How to Seek the Lord's Direction

This blog is the overflow of the sermon from Greenhouse Church delivered on June 1st 2025 - "God's People are God's Answers". To listen to the full message go to greenhousechurchnc.com/sermons. 

How do you hear from God? How do you know when God is speaking to you? What should I do next when I come upon a pretty big decision? 

As a follower of Jesus, these are questions I've wrestled with for a long while until I realized what resources God has already blessed me with. God tells us to seek his wisdom in God's Word, God's Spirit, and God's People.  

Seek God's Wisdom in God's Word

When you need God’s wisdom, the very first place you should look is what God has already said about it in his word. Since the word of God is living and active, its principles can be applied to every area of life. And while there’s not a scripture or verse for things like “how to be a Christian on Instagram” or “what does the Bible say about weed”? There are passages of scripture that we can use to help us understand what God’s heart may be toward a particular subject. 

Check out what 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says:

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 

This means that scripture has all that we need in order to live righteous lives. If we want to live in a way that pleases God, we should consult it. 

Seek God's Wisdom in God's Spirit

If you are a follower of Jesus, at the moment that you believed in his name, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit began to live in you. 

Ephesians 1:13 says: 

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

According to this verse, the Bible says that at the moment you believed, the Holy Spirit began to dwell in you. But that's not all! 

2 Corinthians 2:12 adds:

​​12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 

This means that for the Holy Spirit indwelling believer, we now have access to understand what God is freely giving us. Since the spirit of God lives in you, you can trust that he is leading you. The question is are you listening and do you recognize his voice? 

When was the last time you stopped and asked God for instructions? If you haven't recently, it's likely that you aren’t yet skilled at hearing the voice of God’s spirit. One of the best ways to recognize God’s spirit is by knowing his word. Because you can trust that God won’t contradict his word by his spirit. The more you know and understand God’s heart in his word, the better off you’ll be at hearing the guiding of his spirit.

We don’t get new revelation, but by his spirit, we just might get new direction.

The second way to recognize the voice of the spirit is to listen when he prompts you. One of the ways to practice this is by starting off small. The spirit might nudge you in little ways - maybe he might lead you to take the next car ride in silence, or he may remind you to spend some time with him in the word. I don’t know what it may be, but practice listening! One of my mentors in the faith once said “if you never listen when he speaks, what makes you think he’ll keep talking to you?” 

Seek God's Wisdom in God's People

Honestly, God’s people are the cheat code. And one of the ways you should seek God's wisdom in God’s people is through the global, universal church, and then work your way in. If you have a question about something, look at what God’s people have said about the subject over the thousands of years that people have dealt with various issues.

My momma always used to say "ain't nothing new under the sun!" It wasn't until I started reading the Bible for myself did I realize she was quoting the book of Ecclesiastes. The point is whatever you’re dealing with is some version of the same issue from 100 years ago.

After you’ve looked at church history, look to church present. Who's following Jesus around you? Look for wisdom from people who are older than you, people who are your age, and sometimes, people who are younger than you! The followers of Christ around you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them and they can help you discern God's direction.

Final Thoughts

All three of these things work together! God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and God’s People are the ways God has given us to understand what we should do. 

If you feel like you’ve sought the Lord in these ways and you haven’t heard a clear word from God, that’s okay! I heard one person say “pray, guess, go!” My dad once told me something that was incredibly encouraging. He said “son, if you are actively seeking God’s will, you can’t step out of it.” What he meant by that was if you’re actively not sinning, and you’re trying to please God in everything you do, God is bigger than any action you can take. Following God is not like the Greek mythological stories where the hero gets a prophecy and if he makes a left when he should have gone right, he’ll miss his destiny, no, our God is way too big!  

I hope and pray this framework provides you with a way to seek the Lord in all you do. 

Neeko Williams is the lead pastor of Greenhouse Church, launching September 14th, 2025. Interested in checking out a preview service before then? Check out our preview services page.