WISE COUNSEL FOR THE WAY!

It is amazing how meticulously the eyes of the Lord follow His children in their daily walk! He has chosen the way of the cross for them to walk in it and He is keen that His children walk in it. He walks with them, but instead of forcing them to walk the way He wants them to walk, He guides them and gives them wise counsel about their route and pathway. God’s children have to make a choice about the way they walk. If they choose the wrong path, they would have to bear the consequences of such choices. But even when they stubbornly choose what they want, the Lord speaks to them about the right way. He speaks to them through their conscience and the written word and the teachings based on it by His servants. He also speaks to them through circumstances. He opens doors through which His children should go and closes some other doors so that they would know God’s “stop sign” and move away to the right path. But when God closes a way, if we force it open, we would have to pay the price to follow that wrong way. In spite of the spirit of rebellion that prevails over the hearts of men, God continues to speak to man and gives him guidance about the way to follow. He speaks continuously in spite of our disobedience, resistance and rebellion. He shows grace to speak to us in spite of our unwillingness to follow the warnings issued by God for our walk. He speaks out of His mercy and compassion towards us so as to help us to go His way and not our way. His willingness to counsel us is a mark of His continuous love, interest and commitment to us and our cause because we are His children.

Dear friend, are you sure you are in the perfect will of God in all aspects of your earthly life and ministries for Him? Have you gone according to your own thinking which is right in your eyes? Have there been times when you heard the voice of the Lord in your conscience guiding you in your decisions? Have there been times when you follow your own thinking rather than the Lord’s thinking because your thoughts give you some earthly advantages? But it is likely that your temporary earthly advantages will thwart greater blessings from God which are eternal. God always has His best for you and will give it to you if you walk in His ways. His ways for you are ordained of Him for your blessings and for His glory. Even when the walk might bring forth hardship and toil, it is the way of the cross which your Master has trod as He carried the cross to die for you. God wants you to carry the cross and walk after the Man of Galilee and thus respond to the love He demonstrated for you. He wants you to know that the way of the cross only will lead to crowns which the Lord gives to His children who give up the bubbles of luxurious and prestigious paths of this world. The best honor that the Lord wants to give us in this world is to have the privilege to walk after Him on the way of the cross and thus to demonstrate our indebtedness to Him. If you are on any other way, it is a detour and will lead to total disappointment, dissatisfaction and destruction. If we are on the wrong way, the Lord will speak to us today through His Spirit who indwells in us on the basis of His written word which is our travel guide for the walk. When we walk with Him, we do not need to go weary because we have the privilege to lean on to the Master who takes away all our weariness. He wants us to enjoy the walk because this is a joyride with the Lord.

Psalms 73:23 & 24 – Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory.

Thought for Today
The best way not to loose the way is to follow the guidance given by the Lord and to hold on to His hand.