Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hello everybody, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. I'm really glad you're here. Today we're continuing our series from Psalm 23 called Living in the Goodness of God. It's all about how God's goodness meets you right where you are and brings hope even in difficult seasons. Let's join Rick right now for the final part of a message called How to Be Led by God's Spirit.

Rick Warren: Number three: if I want to be led by God's spirit, I must look to God's word. I must look to God's word. God's will is found in God's word. Psalm 119:105: "Your word is a lamp to guide me and a light for my path." If you're not in the Bible every day, you're in the dark. You're walking through life without a flashlight. Your word is a lamp to guide me and a light for my path.

Psalm 119:133 says this: "Guide my steps by your word, so I will not be overcome by any evil." It's up here on the screen. "Guide my steps by your word, so I won't be overcome by any evil." Now I want to give you a couple statements real quickly—I could go into this in detail, but I won't—about the word of God. Write these down.

Number one: God's will is found in God's word. God's will is found in God's word. Most of God's will is already revealed. No, the name of your spouse is not there, but you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. The principles are there on how to find the right kind of man or the right kind of woman that would be God's choice. And as you read God's word, he speaks to you.

When you open your Bible, God opens his mouth and he starts talking to you. And when you close your Bible, God closes his mouth; he shuts his mouth. We discover the will of God in the word of God. So, let me just say it this way: stop listening for a voice and start looking for a verse. Some of you want God to write it in the sky. Why would he write it in the sky? He's already written it in a book, but you won't even open it on a daily basis.

Stop looking for a voice—write it in the sky, give me a word—start looking for a verse and God will teach you the principles. By the way, God expects me to obey what I already know before he shows me something new. So, if God's already shown you something he wants you to do and you haven't done it yet, why is he going to show you step two until you've done step one? It's already there.

You say, "God, I need to know if you want me to change jobs," and God says, "Well, are you following what I've already told you? Are you already doing that?" The key, if you want to be led by the spirit, start doing what you already know is God's will. Just start doing what you already know is God's will. God's will is found in God's word.

The other thing I want you to write down is this: God's will never contradicts God's word. If you get an idea and you can't find a basis for it in the Bible, it's wrong because God has already given us his word. You know, you say, "Well, I had this impression," people tell me all the time, "Pastor Rick, I had this impression." Well, what does the Bible say?

This is how cults get started. I got this idea. The Bible tells us in Galatians chapter 1, verse 8, that even if an angel shows up and tells you something, like here's some new books to add to the Bible, he says you don't even trust that because if it's not in the Bible, he says you don't—God's will will never contradict God's word. Most of what God already wanted us to know is found in this book, and if you read it, God will guide you.

You say, "Well, if I act on what God's already told me, then you're telling me he's going to tell me more?" That's exactly what I'm saying. Alright, number four: if I want to be led by God's spirit, I must ask the Holy Spirit to be my guide. I must ask the Holy Spirit to be my guide.

Do you remember in high school they had a position on the faculty called the school guidance counselor? Remember that? They were supposed to help you decide if you were going to go to college or get a job or get in the military or whatever, and they were the guidance counselor. You have a guidance counselor for life. He's called the Holy Spirit.

You don't just have this book. It's nice to have this book, but what's even nicer is to have the author speaking in your ear going, "This is what this means," and he is your guidance counselor. But where I say "I must ask the Holy Spirit," circle that word "ask." One of the reasons you don't know God's will is you don't ask for it.

And in James 4, verse 2, the Bible says, "You do not have because you do not ask God for it." You just need to understand God's interested in every detail of your life. He has the hairs on your head numbered and he knows everything about you. He knows your details more than you do. He knows the health problems you've got that you don't even know you've got; God knows them.

And one of the best ways to engage your guidance counselor is ask a specific question in prayer. Psalm 27, verse 11: "Teach me, Lord, what you want me to do and lead me down the right path." Now how does he do that? How does God lead me down the right path? Well, there are a lot of different ways, but let me just mention a couple.

One of them is, the primary way the Holy Spirit guides us is by reminding us what we've read in this book. Because you read stuff in here and if you memorize it, then it's stored in the back of your mind, and at the right moment when you're in that conflict at work, God can bring that verse to mind and the Holy Spirit reminds us. The problem is we're not good at retention; we have good forgetters. But unfortunately, a part of the Holy Spirit's job is to help you remember.

Have you ever been talking to somebody and you go, "I don't know what to say," and then all of a sudden the idea pops in your mind? The Holy Spirit just reminded you of that. And the more this book you get in your mind, the more he can bring back. Now, if there's nothing of this book in your mind, what's he going to bring out? Nothing.

So, you've got to get in the book. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into a meeting or a phone conversation or an interview or a skeptic on the street or anything and I hadn't the slightest idea what I was going to say and I just shoot up a quick prayer: "Guidance counselor, what do you want me to say here? Holy Spirit, what do you want me to say?" and he'll bring something.

Some of you've never had that happen, as I said, because you don't have anything stuck there in your mind. So, God gives us ideas through his word, and the other way is he puts ideas in your mind. Yes, he does put impressions in your mind. When God gives you an idea, that's called inspiration.

When the devil gives you an idea, that's called temptation. When you get an idea, that's called dumb. Just teasing. God gave you your brain; he wants you to use it. Satan cannot control you except suggest thoughts. If you accept them, then he's controlling you.

God will not control you because he's given you that free will, but when he puts an idea in your mind and you respond to it, then he enlightens it. Now, is there any way I can speed up that process that I get God's ideas quicker? Yes. I'm going to tell you how you can speed up the process of getting ideas quicker, like I need a new product, I need a new solution. Two things—write these down.

Number one: ask humbly. Ask humbly. That'll speed up the process. Psalm 25, verse 9: "God guides the humble in what is right and he teaches them his way." The more humble you are in coming to God, the quicker God gives you the information you need. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

God says if you'll just be humble and say, "God, I need you, I've got to know this," he said, "I'll give it to you." The Lord is my shepherd. That's what we were just talking about. He leads me in the right paths for his namesake, and I just be humble about it. Another way is ask in faith. I ask humbly and then I ask in faith.

And I say, "God, I need to know what you want me to do in this situation and I'm expecting you to give me the answer. Thank you in advance. Thank you in advance." You've got to have faith. James chapter 1: "If you want to know what God really wants you to do," and I hope that's what it is for you, "if you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him and he'll gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask."

Remember: ask humbly, ask in faith. But be sure that you really expect him to tell you. If you don't ask in faith, don't expect the Lord to give you any solid answers. That's why you often don't know what God wants you to do; you're not asking in faith. I remember years ago we were driving down the road—I think we were going up to Fresno or something—and Kay was looking down—she was driving and she looked down and the gas tank was on empty.

She said, "Where's the nearest gas station?" and we'd seen a sign about a mile back that said the next one is like 30 miles up. I think we were up going up on five. 30 miles down the freeway. So, then I put it into one of these little apps and it said, "Get off the freeway, go 10 miles down that little road and there'll be a gas station." Now the question is, am I going to believe the sign or the app?

30 miles down that road or 10 miles on the app and go down a little road? This is a test of faith. And sometimes that's going to happen in your life because you'll say, "God, what should I do here?" and God will tell you to do the exact opposite of what you think you ought to do. One time if you want to know God's will, just figure out what you'd naturally do and do the opposite, because you're often wrong, so that would be a good thing to do. But you can always trust God's guidance system. He's never wrong; you do have to believe him.

Alright, number five, the fifth thing: if I want to be led by God's spirit, I must listen for God's response. And this is a really big reason why we don't hear God is because we ask and then we immediately run off; we don't wait. We don't be quiet. We don't listen. We don't pause.

We just say, "God, I need to know this," and then take off and then turn on the radio or start listening to your iPhone or answering calls or reading texts or watch a TV and all the circuits are jammed and God can't get through to you for the answer. I cannot overemphasize the importance of you taking some private time alone every day just to sit quietly.

I do this all the time and I sit down and I say, "God, is there anything you want to say to me right now?" and I just shut up; I just listen. I've read your word, I've talked to you all throughout the day. Job 33, verse 14: "God does speak, sometimes one way and sometimes another, even though people may not understand it."

He uses the Bible, he uses teachers like what I'm doing right now, he uses impressions, he can use circumstances, he can use pain; he can do all these different things. But the key is to test it by the word. I want to close with this Psalm 77 because sometimes you say, "God, I want to know your will," and you look out and you go, "That doesn't make sense at all."

This is a test. Psalm 77, verse 19 is actually a verse about Moses. Do you remember the story of the Ten Commandments when Charlton Heston stood up there and he put the thing in the water and the Nile turned red and all the different miracles and things like that?

And when finally Pharaoh said after 10 miracles and all those miracles were making fun of false gods, Pharaoh finally says, "Okay, you can go." And so a million Jews are leaving and they're heading across to go across the Sinai Peninsula, and all of a sudden they come up to a little cul-de-sac and they're standing with mountains on either side, the Red Sea in front of them, which looks impassable, and Pharaoh has changed his mind and the army's coming after them in back. So, they're hemmed in.

And they go, "We're going to be slaughtered. We've got mountains on either side, we've got an ocean in front of us, and we've got Pharaoh's armies and they're armed and we have no arms and they're coming after us." And they were in God's little cul-de-sac and it looks like it's a goner; they're going to be dead.

The name of that place was called Baal-zephon, which means God's hidden treasure. God had them exactly where he wanted them to be. He was going to do a miracle and suddenly the ocean splits—you know the story—and they start walking through on dry ground. And imagine how in shock everybody had to be walking through that area.

And when they get through the other side it closes up and you know the whole story. This verse in Psalms talks about it and it says, "Your road, Lord, led by a pathway through the sea, a pathway no one knew was there." I love that verse. There have been so many times in my life I have come up against enormous barriers: financial barriers, approval barriers, physical barriers, energy barriers.

And I'm looking at this and I go, "God, there's mountains on either side and an impassable barrier in front of me and the enemy's caving in, closing in very quickly and I'm in Baal-zephon, I'm in God's hidden treasure." God says, "I've got you exactly, exactly where I want you to be. Watch this." And you made a pathway through the sea, a pathway no one knew was there. Bam.

Some of you are in Baal-zephon right now and you're going, "There's no way we're getting out of this. We're going into bankruptcy. There's no way getting out of this; we've heard the C-word: cancer. There's no way out of this; we're headed for divorce court." And you are exactly where God wants you to be; he wants to do a miracle.

But there are five things you've got to stop doing and there are five things you've got to start doing. Stops and starts, stops and starts. And when you do that, you get God's guidance and he shows you a pathway that nobody knew was there. Let's bow our heads. God can make a way when it seems there is no way.

Now we've just gone only into three verses of this incredible passage, Psalm 23. But out of that we know that because God is good, when I'm worried, he will meet my needs. "The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need." When I'm stressed, he'll teach me to relax. "He makes me lie down in green pastures and he leads me beside still waters."

When I'm empty, he will replenish my strength; he restores my soul. And when I don't know what to do, he will guide me. "He leads me in the right paths for his namesake." Would you pray right now? Talk to God. Why don't you say something like this:

Dear God, I want to be led by your spirit. I don't want to go through life on my own ingenuity and power; I've had too many dead ends. I know that's not the solution. You have said only those people who are led by God's spirit are God's children, and because you are a good God, you guide us in your goodness.

Lord, starting today there's some stuff I want to stop doing. Help me to remember that I cannot follow a culture that doesn't follow you. To not copy the behavior and values of the world. To love everybody but to not love the value system.

And Lord, help me to remember that I can't follow friends who aren't led by you. I don't want anybody leading me in the wrong way. I want to love people but I don't want them leading me. I want to be an influence, not be influenced. I want to be a thermostat, not a thermometer.

Help me to remember that I can't look to other sources besides you and come to you with a clear conscience. It's not horoscopes and prayer; it's not self-help books and the Bible—they're not on the same level. I want to stop being led by my circumstances, and most of all, Lord, I want to stop being mastered and manipulated by my moods.

I cannot be led by the spirit if I'm led by my feelings. I'm sorry for the times that I've made feelings my God and I did what I felt like doing, not necessarily what you wanted me to do. And Lord today, I'm telling you I want to be led by your spirit. I want to be led. I've got to be led.

More than that, I'm willing to do whatever you tell me to do; I don't have to understand it. I'm telling you yes in advance. Help me to look to your word every day. Guide my steps by your word so I will not be overcome by any evil.

Your word is a lamp to guide me and a light for my path. Be my flashlight. Help me to remember that your will is found in your word, that your will will never contradict your word. And so today, I ask you, Holy Spirit, to be my guidance counselor for the rest of my life.

I'm asking you humbly and I'm asking you in faith, and help me to not be so impatient that I can't stop and just listen for your response. Help me to learn to wait on you, to be still and know that you are God. Thank you, Good Shepherd.

If you've never invited Christ into your life, just say, "Jesus Christ, come into my life right now. I want to get to know you, I want to learn to trust you, I want to have a relationship and a friendship with you." And I pray this humbly in your name, Amen.

Guest (Male): Hey, if you've just prayed along with Rick to accept Jesus in your life, Rick would love to hear from you. Just email rick@pastorrick.com. And now here's a closing thought from Pastor Rick.

Rick Warren: God has five purposes for your life. He wants you to know and love him—that's called worship. He wants you to belong to his family—that's called fellowship. He wants you to grow in him—that's called discipleship. He wants you to serve him with your gifts and talents—that's your ministry. And he wants you to share the good news with other people—that's your mission.

Now today as we close, I want to talk to you about the third purpose: discipleship or personal growth. How do we grow? Well, we grow through the nourishment of God's word. It's how we get to know God. To know God's word is to know God's will. God's word is the source of God's will.

And God's ultimate goal for your life is for you to become like Jesus Christ. To do that, you have to fill your life with the word of Jesus Christ. Second Timothy 3:17 says, "Through the word we're put together and shaped for the tasks that God asks for us."

I remember in the Old Testament the Bible says that Job treasured God's word more than his daily bread. That's how I want you to treasure God's word. That's how you grow in discipleship. Get into his word every day: study it, memorize it, meditate on it, apply it. Never take it for granted. God's word is as essential to your soul as food is to your body. So, get into the word today. God bless you.

Guest (Male): Be sure to join us next time as we look into God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.