Let God Lead You

Focus Keywords: God is the Good Shepherd, spiritual leadership, Psalm 23, divine correction, faith vs flesh, overcoming human will, leadership principles, surrender to God

This summary and rewrite, based on excerpts from Steven Furtick’s message, “Let God Lead You,” explores the necessity of surrendering control and redefining what it means to be led by God. The central argument is that God, as the Good Shepherd, often leads believers through discomfort and correction because He knows the path ahead, contrasting this divine guidance with the flawed, technology-based expectations of modern life.

The Human Desire to be Led

It is a natural human desire, especially for those in positions of leadership (over a company, division, small business, or family), to occasionally “love it sometimes when somebody is like, ‘Here’s what we’re doing… Don’t ask about it'”. This willingness to be led extends even into personal relationships, often influencing marital choices.

Redefining God’s Leadership: Beyond GPS

Many modern believers approach God with a mental model of leadership based on technology, specifically a GPS system. This model expects God to be like the woman on the GPS who “makes suggestions” and, if ignored, “doesn’t stop the car”.

However, the sources stress that God’s leadership is fundamentally different because “He’s a shepherd, a good shepherd”. Jesus declared, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11).

Being the Good Shepherd means:

• Knowing the Unknown: He “knows something I don’t know”.
• Guiding Against Will: He is “going to get me there sometimes against my own human will or my fleshly desires”.
• Intervening in Detours: Unlike a GPS that says, “Okay, cool” when a wrong turn is made, the Good Shepherd intervenes when the path leads to danger.

The Kindness of Correction: Why God Makes You Lie Down

A key distinction between God’s leadership and human guidance is the integration of conviction alongside comfort. The Shepherd’s direction often includes correction, which should not always be attributed to the Devil.

The Shepherd’s Rod and Staff (Psalm 23):

The message draws heavily on Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want”. This promises that the believer “lack[s] no good thing” because the Shepherd “knows the difference between what feels good and what is good”.

The parts of the Psalm that speak of comfort—“green grass. Still waters. Restoreth my soul. His rod and his staff, they comfort me”—are universally accepted. However, the most challenging element of the Shepherd’s guidance is found in verse 2: “He maketh me…”.

• Forced Rest: The first action of the Shepherd is: “He makes me lie down”. Most believers struggle with this part because they only want to be led where they want to be led, seeking God as a personal assistant (like “Alexa” or “Siri”).
• Protection from Sabotage: God, as the Shepherd, “is not going to see you doing something that he knows where it leads and not say something to you about it”. He will not “let you sabotage yourself and your future without bringing correction”.
• Investment, Not Insult: When correction comes from someone who loves you—like God, a trustworthy friend, or a good trainer—it is an “investment”. The staff, though it doesn’t “feel good around the sheep’s neck,” is used to “bring me back,” which is an act of “kindness”. The kindness of God is what leads to repentance.

Trading the Flesh for the Spirit: The Danger of “I’ve Got It From Here”

A major spiritual pitfall is the belief that one can take over where God left off. This is referred to as “divinity on demand”.

• Trusting in the Flesh: This happens when a believer feels God started something great (Season 1) but then says, “Oh, thanks, God. I’m good. I’ve got it from here” for the subsequent seasons. This is a form of trusting in “my own human strength”—the flesh—which Paul warned against (Galatians).
• The Plot Twist: The reality is, “You don’t ‘got it’ from here”. Believers often forget this until a “plot twist happens that you didn’t see” because God wrote the script, not them.
• Sustaining Grace: Saving faith is when a person throws themselves on the mercy of the cross, but that same grace is required to “sustain you”. It is “crazy” to think one can navigate the “whole human experience without Jesus”. Trying to “grind it out” after receiving God’s blessing is foolishness.