GOD'S GUIDANCE IN 3-D -- Devotional for October 16, from "Good Seeds"

Someone made this interesting observation: Why is it that when a man speaks to God we say, “Ah, he’s praying!” but when that same man claims to have heard God speak to him we get suspicious. Indeed, I’ve already gone on record as that suspicious one (see September 27), but I would balance my doubts with the three D’s of determining God’s guidance in a Christian’s life.
DESIRES
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
Anyone who truly makes God number one in all his ideas and decisions and passions can claim this promise from God: that He will place within His trusting child’s heart the very desires He wants him to have. What a wonderful thing it is when what we want is also what God wants! That can only happen when we surrender our wills to His will. Do you crave God’s direction for you life? Give Him your compass; relinquish your plans…and then wait for His desires -- to become yours!
DOORS
He was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the Word in Asia. He tried to enter Bithynia, but Jesus would not permit it. But then a man of Macedonia appeared in a vision saying, “Come over here,” by which Paul concluded that God was calling him to preach there. (Acts 16:6-10)
Paul wanted to go east with the gospel, but every door slammed in his face. But another door opened wide as God seemed to be saying, “Go west, old man!” A closed door is an obvious sign from God what NOT to do, where NOT to go. An open door needs more discernment, for there may be many possibilities. But now, how else does God lead?
DREAMS
Having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi departed for their own country by another way. (Matthew 2:12)
Although this is the most subjective of the three D’s of God’s direction, we cannot deny the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit, which sometimes comes to the waiting soul by way of a dream. Inner convictions, rooted in Scripture but separated from the turnings of circumstances or the opinions of well-meaning friends, have a crucial role in revealing to us God’s will for our lives. But all too often we are deaf to the still, small voice of God speaking deep in our hearts. “Surely the Lord was here, but I was unaware,” said Jacob (Genesis 28:15), who learned that night how receptivity improves as self-reliance dissipates. The more desperate we are to know Him, the more likely we will hear when He calls our name. And when we do hear His voice, we must answer, “Speak Lord, for Thy servant is listening” (I Samuel 3:10).