The Most Reliable Guide

(Overcomer Wu)

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your Word. ” --Psalm 119:9.

Both in the church and in our personal walk with the Lord, our ways often becomes cluttered and we are confused with what path we should take. If we are not careful in following the most reliable ways the Lord has given us to discern His guidance, we will suffer shipwreck of faith in our spiritual life or the church will deviate from God's ordained way of blessings. We must never forget the guide which God has given us: His Word. The problem with some saints most of the time is that they turn to other things, which are mostly unreliable, besides the Word of God for guidance and they are misled.

For instance, some saints turn to their old traditional concepts which have neither basis in God's Word and are totally irrational. Yet they obstinately hold on to those concepts and practices simply because they are traditions passed on from generation to generation. They never stop to question: Is this practice Biblical or simply based on some old traditions? Or is this notion even relevant to the matter under consideration? As an example, some churches strongly oppose the matter of church registration simply because in some localities' Article of Incorporation has the line of stating who is the founder of the church. They said that since the Lord is the founder, there can be no person we can put in place of that line; therefore, they object to the process of registration. Yet these people are ignorant of the fact there is simply no need to follow those churches' format of Article of Incorporation. There are plenty of other formats that I have seen which does not have that line of stating who is the founder of our church and thus no signature by the founder is required. Thus, this matter that they have made an issue out of is totally irrelevant. Yet some would go so far as to oppose this that they are willing to create a division in the church over such matter that is not even an issue at all. Having said this, we should of course never compromise any fundamental tenets of our faith, such as the trinity of the Godhead, the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead, our salvation through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross alone, and the seven ones in Ephesians chapter four. Aside from these, anyone who insists on any teachings or practices to the point of enforcing them with threats are divisive people that we are exhorted from the Bible to disassociate from such ones (Rom 16:17).

Then there are others who confidently say that they need no instructions from others or even the Bible, but simply from the Spirit prompting them through their conscience for all the directions they need. They use 1 John 2:27 as their basis for saying so. Yet those who take that position have neglected the context that says in verse 24 of the same chapter that we need to let the truth of God's Word abide in us first: "Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you...." Only after this condition is met can John then proceed to state in verse 27 that the Anointing Spirit teaches us all things, because we have the truths of God's Word abiding in us as the basis for the Spirit to speak to us from. Also, in the same chapter of 1 John chapter 2 verse 14, John says, “... I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one....” Thus, this verse from the same context of verse 27 tells us that we do crucially need the Word of God to make us strong and to defeat the evil one. Furthermore, 1 John 2:27 is spoken in the overall context of the whole epistle of 1 John, which was written for the instructions/teaching of the saints.

What Scriptural basis do I have for saying that the Spirit needs the truths of God's Word to speak to us? Well, John 16:13 tells us: "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what he hears..." This verse tells us in no uncertain term that the Spirit guides us... how? By guiding us into all truth which we have received from the Lord Jesus and are now recorded in His Word, the Bible, because it continues by saying that the Spirit will not speak anything new: "He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears... " which are words that the Lord Jesus had already spoken to His disciples and are recorded in the Bible. Furthermore, the danger of simply following the speaking of the Spirit through our conscience is that a person's conscience can be seared with a hot iron as we are told in 1 Timothy 4:2. Therefore, this method alone of following the Lord's leading is highly untrustworthy for the mere fact that our conscience may be seared or numbed to the point where we cannot discern our own speaking from the Spirit's speaking in our conscience.

Recently, I have heard of a Christian (not one who meets with us) who sought the Lord's will by this means alone said that he felt led by the Spirit to divorce and marry a more spiritual sister that he has met. This is obviously a clear interpretation of his own feelings to be that of the Spirit's, because the Spirit will never tell us to do anything that is contrary to the clear written Word of God. As ludicrous as that brother may sound as the Spirit's speaking to him to divorce and remarry, it is a very present danger to those who seek the Lord's will by this means alone. In our efforts to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord, we can easily get so caught up in doing busy work for the Lord, heavily involving ourselves in so many different ministries, that we forget what our relationship with God is all about. We forget the basics, and in our busyness to serve the Lord, we drift farther from Him. Then the still-small-voice that the Lord speaks to us through the Spirit becomes still smaller and fainter until our own voice speaks louder than the Spirit's speaking and that may even prevent us from hearing the Spirit's speaking at all.

Perhaps we have never consider this verse from the standpoint of following the Lord's guidance; however, it is very enlightening to see this verse from this light because the psalmist simplifies this principle for us: "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your Word" (Psa 119:9). Obviously, this applies not only to our personal decisions and our inquiry for directions from the Lord, but it applies as well to the corporate church life when we seek the Lord for His guidance on matters of supreme importance.

Developing the discipline of studying God's Word each day is indispensable for our healthy relationship with Him that stands the test of time. And it does so because His Word is so rooted in our hearts that when trouble arises we know the answer, because the Spirit of truth will guide us into all truths through the Word of truths indwelling us. As God's Word finds a dwelling in our hearts, the Holy Spirit will remind us of the truths that pertain to our particular situation of need when they arises. The value of God's Word is immeasurable. Not only does the Bible give us a guide by which to live our lives, it also reveals the eternal purpose of God and the way to the heavenly Father's heart. It all begins with a desire to do what His Word says in every circumstance. And when that becomes the way we live, our way will be pure.

Our seeking for the Lord's will and the Lord's way stems from a good heart to conduct ourselves in a manner that is well-pleasing to the Lord. Yet we need to recognize that the source of our problems is not so much our conduct, but the wrong source of life. Thus, what we need is not so much more instructions on how to conduct ourselves outwardly, but to learn to deny our self and to live by the life of Christ. And as we live by Christ's life, we will spontaneously know His will and His way in all our practical decisions that we need to make.