Daily Journal: 1 May

Divine Appointments

and Being Divinely Led

God wants us to know what He wants us to do. We shouldn’t feel we're blindly stumbling through life, finding ourselves in jobs that don’t suit our gifts or with people who aren’t good for us.

Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)

We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.

Although we might pray and ask God to open the right doors, we have to know the heart of God for our lives always has a plan. We need to realise and embrace the talents and passions God has placed in our makeup. We should find out what God is calling us towards so we are perceiving the right opportunities to embrace. Otherwise, we end up with the wrong people at the wrong time doing the wrong thing. That can damage our lives and the lives of those people around us.

Amos 3:7 (NLV)

For sure the Lord does not do anything without making His plan known to His servants who speak for Him.

In old testament times, people relied on prophets to speak to them and find out God’s overall will. There were some though, who sought God and heard Him for themselves.

Abraham was directed to leave his country and travel somewhere without any knowledge of where he was going in order to start God’s chosen nation.

Joseph, son of Jacob, was led by dreams years in advance so that he would endure what he had to endure, in order to become who he needed to become to achieve what he needed to achieve. It wasn't only to save the world from starvation, it was to bring his family back together and form the nation that God first called Abraham to begin.

Joseph, Jesus earthly father, was led by dreams and had to physically move locations to keep the Messiah safe.

Hannah was directly impacted by the Holy Spirit’s peace and then her body received the conception of her baby, Samuel.

Moses’ mother, Jochebed, was given an inspired plan and knew the exact location she needed to implement it to save her child.

Queen Esther, when pushed by Mordecai, was also finally willing to receive a plan she was called to implement to save her entire nation. She didn’t receive the inspiration of that plan until she opened herself to the part she needed to play in her unfolding reality.

Mordecai was led by conviction and admonished Queen Esther to reconsider herself and the reason for where she was at that time.

These people were meeting divine appointments and being divinely led. If these things took place in people’s personal lives even before Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit, how much more should we be able to follow His leading now that we have The Word and the Holy Spirit to counsel us?

These stories show me the importance God places on our responsibility to be open to His leading, seeking Him for a plan and direction, and then having the courage to follow it and implement it when God moves us to, in faith.

Psalm 37:23 (NLT)

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

The steps we take are as significant as the timing. When we seek God, we can trust that even though we don’t yet see the outcome, God is directing our inspiration, each step, and the timing, to complete what He has fashioned us to achieve. It’s so important we’re not out of step with Him and doing things we’re not called to do.

Psalm 18:29-32 (NKJV)

For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.