The PASSION Blog

Every day we make decisions. Some we just do naturally without thinking too much about and others we seem to struggle with. Some we even mull over for months at a time.

I have been in the process of making a particular decision for more than a year - 15 months to be precise! At times I have thought the decision was made and I was ready to move ahead. Then I realised a week or two later that it wasn’t really “decided” on at all. There were still issues to work through and think about before the final final final decision was made.

Normally I would consider myself a good decision maker. I generally pray about the decision, discuss it with my wife and those around me I trust, and I look at all the options available. Before long the answer usually “finds” me.

This time it was different. I suspect the decision was more about God’s timing, rather than just thinking and praying the issue through. The answer didn’t just “find” me, it found me at God’s time! As a result of this I now have His peace and I am ready to move forward.

A couple of Bible verses come to mind right now that I find are helpful when making decisions…

Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 16:9 - In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

I guess in the midst of this decision making process I have been reminded of a few things

• To look to God and trust Him with your life and future;
• Do your best not to try and work it all out yourself; and
• Patiently wait for His guidance.

I hope this helps you if your are in the process of making changes or big life decisions.

Trust and security are words that fit together well I think. We can trust in something and that trust can bring us a sense of security.

As I thought about this the other day I reflected on the things I put my trust in. As a committed Christian the obvious one was God. However, I came up with a few others like my job and the income it brings and the assets I own including my home and possessions.

Having assets like my home and my income allow me to trust that the future will be pretty good. It brings me a sense of security.

Some questions arose though. How much trust do I put in my possessions? Is it the right amount or do I put too much trust that my assets will see me through? What happens if they were all lost in a fire? What happens if I lost my job? What happens if God asked me to give up all I own and follow Him?

After some thought I realised it is great to have assets and income, but it should never replace trust and security in God and they should never hold me back from doing what God calls me to do. After all my job and assets could be lost in the twinkling of an eye, but my faith and trust in God is eternal.

How about you? Where is your trust placed? What gives you a sense of security? What would happen if you lost you income or possessions? How would you feel? Where would you turn?

My Pastor shared an interesting point from Daniel chapter 10 this morning. This passage talks about Daniel committing himself to the Lord and undertaking a time of prayer and fasting (abstaining from certain foods) for a period of three weeks.

The passage tells us that after the fast Daniel had a vision of a man dressed in fine linen. The Bible doesn’t specifically say who it was, but many Bible commentators agree that it was Jesus Himself.

In verse 12 we read, “Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer”.

The interesting point that while it was a time before the answer came, the first part of the verse tells us that as soon as Daniel prayed, God heard his prayer.

I think this is a very interesting thing to remember with prayer. Many times we pray and nothing seems to happen. Heaven seems silent towards us. But rest assured this verse tells us that our prayers are always heard.

If you have been holding on to prayer and trusting God with something for a long time, I would encourage you to keep going. Like Daniel is this passage, God has heard your prayer and in time your answer will come.

While I was reading through my Bible the other day and I came across the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl from Matthew chapter 14 versus 44-46.“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it”.

As I read through this passage it really spoke to me. The thing that really stood out was that both people mentioned in the parable realised just how important the treasure was. They both were prepared to sell everything they owned to obtain the “treasure”. It was just so important to them that everything else grew dim in their eyes.

This made me think about how important God’s Kingdom is to me. Am I like the people mentioned? Do I really recognise the true value of the Kingdom? Am I prepared to give up everything to obtain it? Because of God’s Kingdom, has everything else grown dimmer in my eyes?

I am going to spend some time pondering what the Kingdom means to me over the next few days. Perhaps you could too…

Each year I try to have a Bible verse for the year which really speaks to me and I also try to have a theme or a phrase that reflects where I am at. My theme for this year is “just live it”.