POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON – Change “NO WAY” to “KNOW THE WAY.”

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How many times have we wondered about which way we should go? We may have wondered about the right direction to take? How many times have we gone our own way ignoring the guidance of God? We may have pushed through our thoughts, will, and perception of the way we thought it should be? How many times has it turned out to be a near disaster when we did that?

Many times, it is a disaster when we make a decision in our human mind without envisioning the larger picture that only God can see.

But if we pray to God and say, “God, please show me the way I should go, the decision I should make,” God is infallible and works with perfection, each and every time.

Males, at times, have had problems going to God for directions. In 1492, Columbus set out for the Orient, and he ended up in the Caribbean. And thus set a pattern that has continued for over 500 years. Men still don’t ask for directions.

The late Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, was on a train when the conductor came through collecting tickets. Holmes looked through his pockets trying to find his ticket. He couldn’t find it and was very distraught. The conductor said, “Oh, don’t worry, Mr. Holmes, you can send it to us later. We trust you. If you can’t trust a Supreme Court Justice, who can you trust?” The conductor tried, over the next few minutes, to console him, but Holmes wouldn’t be consoled. The conductor kept saying, “Mr. Holmes, don’t worry.”

The justice responded by saying in complete frustration, “My dear man, that is not my problem. I need my ticket to tell me where I’m going.”

Like Mr. Holmes, we need to know where we are going.

We need to know the direction of our lives. Many times, our lives are like a giant maze, and we need to figure out that maze and always make the right turn so we don’t struggle so much. The guidance of God is the sure way of getting that guidance. Guidance means the leadership of God, the direction of God, the management, and the government of God in your life, the supervision of God, the piloting of God – the navigation, the conduct, control, and escort of God. It means the advice of God which is accurate all the time. It means the counseling, the caution, or warning when you need it, the recommendation for your life when you need it – the endorsement, the urging, the suggestion, and the lead.

Listen to this next statement; this is important. There is nowhere to go to get guidance; we are in it all the time. Right now, you are immersed in the guidance of God. You have it at your fingertips, but closer. You have it with you. It can be called upon. It can be realized, and you can become aware of it.

The promise is in Psalms 31:3-5: “You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me, take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge. Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”

God is like a fortress around you to keep harm from coming to you and, more than that, to keep you from hurting yourself through wrong decisions. Have you ever been going along in your life and all of a sudden, you feel like you are trapped in a net? You don’t know how to get out. You push, pull, and struggle. The more you struggle, the more the net seems to tighten around you. Perhaps it is a health challenge. Maybe it is a financial burden of some kind. The problem may appear so overwhelming you don’t know how you would ever get out of the challenge that seems to be deepening by the moment. It may be because of the sickness of a loved one and you are the caregiver. You don’t know how to manage to keep your strength up another day. That certainly feels like a net, doesn’t it?

To have a faith when you are inside a net, instead of looking at the net, know you have God with you, within you. Know you have the power to go past that net. You are not trapped; you are free. You don’t know how – not with your five senses, not with your eyes and your ears. There is an inner knowledge that flows in and through you that shares with you how to go past the net. It is flawless. God will show you the way.

Many of us sat in front of the television set, years ago, and marveled at the moon shots from Cape Kennedy. Here is the complete story. Those missions were off target 90% of the time. They had to be corrected from Mission Control. They had to be adjusted continuously in order for the astronauts to get to the moon. On our own journey through life, we are off course a lot of the time. Sometimes, we don’t want to admit it, but we are off course a whole lot of the time. But by staying in constant contact with God, we are able to correct our course. We are able to make adjustments, even when we are already on our journey. We will have to make slight adjustments in our course and they will be perfect because God guides us. When we make those adjustments, even though it is completely foreign to our human mind, it is the right thing to do and we succeed in our mission.

If you are in an airplane, you have a pilot. But don’t rely on that pilot. The pilot is guided to land on the right runway. He is being guided by his own mission control – the tower. The tower tells him exactly where to land, how to fly, and how high to go because the tower has the overall view the pilot does not have. What about the overall view of your life?

It is the presence of Jesus Christ. It is the overall view and the bigger picture, contacted flawlessly through prayer and meditation. Prayer is like a telephone booth. When you go in and close the door, the light will come on.

High on a hill in a Midwestern town stands an old post office. The building just happens to be situated so that rain, falling on one side of the roof, flows down the hill into a stream, which joins a river that empties into the Great Lakes, and on into the Atlantic Ocean. Rain falling on the opposite side of the roof travels by way of a small brook into the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and on into the Gulf of Mexico. So tenuous is the position of a raindrop over this post office that the slightest breath of wind will determine the direction of its fate!

Do you ever have the feeling that your own fate is waiting to be determined by a small gust of wind or something so slight that your whole life could go in a different direction? Have you ever felt suspended tenuously between two choices and wished some gentle breeze would come along and make the decision for you?

Often our options seem equal to our human mind. The Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean – either choice would seem favorable to a raindrop. Our choices, too, can offer equal advantages or disadvantages. If we pray for guidance, we will have not JUST the human view which doesn’t know the answer, but we will have the higher overall BIGGER view.

We say, “What should I do, God? Give me a sign. Give me some kind of answer so I can know which way to go in my life.” Like two raindrops headed to the post office roof, we’re looking for a gust of wind to make the decision for us.

Do you need greater order in your life? God will show you the way.

Do you need to feel peace and harmony in your life? God will show you the way.

Regardless of the difficulty, God will show you the way.

First of all, how to meet it.

Second of all, how to deal with it.

And thirdly, how to move past the challenge to calmer days.

Your greatest assurance will always come from God. It is available to you at every single moment. It is available to you, right now. Even if you have just walked into this church and this is the first time you have been in this ministry, it is as available to you in equal measure, as it is available to me, for every good purpose in your life.

If you are facing a problem and you are timid about facing it; if you have an unsureness, if you have a fear and a weakness, I guarantee you are facing them from human mind and not God-mind. When you are facing something with God, you, yourself are empowered by the Divine. You have assuredness about the way to go because you have perfection flowing through your mind and you know how to proceed.

If you are caught in that net, what is the first thing you do? You affirm in prayer: “God will show me the way.” That goes way beyond what human mind may be able to believe in the moment, but you keep on affirming and instead of being locked in the fear and the timidity of human mind, you rise above human mind and know there is a higher power working with you. You don’t know it in the beginning, but you keep on affirming in constant prayer: “God will show me the way.” As long as you listen inside, you will know the way. You can ask for the specific guidance you need. You say, “Here I am, God. I need to know how to do this, and I need to know how to do it well.” Then you become still and listen. “Be still and know that I am God!” (Psalms 46:10)

Often when we pray, we talk and talk. God cannot get the answers because we are talking so much. “Oh, God, please save me from this.” We are worrying and fretting. We need to become still, rise higher and then move ahead, knowing God will show you the way. Often, we wait for the entire picture to be given to us. If you look back at many areas of your life, you could not have comprehended the entire picture of how God would guide you. If God gave you or me the entire picture immediately, we would cast it off as being impossible. Nothing that good could ever happen. It has to be at the level I can accept, which is very low. Often, guidance comes step-by-step. Often, we are shown only how to take the next step.

If you are getting out of a net, it is not enough to see a picture of yourself on the other side of the net. You have to know how to take steps, individual, tiny steps to get around the net, through the net, under the net, above the net, however you need to go. That is often how the guidance of God comes to us.

Some of you will be given a vision of the whole view. All the better as long as you trust and follow it through. If the challenge before you is one which demands patience, faith, and endurance beyond the measure you possess; know and be assured God will show you how to meet it, step-by-step, day-by-day, month-by-month, year-by-year. The inspiration that fills you will happen in a flash, but God will continue to be with you, constantly, through every year, every point, and every tiny step in your journey.

If you feel you have tried everything, take hold of the Truth that God will show you the way. Stop talking to God and listen. One man prayed for guidance, according to his own writing, it took him six months before it became clear. Although later on he admitted that many times he had the same guidance right at the beginning that he had in the future, he could not accept it in his human mind. As his mind expanded in awareness, he was able to trust what he heard during prayer time – the hunches, the inspiration that came through.

Be willing to follow as God guides. Be willing to go the extra mile. God will show you how to deal with every demand you have in your life. There is nothing beyond God – because God is bigger than your problems. All new guidance or new possibilities will only require and demand certain things and responses on our part. They may demand outer changes in order for us to get out of the net we are trapped in, as well as inner changes of thought, inner changes of belief, expectation, or habit. We will be led to those in locations, position, or relationships.

As you unfold in your spiritual nature, you will find it has the same capacity for receiving vibration of sound as your outer physical ear has. You do not give attention to all the sounds your ear hears. You learn, over time, to discriminate and to listen to what is important. It is the same way with you as you pray and keep your appointment with God. You will learn to discriminate and you will find you know when God speaks.

A woman was facing some big changes at her workplace. The company was downsizing and for a long time, she was frightened that she was going to be laid off. She kept being transferred to different departments and she had to learn new jobs. All during the time, she prayed that God would show her the way to be a help to other people. She said, “You know, it is fascinating what has occurred. Every time I am transferred to a different department, I have people thank me for showing them the way to spirituality and bringing them back to their spiritual roots. You know, I don’t go in there and try to change people. I do keep up my faith and let my light shine in a positive attitude, even though the others all around me are worried.” In every department she has been sent, she has changed the entire department. She has become an asset to that company beyond what they would have ever known had things remained the same. She thanks God for this reorganization of her company.

If you feel you are in a maze right now, the only sure guide, the only infallible guide is the inspiration of God. What you need will be provided when you need it.

I pray you are thinking about your own situation because I am talking to the situation, the entrapment which you face. I am talking to you and how to get out of this problem once and for all. The first thing human mind says is, “I can’t do it.” The second thing it says is, “I cannot accept this change.” The mind forms its own prison and locks you inside with the key of doubt.

God will show you the way to freedom.

You are NOT expected to take on this task alone. God says to you “I would never send you anyplace that I would not go myself.” You are never sent into any net or any situation or any challenge alone. God is there with you. The presence and the power of God are ready within you and through you. God is constantly seeking to release Divine perfection in you. You are going to learn of the great good. Once and for all, not just an inner speculation or theory, you are going to learn the reality of God with you. It will return you, once and for all, to that point of power and presence.

In Matthew 19:26, our Bible states, ” … For mortals it is impossible but for God all things are possible.” Jesus taught the inadequacy of human striving to lead us to the natural state of an awakened child of God which lets God come through every time we find ourselves in some situation.

Jesus Christ has shown us that He Himself needed to remember that God would show Him the way to overcome, learn, move ahead, and fulfill, once and for all, His purposes. Jesus emerged victorious in the face of all that threatened His life and well-being. With calmness and courage, He walked through angry, rebellious crowds, letting God show Him how. He spent time apart in quiet listening, knowing God would show Him how to take the next step in wisdom. He prayed and received answers every time.

There is a Danish proverb which states he who builds according to every man’s advice will have a crooked house. There are two ways to get understanding. One is to follow the guidance of God which dwells with you, and the other is to go blindly ahead and learn by hard experience. Jesus says in Matthew 23:24, “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!” In Luke 6:39-41: Jesus says, ” … Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?”

Suppose I say to you that you need to fix this or that. When I am saying that to you, I have an even bigger problem in my own life that I should fix first, and then I could see clearly. Take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly how to take out the speck in your neighbor’s eye.

In Isaiah 42:16 the promise is given: “I will lead the blind by a road they do not know, by paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.”

You are not going to people for advice. You are going to God, and you are blind, right now. You don’t know how to get out of your situation. The answer you receive will probably be completely foreign to your human mind. It will seem so strange. It is different than you know. Of course, it is because it is not within your human brain. You are seeking an answer higher than the human brain. It will be a way you do not yet know.

We go first to God, and then, if God says to us to go see a man or a woman, then we go and see that man or that woman. When you are obedient to Spirit, you will not suffer burdens. You will trust in God. You will know of Divine guidance by experience. That is what I pray for each of you. I do not want any of you to trust by my words. I want you to trust by your own experience. Try it in the little things, and then you can trust it in bigger things. The experience must be acquired. When you face something big, and all of us will because we are in this school called life, if we learn to trust in God and to follow God’s guidance by habit, we will be ready.

There are four requirements for receiving inner guidance from God.

1. Release

You may be in the net and you have thought a lot about it. You have some ideas of how to get out of it. At some level, you think nobody is going to change you. We must admit we often have been so willful on some things that we were going to push our way no matter what.

Yes, we might have fallen into the pit of near disaster. We must be willing to release our own thoughts, which is not always easy. You have to be willing to say, “OK,” even though you feel like you are standing out on the ledge with nothing to protect you.

2. Peace – to have an infilling of peace.

The mind is like a fist. If you are so gripped up, so tight, and so nervous about what you are facing, you are filled with fear, you cannot grasp anything. You need to become peaceful. That is an automatic result of prayer and meditation.

3. Openness

You get an idea, but you do not say to yourself, “God, that is the craziest idea I have every heard of in my life! That won’t work.” Instead you say, “Well, OK.” The human mind usually is not going to agree with the guidance of God until it acquires trust by experience. Once it does, it knows that even though it cannot see the way, to follow the guidance.

4. Trust

In Hosea 11:4, God’s guidance is addressed. I really want you to hear this, because I know when you are first learning to totally and completely trust God in your life, it is sometimes it is a bit scary to human mind. God is loving and wonderful; yet when we are out there, it is scary. Listen to this, “I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.”

From Romans 8:14-15: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” We did NOT receive a spirit of being in the net or a spirit of entrapment to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. I love that.

When you are dealing with a problem and you feel alone, even if you are with your family or your friends, you feel stripped and defenseless. You are all alone, and all of a sudden, you have a spirit of adoption of God.

God has also adopted your problem. ” … When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. In fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:15-18)

Let us pray. For every person who needs guidance, I pray this is the day you will make an appointment with God. Every day, you will make a commitment to keeping that appointment – to sit in the silence of prayer, to listen, and to be willing to release what is in your human mind. Be willing to have a great peace flood over you. With openness of mind, you accept that which God gives you and you move forward with a tremendous trust of God, in God, and through God. Thank You, in advance, God, for guidance for each person needing it now or in the future.

In Jesus Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

God bless you!

PRAYER / MEDITATION____________________

I invite you to walk with me through a spiritual gateway, a spiritual gateway of prayer that is always open. We enter these sacred gates and open our hearts to God’s presence. We still our thoughts, relax our shoulders, and release any feeling of tension. We let this feeling of release infuse our bodies with a gentle calmness.

Rest in the silence of prayer …

We relax, and we experience the peace that only the presence of God can bring.

I open the gateway of my heart to You, dear God, and I experience such a powerful feeling of peace. Peace that lifts me to the very real awareness of the presence of God. As the peace of God lifts my heart, I am able to let go of whatever is past and enter the gates of prayer, the doorway to the very heart of God. A deep sense of peace fills me and I am serene. I am secure in God’s presence. I am being lifted above every concern, right now, in this precious moment of tranquility. I am peaceful. I am serene. I am securely enfolded in the comforting presence of God.

In the silence of prayer …

In these serene moments, I know You, God, as wisdom, as inspiration. This cherished time of silence is the perfect opportunity to let go of human needs, any indecision or uncertainty.

My prayers are my gateway to Your mind, God – inspiring me and opening me to Your guiding presence. I know I am Divinely loved. In this reassurance, I quietly wait and I listen for the still small voice in the silence …

Rest in the silence of prayer …

The inspiration we receive in the quiet of prayer opens us to Your healing presence, dear God. I feel strengthened, revitalized, and renewed. Every fiber and tissue of my being is energized and touched with wholeness.

Here and now, I find the strength and the peace of God to meet any healing challenge.

Rest in the silence of prayer …

I realize the gates of wisdom, peace, and healing for all that are needed are always open as we turn to You, God. So many blessings have already been provided. We know You are available to us throughout all eternity. Your activity opens us to creative ideas and we use those God ideas in constructive ways. We allow your bounty to overflow in every area of our lives. The gateway of prayer has opened our spiritual eyes to Your wondrous blessings. Dear God, we see all who join us in prayer, whatever time of day or night, entering the gateway of prayer with joy-filled and thankful hearts.

Thank You, God.

The light of God surrounds us;
The love of God enfolds us;
The power of God protects us;
The presence of God watches over us.
Wherever we are, God is!

In the nature of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

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GOD BLESS YOU,
Christopher Ian Chenoweth