Many of us want to be guided by God alone. It’s a wonderful concept, isn’t it? But how do you put it in practice in real life? How does God guide us these days? How can we live for God alone?

The best advice comes from Jehoshaphat in the Bible: “But before you do anything, ask God for guidance.” (2 Chronicles 18:4, MSG,*) Whatever you do, start with asking God for guidance. Then your project is not in your hands but God’s. Don’t just bring your plan to God to be blessed but bring your confusion to God asking God to show you what to do, how to proceed, how to live for God alone in each situation.

Listening to God’s voice is not a special thing reserved for few selected members of the body of Christ. It is for every Christian. With the words of Jesus: The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me. (John 10:27, AMP, emphasis added,*)

We can recognize God’s voice. The Holy Spirit living in us enables us to hear his voice. But we need to keep on listening to his voice. And shut all the other voices out so we are able to be guided by God alone.

Talk to God and ask him to speak to you, answer your questions. And then wait for God to answer you. He might give you peace over a decision. He might give you a Bible verse or two. God might send a friend or a stranger to give you direction. Or you might hear God’s voice within your heart or you get a vision while praying. God speaks in so many ways. We just need to be tuned into listening to his voice. Prayerfully reading his word is like a treasure hunt.

I rejoice in your word
    like one who discovers a great treasure.
(Psalm 119:162, NLT,*)

If you want to live for God alone, listening to God is important. But so is putting the message into practice. We don’t want to hear God’s guidance just to consider it. We need to obediently follow his guidance. We are called not only to listening to God’s voice but to heed his advice and live it out.

Then we are living for God alone.
Then we are guided by God alone.

 

Gracious God,
I want to live for you alone.
I want to be guided by you alone.
Open my ears to hear.
Open my heart to follow.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Are you guided by God alone? How do you hear God’s voice?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you embrace God’s guidance with your whole heart and mind.

* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses to Biblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.].

Image courtesy of creationswap.com, design Mari-Anna Stålnacke.  Linking up today with Dance with Jesus, Faith-filled Fridays, Five Minute Friday, Faith Barista, and WordswithWinter.