Prepare by Learning Guidance
Jesus says that His sheep hear His voice.[i] They not only know the scriptures, but they are able to listen for direction, encouragement and correction coming directly from Him. In the days ahead, it won’t be enough to know His Word. It’s won’t be enough to hear from His prophets. It’s highly likely that we will all need to listen directly to Him in one situation of danger or hardship after another. The truth is that we should all be doing this now! If we aren’t, there is still time to learn, but guidance isn’t a science that can be taught in a classroom. It’s an art that is best learned by daily practice. Here’s how.
Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 AMP
All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.
End Times Challenge
Looking ahead looks murky. The times coming will be filled with confusion, deception and dangers on every side. We will need to know how to listen to the Lord for life-saving strategies and for daily steps of guidance to get us through. How will we do it then, if we can’t do it now? Let’s take every day as an opportunity to grow “ears to hear and eyes to see.”
Bridal Response
Step 1. Pray!
This must be repeated with every new challenge, because our usual reaction is to look to past experience and our abilities and say, “No way!” or try slugging it out bravely in our own strength. We all-too-easily forget that our strength is in Him, our hope is in Him—not in ourselves. So, if the Holy Spirit is making us aware (waking us up) to a fresh challenge, then the first thing the Lord wants us to do is cast that care on Jesus, because He cares for us enough to help us with it.[ii] Pray, therefore, until fear and doubt fall away. Jesus is willing and able to help us with anything, that’s why He guarantees in scripture that if we call on Him, He will rescue/save/help us every time.[iii] How much do you have to call? Cry out in prayer until you receive confidence that He has heard you and the help is on the way.
Step 2. Acknowledge, Trust, Obey
Step two—learning guidance—has three parts to it: acknowledge, trust and obedience. First, the Lord says that if we “acknowledge” Him, He will “make straight and plain” our paths. The truth is that Jesus and the Holy Spirit have already been guiding us without our noticing it.[iv] Come on—if this weren’t true you would be dead by now, or in jail, or worse. The best way, therefore, for gaining eyes to see and hears to hear guidance is by learning to recognize what He is already doing. Try this simple exercise. At the end of each day ask the Lord to show you where He helped you, or guided you, or gave you ideas that you were too busy or distracted to notice. Then, acknowledge Him! Thank Him for guiding you and for opening your eyes to see how He was doing it. This hindsight turns unconscious guidance into awake and aware guidance once you apply it as foresight. And by the way, slow down and you’ll notice more; keep a quiet spirit and you’ll hear more.
Trust is the golden key to guidance. Worry accomplishes nothing. Straining to “hear” something fails miserably. Entire surrender to Jesus brings us into that heavenly place on earth where we trust the Lord with all He is allowing, all He is sending, all He is withholding and all He is asking of us. Whenever surrender enters our heart at such a level, trust infuses our being with peace and the Holy Spirit lifts and leads us by a gentle “knowing” of the next right thing to do. This is the River of Peace and we will all need to learn how to swim in it, especially as the flood of unrighteousness fills the world around us.[v] See "Walking in the Spirit" for more on guidance.
Finally, there is the “O” word: obedience. The disciple’s “cross” of obedience will save us if we let it crucify our fallen nature.[vi] But woe to us if we don’t.[vii] The test comes when the Lord shows us something that He wants us to do that we don’t want to do, or warns us not to do something, that we are itching to try. Watch out! Guidance grinds to halt when we take the wheel. As the saying goes, “Jesus is Lord of All, or He isn’t lord at all.” Jesus never shows us His will to satisfy our intellectual interest. No, He shows us so that we will obey Him. Precisely, because we often don’t want to obey Him, the “surrender prayers” are necessary: “Lord, help me want to want what you want and hate what you hate. Make me willing to be made willing to surrender everything to you.” Keep praying and keep moving forward! Practice makes perfect.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:15-17
Next Way to Prepare
Prepare by Taking on Humility It is well known that pride goes before a fall. None of us want to fall during the days ahead. We want to walk faithfully, lovingly and bravely through them. That won’t happen if pride gets its way! And pride can be very difficult to see in ourselves. It’s the impulse to put our own needs ahead of others; to trust ourselves, rather than the Lord; and to draw confidence from our own knowledge and strength. This just won’t work in the days ahead. Yielding to the Lord, extending ourselves for others, and a healthy recognition of how little we can do without Him—these are the “secret weapons” of humility. Fortunately, there are ways we can grow it while there’s still time.
Free Downloads
Signs of the Second Coming (36-page eBook)
Signs of Christ's Return (2-page Handout)
Ways to Prepare (37-page eBook)
Endnotes
[i] To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Luke 10:3-4
[ii] Pride (in us) tries to find the answer to life’s challenges in us; humility casts all cares on the One who wants to help us: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7
[iii] This promise is given numerous times in scripture. The Lord wants us to know His help is always available to anyone who calls on Him for anything—lavishly available (“bestowing His riches”). For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him: For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:12-13
[iv] He told Israel that He “carried” them: The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.' Deuteronomy 1:30-31
[v] For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. Isaiah 66:12
[vi] And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23
[vii] For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Luke 9:24