Four Ways God Leads His People

Thoughts on How to Know God's Will
By John Piper

I see at least four methods that God uses to lead us in His will. I put them in four "D"s to help me remember them.

1. Decree
God sovereignty decrees and designs circumstances so that we end up where He wants us to be, even if we don't have any conscious part in getting here. For example, Paul and Silas found themselves in jail, and the result was the salvation of the jailer and his household (Acts 16:24-34). This was God's plan, not Paul's. God does this often putting us in places we did not plan or decide to be. This is the leading of decree. It is unique above the other three leadings because it includes them (since God's decrees include all our decisions), and because it happens infallibly (since no purpose of [God's] can be thwarted" – Job 2:2). The other three leadings of God involve our being consciously led.

2. Direction
This is simply what God does for us by giving us the commands and teachings of the Bible. They direct us specifically what to do and what not to do. The Ten Commandments are one example. Don't steal. Don't kill. Don't lie. The Sermon on the Mount is another: Love your enemies. The Epistles are another: Be filled with the Holy Spirit; Put on humility. This is the leading of direction.

3. Discernment
Most of the decisions we make are not spelled out specifically in the Bible. Discernment is how we follow God's leading through the process of spiritually sensitive application of biblical truth to the specifics of our situation. Romans 12:2 describes this: "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." In this case God does declare a specific word about what to do, but His Spirit shapes the mind and heart through the Word and prayer, so that we have incli¬nations toward what would be most glorifying to Him and helpful to others.

4.Declaration
This is the least common means of God's lead¬ing. He simply declares to us what we should do. For example, according to Acts 8:26, "And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, 'Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.’”, And according to Acts 8:29, "Then the spirit said unto Philip, 'Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.'"

Notice three implications. First, we should always rest in the decrees of God. They will always be for our good if we love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). This should remove worry from our lives, and put us at peace as we seek the directed, discerned, and declared leading of the Lord.

Second, there is the implication that God's leading of decree may bring about acts that are contrary to His leading of direction, discernment, or declaration. In other words, He may direct, 'Thou shalt not kill," but decree the murderous death of His Son (Acts 4:28). There are mysteries here, but it is manifest in dozens of places in the Bible that God wills that some things come to pass which He forbids in His Word.

Finally, our confidence that we are tracking accurately with God in each of these leadings increases as we move from the bottom to the top of this list. Subjectively perceived declarations from God are least common and most easily abused of all the ways God leads. Our confidence that we have known the will of God in this method will not be as great as in the other methods that relate directly to God's written Word. Discerning what to do on the basis of biblical principle when we not have a specific command for our exact deci¬sion will yield less confidence than when we have an explicit direction in the Bible. And the truth that God is sovereign and guides all things is the rock-bottom confidence under all the others.

It is a good place to rest.

“Four Ways God Leads His People”
By John Piper
How to Know God’s Will (pages 13-16)
Chapel Library
www.mountzion.org