Midweek Communion Service | Understanding Divine Direction by Bishop David Oyedepo: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

You Are a Child of Destiny

Every child of God is a child of destiny. Not a destiny of chance. A well-defined destiny — an agenda settled in heaven forever. If you have been called and justified, which implies salvation, you are justified to be glorified. So you have a glorious destiny in Christ. Romans 8:28-29.

If you are born again, you are a New Testament Isaac. And we, brethren, as Isaac are children of promise. Isaac followed divine direction till he became the envy of his world. Thou shall not go down to Egypt. And Isaac obeyed and dwelt in the land God showed him, and sowed in the same year in spite of famine. And the Lord blessed him. He went forward, walked strong, became very great, and the Philistines envied him. So you are redeemed to be envied, not to be pitied.

Before Jesus came, we were slaves to sin. Jesus came and rescued us and redeems us as priests and kings so we can reign on the earth. Every child of God has a royal destiny. No more enslaved.

The Importance of Divine Direction

God leads us to fulfill his agenda. He unveils that agenda by vision and leads us step by step into fulfilling it. It's not enough to know where you are going. You must know what step to take to get there.

You don't just go to the airport with money and say, "I want to go somewhere." There is a procedure. You need a passport, a visa, a ticket. You know where you're going but you don't know how to get there, so you are stranded.

The divine direction is as important as vision. It's 50/50. But knowing where you're going does not get you there.

Isaiah 59:8: "The way of peace they know not." So we need to learn the way to it. Understanding how God leads cannot be overemphasized. We are not competent to determine the steps to take. There's a way that seems right to a man. It's very balanced on all parameters. But the end thereof are the ways of death. Not all open doors are God's doors. Many are trapped in this in disguise.

Many believers are living their life in regret all the day because of taking to themselves what they don't have the competence to handle. No matter how much you know, you don't know tomorrow. So it's better to hang on the one who knows tomorrow. So he leads you step by step on the path of peace.

Isaiah 48:17: "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord your God who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go." God is saying, "I am committed to teaching you to profit by leading you in the way that you should go." My leading is for your profiting. Let me lead you. My leading will keep adding value to your life.

No one bears the brunt of misdirection like the misled. Ecclesiastes 10:15: "The labor of the foolish wearies every one of them because he knows not how to go." Every effort, nothing coming, because he knows not how to go about his life.

Isaiah 42:22-25: A people robbed and spoiled, snared in holes, kept in prison houses. Who gave Israel for spoil? Did not the Lord? Because they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient to his law. He poured upon him the fury of his anger. "Can't you see the way I'm leading you? Why are you going off the way?" And it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not where his trouble was coming from — it's all coming from misdirection.

Following divine direction will always make the difference, with goodness and mercy following all the way. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, and surely as I keep following the shepherd, goodness and mercy shall be following me all the days of my life."

Isaiah 48:17-19: "Oh, that you had hearkened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea. Your seed also would have been as the sand." So your leading can affect your seed. Let God lead you so you don't lead your seed into captivity.

There are no experts in the school of divine guidance. We just have to keep learning more so we don't miss our steps. A wise man shall hear and increase learning. Give instruction to a wise man, he will yet be wiser. I Daniel understood by books.

A renowned man of God told me: "I took a wrong step in 1985, and since that time my life and ministry went down." One wrong step. Not adultery, not stealing — one wrong decision, one wrong step, brought everything down. This was the only man known in the whole of East Africa from Nigeria because of the impact of his evangelistic ministry. He was distributing flyers with helicopters. But one wrong step brought everything to a standstill.

Misdirection can be very costly. Can be most costly. Can be most unbearable. That's why every step we take is either leading forward or backward.

Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge that he's the one who knows the right way, and he will direct your path.

God Leads with Your Future in View

Exodus 13:17: When Pharaoh had let Israel go out of Egypt, God did not lead them by the way of the Philistines, although that was shorter. For God said, "Lest they see war and turn back to Egypt." He was leading them with the future in view.

God leads us with our future in view. Some have missed their step and lost their place in the kingdom by missing their step.

Deuteronomy 32:12-13: "So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. He was not following the vogue. He was following the leading. He made him to ride on the high places of the earth."

When you follow his leading, you're on your way to your high places. It may look long, but you're getting there. If you let God lead you, you're on your way to your high places.

Deuteronomy 32:9-11: "For the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."

God knew he was bringing us here, but he didn't bring us here first. He said, "Stay here. Point one — arise, get down to Damascus. Point two — arise, get down to Lagos." He led him about — it's not a once-and-for-all thing. He led him about, instructed him, kept him as the apple of his eye. The Lord alone did lead him. And he made it right upon the high places of the earth.

How We Access Divine Guidance

1. By a Witness of the Spirit

   Romans 8:14-16: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit."

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   The Holy Spirit communicates with our spirit, transmits through our spirit. We call it the witness of the spirit. The Spirit of God ministers the way to go to your spirit. This is not of the mind — it's not of the soul realm. It's gone down to the spirit realm. The Spirit of God communicating with our spirit on the way to go.

   We saw that graphically in Acts 10:19-20: "While Peter thought on the vision he saw, the Spirit said unto him, 'Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.'" The Spirit communicated with the spirit.

   In Acts 16:6-7, Paul and his team were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they came to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. A graphic illustration of how the Spirit leads our spirit.

   It takes a healthy spirit to enjoy communion with the Holy Spirit. It takes men of the spirit who walk in the spirit to access the witness of the spirit. While in the flesh, you react: "This can't be God. That must be the devil." You have to come out of the flesh to connect what the Spirit is saying.

2. Through Prayer of Inquiry

   Jeremiah 33:3: "Call upon me, and I will answer you, and I will show you great and mighty things that you do not know." The word "answer" there doesn't only mean respond — it means ask me questions when you don't know which way to go. And I will answer your questions by showing you great and mighty things in the way you do not know.

   He is a question-answering God. Only those who ask questions are entitled to answers. No. What are you saying? This is the place.

   Prayer of inquiry was the secret of David's triumph. For every battle he would make inquiry. Shall I go? Am I right? Is it the time? 2 Samuel 5:18-22: "Wait until you hear the moving of the wind in the mulberry trees; then you can move." He was constantly making inquiries and triumphing on every note.

   1 Samuel 30:6-9: David was greatly distressed. But he strengthened himself in the Lord his God. And he inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered: "Go up. You shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all." And David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken. Nothing was missing.

   Only those who ask questions are entitled to answers. Don't put words into God's mouth. He is the one to put words into your mouth.

3. Through Joy, Rejoicing, and Ministering to the Lord

   At every crossroad, through joy and rejoicing as a lifestyle, embrace worship whenever you are on a crossroads not knowing which way to go.

   2 Kings 3:14-18: War in the land. Jehoshaphat and Joram went to Elisha. Elisha said, "But now bring me a musician." And as the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him, and the answer came: "There shall not be wind, there shall not be rain, but there shall be water everywhere." And they would beat down the Moabites. They woke up in the morning and saw water — just broke loose from somewhere and fed the whole country. As the musician played, God came through.

   Isaiah 30:29: "He shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept, and gladness of heart as one goes forth with a pipe into the mountain of the Lord to the Mighty One of Israel. And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard."

   Gladness of heart, song in the mouth — the Lord will cause his glorious voice to be heard. Don't give room to depression. God doesn't speak through depression.

   Acts 13:1-3: "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said..." In the midst of ministering to the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke. Learn the art not just of crying to God but ministering to God. Just worship him. Minister to the Lord and the Holy Ghost will speak. Minister to the Lord is a channel through which we hear from God and things happen. He opens new chapters as we do.

Two Biblical Proofs of Being Led by the Spirit

• We experience unstoppable drive. His leading steers unstoppable drive. When God leads, you make moves without needing anything. It is like fire shut up in your bone. It sets you into motion. Hebrews 11:7: Noah, being divinely warned, moved with fear and built an ark. Jeremiah 20:9: "I said I will not speak about him anymore, but his word was like fire set up in my bone. I could not forbear." You will always move when his word comes through. His direction will always steer a move. As soon as God said, "This is the place," I was immediately moving to inquire about the land. When his leading is clear, it sets you into motion. You are not guessing, you are not bumbling. When you find a person dragging, they have not seen the way to go well enough to move.
• We enjoy divine protection. Joel 2:7-8: His leading guarantees divine protection. Exodus 23:20: "Behold, I send an angel to go before you, to keep you in the way I am leading you, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared." So you have that protective provision as you go on his way. He gives his angels charge over you to keep you in the way until he brings you to the place prepared for you. They are angels of destiny. They keep us till we arrive at God's purpose.

The good news is it is your right to be led. Now take responsibility to access the leading. It's your redemptive right to be led. "I know my sheep and they know my voice." When he leads, he goes before them. So he's committed to leading you. May we take responsibility to assess that leading and receive grace to follow it in the name of Jesus.