Spirit and Word Combined
Too Busy for Religion
Chapter 11
Guide
Old Sailor
Sailboat
He Leads Me
Topic : Guidance, cf. God, will of
Know the Way
Not for one single day
Can I discern my way,
But this I surely know—
He who gives the day
Will show the way,
So I securely go.
- John Oxenham
Spirit and Word Combined
I will seek the will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.
Too Busy for Religion
Evangelist Paul Rader had many a talk with a banker in New York. The banker would reply that he was too busy for religion. Time passed and the banker, seriously overworked, was sent to a sanatorium for complete rest. One day God spoke to Paul Rader; the message was clear: “Go and speak to…” Rader obeyed, catching a train and going with all speed to the sumptuous sanatorium.
Arriving at the facility, Rader saw the banker standing in the doorway. “Oh, Rader,” said the banker, “I am so glad to see you.” “I received your telegram,” said Rader. “That’s impossible,” said the banker. “I wrote a telegram begging you to come, but I tore it up. I didn’t sent it.” “That may be,” said Rader, “but your message came by way of Heaven.”
Paul Rader found his friend under deep conviction of sin and he pointed him to Christ as a perfect Saviour. That man accepted Christ and his heart was filled with joy. “Rader,” he said, “did you ever see the sky so blue or the grass so green?” Rader replied, “Sometimes we sing” ‘Heaven above is softer blue, Earth around is sweeter green; Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen.’“ Suddenly the banker leaned against Paul Rader and fell into his arms, dead.
Chapter 11
When the preacher’s car broke down on a country road, he walked to a nearby roadhouse to use the phone. After calling for a tow truck, he spotted his old friend, Frank, drunk and shabbily dressed at the bar. “What happened to you, Frank?” asked the good reverend. “You used to be rich.”
Frank told a sad tale of bad investments that had led to his downfall. “Go home,” the preacher said. “Open your Bible at random, stick your finger on the page and there will be God’s answer.”
Some time later, the preacher bumped into Frank, who was wearing a Gucci suit, sporting a Rolex watch and had just stepped our of a Mercedes. “Frank.” said the preacher, “I am glad to see things really turned around for you.”
“Yes, preacher, and I owe it all to you,” said Frank. “I opened my Bible, put my finger down on the page and there was the answer—Chapter 11.”
Guide
Elizabeth Elliot tells of two adventurers who stopped by to see her, all loaded with equipment for the rain forest east of the Andes. They sought no advice, just a few phrases to converse with the Indians. She writes:
“Sometimes we come to God as the two adventurers came to me—confident and, we think, well-informed and well equipped. But has it occurred to us that with all our accumulation of stuff, something is missing?” She suggests that we often ask God for too little. “We know what we need—a yes or no answer, please, to a simple question. Or perhaps a road sign. Something quick and easy to point the way. “What we really ought to have is the Guide himself. Maps, road signs, a few useful phrases are things, but infinitely better is someone who has been there before and knows the way.”
Old Sailor
An old sailor repeatedly got lost at sea, so his friends gave him a compass and urged him to use it. The next time he went out in his boat, he followed their advice and took the compass with him. But as usual he became hopelessly confused and was unable to find land. Finally he was rescued by his friends.
Disgusted and impatient with him, they asked, “Why didn’t you use that compass we gave you? You could have saved us a lot of trouble!” The sailor responded, “I didn’t dare to! I wanted to go north, but as hard as I tried to make the needle aim in that direction, it just kept on pointing southeast.”
That old sailor was so certain he knew which way was north that he stubbornly tired to force his own personal persuasion on his compass. Unable to do so, he tossed it aside as worthless and failed to benefit from the guidance it offered.
Sailboat
Perhaps you, like I, have spent some time in a sailboat. Relying on the boat to keep us afloat, we slide across the water propelled by a gentle breeze. Yet within the confines of the shores, I had the opportunity and responsibility of guiding the rudder to determine the direction of travel. Is that not similar to living within the will of God? As Christians we must rest upon God to sustain us, and upon the breath of his Spirit to empower us. Yet within his moral boundaries, we each have the opportunity and responsibility to determine our course. - Steve Prieb
He Leads Me
He does not lead me year by year,
Nor even day by day;
But step by step my path unfolds,
My Lord directs my way.
Tomorrow’s plans I do not know;
I only know this minute.
But he will say, “This is the way,
By faith now walk ye in it.”
And I am glad that it is so,
Today’s enough to bear;
And when tomorrow comes, his grace
Shall far exceed its care.
What need to worry then, or fret'
The God who gave his Son
Holds all my moments in his hand
And gives them one by one.
