If you are looking for specifically exact ways, physically observable actions, or direct communications that God uses to be our guide today, you won't find it in this study. When it comes to these things, we have many examples of God directly making His will known to His followers (e.g. 1Sam 14:6-14, 1Kings 3:5-14, 19:3-18, Jonah 1:1-2, Acts 1:23-26, 9:3-6, and 16:6-10). These are specific examples of God being involved in people's lives and are great examples for us today. However, the scope of this study is to look at how God is involved in our lives today. I'm not saying that God is unable to do the same things today that He did centuries ago, but He has not guaranteed that He would do those things today (Heb 1:1-3). In this study, we will look at what areas God is most involved in.
I've tried to stay away from the obvious ways God helps us such as through forgiveness, spiritual blessings, and the promises of the life to come. Instead for this study, I have tried to focus as much as I can on the physical ways God is involved in our lives. This is what Leslie is asking about. Does God involve Himself in each decision we make? Does he guide us in the sense that we aren't really making the choice, but He is making it for us? Has God removed Himself from our lives so that we make our own decisions without His guidance?
At the end of each section of this short study, I pose a challenging question to help you make practical application in your life.
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God creates and sustains us
Is God still working in the world today? Yes!
John 5:17 "But Jesus responded to them, "My Father is still working, and I am working also." "
God created mankind and did not neglect us. We exist and make our decisions under God's care. He appointed when and where we would live so that we might seek Him as our guide.
Acts 17:26-28 "From one man He has made every nation of men to live all over the earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live, so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist."
We cannot do anything without God.
John 3:27 "John responded, "No one can receive a single thing unless it's given to him from heaven." "
We must have Christ in order to follow God's guidance.
John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me."
*God and Jesus Christ gave and will give you everything in this life. Will you commit to seeking God and Jesus Christ?
God guides us
We may have frustrations and confusions about what God does. But He is with us will guides us.
Ps 73:21-24 "Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory."
The Lord is our guide and not ourselves.
Prov 3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths."
God's Word shows us the way to go.
Ps 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
If we follow and love God, all things will work for good. He deeply cares about us.
Rom 8:28 "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose."
*Will you commit to leave behind your own desires and follow God's Word as the guide of your life?
God lives in us
For God to guide us, we must obey him and put off our old person and be the new person according to righteousness and truth.
Eph 4:22-24 "You took off your former way of life, the old man that is corrupted by deceitful desires; you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new man, the one created according to God's [likeness] in righteousness and purity of the truth."
God decided to closely live with us by giving us His Spirit.
1John 3:24 "The one who keeps His commands remains in Him, and He in him. And the way we know that He remains in us is from the Spirit He has given us."
Eph 1:13-14 "In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation--in Him when you believed--were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory."
2Tim 1:13-14 "Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us."
1Cor 3:16 "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"
We know that we have the Spirit of God and have God's kind of love when we love one another.
1John 4:12 "No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us. This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given to us from His Spirit."
*Will you commit to obeying God and His Word in order to receive His Spirit?
Our duty to God
Walking as Jesus walked is walking according to the Spirit. This is how we follow God and are guided by Him.
1John 2:3-6 "This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," without keeping His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: the one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked."
Rom 8:5-9, 12-15 "For those whose lives are according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those whose lives are according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God's law, for it is unable to do so. Those whose lives are in the flesh are unable to please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. All those led by God's Spirit are God's sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father!" "
Gal 5:16-17 "I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don't do what you want."
Gal 5:25 "If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit."
*Will you commit to following God by living according to His Spirit?
God disciplines us
God will bless us if we are obedient to Him. But if we walk according to ourselves (the flesh), He will punish us.
Is 1:19-20 " "If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
When we are found to be lacking in doing God's will, He will discipline us so that we will not be condemned.
1Cor 11:31-32 "If we were properly evaluating ourselves, we would not be judged, but when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, so that we may not be condemned with the world."
Rev 3:19 God says, "As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent."
God disciplines us so that we will know His way.
Ps 119:71 The Psalmist says, "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn Your statutes."
Jesus is our example. He suffered so that we could be saved. God disciplines us so that we may be glorified with Christ.
Rom 8:16-17 "The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children, and if children, also heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ--seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."
Heb 12:4-13 "In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord's discipline lightly, or faint when you are reproved by Him; for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and punishes every son whom He receives. Endure it as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline--which all receive--then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had natural fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn't we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness. No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but healed instead."
*Will you commit to accepting the Lord's discipline and repenting of your mistakes because you are guided by Him?
God works through us
When we do good, it's because God is working through us. We could not do good without Him.
John 3:19-21 "This, then, is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God."
Php 2:12-13 "So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, [enabling you] both to will and to act for His good purpose."
*Will you submit to God's guidance and power in order to do good works?
God protects us
God protects us from the world's temptations.
Matt 6:13 "And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."
God protects us from temptations by giving us a way of escape.
1Cor 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it."
Pray to God and He will protect you.
Php 4:6-7 "Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
*Will you commit to looking for God's way of escape for every temptation and pray for His protection?
God gives to us
Jam 1:17-18 "Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning. By His own choice, He gave us a new birth by the message of truth so that we would be the firstfruits of His creatures."
God has the desire and the power to give you everything you need.
Eph 3:20 "Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think--according to the power that works in you."
Matt 7:9-11 "What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"
Rom 8:32 "He did not even spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything?"
We should ask God for things that further His will.
1John 5:14-15 "Now this is the confidence we have before Him: whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for."
God hears you and knows what you pray for.
Rom 8:26-27 "In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. And He who searches the hearts knows the Spirit's mind-set, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
1John 3:21-22 "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn [us] we have confidence before God, and can receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep His commands and do what is pleasing in His sight."
God gives wisdom.
Jam 1:5-7 "Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord."
God has the power to give us a life of quality and a life of quantity.
Eph 6:2-3 "Honor your father and mother--which is the first commandment with a promise--that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land."
*Will you commit to praying to God so that He will give you what you need to further His will and to bless you above and beyond?
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From all the things I've listed that God helps us with, with the exception of Him working through us, I can sum up how God helps us in one word: father. There is an analogy in the way God helps us with the way good earthly fathers help us...
- Fathers "create" their children and sustain them (at least for the first fourth of their life). Similarly, God has created mankind and sustains us through our whole lives.
- Fathers guide us to do what is right. They teach their children how to be good and behave. Similarly, God tells us how to be good and behave in this life and how to live in such a way to gain eternal life.
- Fathers live in us in the sense that we are like them. Through genes, we carry a lot of similarities to our earthly fathers. Similarly, when we obey God, he puts a portion of Himself in us, but this portion is His power to guide and bless us.
- Children have a duty to their fathers to obey their teaching. Similarly, we as people have a duty to our God to obey Him and His teaching.
- Fathers protect their children. Fathers do not wish that their children come to harm. Similarly, God protects His children by helping them follow Him and keeping them away from things that will draw them away from Him.
- Fathers give to their children. Fathers know how to give gifts to their children. If a child asks for something, will a father give the child something else? No! Similarly, God gives to us. Since God is infinitely greater than our earthly fathers, He's able to give to us above and beyond what our earthly fathers can. God can give us unparalleled wisdom as well as a long and well-lived life.
So if you are wondering how exactly God is involved in our lives, think how a good father cares for his children. How involved would a good father be in their child's life? That's how involved God would be in the Christian's life. What exactly does God do to help us? He gives us everything we have including our lives, He gives us His presence by living in us, He disciplines us when we mess up, He accomplishes many good things through us, and He gives us whatever we ask for--according to His will.
If you read this study looking for more exact or specific ways God is involved in your life, I would say that God is as involved in your life as you allow Him to be. The more you surrender your desires and understandings over to Him, the more He will guide you. The more you pray to Him asking for wisdom and guidance, He will deliver. When those times come and you ask God which way you should go in life, it may be His will not to show you which way to go. He is leaving that decision up to you. And if you choose the wrong one, He will dicsipline you and you will know it was the wrong choice. But in most cases, God will allow you to go where you want to go, and wherever that may be, He will use you (Php 4:11-13). As a proverb says: bloom where you are planted.
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