Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You. You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Psalm 16:1, 11 NASB)
Christians should make decisions based on this premise: God has a plan for our lives, and He is involved and interested in every single decision that we make. Therefore, when we make decisions, we come to our heavenly Father for guidance, knowing He always has our best interest at heart.
But sometimes we reason, This is what I want to do. If it is not God's will, then He will stop me. However, the Lord will not necessarily prevent us from doing what is not His will. He won't always come to our rescue, especially if we have not sought His help.
We make decisions every day of our lives, and to make wise ones, we have to learn the will of the Father. God has promised, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you" (Psalm 32:8).
Our loving Father provides guidance by giving every believer a pilot—the Holy Spirit—on board his or her life. In John 14–16, the Lord Jesus comforted His disciples as He prepared them for the time when He would not be with them physically. He promised that His Spirit would be their helper, teacher, and guide. In a similar way, the Spirit of God will guide us through the treacherous seas of decision-making.
Godly people want to do the will of their heavenly Father. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit living in you to guide and help with your decisions. Are you paying attention to His instructions?
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Charles Frazier Stanley was born September 25, 1932, in the small town of Dry Fork, Virginia. The only child of Charley and Rebecca Stanley, Charles came into the world during a time when the entire nation felt the grip of the Great Depression. To make matters worse, just nine months later, his father Charley died at the young age of 29.
However, Charles refused to let the Great Depression or the difficulties of his life define him. Instead, like his father and grandfather before him, he clung to God’s Word and took up the mantle to preach the gospel to whoever would listen.
Dr. Stanley’s motivation is best represented by the truth found in Acts 20:24, “Life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God's mighty kindness and love.” This is because, as he says, “It is the Word of God and the work of God that changes people’s lives.”
Dr. Stanley’s teachings can be heard weekly at First Baptist Church Atlanta, daily on “In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley” radio and television broadcasts on more than 2,800 stations around the world, on the Internet at intouch.org, through the In Touch Messenger, and in the monthly, award-winning In Touch magazine.