Why do we think God tells us what to do?

[ImAllLikeOkWaitWat]

I know a lot of people believe God tells us to do this or that. I think he does but not necessarily with the type of certainty that people seem to believe he does. What I mean is you have to take it with a grain of salt, not because God isn't telling you the truth, but simply your lack of certainty isn't in God but in your ability to know it's God and not just you. I used to think oh God wants me to do this or that. But time after time of it just not being true I've come to just take an approach of taking those little nudges from what we think is God with a grain of salt. Like I said it's not a lack of faith in God but a lack of certainty in my ability to receive such messages from God. If you think God told you something and it was wrong at least once then you need to be more careful with this bad intel you're getting.

 

[Tolworth John]

Romans 12 v1 +2
tell us to develop bible biased brains, so we can 'test' and aprove what Gods will is for us.

God's will is for us to live to bring honour and glory to him, not for us to please ourselves.

 

[AnnaDeborah]

In general, He tells us what to do in His Word. I'm always amazed at the number of people who believe God told them to do stuff which quite clearly is against the Bible.

Sometimes He does tell us to do specific things. This is something I always compare against the Bible and pray about. It's hard sometimes to know if it is God or just your own imaginings, so I tend to proceed with caution if it's a big thing. If it's something small like a sense I need to drive down one route instead of another, I just do it, because if I've got it wrong, it's no big deal.

 

[com7fy8]

Yes, we are not perfect and so we can fail to know what God is telling or moving us to do. And we can be imperfect in how we test what the Bible says about doing something.

So, I think it is good to simply trust God about this, and trust Him to make sure we do what He personally guides each of us to do, personally, and how we understand the Bible.

 

[Samaritan Woman]

In general, He tells us what to do in His Word. I'm always amazed at the number of people who believe God told them to do stuff which quite clearly is against the Bible. Sometimes He does tell us to do specific things. This is something I always compare against the Bible and pray about. It's hard sometimes to know if it is God or just your own imaginings, so I tend to proceed with caution if it's a big thing. If it's something small like a sense I need to drive down one route instead of another, I just do it, because if I've got it wrong, it's no big deal.

Fantastic reply! If only more believers cultivated spiritual discernment instead of assuming every little idea that pops into their mind is of God. Many times Christians like to deceive themselves into thinking that various life occurrences which satisfy them are "of God"; this is very self-centered and downright lazy. It takes dedication and effort to consistently do proper exegesis of scripture, but the payoff is not appearing as a fool to an unbelieving world while not unwittingly being a pawn of Satan.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

The Scripture says that those who through practice and experience have come to be able to discern between good and evil. This means that a mature Christian who has gone on for God for a long time and who has learned through his or her mistakes and successes, has learned by continuing to grow in grace and years of experience to know within themselves what is good and what is evil.

This means that God doesn't have to lead the person around like a dog on a lead when out for a walk. The Scripture says, "Don't be led around like a mule that needs a bit and a bridle to guide them." There are many Christians like that. They need constant guidance, even to the extent of buying a new pair of pants from the shop!

The Scripture says, "Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways, and He will guide your steps." This means that as you seek the kingdom of God, delight in His Word, fellowship with Him in prayer, treat others according to the fruit of the Spirit, God will guide you without you having to ask for it all the time. You will know within yourself by the conviction of the Spirit when you stray from the righteous track.

During the 1970s there was a doctrine of devils came out of Fort Laudedale in Florida called "The Shepherding Discipleship doctrine" which required believers to be subject and obedient to a "discipler" who told them what to do, right down to buying a new pair of pants from the shop. If a believer disagreed with his "discipler" he was accused of being rebellious against God. Believers were forced in public meetings to confess their private shortcomings and failures. and if they had resentment against others in the group, to declare it. This evil doctrine caused much suffering to good people, and drove thousands away from the church and from Christ. This is the dark side of wanting specific guidance over every little thing, instead of trusting God that He will lead you as you do what is obvious and go about your normal daily business.

I believe that God is quite happy for you to do what is in your heart to do. If He wants to prevent you from going somewhere or doing something (like He did with Paul at times), He will let you know for sure. Conviction is like hitting an electric fence. When you start to stray off the path, you get a jolt in your spirit that corrects you and bumps you back to where you should be going.

 

[FireDragon76]

If something is unreasonable, then I think its generally not healthy to go with ones intuition.

 

[S.O.J.I.A.]

if you want to know what the LORD wants you to do study your bible and find out.

 

[Hillsage]

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE
I used to wrestle in my early days with that verse, because I was pretty sure that if He was speaking to me, that most of the time I wasn't sure what he was saying. That's when the Spirit brought to mind an incident early in my life. I was about 10 when a new kid moved into the neighborhood. He saw some friends and I playing one day and made his way up to my house. After a few days of friendship he said his mom would like to meet me. So the two of us went down to his house and walked in. He introduced his mom. I said hello glad to meet you and then she talked to me for just a couple of sentences. I pretty much just smiled and limped though those sentences with her and then said; "Hey Lance let's go outside and play." He agreed and out the door we went. When we got outside I asked him; "What language was your mom speaking?" He said; "English." I said; "That wasn't English because I speak English and I didn't understand a word she said." He just laughed and said; "She was born in Egypt and speaks 6 languages fluently." To this day I say she might have been fluent but she sure wasn't very understandable. As long as Lance lived there her accent never got better, but the more time I spent with them, the better I understood what she was saying. The Holy Spirit then said it's the same with God, He doesn't just want a relationship, He wants fellowship. And the more fellowship you have, the better you will understand Him.

Today, though I love the Bible I'm more interested in being "led of the Spirit". Don't get me wrong, I'm not ignorant of scriptural knowledge. But I also know the bible well enough to know others have known His voice better than I. And at this point in my life, knowing His voice is more important than 'the book'.

 

[S.O.J.I.A.]

"saying God told me this, the LORD told me that
but if it ain't found in the Word in ain't fact
but they still continue and I think it's sick
cuz back in the day they woulda had to catch brick!"

-cross movement