The Discipline of Guidance

Intro and our day, heaven and earth are on tiptoe waiting for the emergence of a spirit-lead, spirit-intoxicated, spirit-empowered people. We are longing for people who are led by the Spirit to in turn lead us. We crave it. We want someone to tell us what to do, how to do it, and how to worship God in the process.  Yet often, what we seek is not guidance as the body of Christ, but as one part of that body. But, individual guidance must yield to corporate guidance. We often spend too much time focusing just on how the Lord guides us as individuals, that we altogether skip over the need for corporate guidance.

 

Perhaps the preoccupation with private guidance in western cultures is the product of the emphasis upon individualism. For the people of God, that’s not always been so. (Matthew 18:19, 20; Exodus 20:19). God brought the children of Israel out of bondage as a people. There was the assurance that when a people genuinely gathered in His name, His will could be discerned. His will plus their unity equaled authority. They gathered in the power of the Lord, not to jockey for position or to play one side against another, but to hear the mind of the Spirit. They have dared to live on the basis of spirit-rule: no 51% vote, no compromises, but spirit-directed unity. No one person possessed everything, even the most mature needed the help of others. (Acts 4:32, 33; 13:1–3). Under corporate guidance, the early church faced and resolved it’s most explosive issues (Acts 15).

 

The apostolic band did not leap from ground zero to the dizzy heights of spirit-rulership in a single bound, neither will we.  We all need to meet with one of our “purer and more spiritual companions” to seek and discern the will of God. “Meetings for clearness” are another model. Such meetings are called specifically to seek the mind of the Spirit for some individual’s question.

 

Unity, rather than majority rule, is the principle of corporate guidance. Spirit-given unity goes beyond mere agreement – it is the perception that we have heard the voice of God.  Such meetings should include people who are not afraid to be honest.  (Ephesians 4:3)

 

The spiritual director’s purpose is to usher us into the direction of our true Guide. Such a person is born out of natural and spontaneous human relationships. A hierarchical, or even organizational system, it’s not essential to its function and is often a distraction to it. The purpose of the spiritual director is to be a messenger. He is only God’s usher. His direction is simply and clearly to lead us to our Director. They must be a person who has developed a comfortable acceptance of himself or herself. That is, a genuine maturity must pervade all of that person’s life. (1 Corinthians 10:31) We must acknowledge the possibility of learning from our brothers and sisters, and have the humility to believe we need such guidance, before we can truly realize the need for such a guide. “If you cannot listen to your brother, you cannot listen to the Holy Spirit” – Virgil Vogt 

 

Perhaps the most menacing danger is manipulation and control by leaders. It becomes a kind of quasi magic formula leaders can impose their will upon people if not handled correctly. “Hard-hearted” and “stiffnecked” people can hinder the spirit inspired leaders as well.  Guidance is also limited by our finitude: As humans we are fallible. (Acts 15:39) But our differences should not hinder the work of Christ. For as Dallas Willard says, “the aim of God in history is the creation of an all-inclusive community of loving persons, with himself included in that community as it’s prime sustainer and most glorious inhabitant”.

 

To recap all of the spiritual disciplines from Foster’s book, check out the full series: Celebrating the Spiritual Disciplines