"Allowing God to Guide! - The Process."

A God-given vision can excite us, but it may also tempt us to move ahead of God’s timing. I’ve experienced anxiety and pressure when trying to take control, rather than letting God lead as He promises.

Through decades of walking with the Lord as a leader and in life, I have learned the value of a faith-based reset. This means returning to intimacy with God for every decision. It is not a box to check—it is a living, daily relationship with Jesus Christ. In this relationship, I listen for His voice, respond in obedience, and trust the Holy Spirit to guide each step. Psalm 32:8 is a guiding light: 'I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.' God’s promise is sure. He will lead us on the best path, advise us, and watch over us. This truth brings peace and confidence. It frees us from striving and reminds us that we do not have to force outcomes in our own strength.

In my journey, God has confirmed His direction in two powerful ways. First, He speaks through His Word as I read and meditate on Scripture. Second, He guides me through wise, godly people whose lives show the fruit of His Spirit. I regularly ask the Lord practical questions. This helps me keep my heart aligned with His will, plan, and purpose. It prevents impatience and fear.

If you are seeking clarity and peace in your pursuit of God’s vision, I invite you to join me in purposeful faith. Take a moment to share this message with someone who may feel overwhelmed. Together, let’s commit to trusting God, building on our relationship with Him, and supporting each other as we walk in faith toward His promises.

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Transcript

Welcome And Core Message

Tony 0:00

Greetings, my friends. Tony Williams here. Welcome to Celdi, Summit Evergreen, Leader Development Insights. Wherever you are in the world, thank you for listening. God loves you unconditionally, and God has this message that He's given me to share with you. And it's for me as well. He gave it to me today. It's called Allowing God to Guide the Process. Allowing God to guide the process. I was thinking today about a vision. We've been talking this year about having a vision that God helps us to set. We've been talking this year about having big and magnificent goals that God helps us to set. And going with God after that vision and after all those goals. However, it's vitally important that we allow Him to guide us in the process. If we're not careful, the vision will override God. And then we start chasing the vision rather than having an intimate relationship with God and allowing him to lead us. And that leads me to the first step. How do we allow God to lead us? It begins with an intimate relationship. We focus on the relationship. We focus on the relationship, an intimate relationship with God. And from there, God guides us on the best path and the best way to accomplish and achieve the vision and the goals that He's helped us set. It's found in Psalm 32.8. God says, the Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Just today, I was meditating on a vision that I believe God gave me for a brand new Celdy Company building, headquartered building. It's a beautiful rendition. I have a picture of it on our Celdi Company website under the block. And as I began to think about that, my mind started to run ahead. Wow, what is it going to be like in the building? Wow, how am I going to pay for that building? Wow, what do I need to do to get there? Wow, what about this and what about that? What I was allowing to do, my mind to do, was to run ahead of God for the vision. And this is what we have to be careful about. God will give us a vision, but the vision is to help us to gain clarity and guidance for his plan and purpose for our lives. So we can keep our focus fixed on him as we move in step with him toward the vision. So, number one, it starts with intimacy. So we have to be careful not to let our vision and our goals override our intimacy with God. What does intimacy with God look like? This is what it looks like. Let me share with you what I used to think it looked like. I used to think that my intimacy with God was Bible reading, a certain time in the morning, a quick prayer, and maybe a note in my journal, and then I was off to work. And I would be out there doing my work all day long, and I would come home and the next morning I would start and do it again. That's not intimacy. This is what I've discovered, and I pray this is what you are employing in your life. Intimacy with God is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week relationship, focusing on a loving relationship with God, getting to know who God is and getting to know who we are in Christ in God, and allowing God to speak to our hearts. I used to think God is speaking, yes, he's speaking. He speaks primarily through his word. But he also, when we said to Jesus, I want you to be my Savior and my Lord, his Holy Spirit comes to live on the inside of us, to lead us and guide us into all truth, and to empower us and equip us to do all the things that He's calling us to do. So it's with that intimacy and the overflow that we begin to move on our path toward our goals and our vision. So I emphasize intimacy is vitally important. What I had allowed to happen, the vision, the desire of my heart was this glistening new Celdi headquartered building nestled against the mountains. And that was a desire of my heart. And that's okay. And I believe it's in alignment with what God wants to accomplish, but I can't allow the vision to override my intimacy with God. Someone once said to me, God sets the pace and God chooses the course. And so God says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you and counsel you with my eye upon you. So as you make decisions, ask yourself, do I stop and ask God to show me the way? First and foremost, am I spending time with God? Quantity of time, quality of time. When I stop my quiet time in the morning, am I having an ongoing conversation with the Lord throughout the day? And it could be almost anything. For example, today, I went to an appointment and I was praising God as I went. I was thanking God for a beautiful day. I was thanking God for his faithfulness to me. I was thanking God for all the good things that are going on in my life. I was praising him and being grateful for what he's doing in my life. In my mind, I had the picture of the new building. I go to my appointment. The person that's taking care of me, this is what they said. I plan on retiring. But I want God to lead me because it is a desire of my heart. Listen to what this person said. I plan on retiring, but I want God to lead me, and I know that He will because it's a desire of my heart. You see, my friends, when we have an intimate relationship with God, He places in our hearts the desires that we have there. So when we have a desire and we're walking in intimate relationship with God, when we have this desire, we usually can say, This is something that God wants me to do. And then God will confirm it along the way. And along the way, he does it a couple of ways. First, we read in the scriptures and God will give us guidance and encouragement and affirmation as we take time to open the Bible and read it and meditate on it. And that's how I came to Psalm 32.8. I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise and watch over you. So I knew that promise was there. But when I was fixated on the vision, I had lost my focus a little bit. But when I was at this appointment, God also speaks to us through godly people. This person that was serving me is a godly person. And you can tell by the fruit that's in that person's life and by the way they carry themselves in their conversation. So you want to be careful who you listen to. Not every person that says something is a godly person. But when a godly person speaks, let the Spirit of God in you acknowledge whether or not the Spirit of God in them is giving you insight. So when this person said, I plan on retiring, but I want God to lead me because it's a desire of my heart. The Holy Spirit immediately spoke to me. This desire for the new building, okay. But you want me to guide you. You want me to lead you. This desire of your heart is okay. And I immediately calmed down because I then knew the message to me was don't let the vision drive you. Let me in my intimacy with you lead and guide you. Woo! Praise the Lord. That's good. Don't let the vision drive you. Don't let the goals drive you. Let my intimacy and your relationship with me guide you. And God equips and God empowers us to accomplish everything that He wants to do and accomplish. How is your time alone with the Lord, my friend? Are you intimate with God? Are you emphasizing intimacy with God? Are you asking God, Lord, is this a good decision? Is this in alignment with your will, your plan, and your purpose? Should I even be in this vocation, Lord? Am I going in the right direction? Occasionally I'll just stop and say, Lord, am I headed in the right direction? Lord, show me where I am right now in my walk with you. First and foremost, ask yourself and ask God, Lord, am I intimate with you? Can I hear you lead and guide me? Have I chosen to allow you to guide? We have to choose to allow God to guide us. The tendency in human nature is we want to do it ourselves. We can figure it out, we can make it happen, and we're pro we're prompted to take that mindset because everybody, many, many people are doing it that way. I did it my way. But that's not God's way. God's way is relying totally upon God, trusting God, obeying God, relying totally upon God and His promises to accomplish the vision and the goals that he helps you set. So, my friends, I pray that God is speaking to your heart. I believe the key message here. Focus on your intimacy with God, and the overflow will impact the way you go. And count on him to guide you. Count on him to show you the best pathway. Count on him to watch over you and give you course corrections as needed. Father God, thank you for my brothers and my sisters. Thank you for giving us vision and goals. Thank you for an intimate relationship with you and your Holy Spirit in us, leading and guiding us in all truth. Help us to focus on the intimacy and allow you to guide and give us everything we need and empower us to accomplish the vision and the goals in your way and your timing, your glory, and our blessing. In Jesus' name. Amen.