How Do We Know If We Are Hearing and Doing God's Will?
Adapted from The Everyday Life BIble by Joyce Meyer

Bold As A Lion (Joyce Meyer’s The Everyday’s Life Bible, p. 1007)

If we intend to succeed at being ourselves and truly enjoy our everyday lives, we must reach a point where we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. Only God, through His Spirit, can lead us to succeed and be all we can be. Other people usually will not, the devil certainly will not, and we are not able to do it ourselves without God.

Being led by the Spirit does not mean we never make mistakes. The Holy Spirit does not make mistakes, but we do. Following the Spirit’s leading is a process that can be learned only by doing. We start by stepping out into things we believe God is putting on our hearts; and we learn by wisdom and experience how to hear more clearly and definitely. I always say, “Step out and find out.” That is one way to discover if what is in your heart is from God. If it works it is God, and if it doesn’t work it is not God, and there is no shame in stepping out to find out. Take little “baby steps” and see if the first one produces good fruit; if it does then take another step. If it does not, then back off and pray some more.

I say that boldness is required to be led by the Spirit because only boldness steps out and only boldness can survive making mistakes. We must remember that the “righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1). When insecure people make mistakes, often they will not try again. Bold people make many mistakes, but their attitude is, “I am going to keep trying until I learn to do this right.”

Those who suffer from condemnation usually do not believe they can hear from God. Even if they think they may have heard from God and do step out, a minor failure is a major setback to them. Each time they make mistake, they come under a new load of guilt and condemnation. They end up spending all their time in the cycle. They make a mistake, feel condemned, make another mistake, feel condemned, and on and on. Finally they become frozen with fear and never fulfill their destinies.

I encourage you to step out in faith and be all that God has called you to be. If you do step out and two weeks later discover that you made a mistake, are you going to be bold enough to pray, wise enough to learn from your mistakes and determined enough to go on? Or are you going to feel condemned and go back to wasting your life? There is no point in learning to be led by the Holy Spirit if you do not understand that you will make some mistakes while on the journey.

Be as bold as a lion in your faith. Do not hide behind fears, insecurities, and mistakes any longer. If you have already made major blunders in your life and have been living under condemnation because of them, this is the time to forgive yourself and press on!

You can be all God planned for you, in Christ. Do not be half of it or three-quarters of it, but be all that God designed you to be. Do all He wants you to do, and have all He wants you to have. You will not enjoy God’s fullness without His boldness. Remember, condemnation destroys boldness, so do not stay under condemnation.

Proverbs 28:1 says that the wicked flee when no one is even pursuing them. The wicked are running all the time. They run from everything. But the uncompromisingly righteous are as bold as a lion. And whether you feel it or not, you are righteous!