Like the donkey tied where two ways meet in Mark 11, we occasionally find ourselves stuck between two options, ideas, decisions, possibilities, challenges and opportunities. In my last article, I tried to help us determine our choices based on biblical values and principles. Today, I would like to get more specific about these decisions as we look into a few considerations when we face crossroads.

‘For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!’‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬.

Seeking God is a must for every life that will be lived to please Him. It, however, takes quality time, effort, and periods of isolation. We often linger at crossroads because we do not make the time to seek God. We’d rather guess right, seek out prophets or simply wish God spoke to us without any effort on our part. At the root of our hesitations at spending time in prayer, meditation, and fasting is unbelief.

Whereas the Holy Spirit lives within us, we do not trust Him to guide us. We see hearing from God as something far-fetched when we are at crossroads. The result of abandoning God, as He lamented through Jeremiah, is that we dig broken cisterns for ourselves. In the desert areas of the Middle East, clay pots are inserted into the ground for the storage of rainwater during the wet season against the dry season. However, when the clay breaks, the water leaks into the soil. As broken cisterns cannot hold water, so are efforts, projects, endeavours and plans that are not directed by God unable to retain His blessing. Human efforts go to waste when God is not involved.

‘Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.’‭‭Psalms‬ ‭127‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT‬‬.

Active listening in the presence of God can be practised in different ways. The first is learning to engage our spiritual vision. I have always been fascinated by 2 Corinthians 4:18:

‘So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.’ (NLT‬‬).

How do you fix your gaze on things you cannot see? By faith, of course, and that by the eye of your spirit. When you die, you will not quit seeing in the realm of the spirit. That means you have spiritual eyes already and when your spirit eye sees, your imagination can capture it too. When you pray, especially praying in the spirit, be on the lookout for what the Lord will show you. In engaging my spiritual eyes like that, the Lord has shown me many things in prayer and while ministering in services. Habbakuk describes this process in Habbakuk 2:1 NLT:

‘I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint.’

He used a guard post as an illustration here. He was a type of spiritual guard for Israel. As security guys climb up their guard posts so they can gain visionary advantage and see enemies from afar, so was he going to give himself to prayer and meditation in the Word of God so he can see better, hear better, or perceive better in the spirit. Praying in the Spirit, in particular, builds up our spirits and positions them actively to be sensitive to the Spirit of God. This can also be aided with fasting which subdues natural appetites and accentuates our spiritual senses. Fasting positions us better to hear from God.

Spending time reading, studying, and meditating on the Bible is a fellowship with the author who is the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21-22). He will speak to us from the pages of the Bible. Inspiration is activated when we meditate on the Word because the Word itself was written by inspiration.

Where we believe we have heard from God but are finding it difficult to rationalize it, we can ask spiritual friends or family members to pray along with us. The will of God will be revealed to those who already know how to hear from God. I like to ask God for prophetic confirmations. I am very reserved about consulting prophets because the Holy Spirit is the guide of every believer in the New Testament, but we still have prophets not only preaching the gospel in the New Testament but also confirming the will of God in our lives. I have been blessed by the prophetic gift of a few ministers of the gospel at critical junctures. Navigating such crossroads recently led me to ask God to send me prophetic confirmations and by sending two prophets to me, I received a confirmation of what I had been sensing in my spirit for a while. Someone may ask, how were you sensing it? It was by the inward witness:

‘The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,’‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭16‬ ‭NKJV.

‬‬The Holy Spirit bears a witness of peace, joy, and assurance with our spirits that we are children of God. In the same vein, He bears such witnesses with our spirits in decision-making. On the contrary, He bears witnesses of restlessness, discomfort, and agitation when we are outside of the will of God. I was already sensing such negative sensations when a couple of prophets of their own volitions spoke to me and a combination of their prophecies lent credence to what I was sensing and brought clarity to it. It is my belief that for major and critical decisions, prophetic confirmations will be helpful.

God is faithful to lead and guide His children (Psalm 23:1; 25:11; 32.8). We must learn to trust Him completely and seek Him expectantly at crossroads. With faith in Him, He will lead us into His perfect will at all times.

Victor Adeyemi.