After we have received salvation, we are all encouraged to learn to hear the voice of God for ourselves. Jesus said, John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” During the process of learning to recognise the voice of God, we have all made mistakes at some time. In the economy of God, mistakes can be useful learning curves for progress when we walk in humility and embrace the fact that we mistook our own thoughts for the voice of God.

We have even selected scriptures to fit our “adventures” and thought it was a “living” word of confirmation from the Lord. Maybe we have declared we have God’s peace in the matter, but there is a false peace produced by stubbornly declaring self righteousness, fighting “your corner” displaying an inability to surrender and a dogged determination to proceed at all costs. The result is spiritual blindness and “ship-wreck”. Some actually think the results of their wrong choices are part of the course in “being persecuted for Christ,” and glory in it!……using the following scripture falsely, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution“, 2 Timothy 3:12. A man can be persecuted for his stubbornness, wrongly believing it to be because of his godly choices. A stubborn heart is unteachable and continues to work with his original plan, not repenting but continuing to make the same mistakes.

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Determination drives, but when I am yielded to God, “Another” leads me.

So how do we avoid these errors, learning from our mistakes? The peace that God imparts comes out of surrender to Him, there is no necessity to “fight your corner” or struggle, for a heart surrendered to God has nothing to prove, hidden in Christ. God has designed the Body of Christ to keep us from our foolishness. Being part of a healthy Body we can afford to submit our ideas to one another for consideration and a godly witness. This does not mean we have to have another man’s approval or permission for every little decision in our lives, but godly input and counsel from other members of the Body of Christ God has placed us with, are there to help, confirm, advise and encourage one another in line with godly principles and witness. There is safety in a healthy Body, honouring and submitting one to another, as unto the Lord. We can all afford to let God be true and have the last word. We do not have to “prop up” what we believe to be God for our lives. God will uphold and fulfill His word to us. Delay is not necessarily denial. Faith in God includes faith in His timing!

There is a well known saying:

We all want progress, but no-one wants change!

There can be no progress without change. Progression describes the process our Heavenly Father takes us through to bring us to maturity as His sons and daughters. If we fail to recognise the order of God for our lives, we fail to make progress. The order of God is set before us in Matthew 6, Jesus teaches us, verse 33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things (previous verses) shall be added unto you.”

The Book of Exodus records the events of the children of Israel miraculously escaping from the bondage of Egypt, crossing the Red Sea and journeying through the wilderness. It was God’s divine purpose for them to bring them to the Promised Land of Canaan, and for them to dwell there. In our lives we all have to work through “wilderness experiences”, where the purpose is to learn to be fully dependent on God, trusting Him and singing there. It is always God’s plan to lead us through the wilderness to His Promised Land of fullness, not for us to die in the wilderness! Humility before God and man is the key to progress. Humility is a daily death blow to the self life – dead to self, alive unto God! Do I really believe, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain,” Philippians 1:21 The human heart has a bias to self, but when a heart is yielded to God, the Lord will incrementally lead that person into his birthright, our Heavenly Father’s Promised Land of fullness for His children.

The following 3 lines taken from a song, sums it all up: Speaking of the Lord:

“ALL FOR HIS GLORY
NOTHING’S IMPOSSIBLE,
MY SAVIOUR NEVER FAILS, MY SAVIOUR NEVER FAILS”