Choices, choices, choices...

From big to small we make choices every day. What we fail to realize is that a lot of times choices determine the outcome of our day and sometimes events that will occur at a later date. We can choose what to eat, when to wake up, what to wear, what job to do, how many kids to have, who we marry and list goes on and on. Stop for a moment and reflect on the choices that you made today……

Now, have you ever considered the “bigger” things that are also choices? For example, it’s a choice to respond to someone out of anger, it’s a choice to love (love is a choice, not a feeling you can fall into or out of), it’s a choice to respect someone, it’s a choice to get offended and YOU choose where you will spend eternity….

Having a relationship with God is probably the biggest choice, and the biggest and most important choice that you will ever make. Here is the great thing about having a relationship with God, when you go to Him about choices that you need to make, He will never lead you down the wrong path. A side note, if God gives you an answer to a choice that doesn’t “feel good,” that doesn’t make it the wrong choice. It’s the truth that will set you free (John 8:32), not what feels good.

So, let’s say that you are new to the whole prayer thing, or maybe you don’t pray at all. One of the most common questions I get is, “How do I know it’s the voice of God and not the voice in my head?” A very valid and a very good question. When a person seeks the answer to this question they genuinely want to hear the voice of God.  Ok, so my answer is this; it takes practice. His voice is not this booming sound from the sky that many are expecting, it’s a still small voice that comes from within you (1 Kings 19:11-12). The voice of God is gentle, not condemning. He’s not going to send a lightning bolt down from heaven to smite you. Although at times He will bring correction for a behavior or a CHOICE that you made but God never condemns, if you are hear the voice of condemnation, it’s not God (Romans 8:34)(John 8:10-11). And most of all, when you hear the voice of God, you will have peace (Phillipians 4:7).

Ok, now that we have established all of that I would like you to reflect again on choices that you have made without direction from God….how did it turn out for you? What decisions have you made with the counsel of God…how did those turn out?  

What would happen if we stop letting others make decisions for us and let God make them? What would your life look like? Since I have started to follow God (and yes, I still make mistakes and God brings correction), I am happy, I love my life, I am grateful, I am challenged daily, I have awesome friends, I have more fun now than I did when I was drinking excessively and partying….maybe because I can remember what I actually did the next day….my life is not boring at all. Just because I am a Christian does not make me weird or boring.

This blog is about growing and overcoming, so, I want to leave you with some challenges for the rest of the week:

1.       Every day this week pray for 5 minutes. Begin that prayer with thanking God for something. If it’s hard to find something to be grateful for just remember you are alive…that’s a gift. Do not spend that entire 5 minutes praying for yourself and the things you need, try praying for others…practice hearing the voice of God.

2.       If you are in the habit of making the same bad choice over and over, try CHOOSING not to. It may take biting your lip, it may take humility if you are a know-it-all, it may take not being around a group of people you are around when you make the same bad choice over and over.

3.       If you do “slip up” write it down and write down what you were feeling when you made the wrong choice. If you made the “right choice” write that down too and how you felt when you did.

4.       Try looking up the scriptures that I used in this blog and memorize one.

PS, If you aren’t sure or confident about where you will spend eternity, send me a personal message and I can hook you up J I know this really great Guy who loves EVERYBODY and can get you to heaven.

  

“Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to “- John Maxwell

“The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up.”- John Maxwell