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Jesus is… our PILOT. (I refer to a ship’s pilot, although an airplane pilot also has a connection.)

— If we have made Jesus our LORD and SAVIOUR, we do not walk with Him as if He were there to be our bodyguard, instead, we walk along with Him as our leader, to follow wherever He wishes us to go.

— The great blessing we receive from this relationship is that we can be sure that Jesus goes with us.

— However, YOU still have the freedom (and the responsibility) to be the captain of your life (your ship on life’s rolling sea). No one else can stand in your place as captain and make those decisions for you. There is no room in God’s courts for any dictatorial leaders.

— Us ‘landlubbers’ need to know that when a ship’s pilot is brought on board, the CAPTAIN yields the control of his vessel to his pilot… The captain of the ship understands that the PILOT is the one who knows the waters they are in, and He knows how to get them safely to harbour’s rest.

— God’s Word also tells us that He will lead us to the best life possible, if we are willing to let Him lead. Our introductory songs give the message that we can be glad that our loving Lord and Saviour knows the future, and is taking the helm of our lives to guide us safely home.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. (6) In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (This calls YOU TO CHOOSE if you are going to “lean on your own understanding, or instead, “in all your ways acknowledge Him”.)

Q1/ Have you given the control of your life over to God (TRULY & FULLY)?
— For example: Who determines where you live? (Much to think about.)

Q2/ After we make a rudimentary discussion on Q1, I want us to look deeper into what this control of our lives should look like… It leads to the question, “Who is in the driver’s seat?”

— I had a Christian friend explain to me that He believed God gave him the things and abilities that he possessed to see what my friend would do with them. I assume he was looking at the parable of Jesus from Matthew 25:14-19 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. (15) To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. (16) He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. (17) So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. (18) But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. (19) Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

— From this parable my friend interpreted as his doctrine, that God was watching us from on high to see exactly how hard we were working for Him, and what we were doing with all that He has given us.

— You can see how that MISINTERPRETATION of this parable could come about.

— The danger of this misunderstanding put’s you and I in the driver’s seat and leaves God as an observer. The problem is that Jesus made great effort to show mankind that GOD IS NOT A DISTANT GOD.

— It also leads to self-pride and ambitions of self-glorification for all our good works.

— Jesus said God loved them as a mother hen loves her chicks (Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!)

— He also told the Pharisee Nicodemus that good works were not enough, he had to have a ‘born of the Spirit’ relationship with God. (John 3:1-7)

— And how often does God’s Word tell us that HUMILITY is a requirement of God’s people?

This lesson of God’s Kingdom from Jesus must incorporate the last words He spoke before He ascended into heaven. SEE Acts 1:4-9  And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; (5) for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (6) So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (7) He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. (8) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (9) And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

— We see here a direct command Jesus gives to all who would follow Him. He commands us also, to seek the guidance and empowerment of His Holy Spirit before attempting to do the good work of spreading the Gospel of His Kingdom, for we are certainly no better than those disciples.

— This command puts God’s Holy Spirit in the driver’s seat. We become the followers who need to obey the lead of God’s Spirit. (This means that Jesus is our PILOT.)

— We still are required to step up and do the good works that are set before us to do. However, it is God who directs and introduces these opportunities of service. For God even knows best the when-and-where of our service to Him to achieve success.

Q3/ Can you share some instances when you made choices that affected the directions of your life and service to God? (HINT: Many of these choices are seemingly small and yet become very significant in our futures.)

Q4/  Does Jesus lead us even in the area of politics?

See what He said about the act of ‘paying taxes’…

Jesus told us clearly in Matthew 22:19-21 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

This freedom to choose for ourselves the direction of our life, cannot be taken away from you or I.
~ For even governing authorities cannot take away your personal, God-given right to say YEA or NAY!

HOWEVER, OUR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS ARE NOT ABOUT POLITICS…

— And we will serve God’s Kingdom so much better if we preach the Good News of faith in Christ, rather than spend our efforts promoting worldly political stances.

Q5/ Rather than making the fight about vaccines, for example, wouldn’t we be better off to think about what we will do when the Bible is deemed to be a forbidden book, and we become the ‘outlawed church’? It is prophecied that Christianity will become an illegal faith in our sad world’s future. ~ Can political movements change prophecy? (If you are interested in this prophecy I urge you to look into the following verses.)

— The Apostle John gives us the prophecy of the rule of the ‘two beasts’ in Revelations #13…

— Revelations 13:15-17 & the end of this rule in Revelations 20:4…

If you wish to talk to me about this you can reach me using the e-mail links provided.

However, let’s get back to the here-and-now…

Q6/ How do you discern what is God’s direction for you and what is your own ambition? For sometimes we struggle with this when there is no clear definition of right and wrong in our choices…
— How do we find God’s will for our lives?

SEE Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (12) Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. (13) You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Q6/ What is God saying here about finding HIS PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE?

— I have a short list here of how God is telling us to find His will in our lives…

— 1/ First, we must have faith. We must believe that God’s plans for us are because He wants us to be the best that we can be. God’s plans are always to bless us and all those around us. (Vs. 11)

— 2/ Secondly, we must pray and seek God’s directing guidance. (Vs. 12) Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. (Note that little word ‘then’ makes FAITH the first priority.)

— 3/ Verse 13 holds a KEY… You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. ~ This means that a half-hearted desire to find and do God’s will isn’t enough. You must have the passion and will to find God’s plan by knowing God’s Word, the Bible scriptures.

— 4/ You must KNOW IN YOUR HEART, that if you truly seek to find out what is right and what is wrong with our ambitions and plans, even to the matter of what is the RIGHT TIME for HIS PLANS, His Holy Spirit will reveal these to you.

To help encourage our hearts, my Bible teaches that we should not fear setting out ‘fleeces’, ~ that is asking God for confirmation of His will in your decisions. SEE Judges 6:36-40 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, (37) behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” (38) And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. (39) Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” (40) And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

— This is a very good example for us to follow, and please realize that we don’t need to make a ceremony of using sheep’s fleeces. The signs we ask of God need to be prayerfully asked of God and He will let you know His directions through various confirmations. It then becomes A STEP OF GREAT FAITH, like the faith of Gideon, to obey and follow God’s lead. (CAUTION: God’s Holy Spirit will never contradict what directives He has given us in the Bible. So get to know your Bible!)

All these scriptures speak of choosing Jesus as your PILOT…

You are the captain of your ship, it is up to you to place your trust in your PILOT (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)).

I have two final questions for us all to think about in closing…

Q7/ Do we often forget who is in our voyage on life’s sea with us?

SEE Mark 4:35-41… On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” (36) And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. (37) And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. (38) But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (39) And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (40) He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (41) And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Q8/ Do we complain and fret when we find ourselves struggling against a storm?

— That is when Jesus wants our faith, to rise up within us and face the storm head-on, knowing that “He who is within us, is greater than he who is in the world”.

— I pray that God’s Holy Spirit empowers you… empowers us all… to stand up in the face of adversity, and claim this Bible promise, “THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD, MY PILOT, HE IS LEADING ME TO SAFELY HOME! …SO GET OUT OF MY FACE SATAN, AND OUT OF MY WAY!” 

— Please let the words of this closing song strengthen your faith, and if you wish me to bring your concerns into our prayer time, just drop me a note on the e-mail forms provided.

‘I surrender all’