Jesus Is Your Way

For 12 years, Henry Blackaby pastored in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. One day a farmer said to him, "Henry, come out and visit with me at my farm." His directions went something like this: "Go a quarter mile past the edge of the city and you will see a big red barn on your left. Go to the next road and turn to your left. Take that road for three-quarters of a mile. You'll see a tree. Go right for about four miles, and then you will see a big rock..." Henry wrote all of this down and eventually got there!

The next time he was to go to the farmer's house, the farmer was along for the ride. Since there was more than one way to get to his house, he could have taken them any way he wanted to. You see, the farmer was the "map". What did the driver have to do? Simply listen to the farmer and obey him. Every time the farmer said, "turn" they turned. The farmer took them a different way than before. The farmer was the "map"; he knew the way.

When you come to the Lord Jesus to seek His will for your life, what do you ask?

Lord, what do you want me to do? When do you want me to do it? How shall I do it? Where shall I do it? Who do you want me to involve along the way? And please tell me what the outcome will be?

Or...

Lord, just tell me what to do one step at a time, and I will do it.

Isn't the first response most typical of us? We are always asking God for a detailed "road map". We say, "Lord, if You could just tell me where I am heading, then I will be able to set my course and go."

He says, "You don't need to. What you need to do is follow Me one day at a time." We need to come to the place where the second response is ours.

John 14:6
"I am the way and the truth and the life."

Who is it that really knows the way for you to go to fulfill God's purpose for your life? God is. Jesus said "I am the way."

He did not say "I will show you the way."
He did not say "I will give you a road map."
He did not say "I will tell you which direction to head."
He said, "I am the way." Jesus knows the way; He is your way.

If you were to do everything that Jesus tells you one day at a time, do you suppose that you always would be right in the center of where God wants you to be? When you get to the place where you trust Jesus to guide you one step at a time you experience a new freedom. If you don't trust Jesus to guide you this way, what happens if you don't know the way you are to go? You worry every time you must take a turn. You often freeze up and cannot make a decision. This is not the way God intends for you to live your life.

I have found in my own life that I can release the way to Him. Then I take care of everything He tells me one day at a time. He gives me plenty to do to fill each day with meaning and purpose! If I do everything He says, I will be in the center of His will when He wants to use me for a special assignment.

Abram Followed One Day at a Time
Abram (later, God changed his name to Abraham) is a good example of this principle at work in a Bible character. He walked by faith and not by sight.

Genesis 12:1-5
1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

2 "I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."

4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

What did God say? How specific was He? "Leave" and "go." Go where? "To a land I will show you."

Are you ready to follow God's will that way?

Many times, as with Abram, God called people just to follow Him. He is more likely to call you to follow one day at a time than He is to spell out all the details before you begin to obey Him.

Matthew 6:33-34
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Now, spend time with God in prayer and...
... agree God is absolutely trustworthy.
... agree with God that you will follow Him one day at a time.
... agree that you will follow Him even when He does not spell out all the details.
... agree that you will let Him be your Way.

If you cannot agree to these right now, openly confess your struggles to Him. Ask Him to help you want to do His will His way. Claim the promise: "It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose" Phillipians 2:13.