How Do I Make Decisions?

All of us have decisions to make. They might be minor decisions. Decisions like, “What do I want to eat tonight?” (I’m gonna make this real easy for you. Tacos. You want tacos. We all want tacos. Okay…maybe I just want tacos. Well, that’s one decision taken care of.)

But, as much as I hate to admit it, tacos are not the answer to every question. Some of us are making really hard decisions. We’re making decisions about our future and our family. That’s scary stuff. Those decisions affect other people, they can keep us up at night. So what do we do?

If you’re a believer in Jesus, the answer is, we invite Jesus into the decision-making process. The Bible calls this “discernment,” and it’s a gift of the Holy Spirit. When we invite God into our decisions, we are giving him permission to work in our lives. Our God is not a distant God. He doesn’t sit back and just wait for us to figure it out. Our God is involved and interested in the decisions of our lives (even the minor ones!). God isn’t hiding from us. He wants to share his will with us. 

Many of us have heard the famous Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the thoughts I think toward you,” says the Lord, “thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope.” But the Lord didn’t stop there, when telling Israel about himself.

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me,
And I will answer you.
And you will seek Me and find Me
When you search for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:12-13

The Lord wants us to seek him with our whole heart, to really desire his best for us.

But sometimes it’s hard to hear God’s voice. How do we know when it’s him speaking, and when it’s our own mind? In my life decisions, I always go back to these three: The Word of God, Prayer, and Wise Counsel.

If we want to live lives that please, God we need to be in his Word. As we read, the Spirit of God is able to speak to us on a whole new level. He teaches us the priorities of his kingdom that help us to be more like him.

Then we pray. Now the Lord always hears us, but prayer isn’t just a scattered request. Prayer is a way of life. Prayer is a refocusing of our attention on the King of Kings. That’s what it means to seek him with our whole heart. We pray. We pray whenever we think about it. We talk to him about the decisions ahead, major, minor, doesn’t matter. That’s what it means to be in relationship with Jesus.

Finally, when I’m faced with a decision, I seek wise counsel. I ask the good Godly people in my life to pray with me and for me, and I ask for their advice.

Whatever decision you are facing, know that the Lord wants to share his good thoughts with you. So seek him with your whole heart. Read his word, talk to him, and talk to his people. Oh, and comment below so we can pray for your decisions!