Table of Contents

1    God Has a Blueprint For Your Life

2    God Will Direct Your Steps

3    Seven Guidelines to Determine, "Is It God or Is It Me?"

Will Jesus be exalted by this choice?

Does your decision agree with the Word of God?

Does your decision produce peace?

Does the Holy Spirit bear witness with your decision?

Does your decision pass the test of time?

Will your decision pass the test of godly counsel?

Have you surrendered your will to God?

Personal Prayer of Commitment

1

God Has a Blueprint For Your Life

You are faced with daily decisions that will affect every area of your life. You can make the right choices by following the plan God has for you. You can know His will and know which way to go.

Ephesians 2:10 says:

For we are His [God's] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

God has a blueprint for your life. He has planned good works for you. You can understand this when you compare it to a building contractor's plans. No builder starts out with a pile of bricks, boards and concrete and says, "I'm going to build a building, but I don't have a blueprint yet." Plans are drawn up before he gets to the point of building, and so it is in our lives.

You are not here by accident. God planned for you and me to be on the earth at this time for a specific purpose. People sometimes lose sight of this because of the secular humanist viewpoint of life. But we know from God's Word that we were created for a divine and holy purpose, and we are being moved through life by God's hand.

God has promised to reveal His wisdom to you if you will only ask Him.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James 1:5-8

Ask in faith, believing that God will indeed reveal His will for your life.

2

God Will Direct Your Steps

Exodus 13:21 says, "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night."

Psalm 37:23 says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.... "

Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

Psalm 23:1 says, "The Lord is my shepherd.... " Jesus is our Good Shepherd to oversee, guide and lead us beside still waters, into the green pastures and keep watch over us.

Psalm 48:14 says, "...He [God] will be our guide even to death."

In Isaiah 58:11, part of the blessing for giving

to the poor and needy is given: "The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."

Proverbs 16:9 says, "A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."

Proverbs 3:5 and 6 offer some strategic advice on godly direction:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

God will direct you in the way you should go. Many people are in anguish today over paths they chose and decisions they made when they weren't listening to the voice of God.

It's time to decide, "I'm going to hear from God. I'm not going to lean to my own understanding, but I will acknowledge God in all my ways." That decision is the beginning of being led by God in every step you take.

If we would only ask directions, we would get to the place where we need to go. One time when I was at Rock Church in Virginia Beach for a Ministers' Conference, someone offered to take me to the airport. Now, this man didn't live there, but he assured me that he knew how to get to the airport.

After nearly an hour of driving around, when it was approaching the time for my plane to take off, I finally said, "Would you please stop and ask someone for directions to the airport?" He stopped at a convenience store, and to make a long story short, I made my plane! We would have been there much sooner had we asked directions.

Confess John 10:4,5, and 27 on a regular basis:

And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

It's time to declare: I WILL NOT HEAR THE VOICE OF A STRANGER, BUT I WILL HEAR THE VOICE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD, AND I WILL FOLLOW HIM.

3

Seven Guidelines to Determine, "Is It God or Is It Me?"

Here are seven guidelines by which you can determine God's will for your own life.

1. Will Jesus be exalted by this choice?

I call this guideline "the Jesus test," and I put it first, because Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

Colossians 1:18 says, "And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."

John 16:13 says, "...when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak: and He will tell you things to come."

In June, 1969, when I had just completed my junior year in high school, Sharon's parents came to pastor our church. The first year they pastored, I thought of Sharon only as the pastor's daughter. She was in the youth group, her mother was our youth director and we did a lot of things together, but there was no relationship.

About a year later (in May, 1970), I was saved and shortly after that (about three or four weeks later), I had an open vision. In the vision, I saw Sharon and myself together standing before a large group of people preaching and ministering God's Word as husband and wife.

At that time, we had been together, but we really had never had a date. Three years and three months later, we were married. What I saw in the Spirit came to pass.

John 16:14 says, "He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify Me [Jesus Christ], for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you." Whenever the Holy Spirit is speaking, He will exalt Jesus Christ.

You can ask the question, "Will what I do exalt Jesus?" One of the ways you can ask this question is, "Does the person I'm considering for marriage already exalt Jesus? Does the business partner exalt Jesus in his life? Does the company exalt Jesus? Will the college I attend exalt Jesus? Will my decisions cause honor and glory to come to Jesus?" Everything is to be done for His honor and glory, because only what is done for Him will last.

2. Does your decision agree with the Word of God?

Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

This verse talks about the ability of God's Word to cut right down to the core of your being. Just as a surgeon's knife cuts and divides down to the bone, so the Word is able to cut into the core of your inner being and divide between your soulish ideas and what is coming from your spirit.

God's direction comes to you from the Spirit of God who dwells in your human spirit. When you are born again, your recreated human spirit is made in the image and likeness of God. What comes from your spirit, which is dominated by the Holy Spirit, is the revelation of God. The decisionmaking part of you is in your soulish realm, however, which is made up of your mind, will, and emotions.

A couple who were saved in one of our first meetings in 1976 when Sharon and I were traveling in ministry were alcoholics. Their lives had been devastated by drinking, and after they got saved, they went back to their home and asked the Lord what they should do. They opened their Bible and read what Jesus said in Mark 14:25: "... I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

This couple said, "We will drink no more of the fruit of the vine," and they poured every drop of alcohol in their home down the drain! The Word will divide what's right for you.

Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." If people don't walk according to the truth of the Word, there is no light in them.

In 1975, a girl in the youth group Sharon and I were leading approached us. She had just been saved, and she was engaged to a young man in Florida. The young man wasn't saved, and she asked us what she should do. We shared the Word with her how God says light and darkness have no common ground.

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?

And what communion has light with darkness?

2 Corinthians 6:14

This young lady called the young man she was soon to marry and shared Christ with him and what had happened in her life. He cursed her out over the telephone and the engagement ended. That young lady received direction from the Word of God.

She attended Rhema Bible Training Center where she met a young man who was on fire for God. Debbie Glassford and Doug Fisher married and have been missionaries in Central America since 1980.

When you give up the counterfeit for God's best, God will give you His best.

3. Does your decision produce peace?

Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

You are to be led by the inward witness or the inner voice of your reborn human spirit. The voice of your inner man, the hidden man of the heart, will bring peace. God will bear witness with peace.

Colossians 3:15 says, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and he thankful." The Amplified Translation of this verse says, "And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts, deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds..."

When God bears witness in your spirit with peace to do something, it doesn't matter if everyone in the world falls apart or gets bent out of shape! Go with it!

When I announced my plans to come to Oral Roberts University, it was initially very difficult for my family to understand and accept. When I told my coach I was transferring to O.R.U., he said, "Daugherty, have they got a corner on that religion stuff up there in Tulsa?" He didn't understand why I was transferring, but inside of me, I had peace.

Many times, if you go by your own understanding, you will turn your back on what your spirit is saying. Don't get over into your natural reasoning, but trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding.

There was a woman who went through a divorce after a year and a half of marriage and one baby. She shared with us about being abused and different horrible things that happened in their relationship. Then she said, "Three or four weeks before the wedding, I had this terrible feeling on the inside of me that I was doing the wrong thing."

We asked, "Then why did you go through with it?" (This is where she got into reasoning.) She said, "Everything was prepared, and we had already sent the announcements." She didn't want to go through the agony of stopping the wedding, so she ignored what was in her spirit. The agony she postponed came later!

Let the peace of God be the umpire in your life. Let it call the directions in your life. If you don't have peace, don't go through with what you've decided to do. Wait for God's peace.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6,7

4. Does the Holy Spirit bear witness with your decision?

Once you are born again, your inner man will speak to you. The Holy Spirit is a person, and He lives on the inside of you.

Romans 8:14 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." The Spirit of God will speak to you on the inside.

When we were going through the process of getting a campground for Victory Christian Center, the Spirit of God spoke inside of me to pursue getting a camp. In my mind, I had to cast down imaginations, because I thought, "I don't want anything else that I have to be responsible for overseeing."

But inside of me, the Spirit of God kept speaking that we were to have a camp. When it looked like it would cost too much money to have one, I thought, "All right, that's it." I did what I was supposed to do and it was going to cost too much money, so I closed the book on it. But the Holy Spirit kept speaking!

If it's the Spirit of God, He will continue to speak to you. Sharon and I wrote down our prayer for the camp: "A camp 30 minutes from Tulsa, on a lake, with water, sewer, electricity and paved roads already in position, and we'll get it for free." Then we wrote Mark 11:24 on it, prayed in agreement and believed.

When we were contacted by the Army Corps of Engineers about Pawnee Cove South State Park on Lake Keystone, we made our proposal as they instructed us to do, sent it back, and it wasn't acceptable to them. Yet we had done everything we thought they told us to do. At that point, in my mind, again I said, "That's it. I've done what I can do." Still, the Spirit of God kept speaking, "Go after it again. Pursue another way."

We simplified our proposal and put fewer long-range plans in it. Contact was made with the right people in Washington, DC, who communicated with the leadership of the Army Corps of Engineers, and a release was given for us to get the camp in the summer of 1990. Camp Victory is a beautiful 100 acre peninsula with roads, water, sewer and electricity, only 30 minutes from downtown Tulsa, and at the price we wrote down!

In following the leading of God, there will often be obstacles in your way to try to deter you from doing what God has called you to do. But once you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, you will know to keep on going.

Christopher Columbus said it was the Spirit of God who illumined the Scriptures in Isaiah to him which brought the revelation that he could sail from Spain west to reach the Indies. He did reach the West Indies, or what we know today as the Caribbean Islands, and in the process, he discovered America.

The Holy Spirit is still speaking. If you will listen, you will hear what He has to say. You can develop your spirit to hear the Spirit of God by obeying Jude 20: "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit."

Romans 8:26 says, "Likewise the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

The Spirit of God knows the heart and mind of the Father and He knows your heart and mind. He knows the need, and He will pray in agreement with the will of God.

Paul talked about praying in tongues and interpreting back to your understanding in 1 Corinthians 14:13-15.

Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

What is the result then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.

When you interpret back to yourself, you will begin to get the revelation of what God is saying. So often we have limited this just to a church service, but the Spirit of God will speak in every person individually as you pray in tongues and then say, "Lord, illumine my mind" and begin to pray out in your language of understanding.

This happened to me in March, 1975, when we were youth directors at Sheridan Christian Center. It was about midnight, I was in bed, and I was praying in tongues and then interpreting back to my understanding. This is one way to develop your spirit.

Many people will pray in tongues, but they don't interpret in their language of understanding. Remember, when you just pray in tongues, you've only got half of it! You need the full benefit, which includes the interpretation!

I began to speak to myself in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and out of my mouth came these words: "I am going to open the doors of denominational churches, and you will step through them and preach and minister. I am calling you to travel."

Such a thing had never crossed my mind, but I got up and wrote it down. A few months later, that word became a reality, and we ministered in many denominational churches, sharing the full Gospel message. We were in all types of churches. It was truly a supernatural thing, because wherever we went, the doors opened.

If I had not been listening to the Holy Spirit, I could have missed some of the greatest things in my life. A lot of people have missed some great things because they haven't opened themselves up to the Holy Spirit. They can't figure out why things are so humdrum, routine and lifeless, but it is because they live on the human level only. But when you are born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, you can also live on a different level—the supernatural life guided and directed by the Spirit of God.

5. Does your decision pass the test of time?

Some people move on impulse. They get a flash idea and chase a rabbit trail only to find that it ends up in a brush pile somewhere. They become entangled and say, "Well, I guess this wasn't God after all. I'll go chase something else."

As a small boy, I used to catch crawdads (crawfish) and put them in a jar of water. When you first put the water in the jar, you couldn't see them, because it was so muddy, but if you let the water sit for a while, the mud settled to the bottom and you could see clearly. If you'll let the things settle in your life for a while, you will see clearly what you are to do!

When Bob Stamps was a chaplain at O.R.U., he said to me, "If something is from God, it will continue to get stronger and stronger. If something is just of you, it will fade in its importance."

People sometimes say, "We've got to do this right now," and I ask, "Why?" They say, "We've got a deadline." I say, "Who set the deadline?" Often, they respond, "We did." I ask, "Can't you move the deadline back?"

"Well, I guess we could." When you rush into something is often the time you do something and later wish you hadn't. It's amazing how hindsight is 20/20. Give your decision time until you've got some hindsight. A period of time will let you see things accurately.

Some people get under pressure to get married, to get into a particular job, to purchase certain items—and in this pressure, they make the wrong decision that brings pain and agony later.

Psalm 33:11 says, "The counsel of the Lord stands forever...." Everything else will fall by the wayside, but if it's God's counsel, it will stand.

Habakkuk 2:3 says, "...the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." There is a season for every purpose of God, so in God's time, the fulfillment will come to pass.

In August, 1982, Victory Christian Center had just started meeting in the Mabee Center. Sometime later that year as I was driving down Lewis Avenue, I looked over to my right opposite the entry to the Avenue of Flags at O.R.U. In an open vision, I saw a huge white building standing on what was then a big pecan orchard and an open field. Instantly, I knew it was our church. I pulled into the Mabee Center parking lot and sketched a drawing of what I saw. Then I went to an architect and asked, "Can you build a building like this?" Being a good architect, the man said, "We can build anything!"

When I found out who owned the land, I went to the owner and asked if he would sell us the land. He said, "We will never sell another piece of land." I wondered if I had heard from God!

I didn't tell him about the vision I had, because Joseph got thrown into a pit for telling his vision! I said, "Lord, if this is You, You're going to have to do it." Two years went by. In that period of time, we went ahead and did a land search. After two years of looking, the land search committee said, "We feel we are supposed to be close to O.R.U." I still didn't tell them about the vision I had previously had.

One day the owner asked me, "Where are you going to build your church?" I said, "We feel we are supposed to be close to O.R.U." Then he said, "God has been dealing with me. We're not going to sell you the land, but we will lease it to you."

A lease offer was generated, which I kept on my desk from December, 1984, until March, 1985. I didn't do a thing with it. But here's the test of time. If it is of God, it will stay with you and it will get stronger. The test of time will bear witness with you.

In March, 1985, the Lord said to me, "Sign the lease and I will work." I signed it, and since we had been working on the building design for two years, within a week we prepared and distributed a colorful brochure of our proposed building.

Three weeks later, the owner called and asked to meet with me. He had just gone through a difficult situation with another piece of land he had leased to an organization that violated their contract. The disagreement got into the newspapers, and the owner was put in a negative light, though the other party was guilty.

The owner said to me, "We must get out of the lease. The possibility of future difficulties between us and Victory could create problems. The only thing I know to do is sell you the land, because my word is good and you've announced it to your people."

Miraculously, we were able to come up with the money to buy the land over a seven-month period. God instructed us to give what we had in the building fund into other ministries, missions and to the poor. The harvest came on the final day of our option; in fact, at midnight we signed the check for the property.

6. Will your decision pass the test of godly counsel?

Psalm 1:1 says, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.... "

Before you seek counsel, know the spirit of the person with whom you are seeking counsel.

A person who is older than you may not necessarily have the Spirit and the Word of God inside of him. Remember the ten spies who came back with an evil report, and only two came back with a good report concerning the promised land? Yet all twelve were the elders of Israel. If a whole nation lost out on the promised land by listening to the wrong counsel, surely we need wise counsel!

The counsel of the ungodly and the unwordly will lead you astray. People who are born again and even Spirit filled who do not have the Word abiding richly on the inside of them will speak out of their feelings and out of natural opinions.

There is safety in the multitude of godly counselors. Proverbs 15:22 (KJ) says, "Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.”

The Amplified Translation of this verse says, "Where there is no counsel, purposes are frustrated, but with many counselors they are accomplished."

The words of a counselor should never override any of the previous tests. You're not to be led by people, but by the Word of God, by Jesus, by the Spirit of God, by your recreated human spirit, by the peace of God, and by the test of time.

A wise counselor will point you to the Word and to the Spirit, but people who want to dominate your life will always try to influence you by their emotions.

When Sharon and I or our staff counsel anyone, we give them the Word, but then we let them make the decision. When you're dealing with your children in the home, however, over whom you have jurisdiction, you are to help them make the right decisions. If your child wants to do something that's ungodly or something that will produce death, you have the divine responsibility to help them go the way they are to go.

7. Have you surrendered your will to God?

Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, had a tremendous decision to make. He knew that mankind could only be redeemed by His blood. He knew that the Father's will for Him was to go to the cross, be crucified, buried and on the third day be raised from the dead. In His flesh and in His mind, He was fully human. He knew the agony, the pain, the rejection and the suffering He would go through, and He was torn. His spirit, His soul and His flesh were going opposite directions. That's why He sweat as it were great drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane.

There are times when you will feel that same pulling. Your spirit knows what to do, but your body and mind will pull you another way. People often make wrong decisions because the lusts of their flesh pull them away from God's plans. These carnal desires must be put to death if you are going to fulfill the will of God. "...Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). The submission of your body and mind to the Spirit of God will enable you to overcome the desires of the flesh.

Jesus submitted His soul, which includes the mind, will, emotions and intellect, to the Father.

He said, "...not My will, but Yours, be done"

(Luke 22:42). He brought His body into subjection and went to the cross for our sins.

Jesus was born of the Spirit. He worked miracles, signs and wonders. He obeyed God all of His life, but at His final hour, at the age of 33, He still had to surrender His will and His emotions to God to complete God's entire purpose for His life.

Every believer is required to come to this same decision: "Lord, I will do whatever You want me to do. Not my will, but Thy will be done." Right now is your time to surrender your will to God.

Personal Prayer of commitment:

Heavenly Father, I want to submit my will to Your will, because I understand that You have good plans for my life to give me a future, a hope and an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11).

I believe that Jesus Christ is Your Son and that He was crucified, buried, resurrected and then ascended to You, Father God.

Lord Jesus, I renounce every work of darkness, and I accept You as my personal Lord and Savior. I submit my will to the Father's will. I accept His plans and purposes for my life. I receive divine direction and destiny in my life.

Empower me with the Holy Spirit, Lord, so I will make wise decisions in line with Your Word and Your Spirit, so that others will be drawn into God's family through my witness. Amen.

Signature

Date

BILLY JOE DAUGHERTY is founder and pastor of Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Victory has a Christian school, Bible Institute and Missions Training Center. Other Victory outreaches include taking the gospel via radio and television to North America, along with shortwave radio and television to other nations, plus the distribution of books, tapes, and videos. He and his wife, Sharon, minister God’s healing, saving, and delivering power as a team. Their family works alongside them in the ministry.

Table of Contents

1 God Has a Blueprint For Your Life

2 God Will Direct Your Steps

3 Seven Guidelines to Determine, "Is It God or Is It Me?"

Will Jesus be exalted by this choice?

Does your decision agree with the Word of God?

Does your decision produce peace?

Does the Holy Spirit bear witness with your decision?

Does your decision pass the test of time?

Will your decision pass the test of godly counsel?

Have you surrendered your will to God?

Personal Prayer of Commitment