Good Decisions Or Bad Decisions

Much of our life is determined by the decisions we make.

The type of decisions we make are often based on the ones we have made in the past. If we make good decisions, it is easier to continue down that path of making good decisions. The same goes for bad ones.

If we are going down a path of making bad decisions, it seems to escalate and the results continue to get worse. With bad decisions, it is hard to change directions. If we want to reverse directions, we must be intentional. We need to start doing positive things on purpose. As we choose to make good decisions, it is also true that it will escalate but it will be in a positive directions. The results will continue to get better.

Once we get switched in the right direction, we must continue to train ourselves to choose correctly. If we have made bad decisions in the past and have chosen to get on the correct path, we still need to be on guard that we are not deceived into taking a wrong turn. If not recognized quickly, we can be headed in the wrong direction long enough that it will take more effort to get back. This can happen to any of us no matter what path we have been on in the past so we all need to stay aware of where our decisions are leading.

Our brain needs to be trained and it will usually follow the same path whether good or bad. It is our choice which direction we want our life to be heading. The longer we are on a certain path, the harder it is to change. If we follow a bad decision path, it will take great effort to get switched to the good path. That switch can be painful at times depending on where our bad decisions have taken us. If we follow a good decision path, it will get easier the longer we are on it but we have to continue to be watchful. Most importantly to be aware that we have the ability to fail at any moment. We will never be above making a wrong choice. Keeping God at the center of our life will increase our chances of making good decisions.

God gives us the choice. We will benefit by asking for His help in making our choices.

God Can Get You Through “It”

I went to a Gordon Mote concert. As Gordon took us through a series of songs, it occurred to me how God had a plan in my life that I could have never understood as I began to walk with God. In my late teens, maybe early 20’s, our pianist at our church chose a song for me to sing. It was Through It All. That song resonated with me because it is not easy to be a teen or a young person and not have some struggles. I was thankful at that time for the struggles that God brought me through for I knew I would not be the person I was becoming without the struggles that God allowed.  I believe those struggles may be greater today for teens, but I don’t know some say it is the same but it probably depends on our perspective and our experience. That is a long time back to remember but I believe I knew then that no matter what I would face, God would be there to get me through it.

Through It All

As Gordon Mote finished that song, he said he didn’t know what the “it” was in everyone’s life but we all have an “it” that God can bring us through. Some of you know what my “it” is during this season of my life and I would have never expected to be where I am today. Gordon went on later to sing Something Beautiful. We had just sang that song in church the Sunday before and I was thinking how it says that God brings beauty when we bring him our confusion, our brokenness and strife. I think of the confusion we bring to Him when we come to Him for salvation. In the midst of my current confusion, I believe that God can bring beauty from any confusion that we go through while we walk with Him. When I mention confusion, I don’t mean the kind satan throws at us but the confusion of now knowing God’s plan in the situation and what outcome He is striving for or how long it is going to take.

Something Beautiful

 I am not sorry for my struggles that God is allowing because I know that I am stronger because of them. One thing I believe I am doing is making Satan sorry for even trying to mess with me and someone that I love. I don’t plan on stopping that mission. I am waiting for the beauty that will come from the confusion that I am currently going through with my “it”. God is good in the midst of  anything that comes our way that we may be confused about. We don’t always know what God is doing but we can know that it will be right because God is always right.

Something Good Is About To Happen

Humble yourselves and pray looking to heaven expecting Him to work in your situation.

Praise Him in all things no matter what your current situation. He will get you through it.

I believe the longer and the closer you walk with Christ, the more you will see the fingerprints He has made in your life before you even realized how much He was there with you, even before you were walking with Him. Once you begin walking with Him, you will realize He was there all the time. You will begin to see those fingerprints that you didn’t notice at the time and they will mean more to you than they would have then.

Trust God

5Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

6in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3 (NIV)

 

We need to trust in the Lord with what is going on in our life all the time. It isn’t always about trusting God to do what we ask but to trust Him to do what is right because that will accomplish the most.

 

Our view of the situation may not be what is best for all that are involved. If we would get our answer the way we wanted, we could be selling ourselves short or selling others short. God may have better plans for us so let’s trust in the Lord to the point of trusting Him to work out the details and bring about the right outcome.

 

Why would we want to believe what we understand of the situation when God has so much more understanding of what is going on and what the future holds. Let’s lean on what He knows.

 

Let our ways be His and let Him lead us down the path He has planned. Ask Him to let us know when we are straying off that path that He has planned for us. It is the path that will give us the most we can get out of life. When we wander from the path we miss the blessings that were planned for that time.

Do You Want Control Of Your Life?

It is amazing how many people won’t make a commitment to God because they don’t want anyone telling them what to do. They want to have control over their own life. They even think those that are walking with God need a crutch. They are afraid they would lose control if they asked God into their life. This is so ironic because if you look around, you see people controlled by all sorts of internal and external “stuff”. A few that come to mind are substance abuse, activities, people, emotions.

When we consider substance abuse, we see  people that can’t function with whatever substance they have allowed to have control. There is alcohol, drugs, and tobacco. It is hard to imagine what kind of life this must be for them. They are missing the whole purpose and joy in life. They can’t function without it and they don’t function very well with it. Of course, they don’t see that. For some reason, they can’t see beyond themselves. They think what they do doesn’t affect those around them but while they are destroying themselves, they are hurting and sometimes destroying the very ones they should be loving.

We allow ourselves to sit in front of the TV, the computer, the games system, on our phone and listen and look at stuff that is doing us harm. We say it doesn’t affect us. I bet if we made a change, we would recognize the difference. The lives portrayed on TV is not reality. Most of what is viewed cannot benefit our life. The time we waste doing unproductive activities will do us no good. We use the excuse that we need to relax or escape for a time from the stresses of life. We need to take a good look at how much time is really needed for this and what type of material is being fed into our brains in order to escape.

Pornography has been noted for being more addictive than drugs and alcohol. The pornography that people allow into their life does so much more that people even realize. Marriage and homes are being broken and they can’t even see the cause. At its extreme, it will destroy one’s sex life when they believed it at one time was enhancing it. This is typical of Satan to entangle you in a lie. He invites you into something that you believe will help and then entangles you to where you see no way out and then it begins to destroy you.

We would probably not want to admit that other people control us. But how often do we explain our actions by telling someone what they did to us? How often do we allow what someone else did or said ruin our day or our mood? Why do we let individuals have that much power in our life?

This takes us to emotions. Some of our emotions come from the fact that we allow people to determine how we feel. We get into a state of mind and we don’t know how to change it. We turn to doctors and medication or just choose to wallow in the moment. We can choose to change how we feel.

We have a God that can overcome all of this for us. Yea, He wants control but who better to give it to? It is the only control that will bring us anything positive. If we need a crutch, God is willing to be that crutch. He is the only one that can hold us up during our healing and the only one that can bring complete healing. We are talking about a God that created the universe, the God that brought us into existence, the God that created us for a purpose. Where else can we get the most satisfaction?

This brings about another ironic point. When we give God complete control, that is when we really begin to feel like we actually have control of our life. Life becomes doable. We gain a joy that we never knew, a sense of being able to accomplish something, a purpose. We can now have a dream, a hope, a future. We now have something to feel good about. We will have more than we have ever hoped for or imagined could be possible.

For more reading, look at Addictions and Effects of Pornography

Which comes first the chicken or the egg? sin or bondage?

God gave us the Ten Commandments to keep us from bondage not to enslave us.

Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:1-21

“The Ten Commandments represent an ancient boundary stone” and they are not to be moved around to fit our lifestyle.

Proverbs 22:28

“Those who live beyond the boundaries will not only return to bondage, they will leave a well-trodden path for generations to follow in their footsteps.” “All bondage begins with sin.” “All bondage promotes sin.” Which comes first? The sin or the bondage? “The tie between generational bondage and generational sin is” an ongoing cycle. It begins when someone moves the stone and begins living by their “own set of rules.” It will only stop when “someone has enough courage to move back to the ancient boundary stone God ordained.”

Exodus 20:5-6

Taken from Beth Moore’s Bible Study Breaking Free