He leads me …

RSM Lord, a one time Academy Sergeant Major of Sandhurst, was the epitome of discipline and self-discipline. He defined discipline as, “A moral, mental and physical state in which all ranks respond to the will of the commander whether he is there or not.” He said that the key word is respond.

He went on to say that the British Army believe that if you take the positive qualities of the soldier and develop them, you will achieve the result you desire.

It is not much different with Christians. If we do not do what our commander (God) tells us, either from His Word or from the way He directs our lives, we may not be confined to our quarters, or made to do extra duties in our own time, but there will be consequences.

Many of us have experienced times when we felt it was important to get in contact with someone, and when we did it was an amazing blessing for both them and us. Had we not followed the prompting of the Lord, we would have missed out on that precious time.

In my book Ways to by Guided by God and to Hear His Voice I tell the following story.

Back in the 1970’s a Colorado woman was driving with some children up a mountain in her station wagon. They had got partway up, when the driver clearly heard a voice telling her to pull off the road. She was not sure about what was happening, and the voice came again. The third time she heard the voice, she pulled off to the side of the road. As she did, a large truck which could not brake raced past them down the hill.

Everyone in the car was shaken by what had just happened, but grateful that they were still alive. They then thanked God for saving them as they continued on their journey. A little further on, they came to a badly damaged vehicle which had clearly been hit by the out-of-control truck. The woman asked God, ‘Why didn’t you tell them?’ The Lord responded, ‘I did, but they were not used to listening to me.’[1]

Although we as Christians may not have signed up to be part of the Air Force, Navy or Army, we are still part of the Lord’s Army, and we will learn the disciple and then self-disciple necessary to respond to the Lord even when we do not want to. Part of the life changing process that Holy Spirit takes us through as we mature as Christians is to help us to rely on and trust Him more and more. This will be with progressively less questioning, because we will automatically know that His ways are always the best ways, even if they do not look that way to us at the time.

So, just as a soldier goes promptly when they are ordered to go, so a Christian gets to that point with the Lord too. And when the Lord’s ‘order’ is carried out, there is nearly always a feeling of satisfaction at ‘another job well done’.

[1] http://patriotstatesman.com/2011/05/miracles