Message for Sunday the 26th of February 2017
Theme: Understanding Divine Guidance for the fulfilment of Destiny
Topic: Enemies of Divine Guidance
Introduction: So far in this month we have been looking at understanding divine guidance for the fulfilment of Destiny. To this end, we have seen that it is the will of God to guide us into fulfilling our divine destinies. Secondly, we have also established why God does this. Last week, we saw how God leads and guides. Today, we shall be wrapping up this series by looking at the enemies of divine guidance.
In other words, God seeks to lead and guide us if we are willing to cooperate with the demands that make His guidance possible. However, there are some attitudes we could embrace that could hinder us from being led by God. I call these attitudes the enemies of divine guidance and these attitudes are what we are going to be looking at today.
The Enemies of Divine Guidance:
While we are at this, please understand that whatever fights your ability to be led by the Spirit of God is an enemy in the fulfillment of your destiny. With this understanding, I believe we shall all be able to fight any such enemy that wants to rob us of our individual places in destiny with the aggression it demands. The following are some of the enemies of divine guidance we can glean from the word of God:
Sin: from the incidence in the book of Genesis chapters 2 and 3, it is very clear that sin is the greatest problem and enemy of man because it has the ability to cut man off his source and to therefore make it impossible for man to hear the voice of God that enables him to be guided by God. The first sin which is the sin of Adam against God brought the curse of God on the entire human race and we fell short of the glory of God. In Adam, God condemned all men under sin. The consequence of sin as we saw in the book of Genesis is death. This condemnation remained valid and subsisting until God brought about a solution through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. See 1Cor.15:21-22; Rm.3:23; 6:23; Jn.3:16-18. When we look at the bible definition of sin, we gather that all disobedience to God is sin. Disobedience is unrighteousness as it takes the disobedient person from right standing with God [1Jn.5:17]. Thus the initial disobedience of Adam brought about the consequence of a sinful nature to him and his offspring. The result is that all men became sinful by nature. Following the solution to sin that Jesus provided us on the Cross of Calvary, as many as receive the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ cease to be sinners by nature but become God’s righteousness. See 2Cor.5:17 & 21. In spite of man’s new nature he still sins because of the old man. When this happens, God has provided for genuine repentance and restoration through the blood of Jesus Christ. See 1Jn.1:7-10. There is also willful disobedience to an instruction from God from which the sinner does not repent. In this case God can stop guiding the person. This was the case of Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5. An example in the Old Testament is Saul in 1Sam. 13 who disobeyed God’s instruction and lost his throne because God rejected him and stopped leading him. See 1Sam.28:6-7.
Unbelief: Everyone who is a sinner today even after hearing the gospel for the first time is a sinner still for this reason. No unbeliever is entitled to divine guidance beyond the warning to be saved or perish [Jn.3:14-16 and Rm.3:1-3]. Those who remain in unbelief will never get saved and therefore never receive divine guidance and their destiny would terminate in an eternity of destruction in the lake of fire and brimstone [Rm.6:23; Rev.20:11-15 and Lk.13:1-3]. Also believers who refuse to believe what God tells them are considered to be in unbelief. To this group of people, the word of God never profits them because they do not mix it with faith when they hear it [Heb.4:2]. This is why some people who claim to be believers in Christ are carnal minded [Rm.8:5-8; Gal.5:16-17]. They still live like the proverbial dog that goes back to its vomit [2Pet.2:20-22]. People like these never bear fruit to perfection [Lk8:14]. Please let us understand that the sole purpose of our existence on earth after we are saved is to bear much fruit for the Lord. See Jn.15:1-5, 8 and 16. Also, one of the major fruit we bear as believers in Christ is the ability to be led by the Holy Spirit [Jn.16:13 & Rm.8:14
Carnality: Carnality makes one an enemy of God and no enemy of God can receive divine guidance because the first step to receiving divine guidance is to reconcile with God from the sinful nature inherited from Adam. After reconciling we must prove our loyalty to God by being spiritual minded because this is the environment conducive for the Holy Spirit to remain with us. [See 2Cor.5:17-21]. God only guides His friends. Rm.8:5-8; Gal.5:17.
Fear: Many people fear different things that could hinder them from being guided. The bulk of this fear is summed up in God possibly telling them to do what they do not want to do. For instance God calling them into the ministry full time because of their misconception that full time ministry means suffering, lack and want etc. People like this never try to learn divine guidance. They even avoid it. This is a huge loss because no one like this ever get to fulfill their divine destinies. Some other people fear that they could be deceived through learning divine guidance because of the spirit of error. To this kind of person, understand that God who leads us is greater than all and He has promised that we would hear his voice and not that of the stranger. In fact He says we would not even follow the voice of the stranger. See Jn.10:27-30; Mt.10:16-22 and Mk.10:17-22.
Pride: God personally resists the proud and therefore cannot guide them. God will only guide meek people and it takes humility to be meek. Ps.25:12; Jas.4:6. See also the example of Saul in the Old Testament who honored himself and people’s opinion of him over God’s word and lost his throne as a result. 1Sam.13:1-14; 1Sam.15.
Love of money: God will not lead anyone who holds on to evil because the wisdom that is from Him is first pure and evil and purity do not go hand in hand. We are told in 1Tim. 6:10 that the love of money is the root of all evil. Therefore anyone who loves money cannot enjoy divine guidance at all because his decisions would only be governed by the love of money. No one can serve God and money at the same time. See Mt.6:24.
In summation here I hope we understand that these enemies can all be overcome if we take the first step of becoming part of God’s family by being born again if we have not already done so. When we are born again into God’s family the grace of God is now made available to us to live the supernatural life naturally and as we embrace this grace, all the evils mentioned above would be removed and kept away from our lives. If you are reading this and have not yet made a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, I present to you another opportunity to do so today by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be born into God’s family:
Heavenly Father,Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.
Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email: jointheirsfamily@gmail.com
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