Methods of Guidance Pt 3

1. Providence/Circumstance

2. Law/Morality The law of the land, or social/cultural guidance, governs the natural realm in which we live, and the consequences of breaking the law are also natural. Likewise, morality is cultural; what is acceptable and “right” in one culture may not be acceptable in another.

3. Instruction/Direction Conditional guidance in which our participation, awareness and enjoyment of the leading of God is contingent upon our compliance with certain conditions, i.e., having our senses tuned, response, waiting, seeking, relinquishing our rights, getting healed, etc.

God instructs us about His Ways. He imparts personal knowledge of His will by giving us personal understanding of a certain concept.

God teaches us to apply His Ways. He imparts the knowledge of His will by arranging experiences in which we can observe Him in action.

God tests us to reinforce His Ways. He arranges circumstances, often stressful, that reveal to us how much of what we have been instructed and taught has actually become part of who we are.

4. Knowing God As we grow in dependence, we become more and more sensitive to the internal direction of His Personal Presence:

Negatively He provides more than a mere absence of disturbance.

Positively He provides a conscious rest.

Experimentally He provides a supernatural rest.

Positionally He provides the peace OF God.

Judicially He provides discernment and judgment.