3 Ways to Discern God's Leadership

To those of you who were looking for a devotional in your inbox last Wednesday morning and didn’t see one, I took a Spring Break! I hope that you had a restful Easter and a chance to celebrate the Resurrection with your family or community.

To those of you who didn’t even notice that I skipped last week, I also hope that you had a great Easter 😎 

Today, I want to reflect on how God leads us.

As I’ve shared in previous posts, central to the idea of following Jesus, beyond just imitating his words, ways, and works, is following where He leads us.

The decision to follow Jesus is the first step of a lifetime of learning to follow His guidance and leadership as mediated by the Holy Spirit.

The art of following God’s will for our lives has classically been described as discernment.

Yet, many of us experience tensions — how can we know for sure that it is God speaking to us, and not just our whims or desires? Are the biblical precedents we can look at for how God speaks and leads?

The season between Easter and Pentecost, the season between Resurrection and the empowerment to go, is an all the more a perfect time to reflect — where might God be sending me afresh with His Spirit?

Paul frequently writes in his letters about the idea of open doors to preach the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 16:9, he writes of a “wide door for effective work” in Ephesus. He invites the Colossians to pray for “a door for the word” (4:3).

And, in 2 Corinthians 2:12, he writes that in Troas “a door was opened for [him] in the Lord.”

Yet, many of us find ourselves with questions. What seems so clear to Paul in his writings can feel less obvious to us — where is the open door? How do I know if I should walk in it? If I’m content in a place or position, should I be seeking or even praying (as Paul instructs the Colossians to do) for an open door?

When there is only one open door — one option, one way to go, one choice — the way to go can be obvious. Discernment can be quick and filled with ease.

But, when there are two open doors, or a sense of unease and discontent with the only door that is open, or if a door unexpectedly closes, the way to go can be much less clear.

Recently, I’ve been reflecting on how Paul discerns between two open doors during his second missionary journey as a potential model for us as we go about discernment in our lives.

Take a look at how Paul discerns that he is to move on to Macedonia from Troas in 2 Corinthians 2:12-13:

Even though there is an open door in Troas, Paul’s troubled mind and the lack of the presence of Titus are reason enough for him to move on to Macedonia (side note: can you imagine a world in which you don’t know where your friends are because there are no phones, and so you have to cross oceans hoping to find someone??)

Luke shares more about how Paul makes this decision in Acts 16:

Here’s what I want us to notice: in Paul’s discernment process between two open doors — the open door in Troas and the open door in Macedonia — there are three ways in which he feels that God is leading him.

1. “my mind could not rest” — desolation and consolation

2. “because I could not find my brother Titus there” — kingdom relationships

3. a vision in the night — prophetic dream

Consolations and Desolations

The sixteenth-century St Ignatius is known for incorporating the practice of paying attention to the interior movements of one’s heart to determine the will of God. Basically, he encourages spending a period of time praying that God would move our hearts in one direction or the other related to God’s will, and we trust that the Holy Spirit within us is intimately involved with leading us in our interior worlds. When our hearts move towards God in loving freedom and surrender related to a decision, St Ignatius calls that consolation. When our hearts move away from God in despair related to a decision, he calls that desolation.

While we can’t know for certain, Paul’s mind being unable to rest could be an example of him finding God’s will through experiencing what St Ignatius would call desolation.

As you look at decisions in front of you, which options lead to greater life, freedom, and love for God in your heart? Are there options that trouble your mind in a way deeper than mere hardship or discomfort? Or, is there maybe an invitation to wait for clarity in one direction or the other?

Kingdom Relationships

Second, Paul looks for kingdom relationships — he is looking for Titus, his disciple, to do ministry with. I’m going to assume that it’s not that Troas didn’t have people that Paul enjoyed and could even minister with, but Paul himself ties his lack of ability to partner with Titus in Troas with his sense of desolation. Paul discerns that God is inviting him to partner with Titus for the next season, and he makes a decision based on this relationship. I’ve heard this dynamic in discernment referred to as the value for people over place.

As you look at options in front of you, who are the kingdom partnerships that you feel drawn to in this season?

Prophetic Dreams

Lastly, according to Luke, Paul has a prophetic dream. Curiously, Paul does not recount the prophetic dream in his letter to 2 Corinthians. I know many people in charismatic communities who tend to overplay the role of the prophetic in their discernment processes and downplay the role of relationships and seeking God’s will in prayer through the interior movements of the heart. I also know many in non-charismatic communities who don’t take prophetic words or dreams into their discernment process at all, and if they have a dream they don’t stop to take it seriously. I think what Paul models here is a healthy, balanced approach to discern God’s will — the prophetic dream is an important factor in the process, but it is not the whole process.

For some of us, discerning God’s will requires doing the hard work of paying more attention to the inner movements of our hearts through consolations and desolations. For others, it requires bringing other people into the process — either through looking for the kingdom partnerships that God has given to us or bringing trusted friends and advisors into our discernment process. But for others, it might require waiting on God for a prophetic word or dream to confirm where we are meant to be going!

I’ve found that in some conversations, prophetic dreams can often be treated almost superstitiously — like omens or warnings — or as primarily about messages or communications for one person or another. Yet in my experience (and I would argue every example of a dream in the New Testament) dreams are a core method through which God guides and leads.

As you look at the options in front of you, are there any prophetic words, pictures, dreams, or storylines that God might be speaking to you through? Might there be an invitation to wait on the supernatural leadership of the Holy Spirit, especially for those who are not used to doing so?

And that leaves us with our final thought today: for most of us, discerning God’s will is much slower and harder than we want it to be. At the end of the day, discerning God’s will is often an invitation to wait before it’s an invitation to walk.

That’s why I find it helpful to reflect on how God might be leading us this season where we commemorate the disciples waiting in the Upper Room for the promise of the Holy Spirit.

So, I’d love to invite us to pray today:

• Begin by taking some deep breaths in and out. Perhaps as you breathe in pray “Come,” and as you breathe out pray “Holy Spirit.”

• Once you feel settled, begin to name with honesty: is there a decision that you need to make or an area of your life where you are seeking God’s leadership? On a scale of 1-10, how surrendered and open do you feel to receiving God’s guidance in this area?

• Are you aware of any of these dynamics in your discernment process: consolations and desolations, kingdom relationships that you feel drawn towards, or prophetic words or dreams?

• Sit with these questions as long as you need to, and perhaps close your time with a simple prayer of surrender such as: “The Lord is my Shepherd,” or “Lead me not into temptation.”

Amen!