God’s Way

God’s Way

1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.

John 4:1-3

Jesus was never one to stay on in a single place for very long. He was always on the move, always working and spreading his mission in Israel and its borders. It would be difficult, in human terms, to understand his reasoning of when and where he’d go as it seemed to defy his mission many times. Take the story of the man possessed by the Legion. Jesus was on one side of a lake, surrounded by people waiting to hear and see what Jesus would do, but he left them all to see one man. After saving that man, he left him as well and headed back. All of these decisions seem contrary to increasing his following but Jesus did it none the less. The only answer of course is that the Holy Spirit was guiding him. When God guides you, you rarely can accurately guess what is coming next.

Paul gives us a little insight to how the Holy Spirit guides.

6 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. 7 After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.

Acts 16:6-7

When you have a strong relationship with the Spirit, he guides you and stops you when needed. This is what Jesus experienced in John 4. Jesus was not afraid of the Pharisees. They could do nothing to him until his mission was complete. But it would only be so if he followed the Spirits leading. It was not yet time to have that confrontation. A plan was in play and it needed to be followed.

The same is true with us. As we live our lives, we make plans and decisions and go off into the world. Many times God is more than happy to allow us our choices and paths but we must understand that God also has a path and the best one you could ever take.

Although god will never force you to do anything, we will show and lead us to things. In the end it’s our decision to follow or not. Sometimes that path may seem completely ridiculous or even contrary to what we need or want but that is where faith comes in.

The choices Jesus made in this world sometimes seem odd but in the end it was exactly what was needed. The same can be true for us if we’re willing to let God lead.

Blessings
Pr. Steven Couto