Navigation in the Spirit
By Bob Mumford
Standing there, I wept openly, "God, how I misinterpreted what You said to me!" God had given me the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, but I lacked the third witness, the open door of circumstances, and had almost wreaked havoc in my ministry and marriage by trying to run ahead of Him.
A Christian building contractor was talking on the telephone with another Christian friend. Suddenly the friend said, "It is the Lord's desire to bless you!" The contractor thought, "God intends to give me more money and prosper my business! " Thinking this was what "bless you" meant, he began to expand his construction business on every hand. He overextended himself financially and the bottom fell out. He was broke! He could not understand what had happened. After all, the Lord had promised to bless him.
He concluded that he had no choice but to declare bankruptcy. The Lord's voice came through loud and clear, however, "Oh, no you're not. Stay with it. You are not skipping out on a single debt. We will pay them back together."
Miraculously, one by one, God paid the bills. It took several years, but slowly the business gained profitability until he was completely out of debt. Later he told me, I am so thankful for what God has taught me over the last few years. He has truly blessed me.
Was it necessary for him to go through near bankruptcy to learn? Yes, but only because my friend did not know how to measure what he had heard with the other two criteria of God's written Word and circumstances.
Most of us completely misunderstand and consequently, misinterpret what God says in the first place. We often jump to the wrong conclusion instead of waiting for the other two harbor lights to line up as witnesses to give solid guidance and direction--the kind of guidance we can hold on to.
Many problems in Christianity come because we read into God's Word something that is not there. We get carried away by our own imaginations. Equally confusing, however, is the removal of portions of God's Word because it conflicts with our church tradition or dispensational teaching.
You may have known of some people in Christian circles who have described weird visions and messages or unbiblical forms of guidance. If you attempt to speak to them, they usually bristle like porcupines.
"Are you challenging what God said to me?" "Yes! What ever happened to the plain meaning of Scriptures?" "I can't help what that verse says, I only know what God said to me!"
God never speaks in contradiction to His own written Word. He will never lead you beyond the revelation He has already given in Jesus Christ. Do not make serious decisions on the basis of one initial leading. If it is God speaking to you, the other two lights will line up in perfect agreement. It should be comforting to know that God does not require a response without waiting for those other two witnesses. There is a law in the Scriptures that "on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed" (Deuteronomy 19:15). If a man was caught in adultery and there were two or three witnesses, he was stoned without discussion. In guidance we need the three witnesses to be sure: the Scripture in plain meaning, the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, and the outward circumstances. Any of the three taken alone can be deceptive. Wait for all three to line up. The God of the Bible never lies, but a biblical verse lifted out of context can cause serious damage.
Let me hasten to add that I know these three forms of guidance have worked under certain circumstances and on certain occasions, but I say unequivocally that a continued dependence upon them will result in deception. Whenever we make the exceptional form of guidance to be the normal rule, we are in difficulty.
Let us look at finger pointing. A young couple who felt called to the mission field (and did not know where to go) opened their bible at random, pointed at a verse and read, "The isles of the sea wait for thee."
They said, "That means the Lord wants us to go to one of the Pacific islands." They proceeded posthaste to put themselves on a certain Pacific island. Six months later they were back. The wife spent some time in a mental institution and they were both broken in faith and spirit.
An equal danger lies in button pushing. I worked with a doctor in Toronto who had a patient who believed she had cancer-- even though the laboratory procedures had proven she did not. The doctor, however, treated her and counseled her. He created the impression that he agreed with her.
After she left, I said, "You're deceiving her. "No, she's a button-pusher," he said. "That means if I don't treat her for what she thinks she has, she will keep ringing doctors' doorbells until she hears what she wants to hear. Thus I give her harmless treatments while someone else would have taken advantage of her."
Sincere but careless Christians often feel guidance can be obtained by asking (button-pushing) a variety of spiritual leaders, pastors, and visiting evangelists. Often, they keep asking until someone tells them what they already wanted to hear.
The same danger lies in using a promise box for guidance. A box of scriptures is a good thing to have on the breakfast table and makes for uplifting and pleasant devotion, but used in guidance, it has dangerous implications. God's promises are all real, but picked out of context from a promise box they can be very misleading.
Suppose one day you are crying out to God because you have so many needs. The rent is due, and there is no money for groceries. You reach into the box for a promise. There it is, thank God, "And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philipplans 4:1-9). Hallelujah, you have nothing to worry about! Just wait, and the Lord will do it.
Wait just a minute! In what context did Paul assure the Philippians of God's willingness to supply all their needs? Paul had just received their liberal gifts and tithes. The Philippians had done what was required of them; they had met God's condition. Have you? Perhaps the guidance you needed that morning was from Proverbs 3:9-10: "Honor the Lord from your wealth, and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine."
Some people read the most amazing things into the Scriptures. I remember hearing about a boy who wanted to marry a girl named Grace. He prayed God would show him if she was the right one. He opened his Bible to Philippians 1:2 and read, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." What a flimsy foundation for guidance to enter into the implications of lifelong marriage!
My illustration of past experience has taught me not to rush ahead of God and buy a new car out of season. However, there came a time when I was in real need of a means of transportation. I prayed, "Lord only when it is Your perfect timing do I want a car. Even then You will have to find it for me and make all the circumstances fall into place."
That morning I read in my Bible, "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Ps. 37:4). Now the Lord knew that one of the desires of my heart was for a better car, so I said, "Thank You Lord; I'll just delight myself in You and not worry about the rest."
Later, that same day, while I was driving down the road, I spotted a neat little car with a for sale sign sitting in the lot next to a service station. I felt a tugging in my spirit. The clear impression was: "That's the one!"
Quickly, I pulled over and asked the man to let me look at the car. A quiet sense of peace in my spirit told me this car was for me.
"All right, Lord," I said, a little excited. "I see two signs, Your Word this morning and now Your Holy Spirit seems to be telling me to buy this car, but I'm going to wait until the circumstances line up. You'll have to sell my old car before I can buy this one."
By now there was an increased sense of excitement. Two lights had lined up, and I was waiting for the third. Upon arriving home, I called a friend on the phone, and he bought my old car for cash. My confidence soared, because that was the third harbor light.
The car was a joy, and by the time I had put an additional 50,000 miles on it; it had cost me only forty dollars in repairs. This was a totally different experience to the one I bought outside of God's will, which cost me a small fortune in repair bills.
When the three harbor lights of guidance line up, God is making His will evident. We can rely on this principle. God's guidance is not usually a shadowy, haphazard thing. When the three witnesses come into one clear testimony guidance can be increasingly clear. There are times, however, when these three witnesses become complicated, confused, or refuse to come together.
Copyright: 1994 by Morningstar Publications and Ministries. All rights reserved.This article is published courtesy of "The Morningstar Publications and Ministries". If you would like to peruse more of their articles, visit Morningstar's website. Click
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