Follow His Directions

Alright, thank you very much, And hello again, radio friends, how in the world are you? You doing alright? Well, this is your friend, Dr. Cook and I’m glad to be back with you to share from the Word of God, we’re lingering just for a moment on Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you’re called in one body, and be ye thankful, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord and whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him”. What a beautiful package of truth that is.

Well, we’re in, we’re in verse 15. “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” You’ve got the peace that comes from forgiven sins, the peace that comes through prayer, the peace that comes through being stayed on the Word of God. The peace that comes from concentrating on what God is doing instead of what you’re feeling. You’ve got peace as the very essence of the Christian life, “the kingdom of God is not meat or drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” You’ve got the person of Christ Himself, He is our peace so that he could say as recorded in John 14, “Peace I leave with you, my peace, give I unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you”.

We talked about that the last time we got together, as you recall. I wanted just to spend a few more moments with you showing how this works. How can you take all of this blessed truth and apply it to the living of every day’s life? You don’t have time to sing hymns and be officially religious oftentimes but you can have God’s peace. Now, how does this work?

Well, I think it starts by turning control over to your Lord, day by day. Turn by faith the control of your life over to your Lord. Bishop Taylor Smith said many years ago that immediately upon awaking, even before he stirred foot to get out of bed, he would say, “Lord, let this bed be an altar and let my body be a sacrifice, and let me be today, a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God.” Before he ever started the day, he gave himself to the Lord, and gave to His blessed Lord the right to control him.

See when that’s settled, a great many of the frustrations that we experience through uncertainty, either of motivation or of the pressure of circumstances affecting decisions, a good deal of that is obviated, isn’t it? When you turn things over to the Lord before they happen. If it’s already settled then you don’t have to wonder about it. So, peace in the process of day-to-day living starts there, doesn’t it?

Then of course, it’s simply a matter of calling up heaven and asking for God’s guidance, indeed making a room for his interference. I remember Bob Pierce of blessed memory pray one time in an all-night prayer meeting, he was greatly burdened about some things that had to do with his ministry in which indeed affected others of us, and so he was praying all through the night hours and one time he said “Lord, I wanna give you the right to interfere with me. It doesn’t have to be done my way. I wanna give you the right to interfere with me”. Well, that’s pretty good praying when you come right down to it, because left to ourselves, oftentimes we will say and do and decide things that would be ruinous. So we need to give God the right to interfere, to guide sovereignly in everything that we do. And all of that takes then is to call up heaven.

Calling up, humanly speaking, nowadays is a very simple procedure and you can get anywhere from anywhere. Has it ever occurred to you that the old song, “Telephone to heaven oh what joy divine, I can feel the current moving on the line, built by God the Father for His loved and own, you may talk with Jesus through the royal telephone.” Has it ever occured to you that that telephone is working all the time and that if you want then real peace in your life, in the process, I mean to say, of living, why not call up heaven and ask Him to guide you, momentarily that is to say. Because all said, later on in the verse that I read “Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of, ” that means by the authority of and for the sake of and for the glory of. You’re doing it by his permission by his authority and for His sake, that’s what that means in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

Learn to call up heaven momentarily and God is never so busy running the universe but that He can lend an ear to hear your cry. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and His ear is open unto their cry, the Bible says. God guarantees to hear you if you are willing to call upon him, “Call unto me and I will answer thee He says, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”

Incidentally, this matter of enjoying God’s peace is part of the learning process. I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. The simple procedure of asking God to guide you, is also a way to learning how he works. Teach me thy ways, O Lord, the Psalmist prayed.

And so, as you call up Heaven in the process of ordinary living get up, get dressed, get breakfast, get ready for work or school or whatever. If you’re a homemaker straighten up the house, after people have dropped three million things on their way out and carry out the tasks that are yours through the day. Different ones of us have different schedules, but all of it is a process of what we call the daily grind isn’t it? Alright, walk with Him closely in all these matters. Talk to your blessed Lord and let Him talk with you. That’s the way to get peace, peace in the process of day-to-day guidance. I will guide thee, He says with mine eye. You look in His direction and you’ll find Him looking in your direction. And if you catch His eye, His glance of love, You’ll be guided to do His will.

Then, of course, there’s peace in the matter of point action decisions. I have to decide next Thursday, what I’m going to do about this or that you say? Alright, now, how do you get peace about it? Number one, do your homework. God will never do the homework for you. In answer to prayer, He will not do the things that you ought to do. So, do the homework about this matter, find out what’s involved, ask questions write down the pros and cons on a piece of paper and think about it and pray about it. I can guarantee you that when the time comes for you to make the decision, you’ll know down deep in your heart what God wants you to do. It’s that simple. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him,” says the wise man, and He shall, not maybe, “He shall direct thy paths.”

Now, anything I tell you, I’ve been there and I’ve been through this enough times to know that if you will study a matter, think about it, analyze it, do your homework and then pray like everything, believingly, not just desperately but believing that God is hearing and that He is answering, you’re gonna get your answer. You’ll know what to do. And I have to tell you, I have never made a decision based on prayer and research. I have never made a decision based on research and prayer that I ever regretted. Now, I regret some other decisions that I made hastily, on my own. Oh yes, if you and I could go back and live things over, we would do some things differently, wouldn’t we? Yes, we would, but I can tell you there is nothing I regret that was decided after research and prayer. God does answer prayer, and He gives you His peace, you’ll know in your heart. It’s alright, it’s alright. He gives you His peace.

One of our dear friends at the college faced major, major, major surgery. A very serious life-threatening matter. And now the decision had to be made, yes or no. And she came into my office to talk with me and to pray and we did talk and we did pray and then she looked at me, and she said, “Well,” she said, “it’s alright.” And I guess I must have looked at her quizzically because of the awesome importance and consequences of the whole matter. And she smiled and she repeated she said, “I said It’s all right. God has given me perfect peace about the matter.” See there’s what we are up against. If you dare to share with God, the urgent decisions, first of all share the moment by moment living. Second, share the urgent decisions, do the research, study about it, analyze it, think about it and if you wish, take counsel about it, but most of all, pray about it. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him, He shall direct thy paths. Perfect peace in the face of urgent and important decisions. You will never regret a decision you made after seeking the Lord in prayer.

And then of course, God’s perfect peace can be had in the midst of painful and frustrating circumstances. Young lady said to her Quaker grandmother said, “Granny, I don’t know how you keep so calm.” “Why,” she said, “if that were I, I would be just boiling.” And the dear Quaker grandmother looked at her and smiled, sweetly and said, “Dearie, thee does not know what boiling is going on inside.” Well, I think we’re talking about something other than just keeping the lid on the pot, so to speak, and keeping the boiling inside so that it doesn’t blow up in other people’s faces. God’s peace is more than just self-control. God’s peace is the realization that He’s in control and that it’s gonna be alright. Romans 8:28 is still in the book, “and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” And I need to realize and so do you that what’s happening to us, what we’re going through, the circumstances we’re experiencing are not just happenstance but God is working out His perfect will in our lives. And when you realize that, then you have peace.

“In the world you shall have tribulation, but in me, ye shall have peace,” Jesus said. It’s a great truth, isn’t it? Let the peace of God be the referee in your hearts. Don’t do anything about which you don’t have peace, but do with confidence, those things concerning which God does give you His peace.

Dear Father, today, help us to live in the atmosphere of Thy perfect peace, Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!