How-to Follow the Leading of God

Inspired by what God brought forth during today’s Lunchtime Live from our Dyed4you Ministries Facebook page which features tomorrow’s Prophetic Nugget called Trust Me to Lead or Correct, this post briefly covers how-to follow the leading of God including holding what we’ve heard loosely and allowing Him to give course corrections as needed. 

1 Corinthians 13:9 (KJV) shares, “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.” It is a fine balance between holding fast to what He has said but also staying open to course corrections from the Lord. In the same way it is fruitless to explain complex math to an infant, God can’t (nor is He required to) explain everything He has planned. As a result, He has to get creative in how He directs us to something we’ve never been nor could imagine.

We would be wise to expect that we will “know in part” and hear His instruction in part. What has helped me improve in doing this is understanding that He will use what we are focused on to achieve His end (which often has nothing to do with what we’re focused on) and that we need to hold things loosely.

Like with everything, if we have given something to God it is His to do with as He pleases – His to give or take away, His to move or hold fast. His. This holds true for our direction and our walk. If we have surrendered to Him and His authority, He is welcome to lead us one direction and then call what seems to us like a new play midstream.

He Uses What We’re Focused On 

If a Father is trying to teach His toddler to walk,  He might hold a spoonful of ice cream out in front of them and gradually move it away to encourage the toddler to move. In that moment, the toddler thinks the purpose is about getting the ice cream, meanwhile the true purpose according to the Father (who is leading) is to learn to walk.

God frequently works with us the same way. He will use what we’re focused on to teach us or move us. And in the same way as the toddler could get confused as to why his Father is seemingly needlessly making the “getting the ice cream” process more difficult, we often get frustrated by God’s direction which seems to slow or frustrate the intended purpose of whatever we think is trying to be achieved when in reality we simply don’t understand the true purpose. 

Holding Things Loosely

This is where it becomes vital that we hold things loosely. Let the thing you hold fast to be completely yielding to God’s plans, this includes leaving room for Him to give course corrections as you progress. 

Sometimes you can feel crazy because you may think He’s given instructions that oppose each other, and yet we KNOW He is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33), so we can KNOW it is our understanding that is flawed, not His instruction, but remember obedience is not dependent on understanding.

In the same way a sailboat will tack first one way and then the other all the while making general forward progress, sometimes God does the same with us. As we yield to His leading and trust that His ability to lead exceeds our ability to mess it up, we move forward with success. 

May we all move forward with Papa and yield to His leading – directions and corrections – with joy!