Decisions are often difficult to make, but good decisions make all the difference in the world.
Having made my share of bad decisions, I have learned over the years to take a little more time and seek God’s direction for my life. I have also learned to ask questions to help me make good decisions.
The following are some of the questions I find helpful.
First, I want to know what Scripture says. Many questions are answered by Scripture. God’s Word is a light and a lamp as we attempt to walk down uncertain paths.
Second, I want to know if this will be pleasing to God. Sometimes it is difficult to know right from wrong and pleasing from displeasing. On these occasions I ask the question: “if I follow this path, can You be pleased?” Then, I seek to hear from God about the decision.
Third, I want to know how this will affect my walk with God. Will it make me closer to God or will it drive me away from God? If I take this course of action, will I be more effective in service for God or will it hinder my ministry?
Fourth, I want to know how this will affect my family. Will it draw us closer or drive a wedge? Will I be a better husband, father, and grandfather? God asks us to love Him above all others, but I find putting God first makes me a better leader for my family.
Fifth, I want to know what my stomach tells me. Sometimes, I simply know when things are not right. Those are times to turn away and find something with which God can be pleased.
When we seek God completely and follow His way, He will give us guidance for all of life. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3: 5-6).
What kind of questions do you find helpful? Please leave a comment.
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6 Responses
These are great questions and steps to follow God and I could not think of another question I would want to ask. I would like to know how you find scripture that relates to specific questions (trials) in life? Some are very easy to find and are relative scriptures to guide you and then others can be difficult.
😉 I ask the same questions.
Thank you for posting these questions. These are definitely the thinga we all need to ask about decisions everyday. I have reallly been enjoying receiving your blog each day and have passed some on to several friends.
Great questions, One I’m learning to ask (which could be an extension of these already posed) is “Will adding this to my agenda make my schedule stressed?” I’m reading back through Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life”, and he states that we each have just enough time to handle God’s priorities. However, I sometimes take on a task based on reasoning that doesn’t pass muster with God: that it would bless me (I’d enjoy it), or I know I’d do a great job of the project, or I hate to let somebody down by saying “no”, or because something obviously needs doing and nobody else will accept the responsibility. During such times, I find myself stressed with too much on my plate – things that may be well and good in themselves, but aren’t God-ordained for my current situation and my life as a whole.
I ask myself: if my best friend were struggling with this same decision, what advice would I share with her?