1. …and how to be delivered of it!

3.  Christianity has is own version of “Paralysis of Analysis…it’s called “Finding the Will of God”

4.  What does God want me to do?  What does he want me to be? -

5.  Job?  Marriage partner?  Relocation?  Major financial decisions?

8.  Having been in charismatic circles for almost 40 years now I can’t tell you how many revival meetings I have gone to were I have watched thousands of people race to the front alter hoping the man or woman of God will have some “Word from the Lord” that will help them divine some sense of purpose and direction in their lives.

9.  The “Free Will” part is we get to choose  Believe it or not, sometimes I think God doesn’t care what we choose…just choose! -

11.  I wanted to go to Malaysia… but was that what God wanted? Could the fact that “I” wanted to go be a sign that God didn’t want me to? Or was it a sign that he did? Maybe God wants me to “deny myself” and go where I don’t want to go. And even more important, what if I go to Malaysia but God intended me to meet my future wife on the Australia trip

12.  It’s a Free Range not a Cattle Drive  Many Christians today have become so used to being driven by a leader’s vision that our life in Christ has started to resemble a cattle drive. We are herded in a uniform direction and we become accustomed to thinking that is how God leads us.

13.  But Jesus is referred to as the “Good Shepherd” not the “Good Cowboy”. He doesn’t “drive” or “herd” us,  No, our Good Shepherd lets his sheep graze and roam FREE; We go where we want listening to our Master’s voice for pastures of new life or when our wandering could lead to trouble

14.  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand John 10:27-28

15.  Paul the Apostle seemed to choose himself where he moved and preached the Gospel only occasionally being guided from above: * Jesus told him to stay longer in Corinth (Acts 18:9) * warned him about entering Asia (Acts 16:6), * and was given a prophetic warning about entering Jerusalem (Acts 21: 11)…which Paul then ultimately chose to ignore (Acts 21:13)  But other than these few occurrences Paul spent years traveling and preaching where he felt he should go!

16.  Tammy and I have had a number of “prophetic words” given to us over the years and I’ve come to learn these “words” can be a doubled edged sword. On one hand they can give us the “peace” that we are where God wants us but it can also lead us to stay in a bad situation because we haven’t “heard God say leave yet!”

17.  After years in Boulder Colorado where arguably things never ever quite “clicked” for us despite all the prophetic words that led us there in the first place I was still hesitant to return to China when an open door became available because we hadn’t heard God say “leave”.  What if we left and somehow “missed God”? What if God had something for us to accomplish that we won’t if we go?

18.  I remember the day I made a conscious decision not to be bound by the “What if God…” questions anymore. The day I decided I was not longer going to shackle myself or my family’s joy, peace, and stability to “prophetic words”, “words of knowledge”, or “a call”.  Oh, sweet relief! Like chains falling off…

19.  I still seek God’s direction and guidance but I refuse to get paralyzed over trying to figure it out all the time.