Seeds of the Kingdom Devotional 18 May 2021 By Ellel Ministries Australia
Guidance
by Christel Baxter
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Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. – 1 Peter 2:16, ESV
I was listening to a podcast recently on ‘Hearing God’s Voice’ with Andy & Cath Taylor from Ellel Ministries. Something that was said caught my attention. Andy said God showed him that He – God – is the ‘parent’ and we are the child. This means that, as His children, we do not need to know everything, only that which God would want us to know or chooses to reveal to us. Another beautiful truth mentioned in the podcast was that, as our Dad, God also cared about even the seemingly insignificant little things in our lives.
This got me thinking about the ways in which God guides us on our life journey. Personally, I love it when God speaks to me clearly through His Word when I am needing guidance about something. There is a security in hearing Him speak through His Word, because it is steadfast, unchangeable truth. However, there have been times when I was not that clear on what God wanted me to do or to choose in a particular instance. On one such an occasion, I heard God speak clearly into my spirit asking, “What would you like to do? What would give you joy?” God showed me that He cared about my opinion and the way I felt. He is God, and nothing is impossible with Him, therefore He was able to use for His glory whatever course of action I chose in that particular instance.
It reminded me of when my children were very young. My son loved to wear a little super-hero outfit that a friend made for him, complete with red cape! One Sunday morning he insisted on wearing it to church. Personally, I would have preferred to dress him in his ‘Sunday-best’ clothes, but I realised that wearing that little outfit would give him joy and have no effect on what he would experience and learn in Sunday school or church that day. In a similar way, as our Father, I think God loves our uniqueness and the different ways in which our individuality shows in the choices we make.
However, I do understand that there are destiny choices and those affecting eternity that are not open for discussion and which are foundational to our lives as God’s children – clear boundaries set out in God’s Word. These are not what I am referring to. But I have found that there is a freedom in the everyday things pertaining to my life, where God delights in letting me choose and express my preferences.
When you have relationship with someone and spend a lot of time with them, you tend to know what they would do or what they prefer, because you know their heart. If we have come to know the heart of the Father, and as we grow in intimacy with Him, we will know when we are veering off His best course for our lives. I have found the Holy Spirit to be faithful in correcting my course of action in cases where God needed me to choose differently, but God’s guidance has never left me feeling restricted and confined to a set of unreasonable rules. On the contrary, the times when God’s guidance was contrary to what I would have wanted, there has always been an inner peace which accompanied His correction and redirection.
How wonderful it is to know that our Father – the One who parents us – has made us free from the yoke of sin and bondage and has brought us to a place of spaciousness where we are truly free to be the authentic and unique individuals that He intended us to be. Within the parameters of His Word and truth, and under His godly covering, I am free to be me.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that, because You have set me free, I am free indeed. Thank you that You created me uniquely and that You delight in every part of who You created me to be. Thank You, Holy Spirit, that there is freedom in You and in the manner in which You guide me in my life and choices. Amen.
Read: Our Daily Bread 18th May 2021 Today Devotional – Facing the Darkness
Christel Baxter joined the Associate prayer ministry team at Shere House, S.Africa in 2008 after attending the 20 day school. Besides serving together on the associate team at Shere House, Christel & her husband, Gary, pastor New Life Ministries, a congregation in Boksburg, Gauteng. Their children, Liezl and Wesley, are both married, and they adore their son-in-law and daughter-in-law and their little granddaughter, Hannah! Christel is passionate about seeing broken lives restored and especially loves ministering God`s love and healing to women of all ages.
