Making Decisions by Hearing God

As my walk with the Lord has grown, I have learned it is far easier to listen and obey than to try and figure out all God has planned for me and those around me.

We are at the second stop of Motormania TV’s Northern Lights Tour 2014, 7 races in 7 weeks over 7900 miles. As we rolled out of base 10 days ago, I wasn’t sure how the Lord would handle all of our financial needs. Yes, the money was in accounts receivable, but not in the bank. Yet I knew in my heart the Lord would make it all work, just not sure how. Much to our surprise, a customer paid his invoice 2 weeks early which helped meet our needs.

Some would consider my attitude irresponsible. I’m not sure how following the Lord in faith, waiting to hear His voice and using the skills He has given me can be anything but responsible. Yes, I am a planner, always have been. However, I no longer worry about the financial end of His plan, I work on the details of how to execute what He wants me to do.

Life happens while we are making plans. It certainly makes sense to count the cost, but to fret over who, what, where or when seems silly to me. Trusting Him has become my norm. I am finding prosperity is the fruit of a disciplined life. The Lord tells us in Dueteronomy 5:33 ‘Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.’

Blessings

Making Decisions by Hearing God
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

God speaks to his children in many varied ways. God has said that his ways are not our ways. If left to our reasoning, we will fail to fully walk in the full counsel of God, which leads to poor decisions.

Thus, our goal is to avoid being deceived and to develop a listening ear that hears the voice of God with confidence. Our goal is to have such intimacy with God that we can walk in the full blessing of our decisions and to be assured they are not based on our own reasoning alone. This does not mean that we do not use the intellectual and logical skills that He has equipped us with.

A.W. Tozer said that the man or woman who is wholly and joyously surrendered to Christ can’t make a wrong choice – any choice will be the right one. J. Oswald Sanders explains his method of receiving guidance from God for decisions; “I try to gather all the information and all the facts that are involved in a decision, and then weigh them up and pray over them in the Lord’s presence, and trust the Holy Spirit to sway my mind in the direction of God’s will. And God generally guides by presenting reasons to my mind for acting in a certain way.”

The apostle Paul said, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13). God has equipped us with everything we need to make good decisions. Hearing His voice is the first step toward making right choices in life.

Do you have a decision to make? Submit that decision to the Lord, ask God for clarity. Ask Him to make the desires of your heart the same desires that He has for you in this matter. Await His perfect timing on the matter. Then you can be assured of making the right decisions.