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How should we discern the Spirit with regards to direction in Life?
How should we discern the Spirit with regards to direction in Life?
Ask your help-meet.
What if you feel drawn in another direction and what she feels?
Michael
How should we discern the Spirit with regards to direction in Life?
Ask your help-meet.
Originally posted by Me Died Blue
Basically, since God has stopped speaking and revealing His will through all means but Scripture and providence, those are the very two things we must use to make such decisions. We need to constantly fill and sharpen our minds with prayerful meditation on Scripture, and as we thus become more conformed to Christ, we will gain wisdom and be better able to make responsible, biblical decisions when God providentially presents us with life's options.
As [O. Palmer] Robertson put it [in The Final Word], many charismatics think that they have more of God's direction in their life because they believe in God's continuing revelation today. However, he points out, quite the opposite is true: Cessationism gives us the responsibility and freedom to make responsible decision-making that is tempered and guided by our knowledge of Scripture, without having to wait for "a word from the Lord" before acting on a situation we see as an opportunity to fulfill God's purpose for us after analysing the situation with biblical principles and sanctified wisdom. While this way of decision-making is not as "automatic" as the mystical techniques for "finding God's very will for this specific situation," it is the biblical model and requires the Christian to be more responsible and more dependent on the Bible for their everyday life, since there is not an "easy answer" for every situation.
There is actually a full book on this very subject entitled Finding the Will of God: A Pagan Notion? by Bruce Waltke and Jerry MacGregor, both Reformed. It speaks against the mystical "searching" and decision-making principles so popular in evangelical circles today, and calls for a return to faith in God's providence and rational, responsible decision-making that comes from wisdom rooted in a mind saturated with Scripture.