"Can You Hear Me Now?" in American Sign LanguageSýnishorn

God’s Guidance Will Confirm Your Shape
By Rick Warren

“We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV)

There are two more ways you can test if an idea or impression is from God.

First, is it consistent with how God has shaped you?

Before you were born, God planned the contribution he wanted you to make in this world, and he gave you the shape you need — the spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, passion, and experience — to be able to complete that contribution. He shaped and designed you for a specific purpose.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (NIV).

God’s going to give you impressions that fit your shape. He’s going to give you impressions to fit how he’s made you. If you’re good at music, God’s going to give you impressions that lead you to use your gifts in music. I, on the other hand, am not good at music. So if I get an impression to go on American Idol, that’s not an idea from the Lord.

If you get an impression that’s entirely contrary to the way God has shaped you, ignore it. We get those all the time because we compare ourselves with other people and think, “I’d like to be like them.” But God shaped you the way he did to make an incredible impact on this world. His leading will not contradict who he’s made you to be; in fact, it will confirm your shape and purpose.

Second, you need to ask yourself if your idea concerns your responsibility.

If it’s not your responsibility, why in the world would God talk to you about it? Romans 14:4 says, “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.” When God speaks, it’s going to be relevant to your life, not someone else’s. Don’t try to listen for what God wants to say to your husband or your girlfriend or anybody else. Satan can discredit the Lord with well-meaning Christians who assume that they know God’s will for somebody else’s life.

Does God ever speak to other people through you? Yes. But he usually does it without you knowing about it. And, it will usually be as a confirmation of what he’s already said to them. God will use other people in your life to confirm what he’s saying to you, and he will use you to confirm in somebody else’s life what he’s saying to them.

Talk It Over

What is the idea or impression you believe God has recently given you? How does it enhance and utilize your shape?

How has God used other people to speak to you?

Where do you think the idea to compare yourself with others come from?