Christians believe that God Himself guides believers in their lives once they accept what God’s Son, Jesus Christ, has done and the Holy Spirit is within them.
This isn’t supposed to be a mystical thing but more of a real-life one, where God ‘speaks’ in a small voice or through an inclination, through knowledge of His Word as written in the Bible and through witnessing in our spirits, conscience, and even wider circumstances.
In reality, this can be hard to discern and decide whether there is something God is directing and even instructing us to accept and follow, particularly when we’re going through difficult and confusing times, and our humanness and feelings are in control.
Which is when I’ve found it helpful to listen to the words of wisdom from Christians who have walked the walk in the past, about how they have personally experienced this and the lessons they have learnt.
Therefore, here are some of my favourites:
George Muller
This is a great example of how someone practically put Christian faith into action, and specifically sought answers to God’s prayers and provision.
George literally built homes for Orphans in the early 1800s in Bristol, UK, where I managed to visit a few years ago, with the museum being set up in one of these buildings.
What really struck me is that not only did George want to help fulfil the real need to help children at this time, but he also wanted a practical example of something that God would provide and answer prayers for. This was the result: endless examples of no faith-building works, or even being unable to feed and look after the children until God miraculously provided practical things like food.
George was a serious man of prayer, and he clearly explains, in almost step-by-step detail, how God guided him. He described a natural rhythm with the Lord and how he patiently kept returning to Him in prayer before finally deciding that something was okay to go ahead with.
There’s a good summary of this in his Answers to Prayers book (from 2:30 mins into this audiobook):
David Pawson
A great Bible teacher I’ve found helpful when going through each book of the Bible myself.
In one video here, towards the end of his life on the subject, he talks about how he understands God’s guidance in making decisions, with decades of experience and wisdom clearly behind this.
He explains the principle of staying where you are until clear guidance otherwise, and how it is God’s responsibility, in that sense, to make clear at the right time (which he links to the subject of pre-destination from 1:04 mins in).
