Finding your way in life is not easy; neither is finding your way to bring your life into line with the Lord’s plan and purpose (Romans 1:10 & 15:32). Doing so involves finding the correct balance between God’s sovereignty and your responsibility; between what He will do for you and what He expects you to do for yourself. Wondering how to find your way in God’s will? Here are some things that may prove helpful:
*Are you using the prophetic words you received as weapons of spiritual warfare? Personal prophecy can be a useful weapon (1 Timothy 1:18). But don’t just wait for prophecies to work — war by them! If God prophesied that you would make it — you will! You don’t know how things will end, but He does, and He chose you knowing full well how His ability and your capability would work together.
*Are you allowing others to interpret what the Holy Spirit is saying to you? The apostle Paul went “bound in the spirit” to Jerusalem (Acts 20:22). Paul was captive to the will of God. The prophetic voice “in every city” confirmed that dangers lay ahead (Acts 20:23). Paul didn’t let that knowledge stop him (See 2 Kings 2:3, 5). What others tell you, even prophetically, ought to be interpreted in the light of what you already know — even when they are prophets (Acts 21:4, 11).
*Are you being over-spiritual to the detriment of your physical well-being? Paul did not consider his divine call and his civil rights as mutually exclusive (Acts 22:22-29). The Jews were his persecutors at that time: why let them use the Romans to punish him to no good purpose? Jesus would not have been glorified in the flogging (as he was in the one at Philippi).
*Are you using wisdom to overcome the worldly forces that combine to oppose you? Paul used Julius Caesar’s “divide and conquer” principle of warfare to split Pharisee from Sadducee (Acts 23:6-10; Matthew 22:23). He made the theological division between the two groups work for him (Philippians 3:5; 1 Corinthians 7:31). Christianity has nothing in common with Fatalism. “Whatever will be” won’t be, after your renewed mind has worked on the problem.
*Are you saying, “Nothing can stop me,” or “I won’t allow anything to stop me”? The Divine Imperative (“must”) alone would not have got Paul where he had to go (Acts 23:11-24). He had to be willing to act as well, in order to save himself.
*Are you making your own choices or allowing others to direct your life? Paul claimed his citizen’s rights to prevent injustices. A person in authority wanted to curry favour at his expense (Acts 25:8-12; 24:27). So Paul appealed to a higher authority. Your heavenly citizenship gives you access to God in prayer, but don’t overlook your earthly citizenship – Paul didn’t.
*Do you take charge in desperate situations or do you allow others to direct you? In other words, are you active or passive? Work on your words: Winston Churchill said: :There is a great deal of difference between a tired man who wants a book to read and an alert man who wants to read a book.” Verbs up front and nouns to the rear!!
The Divine Imperative of Acts 23:11 is repeated in Acts 27:21-26. Yet it was necessary for all on board the ship to fit into the picture revealed by the Lord to Paul (Acts 27:30-31). They needed a word of encouragement, but they also needed the strength that a meal would bring and enable them to swim safely to the shore.
The snakebite that followed soon after meant nothing at all to Paul. He shook off the reptile into the fire, knowing that he had not escaped being assassinated and flogged and drowned at sea only to die from the bite of a satanic symbol (Acts 28:3-6). ‘Shake off’ any last desperate attempt to stop you, knowing that nothing can do so when you’ve found your way in God’s will to the appointed place — and that you are now well on your way!