There's an obscure little story about David, the warrior, that hardly anybody notices, but it gives wonderful insight into an important truth.

In 1 Samuel 23, we read, "When David was told 'Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,' he inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I go and attack these Philistines?' The Lord answered him, 'Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.' … So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah."[1]

Why would God put that in the Bible? What does that little maneuver have to do with us in ministry?

David is on the run. Saul and the entire army of Israel are on the hunt for him and David is moving from place to place, just one step ahead of Saul. David had gathered a band of about 600 men, forming a small militia. While hiding out in southern Judea, David hears that Keilah, a town to the northwest, has been attacked by God's enemies, the Philistines, who are going to destroy the town. When David hears of it, despite his situation, he prays to the Lord and consults the high priest, asking, "Should I attack and fight the Philistines, saving Keilah?"

His men say to him, "Time out, David, have you lost your grip? Saul and his entire army are chasing us and now you want to pick a fight with the Philistines. This makes no sense!"

David could have said, "Look, Lord, my plate is full. I have enough problems." But David was unique. He inquired of the Lord, saying, "Even though I'm in this situation, this news has come to me. Is this something I'm supposed to be involved in? Am I supposed to help these poor people?"

On the other side, he could've taken the position you hear a lot of in Christianity now, a kind of false triumphalism. "Wait a minute, I'm God's anointed. I don't need to inquire of the Lord. Samuel anointed me as a young man to go and fight the enemy. Therefore, wherever I go and fight, God will be with me. Praise God, let's move." But David didn't do that. He didn't beg off, nor did he presume to know God's will.

David's men were refusing to go with him, so he inquired again. "Will you be with me; will you help me in this?" And God said, "Go for it. I'm going to deliver the Philistines into your hand." And David went.

Though we may have the latest technology, great strategies, skilled staff and a clear mission, if we lose this point, we'll lose the genius of Christian ministry. It's not about having the latest cutting-edge techniques or the greatest visionary statement for ministry. It can be resolved into this simple question: "Lord, should I attack these Philistines at Keilah?"

What God Supports
God has a plan for my wife and me. I can't respond to every need in New York City, I'm not the only church in NYC. When you hear pastors say, "Praise God, we're going to take NYC for God," that's just hype. God's got lots of people doing lots of different things in NYC. I'm supposed to do only what God wants me to do. No more, no less. I'm not superman, but neither should I shirk back from something God calls me to do.

We're trying to acquire more space for GED (General Educational Development) and ESL (English as a Second Language) programs, so we can teach people in the inner city to read. They learn by reading the book of John, and as they learn, they're discovering Christ, getting baptized and joining the church. Some are Muslims and Hindus who don't open up easily to the message of Christ, but that's okay. We're doing this because we feel it's what God wants us to do. But with an inner city congregation, they don't have the wherewithal to pay for the overhead for what we're doing. It's like being missionaries, but we're in America.

More and more people are coming to us—people with drug addictions and all kinds of other needs. We're bringing kids in from the homeless shelters to learn about Jesus. It's beautiful and I'm happy, but we have to keep asking the Lord, "What do you want us to do here?" I just can't say "I'm in the ministry and God will pay the bills for anything I do," because he won't! Nowhere does God say he'll pay our bills. What he does say is this: "If you'll let me lead you, I'll take care of everything." Isn't that a wonderful promise?

God's Agenda, Not Ours
The logical assumption of this promise is this: there's a plan for our lives called the will of God. God didn't save us and then tell us to go out and do the best we can, and show God how much we love him. That's not Christianity!

Christianity is the Lord saving us and then working in us to change how we think, so we can understand and know what God wants us to do, thereby fulfilling his good and perfect will for us.[2] He doesn't need our creative thinking. Should I present my creative thoughts to God? Please! All God wants is for his creative thinking to get into me, so I'll do what he wants me to do.

This implies we can know God's will, but how can we know for certain what his will is?

We mustn't let a corporate mentality invade Christian ministry. The Holy Spirit is working today and one of his functions is to show us God's will for our lives—what we should do, and what we shouldn't do. He shows us when we should react to a need and when we should say, "that's not for me to do," even though it may be a tremendous need.

Let me give you a New Testament example. Paul, on a missionary journey, wants to go into an area we call Turkey.[2] He and his missionary band want to go there, not to sell drugs, but to preach the gospel. Yet the Holy Spirit hindered him from going. "What do you mean, Lord? They need us up there!" Everywhere in New York, there's great spiritual need. There are thousands of pressing needs, but the question is: What does God want us to do?

The Holy Spirit is active today, leading us to do the things God wants us to do. He closes and opens doors. Even though it's a legitimate ministry, and there's nothing wrong with it, it may not be ours to do. If we have to depend on our limited IQs—and trust me, our IQs are very limited compared to God's omniscience—then we're in trouble. Just think, he knows everything.

Remember when the Pharisees where accusing Jesus, and he said to them, "Why do you condemn me? I'm just doing what the Father tells me to do. And the words you're criticizing me for are the very words my Father told me to say."[4]

Jesus didn't go anywhere or do anything, except what the Father told him to do. The plan for his life was written about in Hebrews: "Lord, as it's written about me in the book, I have come to do your will."[5]

Jesus had one simple rule for life: ask the Father. He inquired every day, "Father, what's your will for me today? I want to do your will." If you approached Peter, James and John and said, "You guys have been in Capernaum now for two weeks, how long are you planning to stay?" They'd say, "We don't know. When he moves, we move, and when he stays, we stay." Life gets real simple.

Seeking God's Will
So how does the Holy Spirit reveal his will to us? It doesn't start by being so self-confident, arrogant and self-sufficient that we think we can decide things without giving a second thought to what God wants. It starts by inquiring of the Lord.

We're Christ's ambassadors, not corporate people who make their own decisions. We're representing Jesus Christ who came to do only God's will. We can't continue the work on a different strand of thinking than Jesus did. The Lord wants to show us tremendous things. It's not a limiting work. It's an explosive work, where God will lead us to do great things.

Because of all the people being turned away, our church was forced to go to four meetings every Sunday — and our services are over two hours long. We began to pray, "God, what do you want us to do?" God led us to some property that had three buildings and a theater seating 4,100 people. It looked great, but how could we afford it? The sellers wanted $8.9 million, and we had no money. What was I going to do?

I had the other pastors on our staff go and see the property because I needed their concurrence — as the scripture says, "it seemed good to us and the Holy Spirit."[6] We need the witness of others who are close to the situation to agree that we're moving in the right direction. We all felt it was the right thing, but we didn't know how. We needed to trust God to make it happen.

I was on the 700 Club talking about my book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, with Pat Robertson, whom I didn't know very well. Afterwards, he asked me how things were going in New York, since he used to live there. As we chatted, I said, "Brother Pat, I need you to pray for two things. We've found this place we think would make a great campus for our church, but the owners won't come down from their asking price. And secondly, we don't have any money."

A week later I received a letter from him. I read it to our people—the 2,500 members who meet for prayer on Tuesday evenings to petition the Lord for our needs. He thanked me for being on the program and said the board of the 700 Club has decided to give us $1 million. Wow! I'd never asked them for anything. We took it as God's confirmation to move forward with the negotiations, trusting God to supply the funding.

Under God's Umbrella
When you follow God's will, there's an umbrella over you. Under that umbrella are wisdom, insight and provisions, whatever you need. But you must follow the umbrella, it doesn't follow you. The Israelites found this out when they were led in the wilderness for 40 years. The cloud didn't follow them, they followed the cloud.

If you would've asked some of them as they settled around the tabernacle, "How long are you going to be camped here?" they'd reply, "We don't know. There's a pillar of fire by night and a cloud during the day. When it moves, we move, when it stays, we stay. We don't decide these things. We're God's people, so whenever it goes, we know we're going with God."

What happens when ministries take on projects, even good projects, that God hasn't directed them to do? Suddenly things turn sour. The finances dry up and now they have to go to hyped-up means, becoming manipulative and dishonest in their appeals. But when you're moving under God's umbrella, every need is supplied.

It's a simple submission, "Lord, I want to apprehend that for which I was apprehended."[7] Why did God apprehend my wife and me? We're an unlikely couple, doing an unlikely thing in "the hood." Why did God put us here? I'm constantly asking: "God, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to preach?"

Pastors who don't ask God what to preach — going with their simple expository plans they've mapped out for the next 18 months — miss those unique things the Holy Spirit wants to lead them to preach on. Perhaps he has a message that would cut off problems in the congregation before they happen. God knows what the devil is up to before he gets up to it. God can cause the pastor to cut the problem off at the pass with the right message, if the pastor is willing to be led by the Holy Spirit.

If Paul had to be led by the Holy Spirit, and was forbidden to do certain good things, then this definitely applies to us. So let us inquire of the Lord!

This article has been adapted from Jim Cymbala's opening keynote address at CMA Colorado Springs 2003 and published with his permission. This article reprinted with permission from the Engstrom Institute; © 2009 Christian Leadership Alliance - 800.727.4CLA. Visit CLA's website to see what they offer your organization to help build leaders and enhance organizational effectiveness!

Jim Cymbala is pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York City and author of several best-selling books, including Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. You may contact him at jcymbala@brooklyntabernacle.org.

[1] 1 Samuel 23:1-2, 5
[2] Romans 12:2 NLT
[3] Acts 16:6-10
[4] John 8:26, 12:49-50
[5] Hebrews 10:7
[6] Acts 15:28
[7] Philippians 3:12