Q4. Balancing Obedience with Rationality

[blessed]

I think its still the fear of not being certain that it is God directing.I just dont want to stuff up Gods plan by following something from my head thinking its God.Jesus suffered brutally at the hands of men for me and I dont want that to have been for nothing but I also dont want to get it wrong and make someone else stumble.Sorry just started off on some other thoughts

[randi]

I believe we do this because we tend to look at the small picture and not the big picture. We want God to come down to our way of thinking, instead of stepping out in faith. It doesn't take much faith if we can see the outcome and the reason, but God wants us to walk by faith.

The Spiritual danger here is that we may miss a great blessing because we want it the way we want.

I think it is alright to ask others to pray but we must always listen to God ourselves and pray for discernment.

[ladyfields]

I Think We demand they make sense first because we are crazy (lol) or because we lack confidence in GOD. It souldn't make sense if it made sense it is of this world and is carnal. I believe God allows signs to give you that strength in HIM but never demand a sign in order for us to get moving...no way.

The danger in demanding signs before we move is that we place ourselves over GOD's Will and here you find yourself out of GOD's presence and into trouble. Remember GOD didn't have to choose you so humble yourself and submit and you will see victory and not defeat no matter what it looks like!!

PRAY PRAY PRAY!!! That God remove that doubt and bring you to blind obedience and get with people who believe and will help you walk how god ordained and pray as well!!

[Alicea]

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them? What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

I want God's directions to make sense because of my own pride, I don't want to be wrong. The spiritual danger is pride is sin. We can get confirmation by praying and having others pray with us.

[Commissioned]

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them?

We demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them because we sometimes forget that His ways are not our ways and when given a direction it may seem so simple or bizarre and out of line with the situation that we doubt it is of God.

What's the spiritual danger here?

The spiritual danger here is that we could walk in disobedience to the directions of God.

We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

God has placed men and women in our lives that are our Spiritual Fathers and Mothers. They are there to disciple us along the way. Ocassionally we may have a directive from God and because of our immaturity in certain spiritual areas it would behoove us to seek out those Spiritual "Giants" who are hearing from God and can give us right admonishment. Everyone in the body of Christ is there to play a part. When we allow them to play their part we contribute to their "perfecting." We should never feel that we have all the answers, God uses us in different ways and we should be appreciative of the "gifts of the Spirit," that are available to us through our brothers and sisters.

[Craig]

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them? What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

We demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them is because we lack faith and an understanding of God. The spiritual danger here is that our faith never grows, we never act, and other lives are affected by our lack of action.

Cutting to the chase, believers must be in their Bibles daily, be in prayer daily and worshipping God daily. We must become sensitive to God's guidance, direction, and conviction in our lives. We must exercise our faith, we have thousands of years of precedence set in the Scripture to ground our faith in.

[Nina]

I believe we are reluctant to follow God's directions if they don't follow our perfect reasoning because of a lack of faith. In our human condition, we try to rationalize everything. The spiritual danger is missing out on God's blessings and His perfect will for us. In ourselves we cannot please God. We must build our faith so that we can follow his leading.

Obedience, confirmation, and discernment comes through prayer and seeking God.

[JustJeff]

In my case there always seems to be a degree of doubt which, thankfully, has decreased as I come to know Him more. Prolonged doubt can lead to disbelief and that, is tragic.

1 John 4:1 instructs us to try the spirits to see if they are God's. It is better to prove someone before you blindly follow. Always make certain that what you are being told aligns with the Word. Also, patience is where you find salvation.

[masika]

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them? What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

We are to ask for God's direction but not the way Gideon did,

When things go badly that does not means that God has abandoned you. It means that God is working in your life. Gideon was wrong (6.13).

God can use any believer that is willing to grow. He can change you from spiritual timidity, unbelief, and self-centeredness to spiritual courage, faith, humility, and orientation to Himself and His plan. But this takes time. Gideon started (6.25-27,34-35; 7.1-8,15-8.23).

Believe God right from the beginning and therefore serve him faithfully by learning and applying His word instead of testing God like Gideon because you do not believe Him and are worried. Faithful application will result in contented rest (faith rest), accomplishment of your task, and spiritual victory. Gideon failed a lot (6.12- 18,27,36-40; 7.9-15; 8.27).

When the will of God is clear (statment or principle from Bible) do not wait for God to verify it. Act on it. Do not check up on God or test Him. If the will of God is not clear, then 1) live inside God's plan 2) apply the doctrine that you know and 3) use the principles of divine guidance. Gideon did not do this failed (6.12-18,27,36-40; 7.9-15; 8.27).

[Jezemeg]

We often believe that God should justify and explain Himself to us, His creation, whereas God does not do this. He requires that we trust Him, not with blind obedience, otherwise there would be a danger that we would follow false teachers and even Satan, but testing to verify that it is indeed from God. Once we have established that it is God who we are in touch with, and who is handing down directions, then we can be assured that God will be with us at all times, even when we don't understand just how the work He calls us to is possible. God always confirms His calling through others or through the Bible...but He includes the one He calls as well. Therefore if we receive a message from someone (for example) that God told them we are to do such and such a thing, but God has not communicated with us, we can be fairly certain that it is not God's agenda we are following, but that of someone else.

This assurance from God gives us time to ascertain just exactly where an instruction is coming from. As I've already said in answer to a previous questions, it is possible for something to sound 'holy' but for it to be far from that. God is not restricted as we are by time, He moves above time, so He would rather we not act impulsively but wait for assurance of His calling, so that we don't run the risk of appearing to be 'religious kooks'. The task assigned by God is designed to bring glory to God, not the individual...

[Don W]

I think that we are too much a part of the world at times and this may be why we have to make sense of God

[brotherbill]

Safety and security and a fear of failure often force to try to "make sense" of God and what he asks us to do.

The Danger is that when we demand anything from God we make him less than The God, that He is!

We are in danger of putting the limitations we have on him and this is not how it is. He is God who is and was and always will be. His ways are not our ways or his thoughts our thoughts. We need to let God out of the box and let this God lead us into the battle for the souls of those around us.

Blind obedience? I do not believe we are called to blind obedience "faith" opens our hearts to the Spirit of God and the Spirit speaks to our spirit in wisdom and Truth from God himself. Confirmation from others needs to be held in it's proper place along side "Thus sayeth the Lord". Men's words are fallible God's word is Truth. Follow and trust the way of of His peace and he will lead you.

God Bless!

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them? What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

[Robin D]

We want to know the hows and whys of everything. Demanding anything from God is dangerous. We need to submit to his will. He can only use us when we are humble. It is not our duty to question God. It is our duty to fear God and keep his commandments. We can help keep our balance by praying and having discussions with other faith believers.

[Barbara1]

1. Because if it makes sense it will be easy for to accomplish.

2. The spiritual danger is that we will trust in ourselves instead of God.

3. When God calls us to do something and we we're afraid to try, going to spiritual people of discernment that we know we can trust will strenghenour faith in God and His way.

[paulcrf]

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them? What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

... If God is for us, who can be against us (Rom 8:31). Certainly we need God's direction so that we will fell His protection and power. But sometimes God does not speak to us personally. In this case we have to consult his words, the bible, to guide us in our decisions. The bible is always ready to speak the truth.

Blind obedience is dangerous. We have to personally know the truth through knowledge of the word. Getting confirmation through spiritual people such as our pastor makes sense to me because pastors are our spiritual parents. But still, human as they are, I would constantly check Jesus Christ in their heart and in my heart as well.

[josephh]

We are near-sighted, God is far-sighted. It is hard for us to trust in things we cannot see or comprehend. When we live by faith and other people of the world are watching us, we may appear to be religious kooks. If we live according to God's word, we are not a part of this world anymore. We are set apart. We seek discernment in other Christians and the bible.

[Jen]

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them? What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

I think we are afraid of what others will think and failure ourselves from lack of trust in Him.

There is a danger of drifting and making wrong moves because God's ways are not our ways so we don't listen. The consequences can be disastrous.

We need others who are strong in the faith and knowledge of the Word and who are people of prayer we can talk to.

We need each other. Others can see in me what I can't always see.

God Bless!

Jen

Numbers 6:24-26

[Loisb]

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them? What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

1. We demand that God's direction make sense to us because sometimes we don't understand his reasons. God knows far away what the results will be and we don't. We are afraid that we will fail.

2. If we are directed by our own understanding, we are in danger of making mistakes that we may not be able to resolve.

3. We must read our Bibles, pray and trust that God will direct our steps

[Pamela Harms]

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them? What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

1. Because we doubt that God will come through for us. We doubt that it is God's voice we are hearing. We also do not spend enough time in His presence to know His voice when He speaks, hence we doubt when He does speak.

2. The spiritual danger is that we are being disobedient to God the first time when He speaks.

3. We're afraid of looking foolish and stupid - pride comes in the way.

4. By spending more time in God's presence listening to His voice knowing what we need to do, and then we can seek advice from people whose discernment we can trust as to when and how to go about doing what God has requested us to do.

[JanMary]

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them?

Because we're foolish and arrogant! We forget that His ways are not our ways, and that His ways are higher than our ways, and that we only see a small fragment of the situation, while He knows everything there is to know about everything there is to know!

In the flesh we look to circumstances to determine our actions, and it takes time and trust in the Lord to follow Him no matter how contrary the circumstances seem. We also may want to have a measure of control, so we try to figure out the outcome with the little knowledge we have, forgetting that we don't usually have a say in how things turn out......we are just to follow and obey.

What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

I think getting confirmation from trusted others is important if there is confusion. In Gideon's case, I doubt that there was anyone who would be on board with the directions God gave him though. In situations where direction didn't make sense, He has been faithful to restate and restate guidance until I was certain about what I was to do. He's a loving Father, who is interested in training and teaching us, as we teach and train small children. I think the danger Dr. Wilson is speaking of, is "going over a cliff" from hearing the wrong voice, and being led astray.

There have been several times in my life where the Lord asked me to obey quickly in life or death situations and there was no time to seek counsel. I'm learning to know His voice, but I learned through foot dragging and questioning whether "this is You Lord", in past circumstances. It's interesting to me that as I'm learning to live more thankfully, that I've been thankful for an overly strict set of parents, who demanded obedience or there were severe punishments. I'm not thankful for the abuse, but that I learned to obey quickly.

[Seeking His Face]

Q4. Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them? What's the spiritual danger here? We're afraid of being -- or being perceived as -- religious kooks. How can we balance blind obedience with getting confirmation through spiritual people whose discernment we trust?

Because we want to protect our flesh, we don't want to look foolish. We can get wise counsel, we should also know the word of God, he never would tell us to do something the could not be found or confirmed by the word. Pray for wisdom and understanding about your part in God's plan, God only is responsible for the results.

[hanks]

Q4.

Why do we demand that God's directions make sense to us before we'll follow them?

What's the spiritual danger here?

We want to remain in control. It also means we don

[Old Jerry]

We demand that God’s directions make sense to us before we’ll follow them because we don’t know how we will be able to accomplish the task if we don’t understand the instructions. But the spiritual danger maybe that we never understand and therefore never accomplish what God has in mind for us to do.

I think when we ask God for some kind of conformation of what we are about to do like Gideon did, we know that God will use spiritual people whose discernment we trust to confirm those tasks assigned to us.

[wifee]

4a)We lack belief about our own abilities &in God’s instructions when they don’t seem logical.We humanly want to be in control & understand what happens & why

B)Building a faith on what is seen,rather than faith in the unseen.

C)Sharing what we believe God is asking of us with trusted people amongst community of believers at church who know Jesus &have shown Godly wisdom,faith &seek the Lord in prayer.Having our main focus on God, if we seek Him we find his instructions.

[DebLam3teach]

When obeying God, we need to remember the difference between faith and presumption.  Just because God has told us to do something doesn't mean we plow ahead in our own way.  We need to do God's will, remaining open to how He wants us to do it.  He reveals His will one step at a time.  We need to wait sometimes, seek counsel from others sometimes, research sometimes, and learn from our mistakes.  God wants us to walk WITH Him step by step.