We bid goodbye to corrupt nations in hopes that, by now, you pray aright for your country. If you are even a part-time churchgoer, you know where we are going with this. You have stopped counting the number of times that somebody prayed with it or quoted it as a promise of God. Yes indeed, this is one of the more powerful promises of God. God not only directs the steps of the righteous man, but He also directs the stops. You may never have heard that last part, but one of God’s prophets knew it too well.
Ask Balaam. God ordered his stops with a donkey. Find time to read the whole chapter. It is possible that God considered Balaam a righteous person. You may be one of the people God graciously stopped from sinning or hurting yourself. I can testify that God saves me from myself more often than He saves me from others. My understanding is that I am not alone.
Joel Osteen told of when he flew on a poky aircraft with one seat on either side of the aisle. He settled in to take notes, for which he needed his tray table. He tried, got his friend from across the aisle to help, and tugged again, all to no avail. Then, a staff member pointed out the notice above the window. “Not a tray table; emergency exit only.” He was glad God directed his steps as well as his stops.
Will God Order Our Steps?
Before we go further into God directing the steps of the righteous, we revisit our previous post. How is your decreeing? I do hope you have tried it. We did not spend all those weeks in the Holy Spirit Academy for nothing. I have been decreeing and seeing results, but they are not perfect. This morning, I was tempted to redecree but stopped myself. I plan to return to school and revise everything we studied before my next round of decreeing. Perhaps that will work for you also.
We now return to the present topic. God does direct the steps of the righteous man or woman. But we cannot look to God to direct our steps unless we are righteous. Some preachers claim that the one you serve directs your steps. That sounds quite logical. Your master is also your director. So, it is easy to identify who is in charge of our steps and stops. It all depends on whom you serve. Paul makes the same point as a question:
“Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey?” Who qualifies to have God direct the steps of the righteous on his behalf? Please do not hear me say that anyone is holier than another. Joel Osteen, whom God stopped from opening the emergency exit midair, may not be better than the next man. But God saw something in him that caused Him to order the steps of the righteous on Joel’s behalf.
The Steps Of The Righteous Depend On Jesus.
What does God have to see in us for us to enter into this particular promise? We must remember that all our righteousness is like filthy rags, not just rags but dirty rags. Ouch! You see, righteousness is not about your works or how you behave. To qualify for God to direct the steps of the righteous, we must be related to His Son, Jesus.
Is Jesus your big brother? Have you ever invited Him to come into your life and take over your life’s management? Are you under new management, the management of Jesus and His holy Spirit? Do you agree with your new manager on every score? Congratulations, you qualify for God to order the steps of the righteous on your behalf. You see, God does not show partiality, and He does not change. Once you pull the trigger, the promise of God will work for you.
The man who is a younger brother of Jesus is the one that God always helps. This time, He directs the steps of the righteous man. So, the next time I want to enter a business venture or a personal relationship, I do not ask God to direct the steps of the righteous. He already promised, and we can leave that part to Him. My prayer should instead go like this. “Father, help me to be related to your Beloved Son. Help me to make Jesus my Lord and Savior.
Is There A Place For Holy Living?
This is a variant of the question, “Should we continue in sin so that grace may abound?” The bible gives a forceful response: “God forbid!” We saw how, once you make Jesus your Lord, God directs the steps of the righteous – you. We must be clear-eyed about this. It is your relationship to Jesus that makes you righteous because Jesus is the Righteousness of God. So, can we live carelessly and still be considered righteous people?
Not at all. Will the child of a king wallow in mud? By becoming a younger sibling of Jesus, we are children of God, the King of the entire world. Have you ever seen a prince or a princess conducting himself carelessly? The answer is no, regardless of the culture. Similarly, once God adopts you into His family, you learn the rules of your new family through reading the bible. You soon start to live like the family (of God). That is why the Bible says, “By their fruit you shall know them.” Your fruits (life) announce your relationship to Jesus, the Righteousness of God.
Maranatha!
