God's Guidance: Learning to Trust and Follow God's Direction Part 2
Download MP3Welcome to a place of peace, hope, and divine encouragement. This is Joy In Every Step with your host, beloved preacher, retired teacher, and faithful servant of the Lord, Elder Sarita Bernadette. Long before podcasting existed, a promise was spoken. That one day, Sarita's voice would bring comfort, clarity, and understanding through the word of God. Years later, when God opened the door, Sarita took the next step in faith.
Introduction:What began as a leap of faith has become a weekly invitation to walk more closely with God, discover the joy found in his word, and receive fresh revelation for every step of the journey. Whether you're walking through the valleys or standing on the mountaintops, Sarita's heartfelt messages will guide you back to God's promises with wisdom, warmth, and the gentle reminder that he cares deeply for you. So open your heart, settle your spirit, and take the next step in faith with Joy In Every Step.
Sarita Bernadette:Hi. I'm Sarita Bernadette, and welcome back to Joy In Every Step. I'm glad you're here. In recent weeks, I've had the privilege of talking with people about God's guidance. I want to continue with that topic today and hone in on how we sense and receive his guidance.
Sarita Bernadette:I'm gonna restate just a portion of our previous episode. God's wisdom is what influences our thinking, and his guidance is what influences how we act on that thinking. Wisdom points us in the right direction. Guidance gives us specific actions. And beloved, God's guidance goes beyond helping us make decisions.
Sarita Bernadette:Right? It involves a trusting, obedient relationship with him. As you know, his guidance is a central theme throughout scripture from Genesis to Revelation, we see people who sought out and followed God's will for their lives. These people of God were open to receiving God's guidance. Some were able to hear God's voice in a very clear way, an audible way.
Sarita Bernadette:Others experienced something closer to what would be described as a divine nudge or holy nudge. And that's the subtle internal urging, from a deep place. It's it's instinctive. It's a clear cut feeling. It's quiet conviction from the holy spirit.
Sarita Bernadette:It might be just a quiet thought that lingers. A divine nudge, a holy nudge can be a confirmation of some sort, you know, the kind that comes in suddenly. It could also be a sudden supernatural push or a pull or a whisper. It's that still small voice or inner voice. It might be a fresh idea or thought or an insight that comes to mind.
Sarita Bernadette:It could be a feeling that shakes you up a bit, maybe even makes you a little uncomfortable. A divine nudge or holy nudge often guides us as believers toward faith driven wisdom or action. If you're making your relationship with the Lord a priority and you're tuned in to the Holy Spirit, you're probably experiencing the divine or holy nudge regularly as God guides you through this life. Isaiah thirty and twenty one. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it.
Sarita Bernadette:Psalm thirty two and eight. I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. God promises to show us the path and teach us how to walk in it. There are a couple of examples in the Bible that we can look at or look to for insight on God's guidance and the divine or holy nudge.
Sarita Bernadette:In the book of Acts, the eighth chapter, we find the story of Philip the evangelist and an Ethiopian man, also described as a eunuch. Feel free to look that up. Listen to the way the divine nudge from the Holy Spirit sets up an encounter that shows us how the gospel is for everyone. Have you ever heard the expression till all have heard? Matthew twenty four and fourteen reads, and this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Sarita Bernadette:Here's Acts eight verses 26 through 40 and that story of Philip and the eunuch. Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, get up and go toward the South to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a wilderness road. So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury.
Sarita Bernadette:He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the spirit said to Philip, go over to this chariot and join it. So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, do you understand what you are reading?
Sarita Bernadette:He replied, how can I, unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this. Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Sarita Bernadette:Who can describe his generation, for his life is taken away from the earth? The eunuch asked Philip, and whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this? About whom, may I ask you, rather, does the prophet say this? About himself or about someone else? Verse 35.
Sarita Bernadette:Then Philip began to speak. And starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. And they were going along the road... As they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, look here is water. What is it to prevent me from being baptized?
Sarita Bernadette:He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. So the text states that the angel spoke to or said to Philip.
Sarita Bernadette:Right? It doesn't explicitly detail whether that was in an audible voice or in a supernatural inner kind of communication, you know, a still small voice. Beloved, Philip had a relationship with the Lord. And I believe that is the key to sensing the divine nudge when it shows up. Philip received the nudge, which opposed his original plan, but he did as he was told.
Sarita Bernadette:He headed to the Wilderness Road. And on that road, Philip met that Ethiopian official who was the treasurer to Queen Candace. Don't miss that fact. Do you see how God guided him to someone who was already in an important position in society, set aside for something special? And the man was ready to receive the word.
Sarita Bernadette:He was riding in a chariot and reading Isaiah 53 aloud. Philip simply asked him if he understood the scripture, and the eunuch asked Philip, how can I understand when I don't have anyone to explain it to me? Then he asked who the prophet Isaiah was writing about in that scripture, and Philip used that very passage to share the good news of Jesus Christ. When the eunuch saw water alongside the road, he asked, what is it to prevent me from being baptized? Why can't I be baptized?
Sarita Bernadette:And the two went down into the water. Philip baptized him, and the eunuch continued on his way rejoicing. Then the spirit of the Lord suddenly transported Philip away to the next stop on his journey, Azotus, where he continued preaching throughout the coastal towns there. Beloved, my takeaway is God will move you in supernatural ways as you respond to His guidance, as you answer the divine nudge. The nudge in this case in the book of Acts led to the saving of a precious soul and the spreading of the gospel to a region that Philip might have otherwise avoided.
Sarita Bernadette:Also in the book of acts, the sixteenth chapter this time, verses six through 10, we see the apostle Paul and his companions, Silas and Timothy. They were in their second missionary journey, and the men had a plan. They wanted to go in a certain direction to spread the gospel. Acts 16 verses six through 10. They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
Sarita Bernadette:When they had come opposite Mesea, they attempted to go into Bithynia, But the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So passing by Messia, they went down to Troas. During the night, Paul had a vision. There stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
Sarita Bernadette:My, my. Note how Paul and Silas were blocked from certain regions through closed doors. The scripture says they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word and the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. God would not let them move outside of his will. The divine nudge came through Paul's vision from the Holy Spirit and set them on the right path.
Sarita Bernadette:So how do we know as believers... How do we as believers rather know when a nudge is coming from God? We want to be certain that it's not coming from our own fears or our ego or even the noise of this world. Here are some questions you can ask. Does the nudge match the character of God?
Sarita Bernadette:Does it line up with the truth of his word? Does the nudge glorify God, or does it glorify you? Has the nudge been persistent? Has it been hanging around for a while? Or here's another.
Sarita Bernadette:Do you feel peace with the nudge? Even if it makes you a bit uneasy because it might be difficult, do you feel that going with the nudge will bring contentment in the end? Even though doing what God says in this instant instance might be a little hard, do you feel like it's the right thing in the end? Have you experienced something that confirms the nudge? There have been many times in my life that doors will open or close as God nudges and guides me toward the right decision.
Sarita Bernadette:Sometimes as I'm weighing a decision, I'll I'll get advice from another trusted believer, and that advice will confirm the nudge I'm already sensing. Isaiah thirty and twenty one, again, from The Voice. Your ears will hear sweet words behind you. Go this way. There is your path.
Sarita Bernadette:This is how you should go. Whenever you must decide whether to turn to the right or the left. God will direct our path when we seek Him. Pay attention to the nudge. This is Joy In Every Step.
Sarita Bernadette:I'm Sarita Bernadette, and I'm grateful you chose to spend some time here with me. Feel free to share this episode with someone you know would appreciate it. You can find Joy In Every Step wherever you listen to your podcasts and give us a follow there. Do check out the website at joyineverystep.org. See you next time.
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