and she had no signs or symptoms of traumatic brain injury. They called it a mild concussion, if there is such a thing, and we had to sit on her at home to keep her from doing anything because we wanted to make sure that she's really okay before she goes back to school. But all was well.
Speaker 1:She had an internal warning of the Holy Spirit that caused her to have a response, a spiritual response. She prayed and asked God for help. Well, he's a very present help in time of need. Maybe she missed and she missed her exit and she went too far down that pathway and she did what she needed to do. I'm going to bring the presence of God in the car with me. And so she put on praise and worship music and just worshiped in the car. She was protected not only from the impact but the lasting effects of any injury, but also the mental side of that. She didn't have the memory of a crash. She didn't have the sound in her brain. She didn't rel the memory of a crash. She didn't have the sound in her brain. She didn't relive that moment. She had a memory of I got through the intersection and everything was just fine. That was her memory. That's what God gave her. And so when she had another vehicle, she got back in that car and it was no big deal, and she drives. She learned something from that. But there's an internal check, a hesitancy, something that's not right and you don't want to bypass. You don't want to blow past that. I'll give you one out of my life.
Speaker 1:When I was in college, some friends and I planned a ski trip. I bought a plane ticket, I bought the ski passes, I bought the paid for the hotel in advance. It was a package deal. You had to pay for it in advance, and the closer I got to that date, the worse I felt, and I didn't really even know why until it was the night before and my guts were in knots about this. Everything looked normal and fine. It wasn't a circumstance that said I shouldn't go. Everything was fine, but I still felt just out of place. It was wrong, something's not right. And finally I just wrote a note on my door, left it out on the outside of my door and I knew my friends were going to come by and pick me up the next morning. We're all going to the airport together and I couldn't bring myself to do it, and so I removed all possibility that I might accidentally go and override that warning. I went and got a very cheap hotel room and I pulled the shades too. I unplugged the alarm clock, I locked the door, I turned my phone off and I went to sleep until I was certain I had slept past my flight and I woke up.
Speaker 1:You know where I found myself? In green pastures, by the still waters, where my soul was restored. That's where he led me. He led me. I don't even know what I missed. I don't need to know. I missed something that wasn't good and instead I found myself in a great place with peace. And so don't override those warnings. Also, the converse of that is, when you have a decision to make and it's the right one, you're going to have peace about it. So another anecdotal story from my life. I'm going to wrap this up here.
Speaker 1:But I was working for a marine construction company. I was in the project management position. I had worked my way to a very high level in this company. I had a very nice six-figure salary. I was in a 30% bonus bracket. I was at the top of my game in this industry. I had the biggest jobs in the company. Last project was like $46 million project, very successful. Everything's going great, and Claire's dad asked me to come to work for the church.
Speaker 1:Nothing in the natural said that was a good idea. Come work for the family probably not a good idea. Leave this high-paying job where I'm just. The only way to go is up, leave that job and go to work for a church. What's that going to do to my salary? What's that going to do to my life? I went to school to study this. I'm doing everything right. It should in the natural. Everything didn't make sense for me to make that choice and come to work for the church. As I pondered that and thought about that and tried that on, I had peace and it was an overwhelming sense of peace. It was a big decision to make.
Speaker 1:You know you don't really get big indicators unless there's a really big decision or impactful thing. The bigger the indicator, probably the more trouble that's going to come with it. Unless there's a really big decision or impactful thing, the bigger the indicator, probably the more trouble that's gonna come with it and the bigger the indicator you have is gonna give you something to hold on to in the future, to let you know, to remind yourself nope, I can't deny it. God gave me the answer. I'm on the right course. I know that I know because I have that. So don't look for big indicators, but when he gives them to you, just know you're going to have that to hold on to in the future. Bottom line is I gave my notice.
Speaker 1:My boss didn't talk to me for three days. Then, at the end of the third day, he came to me and took me to lunch, had a nice steak lunch and he said there are two things I can't compete with church and family. He said you're doing a great thing. I'm proud of you for making this decision. Of course you ever want to come back. There's always an open door, but you're probably not. And I left and it just felt so peaceful and easy driving out of there. I remember the feeling in the driveway we paused at the sign, got a picture with the sign and that would have been the last time I was ever there and it was just right. And now, looking back, it was right. I didn't have it set out that I wanted to be a public speaker, that I ever wanted to go into ministry. I don't like funerals, I don't really want to do weddings, I don't like large groups of people, like nothing fit for me, naturally. But this was God's course, and it was right and it was peaceful to make that decision.
Speaker 1:Finally, about the inward witness in Psalm 37, it talks about committing your way, or rolling your way off, onto Him and He'll direct your paths. In fact, let's just turn there real quick. This will be the last one here. So Psalm 37, that whole chapter, is really really good. In verse 3, it says trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land. Where's the land? The land, the place that he's assigned you to be, feed on his faithfulness, remember how he's never let you down. Delight yourself also in the Lord, take time with him, delight yourself, get happy to read his word and to pray and to commune with him. And it says and he will give you the desires of your heart. In verse four He'll give you the desires.
Speaker 1:That does not mean that whatever you desired in the pre-condition He'll give you. What it means is your desires begin to align with His purpose and will for your life. When you trust Him, you do good, you dwell in the land, you feed on His faithfulness, you delight yourself in Him, you read His Word, you spend time with Him. All of a sudden, you're taking on the desires that he has for you, and now you're desiring the things that he has for you, and now you're desiring the things that he has for you. Your desires line up with him, and so when you have these decisions, the more you walk with him, the more you stay close with him, the more you read his word, the more you come to church, the better your prayer life.
Speaker 1:The things you desire and chase after will be the things that are in alignment with his will and his word, and then it'll just be an easy path You're not going to miss. You're being led by His desires for your life because you adopted those desires. It wasn't a mental thing, it wasn't a deliberate thing. It just happens when you stay close, and so you'll end up being led in the green pastures and by the still waters, your soul will be restored and you get all the benefits of not missing the Holy Ghost. And so, hopefully, those are some practical things that'll help you following the Holy Ghost, being Spirit-led. You're entitled to it that if you have a life decision, a big thing to make, I would encourage you to not make that decision all in one big step, because you're committed when you make the one big step and it might be right and you might miss it.
Speaker 1:What's easier and what's better is to take steps. He'll order your steps. You'll have a witness to take another step. If you need to make an adjustment, the Holy Spirit can adjust you on the move. You're never going to miss by breaking it up into small steps. Small steps are easy to adjust and before you know it, you're going to find yourself in the plan, in the place, in the purpose of God, taking those steps one step at a time. As an engineer, I just I wish I had the whole plan out in front of me. I want to see that drawing, I want to make all the edits and the corrections to it. But he has never shown me that we that just, shall live by faith, and every one of these steps is a step of faith, and so we just have to go one step at a time and trust and check and follow peace.