How to Ask for Guidance – Part 1

What do you need guidance on? Perhaps you have an important decision to make. Maybe you are trying to find the right person to fill a role or spend the rest of your life with. Perhaps you just need to know the right words to say.

How should we ask God to guide us? Today, I want to give you some guidance on how you can ask God to guide you. 

We have learned that God guides us along the best pathways for our lives. But, we have a part to play in that too. We need to be expectant that God will guide us well. We need to ask him to guide us.

I discovered a lot from one man in the Bible who astounded me with his confidence in expecting God to direct him. 

This man isn’t someone who is known as a great spiritual leader or one whom God conversed with regularly like he did with Moses and Abraham, although Abraham gives us a clue. Yet, he had the courage to ask God boldly to lead him when needed. 

And because he was someone ordinary, it encourages us to know that we too can make extraordinary requests, particularly when we need to know the next step.

This man was the head servant of Abraham’s household. He isn’t given a name, although some scholars believe him to be Eliezer. 

We learn from Eliezer how to have the right heart, mind, and prayerful approach when we ask God to guide us.

Our heart attitude

Eliezer’s prayer began in what seemed like a strange way. He prayed to the God of my master Abraham.

Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today,,, 

Genesis 24:12

It sounds like God wasn’t his God—the God Eliezer worshiped.

But I think Abraham’s servant had learned a lot about Abraham’s God. As Eliezer had gone about his tasks in Abraham’s household, I’m sure he had observed Abraham and his relationship with God. 

Perhaps he had overheard Abraham repeating the promises that God had made—that Abraham would be a great nation… Perhaps Abraham had even confided in Eliezer, telling Eliezer that because he had no heir, Abraham thought that all his estate would be left to him, Eliezer. But, then God had told Abraham, that no, he would have a child when it seemed impossible.

Eliezer knew that God not only made promises to people, but God followed through on his promises. He had observed the excitement of Sarah’s pregnancy when she rushed in to tell Abraham the amazing news. He had witnessed the miraculous birth to a women beyond the age of childbearing.

Eliezer knew God kept his promises.

And I’m sure Eliezer had observed Abraham and his faith. He had seen how Abraham believed and trusted God throughout the hard times when he waited and waited for God’s promise to come true.

So in praying to Abraham’s God, Eliezer appealed to God who made distinct and clear promises, who kept his promises, and followed through on them. God, Eliezer realized, was rock solid.

We pray to the same God. He makes promises to us. God keeps his promises. God follows through on his promises. God is rock solid. 

When you ask God to guide you, keep in mind that God has made many promises to you: Here is one of them:

If I ride the wings of the morning,  if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.

Psalm 139:9-10 NLT

Use this prayer and personalize it for yourself as you ask God, who we have learned is trustworthy in keeping his promise, to guide you.

Pray