Divine Direction rules
Though personal prophecy can play an important role in helping Christians make decisions, it is by no means the only way the Holy Spirit uses to reveal God’s will and way.
Probably 90 percent of your decisions have been made without personal prophecy being the dominating or even motivating factor. The most accurate method of making sure you do everything in harmony with Heaven is to follow the “Three W’s” of decision making: Determine God’s Word on a matter, His specific will about it, and His way to fulfill it. These are like three traffic lights that must all be “green” before we can proceed on our way.
The normal procedure is to make sure you have a “go” on the number one traffic light of the Word. If it is red (no), don’t go any further. If it is green, go on to the next light of God’s will. Stay put until it is green as well; a yellow (take caution; no definite yes or no yet) means wait. Finally, when the third light of God’s way is green, you can proceed at the proper speed. You now have the mind and timing of the Lord, so finalize the decision and take immediate action.
The third light is especially important. Most sincere Christians are diligent in acting according to the Word of God, and they are willing to seek His will on a matter. But they are not always faithful to wait until God’s way is made clear.
A closer look at each of these traffic lights will help us see how they allow us to determine the mind of Christ, walk by faith, be led by the Spirit, put personal prophecy in its place, and fulfill our personal rhema from the Lord.
The Word
The Bible is the highest authority and has the final say in all matters. It is the revelation of God in written form as Jesus was the revelation of God in human form. The Scripture contains the thoughts, desires, and purposes of God revealed and written for all to read and understand.
For a person to receive a green light from the Word, he must have more than just one obscure verse for authorization. It must be part of the Logos and not just a rhema found in the Bible but intended for someone else. We cannot use the rhema to Isaiah to go naked in public, or the rhema to Hosea to marry a harlot, in order to justify our doing the same thing today. The personal prophecies of biblical figures or of our contemporaries cannot be used to establish doctrine or become a pattern for all to follow. Thus we must go to the Bible, not with the desire to legitimize our desires, but rather to submit them to the Word of God and have them come in line with the Logos.
Before the green light of the Word can come on, the spirit of the Word and the letter of the Word must agree. God is Spirit, and the Spirit of the Word is the nature, character, and principles of God. You may think you have found a verse or two that gives you a green light, but if it is contrary to the nature of God, and His general principles, then you are misinterpreting the verse and taking it out of context.
Expose every thought, impression, and suggestion that comes to you from any source—regardless of how spiritual or religious it may sound—to the whole Bible. To avoid entering into deception and delusion, keep a love for the truth as it is, and not what you selfishly want to interpret it to be. Let the Word of God (Logos) dispel and destroy all self-delusion of the deceitful heart.
Only the two-edged sword of the Word of God can divide soul and spirit and reveal whether the thought and impression come from the soulish realm or the spiritual one.
Thoughts and desires should not be made prayer petitions until they receive a green light from the Word. If your thought or desire is unscriptural, improper, illegal, or immoral according to divine principles, then you are wasting your time asking God to let you do it. God and His Word are one: “There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (1 John 5:7).
The Holy Spirit will never tell you to do something contrary to the nature of God or the Holy Scriptures. Heaven will not answer such petitions. Any contrary thought that seems to be an answer to your prayers and meditation would have to come from soulish imagination, selfish deception, or the devil.
Thoughts and desires should not be made prayer petitions until they receive a green light from the Word. If your thought or desire is unscriptural, improper, illegal, or immoral according to divine principles, then you are wasting your time asking God to let you do it. God and His Word are one: “There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (1 John 5:7).
The Holy Spirit will never tell you to do something contrary to the nature of God or the Holy Scriptures. Heaven will not answer such petitions. Any contrary thought that seems to be an answer to your prayers and meditation would have to come from soulish imagination, selfish deception, or the devil.
Peter declared that it is possible to take Scripture out of context and twist it to one’s own deception and destruction (2 Pet. 3:16). This is precisely what has been done by cultic groups such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons.
True, conscientious Christians cannot have faith to receive the answers to their prayers unless they are confident that what they are asking is the will of God for them: “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hears us … we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (1 John 5:14–15). If you know your petition is scripturally the will of God, then you will have confidence and faith to believe God for it.
For that reason, before you accept any thought as from the Lord, or embark upon any enterprise, make sure you have an absolute green light from the Word of God, the Bible. But even then, you do not yet have an open road for full speed ahead. You must look for two more traffic lights before you can have Heaven’s full approval, authority, and anointing.
The Will of God
Just as God has a general will for all mankind, He also has a specific will for individuals. He has general directives for the corporate Body of Christ, and specific directions for the individual members of that Body. Just as all directions for the human body come from the head, all directives for the Body of Christ—both corporate and individual—come from Christ Jesus, the Head of the Church.
All true rhemas and leadings of the Spirit will be in harmony with God’s overall purposes, and for the edification of the whole Body of Christ. But just as the human head’s directives to the eye are not the same as those for the ear or any other part, Christ’s specific will and instructions for each member and ministry in the Body are not all the same. They must be personalized by individual application.
For that reason, the Bible can only give general directions to the whole Body of Christ, a few qualifications and requirements for certain ministries, and a general description of what to do. Without the working of the Holy Spirit and Christ’s fivefold ministry—especially the prophet—the Bible cannot by itself provide specific directions and reveal the will of God concerning all personal matters.
The Bible declares, for example, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15b). The Holy Spirit is today raising up a great army of Christian soldiers to fulfill this commission. Now suppose that a dedicated Christian wants to be a part of that fulfillment as a true soldier of the cross. In which “division” of the Lord’s army does he enlist: the preaching division, the praying division, or the paying division who support it? Is he to go into full-time ministry? If so, does he preach in his homeland or in a foreign land? Or is he to be a Christian businessman who provides the means to finance the frontline preaching division? Or is it perhaps God’s will for him to be a part of the great intercessory prayer division? Every “soldier” is called to do some of all three of these activities, but we must major in one to be effective, and we need to know God’s will about our “major.”
The Bible gives general criteria for making many decisions in business, travel, ministry, and use of our finances. But it does not provide many specifics. Scripture says that it is not good for a man to be alone, and that marriage is honorable, but it does not specify which saintly woman to marry.
True, conscientious Christians cannot have faith to receive the answers to their prayers unless they are confident that what they are asking is the will of God for them: “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hears us … we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (1 John 5:14–15). If you know your petition is scripturally the will of God, then you will have confidence and faith to believe God for it.
For that reason, before you accept any thought as from the Lord, or embark upon any enterprise, make sure you have an absolute green light from the Word of God, the Bible. But even then, you do not yet have an open road for full speed ahead. You must look for two more traffic lights before you can have Heaven’s full approval, authority, and anointing.
The Will of God
Just as God has a general will for all mankind, He also has a specific will for individuals. He has general directives for the corporate Body of Christ, and specific directions for the individual members of that Body. Just as all directions for the human body come from the head, all directives for the Body of Christ—both corporate and individual—come from Christ Jesus, the Head of the Church.
All true rhemas and leadings of the Spirit will be in harmony with God’s overall purposes, and for the edification of the whole Body of Christ. But just as the human head’s directives to the eye are not the same as those for the ear or any other part, Christ’s specific will and instructions for each member and ministry in the Body are not all the same. They must be personalized by individual application.
For that reason, the Bible can only give general directions to the whole Body of Christ, a few qualifications and requirements for certain ministries, and a general description of what to do. Without the working of the Holy Spirit and Christ’s fivefold ministry—especially the prophet—the Bible cannot by itself provide specific directions and reveal the will of God concerning all personal matters.
The Bible declares, for example, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15b). The Holy Spirit is today raising up a great army of Christian soldiers to fulfill this commission. Now suppose that a dedicated Christian wants to be a part of that fulfillment as a true soldier of the cross. In which “division” of the Lord’s army does he enlist: the preaching division, the praying division, or the paying division who support it? Is he to go into full-time ministry? If so, does he preach in his homeland or in a foreign land? Or is he to be a Christian businessman who provides the means to finance the frontline preaching division? Or is it perhaps God’s will for him to be a part of the great intercessory prayer division? Every “soldier” is called to do some of all three of these activities, but we must major in one to be effective, and we need to know God’s will about our “major.”
The Bible gives general criteria for making many decisions in business, travel, ministry, and use of our finances. But it does not provide many specifics. Scripture says that it is not good for a man to be alone, and that marriage is honorable, but it does not specify which saintly woman to marry.
Mutual attraction and romantic feelings between a Christian man and woman are no guarantee that it is God’s will for them to marry. And just because a business endeavor is legal and scriptural does not mean that it is God’s will for an individual to be involved in it. God’s specific will never contradict His general will, but it may sometimes supersede His general will.
Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father … not My will but Thine be done.” David, the king after God’s own heart, prayed, “Teach me to do Thy will … O God.” The Father had a specific will for Jesus that others could not fulfill. He had a specific role for David as for all the other godly patriarchs, kings, and prophets.
So how do we come to know the specific will of God for our lives? We must take a look at the ways God made His will known to people in the Bible, and then see how the Holy Spirit works with saints today to reveal His specific will for them.
Given all these ways of discovering God’s will, we need some guidelines and safeguards for discerning it in our own lives. Once we have passed the traffic light of God’s Word and are assured that what we are considering is in keeping with both the context and the spirit of the Word, we can expect the Holy Spirit by the following biblical methods to bring clarity, assurance, and direction.
God’s Method for Revealing His Perfect Will
Divinely Directed Desire. The psalmist said, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God” (Ps. 40:8). God’s greatest delight is for His children to desire to do His will—to take delight willingly in crucifying the flesh and fulfilling the desires of the Holy Spirit. He takes no pleasure in pressuring His children to do His will.
God’s Word assures us that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart (Ps. 37:4). This Scripture, I believe, has a twofold application. First, it means that God will cause us to desire what He wants us to have. Second, as we trust in Him, He will cause that prophetically inspired desire to come to pass. Consequently, desire can be a supernatural indication of the will of God. But desire alone, without additional confirmations, is insufficient evidence for concluding that what we desire is the perfect will of God.
Rhema and Scripture Illumination
A rhema is an inspired word birthed within your own spirit, a whisper from the Holy Spirit like the still, small voice that spoke to Elijah in the cave (1 Kings 19). It is a divinely inspired impression upon your soul, a flash of thought or a creative idea from God. It is conceived in your spirit but birthed into your natural understanding by divine illumination. A true rhema carries with it a deep inner assurance and witness of the Spirit.
God sometimes reveals His will by a rhema from “out of the clear blue.” But at other times we receive it by an illumination of a particular Scripture. As we read, God sends a quickening rhema that says, “This applies to you.”
Jesus received direction for His ministry that way (Luke 4:16–21). This type of divine directive may also be called “revelation knowledge” or “scriptural illumination.”
Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father … not My will but Thine be done.” David, the king after God’s own heart, prayed, “Teach me to do Thy will … O God.” The Father had a specific will for Jesus that others could not fulfill. He had a specific role for David as for all the other godly patriarchs, kings, and prophets.
So how do we come to know the specific will of God for our lives? We must take a look at the ways God made His will known to people in the Bible, and then see how the Holy Spirit works with saints today to reveal His specific will for them.
God’s methods of personal, individual revelation in the Scripture were widely varied. He directed Joseph by dreams. He spoke to Moses with an audible voice out of the fire. He whispered to Elijah in a still, small voice. He sent the archangel Gabriel to Mary. He appeared personally to Paul in the glorified body of Jesus. He spoke to David through the prophecy of Samuel and Nathan. He sent word to Jehu through the prophet Elisha and others. He directed Timothy through the laying on of hands with prophecy by the presbytery. And He guided Jesus through divine revelation knowledge.
Given all these ways of discovering God’s will, we need some guidelines and safeguards for discerning it in our own lives. Once we have passed the traffic light of God’s Word and are assured that what we are considering is in keeping with both the context and the spirit of the Word, we can expect the Holy Spirit by the following biblical methods to bring clarity, assurance, and direction.
God’s Method for Revealing His Perfect Will
Divinely Directed Desire. The psalmist said, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God” (Ps. 40:8). God’s greatest delight is for His children to desire to do His will—to take delight willingly in crucifying the flesh and fulfilling the desires of the Holy Spirit. He takes no pleasure in pressuring His children to do His will.
God’s Word assures us that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart (Ps. 37:4). This Scripture, I believe, has a twofold application. First, it means that God will cause us to desire what He wants us to have. Second, as we trust in Him, He will cause that prophetically inspired desire to come to pass. Consequently, desire can be a supernatural indication of the will of God. But desire alone, without additional confirmations, is insufficient evidence for concluding that what we desire is the perfect will of God.
Rhema and Scripture Illumination
A rhema is an inspired word birthed within your own spirit, a whisper from the Holy Spirit like the still, small voice that spoke to Elijah in the cave (1 Kings 19). It is a divinely inspired impression upon your soul, a flash of thought or a creative idea from God. It is conceived in your spirit but birthed into your natural understanding by divine illumination. A true rhema carries with it a deep inner assurance and witness of the Spirit.
God sometimes reveals His will by a rhema from “out of the clear blue.” But at other times we receive it by an illumination of a particular Scripture. As we read, God sends a quickening rhema that says, “This applies to you.”
Jesus received direction for His ministry that way (Luke 4:16–21). This type of divine directive may also be called “revelation knowledge” or “scriptural illumination.”
