Openness
I. If you’re going to be lead
by the Spirit of God, then you must be OPEN to His leadings and to what He has
to say to you in every area of your life
A.
John 7:17-To know the will of God you have to
be open to do the will of God
1. NAS-If anyone is willing to do his will, he will know his will
2. If you’re resolve it in your heart and be determined in your heart and
purpose in your heart that you are going to do the will of God whatever it may
be (openness) you will know the will of God
a.
Will-Resolved, determined, purpose
3. Being willing to do the will of God will help you to discern what His
will is
B.
***A major thing that closes people off to
hearing from God and being led by the Spirit is that they are not open to do
what he says***
1. God hasn’t been able to talk to some people because they are not even
open to hearing from God in certain areas of their lives
a.
You can’t talk to somebody about something if
they don’t want to hear it
b.
The Lord can’t talk to us about a thing if
we’re not open to it
c.
In whatever area you are not open, you will
not be led in that area
d.
Not being open in one area will block of
direction in other areas
2. When you are not open to do what God wants it will close you off to the
Spirit’s leading
C.
***If you want to be sensitive to his
direction you also must be receptive (open) to his direction*** - Psalm 25:9
1. The meek are the ones he will guide and show his way
a.
Meek means not proud, but humble
1) Humility realizes God’s smarter to me, he knows what’s best for me,
therefore I’m completely open to do is will b/c I know that he knows more than
I do; I’m not smart enough to come up with own or know what’s best or to make
it on my own – This is humility, this is meekness, this is openness
2) Humility will give birth to openness
b.
Meek means yielding-Ready to
give way, ready to comply; ready to be flexible
1) The teachable will be taught; the leadable
will be led
c.
Meek means submissive-Submission is when you’re open to do what one in
authority says: pride rebels because is not open
1) Whatever one in authority says I’m open/ready to do
d.
Meek means soft-Easily worked, easily yielding, flexible
1) Soft represents something that will easily and readily conform to what
God wants; I’m open to be whatever you want
2) EX: Play-dough is open, concrete is not
2. If you close yourself off to the leading of the spirit, you won’t be
sensitive to his direction
a.
If you’ve already made up in your mind what
you’re going to do, you won’t be open to receive direction from the Holy Spirit
b.
It’s the man or women is open to direction,
that will receive direction
c.
A trick people use on themselves is they hear
from God, but they close themselves off to it by saying, “I don’t know what
that was,” – meaning I don’t know if that was God
1) If you say that’s not God, then the next time the Holy Spirit deals with
you this is same spirit that wasn’t God a few days ago and you confuse your own
spirit and dull yourself
D.
Jeremiah 42-They were open, that is why they
got the leading of the Lord
1. Jeremiah 41-43-This wicked man Ishmael was a murderer and was holding
people captive. When Johanan heard
that he got people together & fought Ishmael & his men and won, but
Ishmael escaped; Johanan feared the Chaldeans would retaliate against these
people b/c of what Ishmael did
2. The prophet operated in the office of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in
those days
a.
It is where the people went to get leading
and direction
b.
4-He’s not speaking of himself, but what he
hears that he speaks-John 16:13
3. 6-They are open to do whatever God says
a.
It is easy to say I’m willing until it comes
down to doing something that requires faith
b.
It was going to require faith to not go to
Egypt and it didn’t make sense
4. It’s not enough to just be willing b/c if you truly are willing then
you’ll be obedient-Is 1:19
a.
Willing-Accept, consent
b.
If you’re not willing you won’t even have the
opportunity to obey the direction b/c you won’t get it
1) To obey the direction you have to get the direction and to get the
direction you have to be open
c.
If you’re not open you’re going to miss out
on good things that God has for you
E.
You’ll have to take the time to be open and to
be okay with going either way
1. Psalm 78:8-You got to set you’re heart aright and that means you
determine that you’re going whatever way God says whether you like it or not,
whether you agree or not, whether it makes sense or not and you’re ready to act
a.
When your heart is set aright you are
determined to do what God says and you’re ready to do what God says
b.
You got to be ready in your heart to do
whatever he wants; inside I get ready to do whatever God wants; in my heart I
determine that I’m going to do whatever he wants and in my heart I’m ready
c.
This is people who refused to go in the
promise land; they didn’t determine with all of their heart to do what he said
and they weren’t ready; Joshua and Caleb determined in their heart to do what
he said and they were ready to do what God said (Let us go up at once, we are
well able to possess it)
2. Psalm 112:6-7-You got to take the time to fix (make ready) your heart to
God’s and establish your heart in his will for your life
a.
Ready to do whatever he says and just trust
him
b.
Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac (he rose
up early in the morning) and he was trusting that if I kill him God will have
to raise him from the dead
1) He was open, he was ready, he was trusting
II. If you are only aware of
what you want to do you are going to be oblivious to God’s plans, God’s leading,
and God’s direction; you have to be conscious of what God wants and interested
in what He wants if you want to be led by His Spirit
A.
Some people are afraid of the direction of
the Lord (They’re afraid the Lord will have them away from their family in
Africa) - Mark 10-The rich young ruler was afraid
B.
If you will recognize that the secret to your
fulfillment in life is in pleasing the Father, then you will be open to the
leading of the Holy Spirit because you’ll know that you can’t be fulfilled
without yielding to that leading-John 4:34
1. People are closed off to the direction of the Spirit b/c they fear they
won’t be fulfilled if they hear his leading and yield to it
2. The only place you’ll be happy & fulfilled is the place that the
Holy Spirit leads you to
3. Proverbs 16:7-You want to be open to God’s will and open to pleasing God
C.
I delight to do thy will o God-Psalm 40:8
1. If God likes it all of the sudden I like it; if I like it and God
doesn’t all of the sudden I don’t like it because I am open (Not my will, but
yours be done-Luke 22:42)
D.
No matter what you thought would happen or
what kind of plan you’ve had you must be open to the Lord telling you something
else
1. If you haven’t heard from God, then don’t make plans for the future
because when you get your heart set on plans you’ve made it makes it more
difficult to be open to God’s plan
2. Beware of making your own plan and setting in concrete-Psalm 37:23
III. When you close yourself off
to the leading of the spirit you close yourself off to all the good things that
were going to come as a result of you yielding to it
A.
***Many people by not being open are not
allowing the Lord to do what He wants to do for them*** (Psalm 81:11)
B.
Matthew 23:37-39-I would have protected you
and prospered you, but you weren’t open, wouldn’t hear, wouldn’t receive