Returning for Guidance and Clarification

Whether it’s at the start of a new calendar year, my personal birth-year or just after a major meeting, I have learnt a little secret. It is to return, not only to God personally but to my discipler to share with them my Gleanings for the new season. Many young disciples need to learn to return to seek for guidance and for clarity, over the issues the Lord is raising in their hearts. It’s for speed and safety!

So I have spent the past few days consolidting my learning and the impact of SAYCO in me. I have sat to meditate, think, pray and read through my previous notes, trying to harness all the Lord is saying to me, in this season that I am.

This was one of the major takeaways from the bible study at SAYCO. For a man to fulfil his mandate, he needs not only a clarity of vision but also an understanding of the Velocity with which he must move, the time in which he is now. This is becoming clearer to me as I pray and think through what the Lord was saying.

But there is one secret I have learnt in my discipleship experience. This has helped me greatly and helped me to grow well. Permit me to take it directly from the bible…

‭Ruth 2:2, 18-19 NKJV‬

[2] So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

[18] Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied. [19] And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

Ruth had gone out to glean in the fields. She had a very eventful day, she found great favor, she was given certain instructions, she met a great man, but never knew who he was.

She had learnt to return.

But she had learnt to return… She came back to her mother-in-law, her discipler to share with her, some of the things she had enjoyed in the field. She didn’t keep back or keep away, she went back home to ‘share’ what she had gotten, the man she met, the favor she encountered and instructions she received.

This is something I have learnt in my walk and discipleship experience. From time to time and every time there’s a major event in my life, I seek opportunity to return for guidance and clarity. Whether it’s my birth-year, or it’s a new calendar year, (at the least) I always write my discipler to share with them, what the Lord is saying to me. I find time to carry them along on the favors, events and instructions I am receiving, so I can be properly guided. Of course, after most meetings, I share to ensure that I am learning well, I am seeing well and I am growing well!

This does two things…

1. Return for Proper Guidance.

‭Ruth 2:20 NKJV‬

[20] Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!” And Naomi said to her, “This man is a relation of ours, one of our close relatives.”

Ruth never knew the identity of the man she had met and interacted with. Ruth thought she had met a big man, whom she will keep eating from. Her discipler saw beyond that. She knew, “this is God, he is our relative. There could be more than this benefactor relationship”. Sometimes, what we see is very myopic compared to what our discipler can see. Our experiences may seem ordinary but an older heart & spirit recognises divine connections and divine movings and so can guide you. 

Oh I know how many times I have casually spoken about certain things and my discipler pushed it forward beyond what I imagined and the result it brought to me. Sometimes, the push isn’t even immediate, but subsequently, that information/experience becomes available for guidance in a future decision. 

This was the key to Ruth’s marriage. Just what if she never returned to share with her, or she held back his name or other details of their experience. She probably would have missed or delayed that part of God’s plans for her.

2. Return for Clarification.

‭Ruth 2:8, 21-23 NKJV‬

[8] Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women.

[21] Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also said to me, ‘You shall stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ” [22] And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and that people do not meet you in any other field.” [23] So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

Did you notice what happened there? Go back to read the parts highlighted again. When Boaz was speaking to Ruth, he asked her to stay by the ‘young women’ (vs 8). Only God knows what she heard or how she heard, when she was reporting back to her discipler, she reported that he asked her to stay by the ‘young men’ (vs 21). But thank God this conversation was happening, Naomi knew that it is good for her to stay by the ‘young women’. Whether she picked it from the Spirit or she just knew what was right, or she knew Boaz so well, Ruth was guided back and had clarification on the instruction she thought she had received.

Hmm sometimes we actually have heard God but what we heard is twisted in a very critical place, and we don’t even know. It’s not that it is totally wrong, it just got twisted in one small detail. Either because of impatience/haste, or carelessness, we may miss what God actually means. An opportunity to return always clarifies this. 

I remember how I would have fallen victim to a sister because I felt she was genuinely looking for discipleship. But as I spoke to my discipler and gave details of how the lady was behaving, there was a sharp warning to move back. Well, like many young disciples I didn’t believe but I obeyed (like Ruth in verse 23). I was troubled but grateful to see that my discipler was right weeks later – she wasn’t really looking for discipleship, she was looking for something else!

Dear Young Disciple, Return!

Beloved brother, when last did you return? When was the last time you went back to your discipler to explain how things are? Dear sister, when was the last time you returned to share what the Lord is saying to your heart? I know your discipler is very busy and she never responds to you when you ask a question, was that why you have not returned this year? Maybe you’re even contemplating changing disciplers because your discipler like Elijah would ‘drive you away’; Elisha knew that to get anything tangible from the relationship, he must be steadfastly decided to follow, until he got what he saw from his discipler. This is what separated him from the sons of the prophet, who were admirers from afar!

Beloved, SAYCO is over, return with the sharing of what you heard and learnt. Return not only to God, but to your discipler about the challenges and instructions the Lord is laying on your heart.

Put a call through. Visit if you’re close. Send an email if you’re in another town. Better still, do all three, if you can. By all means, return.

These are the benefits of practical discipleship. In this day when the heavens are opened unto us and the Lord is handing over batons, it is important to be more committed to our practical, personal discipleship.

Dear young disciple, please return!