Always Do It God's Way
It has taken me a long time to learn this little lesson. The lesson is that God's way is the best way to do things. I think the reason it has taken so long to learn this is that I needed to see the results of doing it my way before I could appreciate the value of doing things God's way! I think part of God's way was to let me make a mess of things, reveal my ignorance and stupidity to me, help me rectify the situations and problems, and then learn the lessons and not make the same mistakes again. The reason I am passing these on to you is so that you don't have to go down the dead end roads and waste a lot of time making the same mistakes!
Meditate on these verses and learn from them:
Proverbs 16:25
"There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
Jeremiah 6:16
"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."
John 14:6
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
I have learned some very valuable things by doing things God's Way.
1. God takes His time. He has unlimited time and he will use it when working on me! I heard a preacher say once, "The problem is that I am in a hurry and God is not!" If I am to do it God's way , I should take the time and do it right.
2. The reason God takes His time is because He is more interested in Quality than Quantity. God's way is to perfect the work of art he is trying to turn me into! Everything I am called upon to fix needs the touch of the master's hand. I should look at it as a work of art and put my best effort into it.
3. God's way sometimes doesn't make sense all of the time. Many times you have to do it by faith and then look back and see the progress. I should keep living by faith whether I see the results or not.
4. God gives good directions to help you find the way. Keep reading and meditating on the Bible.
5. Bible Directions are a little different than the world's directions. Many times they are the opposite. A good rule of thumb is that when the world is going one way, you should go the opposite way!
6. I should follow these Bible Directions.
Bible Directions
When I was a young preacher, still in Bible School, I spent some time at a Nursing Home in Pensacola. There was a man who was in a wheelchair that was 104 years old. He told me that he had been saved later in life. He got saved when he was in his 30's. He had been saved for 70 years! His mind was not very good. I had to reintroduce myself every time I went back to see him. However, he could remember things about his childhood and told me many great things. One time he asked me if I knew how Noah had gotten out of the ark. I remembered pictures I had seen that showed a big ramp and all of the animals and Noah and his family walking down it. There was a rainbow in the back ground and the sun was shining. I told this to him. He showed me this verse in
Genesis 8:13
"And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry."
He told me that Noah took the roof off and went out of the ark by going up and over. With a twinkle in his 104-year-old eyes he said, "The way out is up!" This was and still is a great revelation! I want to tell you that the way out of this life is up! You have to overcome gravity and go up to get to heaven.
Directions are not relative and the way out is not relative or open to opinion.
Following God's directions leads to success where it really mattes: In God's eyes!
Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25
"There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
It is always dangerous to take your own opinion on something without consulting what the Bible says about it. Just because something seems right, doesn't make it right. I have been mistaken before by driving where I thought I was going the right way and ended up miles off course.
If you want to get anywhere you have to have good directions. The Bible gives good directions and they may not be apparent to you. You may think the way out is to take the ramp, but God's way is different. Don't just take the way that seems right. Don't just take the easy way. And don't just put off taking the way till it is too late to get off. Take God's directions as laid out in the Bible and even though they may seem complicated, convoluted, maybe the long way, or hard to follow, they are right and they will lead out at the right place at the right time!
I. The Way Out is Up
You should want to go to heaven and not to hell. Heaven is up and hell is down. Gravity will take you to hell. The natural thing to do is to fall down when you die. The earth stops your body, but your soul continues to fall until it ends up in hell! You need a supernatural force in you to take your soul to heaven. Jesus is the supernatural force. He overcame death, the grave, and hell! He can lift you up and take you to heaven!
II. The Way Up is Down
How do you find the way up? Bible directions are not what you think is the right way. They are the right way. The way to get up is to get down!
Matthew 21:42, 44
"Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?"
"And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."
Jesus is this stone. If you reject Him, He comes down in judgement and knocks you down and you die and go to hell. If you come to Him and fall on Him, He receives you as a son and takes you to heaven. The way to go up is to go down. Humble yourself, fall on your knees, trust Jesus as Savior, and ask God to save you and deliver you. He is the stumbling block. So humble yourself, stumble over the Stone, and fall on your knees, trusting His death on the cross to save you! Have you got that? The way out is up and the way up is down. Are you confused or is understanding starting to materialize? There is more:
III. The Way Forward is Back
Here is a direction that seems convoluted but is actually the solution to your problems, the nation's problems and, yes, even the world's problems. The way to go forward is to go back. Back to Bethel. Back to the Bible. Back to Church, and back to God!
Back to Bethel
by B.B McKinney
Back to the Bible, the true Living Word,
Sweetest old story that ever was heard,
Back to the joy-life my soul longs to know,
Bethel is calling, and I must go.
Chorus: Back to Bethel I must go,
Back where the rivers of sweet water flow,
Back to the true life my soul longs to know,
Bethel is calling, and I must go.
Back to the beautiful path I once trod,
Back to the church and the people of God,
Out of the cold world of sin and its woe,
Bethel is calling, and I must go.
Chorus: Back to Bethel I must go,
Back where the rivers of sweet water flow,
Back to the true life my soul longs to know,
Bethel is calling, and I must go.
Back to the giving of money and time,
Back to the life of contentment sublime,
Back to the protection the world cannot know,
Bethel is calling, and I must go.
Chorus: Back to Bethel I must go,
Back where the rivers of sweet water flow,
Back to the true life my soul longs to know,
Bethel is calling, and I must go.
Back to the prayer life in Christ I once knew,
Back to the beautiful life cleansing dew,
Back to help others to conquer each foe,
Bethel is calling, and I must go.
Chorus: Back to Bethel I must go,
Back where the rivers of sweet water flow,
Back to the true life my soul longs to know,
Bethel is calling, and I must go.
A. Back to the Bible
If you have spent anytime at all searching this website, you will know that I believe the Bible has all of the answers to every problem that man faces. If men will go back to reading, meditating on, and believing the Bible, God would show them the answers! The way forward is back to the Bible.
B. Back to Church
God has given the local church to be the solution to society's problems. The local church will help you raise your family correctly, will help to solve local problems that the federal government can't solve. It will provide a place where God can take your individual talents and use them for His glory. It will amaze you how you will be helped if you just get back in church!
C. Back to the Father
The prodigal son found out that the world just took from him and he ended up in the "hog pen of sin"! He was miserable, starving, and without friends or family. He went home to the Father. Don't wait until you are in the "hog pen of sin" to get up and go back to God!
Don't waste any more time! The way out is up, the way up is down, the way forward is back! These next directions will help you to solve your problems:
IV. The Way Around is Through
Many people want to avoid problems. You will never solve anything if you keep running away and avoiding things. The way to handle any problem is to go through it. As a Christian, you have the advantage of having Jesus with you. There is a myth that "God is my co-pilot" God is not the "co-pilot". He is not the pilot either! Jesus is the navigator! He gives you the direction. Many people use a device today that is called a GPS navigator. You put in the address and it gives you directions. If you miss a turn it tells you to turn around. God uses the Bible and preaching to give you directions and if you miss a turn or make a mistake It tells you to turn around. Notice God's GPS in the Bible.
Isaiah 30:21
"And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."
So "Turn around"! Go back so you can go through.
V. The Way Out is In
Many times the cure to your problems is something that is happening inside of you. It may be a job problem, or a relationship problem. The solution may be to change how you think and feel. The old joke is that there was a man that had accidently gotten some limburger cheese on his beard. Everywhere he went, He kept telling people that "It stinks!" He finally realized that the stink was on him! You may be what the problem is. Fix it by fixing yourself, inside out.
VI. The Way In is Out
You are not going to believe this, but the way to fix the inside problems that you face is to get out! One of my oldest and best friends has a problem. He is a very intense man. When God reveals some truth to him, he immediately understands it and starts to practice it. Because of his intensity, he gets right into people's faces and many times turns them off. He has trouble making friends and as a result is very lonely. I have told him that the solution to his problem is to visit the nursing homes in his area. Many of the residents are elderly, and no one comes to visit them. If he will go in and start talking to them, practice listening to them talk about themselves, he will make friends of people that also need friends. He will be a blessing to them and they will be a blessing to him. The solution to his inward problem (loneliness) is to go out (visit older people). So far he has made up excuses to not do this. I hope that when he reads this he will find the way in is out!
VII. The Way to Save your life is to Lose it.
The way to have a successful life, full of blessings, adventure, and usefulness is to "lose your life" by placing your destiny into God's desire to use you. Please see the section on How To Find The Will of God.
VIII. The Way to be First is to be Last.
Jesus said in
Matthew 19:30
"But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first."
Notice what the Psalms and Proverbs say about being promoted:
Psalm 75:6, 7
"For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another."
Proverbs 3:35
"The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools."
Proverbs 4:7, 8
"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her."
Job 28:28
"And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding."
Knowledge is what you know. Wisdom is what you do with what you know. Understanding is departing from evil. It is using your knowledge and wisdom to stop sinning! It is how the knowledge and wisdom relate to God and God's will for your life! It is using your talents, knowledge, and wisdom to help others stop sinning and find the will of God for their lives! If you follow this direction, God will promote you to the position and place you where you need to be to bring Him glory!
IX. The Way to Heaven is Trusting Jesus Christ as Savior!
John 14:6, 7
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him."
There is a danger in climbing up some other way:
John 10:1
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber."
If you are trying to get to heaven any other way than by trusting what Jesus did for you on the cross and asking Him by faith to be your savior, you will be severely, and sorely disappointed! There is only one way to heaven. That is by trusting Jesus as your Savior!