Making Decisions God’s Way: A Biblical Approach to Choosing What’s Best | Ep 06

Hey, friend, welcome to A New Creation Podcast where we're pointing women towards victory in Christ, one Jesus story at a time. My name is Jemese LaChel. I'm your host. Go ahead and get yourself comfortable and let's dive right in to today's episode. Have you ever felt like you had to make a decision about something and if you made the wrong one, you felt like you were going to screw things up completely? Have you ever had fear of making the wrong choice?

My goal is to equip you and give you the information needed so that, by the end of this episode, you will know how to move forward and make those tough decisions God's way. And if you're listening to this podcast, that's what you're interested in as well.

Let's get right to it, but you know me, you know I love to pray before we begin, so let's do that first.

Dear Heavenly Father, we just want to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you for your presence. Your word says where two are more are gathered in your name there you surely are, and we just want to acknowledge your presence and thank you. Lord, I ask ask your Holy Spirit to be with and upon and all around the listener. Help the listener to hear Your Voice, Lord God, and help me to give exactly the information which you would have me to give in Jesus name. Amen.

So we're talking about decisions, decisions, decisions, decisions. And isn't life full of them? Whether it's as little as what am I going to eat at lunch today, or serious as is this opportunity, the Lord, the one that you want me to take? Maybe there's a lot of money involved, money that could be lost if you make the quote unquote, wrong choice.

We come to know at a certain point there's a way to make a decision, there's a way to make the right choice, and some of us have unfortunately had to learn that the hard way.

People talk about they wish that life came with a manual. Can you relate to ever feeling that way? And I didn't realize we're the longest time, like, there is a book and it's the Holy Bible. Most of us have access to one, even if it's collecting does the truth is that everything that you need to know about life, about wisdom, about choices, can be found in the Bible. One thing that might be beneficial if you are struggling with decision making, you don't know what to do, go to the proverbs, open up your Bible.

I personally find that when I have a physical Bible it seems as like, I don't know that, just having that tangible object, it's just like a little bit more impactful for me. So, if you have a physical Bible, go pick up your Bible, read the proverbs. Pray before you read. Ask The Lord to show you himself, to show you Jesus through the Scriptures and to give you wisdom.

Because the scriptures tell us that the Lord will give us wisdom. All we need to do is ask. Proverbs 2:6 for the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. So so it's not a matter of pride and arrogance, but rather it's being humble enough to recognize that when we have a choice to make, eventually you come to understand that all of those choices, all those decisions, need to be made through the lens of what is God's will for me? What does God want? What does God want will? He wants you to follow his Son; to believe his Son. He wants you to put on Jesus as your garment. He wants you to walk in the Lord.

Many of us have the experience of I know this in my head, but how do I walk that out in my life? Well, we walk that out one step at a time. We walk it out through these experiences or situations or opportunities that come our way and we're faced with making big decisions. It's just another opportunity for you to press into the Lord, to press into God's will, and ultimately you'll find that it does grow your relationship with him.

So, as you're walking with God, as you're walking out this faith walk and making these decisions that come your way, because we all have them decisions to make, we use would to make sure we're doing it God's way. Why? Because we know we'll get the best outcome and we know that his ways are best. We know that his ways are higher. But what do you do? I mean we all know that feeling when it's like I've just Grad Up, don't know what to do about this God, I have questions. What do I do here?

Well, it's important to remember that we all have questions in life. You know, that's natural. Sometimes society will try to make a person to feel like it is wrong not to have all of the answers, when in fact it is the most humble thing in the world to be able to say I just don't know. I don't know what to do here. It is better to admit that you don't know then to act like you do and end up in a world of hurt, because sometimes what happens is that sneaky little idol of pride it comes in, it keeps you separate from God. God does not like pride. He comes against a pride all throughout the scriptures, so you'll hear. And why? It's because a proud heart, a haughty heart, feels like they don't have a place where God like they don't need God, and he knows that that is detrimental to our spirit, our soul, our body when we are operating and pride. It's not that God wants us to feel like some lowly worm.

Conversely, he also doesn't want us to feel like we are a God our self. Rather, he wants us to be walking rooted and grounded in his love, just centered in him. But it comes back to that saying question right regardless. We want to know.

How do you know you've made the right decision? Do you know it's the right one because it's the choice that feels best. Do you know what? It's the right choice because it gives you the outcome that you want. I mean really, how do you know you've made the right decision?

Liberty in Christ

In God's kingdom we have a lot of liberty. I've been doing this Bible Study on book of Galatians and just chewing on that, just moving through that book very slowly, and in the book of Galatians it talks a lot about our liberty and when Apostle Paul is speaking to them, the Galatians, of those people at the time, it's like they have God gone backwards. They had gone backwards into living out a life trying to do works, trying to do the law which Jesus came to free us from. He came to fulfill the law. Galatians chapter five says, stand fast, therefore, in the Liberty by which Christ has made as free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Apostle Paul right there is speaking about that bondage of thinking, the error in thinking.

I love this conversation on liberty because it's not a topic that we discussed very much. What does liberty look like as a Christian and how does that affect the way that we make decisions? The liberty that God gives us is an outpouring of his love for us. It's a freedom right? I think about liberty, I also think about freedom, especially as an American, you know, but as a Christian, that liberty, it doesn't allot us the opportunity to operate in our flesh or, to said, it's not giving us freedom to go out there and like go backwards into the things that God saved us from, our into the things that we had to pray our way out of. Rather, the liberty that we have in Jesus looks like freedom. It sounds like chains breaking off. It feels like choosing to make the right choices over the wrong ones, those choices that cause us to look less like the world and more like Jesus. That's what the liberty that we're walking in today looks like.

So I want you to imagine our think of a big decision that you have before you and maybe, as we're listening to this conversation, like I'm in this with you, Holy Spirit is just run of this thing and I'm just speaking. And what he's telling me to say, okay, think about this decision that you have to make and let's hope and pray that by the time we're done with this episode, you'll have a little bit more clarity and how to think that choice the Lord's way. When we apply decisionmaking, I think the inclination often is to make it from our flesh, and so it's important to go back to liberty. And what does that mean? Because in the book of Galatians it speaks about we don't want to be operating from our flesh.

Okay, it is our flesh that will tell us that we have the flesh goes against the spirit, is contrary to the spirit. The flesh doesn't want what the spirit wants. The spirit does not want what the flesh wants. Okay, it's just the way things are in this fallen world. But in Jesus our flesh is dead, crucified, okay, and so our flesh does not get to run the show anymore.

It is the Holy Spirit, and our spirit, which is yoked to the Lord. Okay, that gets to run the show. And so we need to know some of these biblical truths so that when it comes time to make those hard decisions. We are not inclined to do it as a natural person, when natural meaning like the natural man or the natural woman, you know, one who doesn't have the spirit or spiritual understanding as we have now as believers, with Holy Spirit living on the inside of us. We don't want to be operating from our flesh. We want to be operating from the spirit that God gave us, and it as we do that you come to understand that when it comes to decision making, you never have to do that by yourself.

You have a Helper

There is not a single time when you're going to have to make a decision and God's going to leave the room. And, just like I hope she does, I hope she makes the right show. It's not like he's behind a blackout mirror watching you to see if you're going to fail. No, God is with you. This is such a blessing we have being in the new covenant. We know that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us. So you must remind yourself of these things and almost throw your spirit up to remember when you have a tough choice and it feels like Oh man, I'm like, Oh, I don't there's all this anxiety with it. That's an indication to pause, because God doesn't come with anxiety. That's not of him. Okay, he doesn't come with this like pressure that feels like everything's gonna just break if you don't just make you don't that anxiety. You know what I'm talking about, that anxiety that makes you want to start sweat and bullets. That doesn't that's not the way that he will have to do anything.

Now, this doesn't mean that there may not be a time when you got to make a quick choice, like say you have a child who's in the hospital and they want to ask you if you need to if it's okay for you to do this prescedure or that procedure. Well, sometimes things are time limited and you do need to make a quick decision, and it couldn't it can feel in those moments like, Oh, I better get the right I better make the right choice or else.

But here is the thing, here's the gift, here's the wisdom and hope. Jesus is with you and those moments and everywhere that you go, there he is. Come on, everywhere that you go, he's right there with you. Come on, there's never a test that you're going to take that the spirit of the Lord isn't there with you. You call yourself a believer, a child of God. Come on, the Lord is with you. There's no where that you can go that you will not be with the Lord. And that being the case, all you have to do is say help, Lord. What do you want me to do? What should I do? Just ask him. Ask Him.

Take authority over the spirit of religion

I'm coming against today that spirit of religion operating in someone that is preventing them from going boldly to the Lord. When Jesus died and he gave us the right to go boldly to the throne of grace, that we can't receive mercy. Come on, that's your right. Your heavenly father wants to pour out wisdom upon you so that you can walk in his ways, so that you could make the right decisions according to his word. He wants the best for you. He wants you to know with a certainty. He doesn't he doesn't want to leave you dilly dowling like, Oh, I don't know what. He wants you to know with a certainty. Okay, so I'm coming against. I'm laughing. I'm coming against, right now, the name of Jesus, that Spirit Operating and somebody listening today that is trying to keep you locked down in bondage. I say no, you leave right now in the name of Jesus, because, guess what, sister, guess what, sister, you call yourself a believer. If you know the Lord, you are you want to know him. You accepted Jesus. Guess what, Girl, he's right there with you.

There's no twelve steps that you got to do first before you nail this opportunity to receive wisdom from the Lord. You and got to go through twelve steps to do that first. Come on now.

Okay, the very moment that you say yes to Jesus, guess what, you are in the family and every benefit that you have as a new covenant believer is yours. It's yours. So you have a right to ask the Lord. Now, here's the thing. Sometimes, as I continue to talk about and as I have talked about on other episodes the season, sometimes we sometimes don't know exactly what God is saying. Now that's something else, but I want you to hear me when I say this. You get you get to ask the Lord for Direction. That is what he wants.

When I was a baby Christian, I was just soaking in everything and I was very blessed that the Lord planted me with this woman. She was the evangelist and I got to meet over zoom for a group discipleship from time to time and it was just this beautiful thing and I got to see a lot of things. That was like training for me. And I remember hearing how this one gal she would always ask the Lord. She said that she would ask God. Should get up in the morning and ask God what should I go where today? Should go into her closet, and so should I wear the red shirt or the blue shirt?

Now here's the thing. There maybe a time in the beginning when we are first saved, depending on what our past looks like or whatever would maybe we we do need to rely on the Lord for that, but come on, like there comes a point when we grow up and we're not relying on the Lord for answering those kinds of questions. Not that we can't ask, because the word tells us to pray about everything. We just want to make sure that, as we are seeking the Lord for decision making, we're not actually doing some kind of maneuver to distract ourselves from leaning into making those greater choices that he would have for us. And as you walk with the Lord, he will move and you and guide you and he'll give you confidence. So put his confidence in you and on you so that you know that you don't have to be so afraid of making the wrong choice about what do you wear today. And I know I'm saying that for someone that's kind of an unusual example, but sometimes we can get that concern about our choice making, especially when you are one who has a pass. You know what God had saved you from and you desperately want to stay in the will of the father, so you will ask him about every little thing. Do I use this truth praise, briant, or that toothpaste, brandon? You know, it can seem really trivial, but just known that the Lord will lead you and guide you and give you the confidence so that you could make decisions his way and continue to operate according to his will and then step up a little bit higher. You know you don't have to ask him about those kinds of things anymore because you know how to operate, you have his wisdom operating in you and you can begin to focus on the higher level issues, such as your calling, your purpose, and how he wants you to move and, of course, remembering that we are under God's grace, grace meaning that we are free from having to meet work space demands to somehow earn God's favor. So don't be tempted to think that it's all on your shoulders regarding making right choices in life or your decision making. Of course we do have a part to play, but through God's grace, you have his own spirit with you now as a helper. If you can call yourself a believer in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit with you as a helper. Jesus already accomplished it all and his death, burial and resurrection. So live in the grace of God and let your choices and decisions flow out from there. So when we're making decisions in Christ, so you want to remember that we're making those decisions ask his set apart people. That means that we're going to respond differently. We're not going to make decisions based off of our feelings. Okay, someone can come up to you and tell you the most beautiful word, tell you the most beautiful thing, and it can just cause you to burst out into tears, because the power of the Lord is on you and it's like, Oh, it's so beautiful. That has happened to me more than once. But we have to learn that our emotions are not our litmus test. Okay, our emotions don't rule us. In Christ, our emotions really ought not to guide us. The Lord tells us in his word, as important as the heart is, like, the heart is very important to God. Why? Because out of the heart the mouth speaks and at the same time, like you know, the world will tell us, Oh, follow your heart. And you know, I used to be a new age. I guess you could call me an x new age during that whole world is all about follow your heart, follow your heart. Guess what? God has a lot to say about that. As you read the Bible, God has a lot to say about that. Jeremiah 17:9:

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

I like the new living translation. It says:

the human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

Come on. Why would that bible say that is the next logical question to ask right? why would that be? why would the Bible say this? Well, it's because, as a human being, our emotions change. God never changes. He's the same yesterday, today and forever, but us we change all the time.

So for that reason we cannot make our decisions based solely on our emotions. This Bible Verse Can Be Very Convicting and it can make a lot of people very angry and a matter of fact, when you share this with many practicing new agers or, come on now,  just people, even some people in the church, who have sort of swung into these kinds of loosey-goosey beliefs. They get mad.

Why? Because this world tells us to do everything based on our heart. We all want to feel like we're a good person, but in Jesus we know that any good that we have it's because of Jesus.

We put him on first, we accept him. The only way that I'm able to do good in the world that's because of Jesus. I ain't gonna go into no war stories about what life was like before Jesus. Most of us have a testimony of that, of what it looked like before we met Jesus and what life is like now that we're the new creation that he made us to be.

You know, I used to make a lot of decisions based on my heart and go with this person and go with that person and Oh, I think I'm in love with so and so, only to find that my heart lied.

So when we have to remember that, we're set apart. We're not here trying to make our decisions based on our heart. Okay, we want to heart that is posture towards God, that is postured towards the things of him, but we have to understand that we can't let our heart rule us the way that the world does. Rather, we let the Lord rule our hearts.

Don't let emotions rule you

It's important to acknowledge any kind of emotions you have about a thing and then just hold that up to the light of the word of God. You know, if you're super anxious about something, but guess what he says? Do not be anxious about anything, and so you just speak the word back to yourself. Keep pressing in and pressing it and pressing in so that you can hear the truth that God has for you. If you are so worried about making the wrong choice, just go before the Lord and tell him that. It's not a surprise to him. It's nothing that he can't handle. Tell him, Hey, I am feeling very stressed about this. Maybe you don't even know to call it stress. What a lot of times like that's what it is, that anxiety. It's stress about making the wrong choice.

You want to make the right choice. Go tell him that and then get out of the way and see what he does. You know, as believers, you need to remember that you have the mind of Christ. Come on, we have the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ, I have the mind of Christ. Say That, declare that again and again and again and again. You have the mind of Christ. So Christ's mind is not full of anxiety, it's not full of fears, not full of doubts. So as you're facing any decision that you need to make, just remember that. You know it'll be the enemy, or even our own self doubt sometimes, which will try to disqualify us or say that we don't have what it takes to make the right choices in life. Or maybe you even have someone speak over you in the past and say that you're just a deadbeat, you'll never amount to nothing. You ought to come against that lie right now, in the name of Jesus, come against that lie by holding it up to the word of God. And what does Jesus say about you? Well, the word of God says you have the mind of Christ, and the mind of Christ can make good decisions. Okay, you're someone who can make good decisions in the Lord. So I don't know what it is that is your reason for tuning into this podcast today, for wanting to learn more about decision making God's way, but you probably have a big choice to make. If not now, you will have what in the future? Maybe it's about business, maybe it's about what church do you go to? Maybe it's about X Y Z. Who knows? Right? But understand that the word of God, that Holy God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, has a lot to say about that.

You are capable in the Lord. You have a confidence in God that he will give you to make good decisions when all around you it looks like anxiety or it looks like if you're you know and Jesus, we just don't have to live that way. It doesn't mean that we stick our head in the sand or pretend like bad things aren't happening in the world. We know that the times are evil. We also know that the light is here in us as believers. And what is the light? The light is Jesus. And so while the world looks really dark right now, and it may look like darkness, it may look really scary, you have the lights, you have the light. The light is Jesus and the light will guide you. The light will guide you, Jesus will guide you and you can make good choices.

Remember that, as we're talking about making good decisions God's way. You can do that by simply remaining close to him. Don't ever get to the point where it feels like the world is on your shoulders, like you're having to do it at all alone. If it's begetting to feel that lay to you, something has gone amiss. You need to pause, step back, get quiet before God and say, Lord, here my for some of us that means that we're going to have to repent. Repent of moving far from him. Or Repent of listening to a lie, or repent of turning up the volume of the world to the point where it's tuned out that beautiful voice of the Lord saying, Honey, I'm here, I'm here, I want to help you. Will you give this to me?

You need relationship with him. And so I could really have some this whole conversation up was saying this much. Remain in him, be close with him, remain in him. He wants relationship with you and as you develop, as you live your life, the goal is to grow an intimacy with him. Remain in him. I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain and me, and I and you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. That's the words of Jesus, John 5:5:

Apart from him, you can do nothing. So understand that means that in him, when you're with him, when you're yoked to Jesus, you can do all things.

You know, a lot of times that scripture gets twisted into meaning, Oh, I can go do all this, that and the other, all kind of weird crazy stuff that you know goes completely against the Bible. That's not what that's saying. Means the lot of the new agers and new thought people will twist that scripture and say no, I can do all things. Well, that actually means is no matter what you're going through, you can be content in the Lord because you know that he's going to provide. You know that he will provide you with peace. He will provide you with contentment to endure, to be strengthened and whatever decision that you got to face, whatever circumstance that you're going through. Have intimacy with the Lord. He wants that you literally get to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I say personal because he will go back for you, the one.

You may have that testimony that he came back for you. He didn't leave you lost and stranded, isolated orphaned. No, he saw you, he came for you. He loves you. If you're in Jesus and you're staying very close to him the best way that you know how, he's not going to let you stumble. He's the one who's able to keep you from stumbling. And if you don't know what it looks like to stay close to Jesus and you're looking forwards tangible solution, pick up your Bible and read it. Just pick up your Bible and start reading. Maybe you start in the Gospels and get to hear the beautiful story of Jesus, but pray, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to you his truth. And I promise that if you push the past any initial resistance or that feeling like, Oh, reading makes me want to fall asleep. Some of us have that issue, because the whole nother topic in and of itself. Push through, push past, seek to encounter the love of Jesus. Seek Jesus, seek his face. Read your word or maybe pick up your phone and download the Bible App read the Bible, go on Youtube, let the Bible play the audiobook version. I promise you that there's going to be beautiful fruit from that alone.

You're going to find that you grow and relationship with God. You'll come to know his voice, you'll come to know his nature, you'll begin to trust him more, you'll begin to lay down in your defenses, you'll begin to be led by the spirit. Choose Jesus every day, and that's the best decision that you could ever make. He'll leave you and guide you and he'll help you to make right choices. Stay close to him, abide in him and trust him.

Know His Voice

I'd like to in this conversation with this final point. Some of us do have a big decision, presented to us and we have to make that decision pretty quickly, right? Someone maybe has told you that you have twenty four hours or this amount of time, and you better make the right choice. As you grow in the knowledge of God, as you grow in your relationship with the Lord and the knowledge of Your Bible, you begin to understand God's character, how he speaks. You can hear his voice and you will use that to guide your decision making process.

So if that decision is coming in with a lot of manipulation, well you can know that that's not from God, because he doesn't manipulate us. He's good and he only does a good just stay close to the father, come with us, sincere and a humble heart before him. Let him know that you want to make the right choice, because, guess what, he wants to help you make the right choices in life, and he doesn't necessarily want us acting independently of him. He wants us to be making our choices with the awareness that he's there with us. Follow Jesus, stay close to the Holy Spirit and you will be guide it to make great decisions, good decisions, again and again and again.

The most important decision that you will ever make, that any of us can ever make, is the decision to follow Jesus. If you have never accepted Jesus, as Lord and Savior. This is your opportunity to do that right now. You don't have to wait until Sunday or whenever you're at a church. Jesus will meet you right where you're at, right at this very moment. If you're someone who just wants to renew your faith, you feel like things have gotten stale or you feel far from him, just say this prayer after me. Lord Jesus, I confess to you that I am a sinner and I need a savior. I am tired of doing life my way. I am ready to do everything your way. You are the Lord. I invite you right now to be the Lord of my life in every single way. Lead me and guide me. I need your help today. Thank you, and if you just said that prayer for the first time, welcome to the family.

Outro

That's another episode of a new creation podcast down in the books. As always, I ask you to please share this episode with someone that you feel it could be a blessing to you. Don't forget to go and rate and review this podcast wherever it is that you're listening. That really helps push this content out towards those who need to hear it. And until next time, may the blessings and grace of the Lord Jesus himself be with you now and forever. Amen.