Live Free with Josh Howerton - How Close Friends Help Us Find Our Way | Ep. 137 | Tuesday August 15, 2023

Episode Date: August 15, 2023

In today's episode, Pastor Mike dives into the importance of having close spiritual companions in our journey and how their counsel can help us navigate life's big decisions. He also discusses the importance of seeking counsel from a few trusted friends who know and love Jesus, and who know and love you. Tune in and discover how you can discern God's will for your life through the guidance of your close spiritual companions. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.com slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, hope you're having a great day. My name is Mike and welcome to the Daily Drive podcast. Many of you probably use some kind of GPS app like Ways when you're driving so you can get to the right place. We've been talking about God's ways, the different ways that God guides us and leads us and directs our lives.

We've already talked about how he guides us through his word and there's a bunch of direction he already has given us there. It's contained right there in his word, which is a light for our path. Last time together we talked about how God leads and prompts us all day long. by the presence of his spirit. He has given us His Holy Spirit to lead us the right direction. He will act like our internal GPS in the moment to enable us to make right choices and go down the paths that he has for us. And as I said yesterday, living in the awareness of his presence not only with me but in me

has been a game changer for my life. Another way I've experienced God's leadership and direction is through the Council of close personal companions. The Bible tells us that if we lack of... wisdom we ought to ask him for it and he will give it to us so i pray god i need wisdom and one of the ways he often gives it to me is through the advice and discernment of a close trusted friend proverbs 1320 says whoever walks with the wise will become wise whoever walks with fools will suffer harm so let me ask you who do you walk with who do you go to for wisdom who do you hear

from who do you take your dreams to who do you ask for advice do you have do you have that network of close spiritual companions. I have found that God speaks and leads and shapes my thought process through those people who are closest to me. People who are also delighting themselves in the Lord, people who want to build into my life. It's huge to have friends and family that can help you navigate those big-time life decisions. Proverbs 1114 says this, where there is no guidance, the people fall. But in abundance of counselors, there is victory. Now, I don't think that that means that we have to have a whole herring of advisors and we can't make a decision in life until we call at least 17 people and get their feedback. It just means that we have to have some trusted voices

in our lives that can help us determine if the desire of our heart is really hitting the mark of what God is intended for us in the first place. The first person for me is my wife Debbie. Often God leads us as a team, and then I'll go to my kids and ask them, and then I've got three guys that I know really, really well, and they know me really well, and they love me, and I know they will speak truth to me. I bounce everything off those kinds of people. It has been huge in my life. What I see sometimes are people who are so passionate about something. They want to do something so badly that they play this kind of spiritual roulette thing, where they'll go to this one guy and say, hey, I've got this great idea, I got this passion running deep in me and pretty pumped about it.

I think that maybe God may be leading me to do this. What do you think? and they'll say, well, honestly, I don't see it. I don't think that's God's purpose for your life based on this truth or this scripture or my own uneasy feeling about it, whatever. So they'll run to the next person and say, hey, what's going on? I got this great vision. I got this great passion. I don't want to lay it out before you because the last guy I talked to was clueless.

He was totally unspiritual. I thought I'd share it with you and see what you have to say. And they come back with, well, honestly, I don't have a very good feeling about that either. I can't give you a certain scripture. I'm not saying, don't do it. I'm not saying like, I'm the voice of God. But I'm telling you, I don't think that's a wise decision. In fact, I'm pretty uncomfortable about it for these three reasons.

So they're looking around going, well, okay, I'll go to him. And finally, out of 73 people, they find somebody, usually on a bar stool at 3 o'clock in the morning, who finally agrees with them, and they say, yes, I knew it, that's it. I knew that God was going to speak. I knew that God was going to give me the desires of my heart. I have found that instead of going to 100 people and looking for somebody to agree with me, I go to about four or five trusted friends

who know and love Jesus, they know and love me, and are not afraid to tell me the truth. Now, I still have to run the idea through the filter of the Word of God and the influence of His person, but then I'll bounce the idea off of them and ask them to pray. And if they have a check in their spirit about the decision I'm about to make,

then it makes me kind of step back and look again. And that has been so helpful in my life. So who you got? Do they know God? Are they pursuing His wisdom too? Do they love and care about you? We all need those kinds of people. You got a big decision to make?

Take it to them. Ask for some honest feedback. Now make sure you're humble enough to listen and make sure you run it through the filter of God's word and the presence of His Spirit and just see how God might speak to you through the counsel of some close spiritual companions who care about you

and the plans that God has for you. I got one more way that God tends to lead, although he can't put limits on what God can do. We're going to talk about that next time. So come back tomorrow as we wrap all this up. And man, I hope you have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time.

Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out. For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.