Transcription
Well, today I wanted to actually take a little bit of a, a little breather, a little break from our series, uh, "Sabbath Rest in an Age of Restlessness." And I wanted to take a break from that because, um, there's something that's been heavy on my heart and, uh, actually something that, looking back on and reflecting upon in my life, has been a source of a lot of anxiety and a lot of even despair and frustration. And I thought it was timely for us as a community, and maybe timely for some of you guys also, to explore this kind of challenge or this kind of idea.
Um, and I wanted to talk to you today, namely, about the importance of making decisions. The importance of making decisions, especially life decisions, important life decisions. Or maybe you're at a crossroads in your life, or maybe you're at a crossroads in a community, or maybe you're at a crossroads in your family or relationships. And maybe you are faced with some challenging decisions and choices that you are confronted with that you have to make.
And, um, as a church community, we have some choices that we have to make, um, and that impact not only, um, our our community but also the greater community of Portland and so on. And so we have to make some decisions about, uh, how we're going to navigate those challenges. And so I thought it would be appropriate to be able to highlight what does the Bible say about how we go about making decisions as believers? How do we go about finding the right will, the right way, and the, the, the, the word of God for the direction of our lives? How do we hear God's voice in such a way that we can know that actually the decisions that we're making are, are God-inspired, that they're God-led?
How many of you here have been into situations where you, you were at a crossroads and, and you were struggling with knowing the direction in which you should go? I think most of us, right? If we're, if we're being completely honest, there's, there's never a moment or there's never, uh, a season in life where we're not confronted with making major, some major decisions. Um, and so I want to talk a little bit about this and how the complexity and, and importance of navigating these decisions in our lives.
And, and ultimately, this is, this is very important to know that we aren't our own. That ultimately, our decisions, our choices, and the direction of our lives needs to align with the will, purpose, and guidance of God. God. And ultimately, this, the, the believer is governed by what the spirit of God. That we were purchased and bought with a price. And, and so if we truly believe that, if we truly believe that we were bought with a price and that ultimately our decisions, we don't own our decisions, we, we, they're not simply for us and for our advantage or for our benefit, but that often times as believers, we're called to make decisions that are self-sacrificial, that are actually self-emptying, that are actually laying our lives down for the benefit of others around us.
As believers, our decision-making and our decision-making processes look a lot different than the decision-making processes of the world. That we are called to live altruistically, to live neighborly, as JoJo said, to live in a way that honors God and honors people and honors his will for our lives as well. And so there's many different factors, and sometimes it can be confusing to know, well, what honors God in this decision? Or what honors, uh, community? Or what honors people? Or what honors me as being, uh, uh, made in the image of God? What things, and how, how do we bring these things together and, and decide and to make our choices in life in such a way that kind of brings these things all together in culmination?
And so there's a complexity, but there's a desire to align our choices with God's will and purpose for our lives. And one of the things, early on in, in, in, in my, when I first came to faith, probably the first three, five years, one of the biggest struggles that I was faced with was indecision paralysis. How many of you have had indecision paralysis before? Yes. So that was me. I had major indecision paralysis. And what I realized was this, making tough decisions wasn't the problem for me. What was the problem for me was holding on for a prolonged period of time in a, in a, in a state of indecision.
In other words, like, if I told you, if I told Hannah to come up here and hold this book out, or maybe I wish I brought a bigger book. I was going to bring one of those big encyclopedic textbooks for someone to hold up, but I was like, no, that's too cruel. But if you do that, oh, Hannah's got, Hannah's got the, the, the big version, the study Bible. If you do that, you, anyone says, oh, holding a book up, that's not hard. Extended. Anyone can do that, right? Sure. Well, you try doing that for an hour. See how that goes. You try doing that for two hours, three hours. You try doing that. Just, I mean, I can't even do that for an hour, right? The longer you hold the weight of something, right? It's not in the moment that it's hard. In the moment, it's easy. Anyone can bear that. But the longer, the prolonged weight of that, right, over a period of time, that's when it becomes heavy. That's when it becomes truly burdensome. That's when it becomes difficult.
And the same is in life with our decision-making. The longer we hold on in, in a state of indecision, we, we hold the weight and we're, we're, we're, we're crippled by paralysis, decision paralysis, and we're not knowing the direction that we should go in. So we're, we're kind of at this crux, and we're like, we, we're in this state of indecision for a, a prolonged period of time. That is when we fall into the trap of anxiety. That is when we fall into the trap of rumination. Because ultimately, what happens is we begin to ruminate over and over, thinking that our decisions maybe aren't the right ones to make, or maybe it's not God's will, or maybe this is. And we become crippled and paralyzed by this indecision.
And for me, when I was 21 years old, I believe that this was one of the major catalysts for my season, prolonged season with anxiety and depression. That it was the prolonged sense of living in a state of indecision paralysis that ultimately culminated in a large two to three-year season of anxiety and depression. So I feel it's important, it's pivotal for God's people to know how to make decisions, to know how to make spirit-led, spirit-filled decisions, and ultimately learn how to execute once they hear a word from God on those decisions.
So, ultimately, we seek to still our hearts and minds before God. We seek to understand what God's word and truth says. We seek to hear from God's voice. And then, once we bring in other godly counsel, other godly people, we ultimately execute on those decisions. And so that's what I'm going to highlight here today, in that kind of, in that kind of order.
But before I do that, I want us to open up to Proverbs chapter 3. If you got your Bible open, Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5-6. Proverbs 3, 5-6. Y'all, y'all perhaps know this one. I hope some of y'all know it by heart, but maybe not. But it's a, it's a favorite verse that I like to quote, especially when I am making big decisions, especially when I'm making big decisions. It goes like this in Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. But in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight."
If you don't have that highlighted in your Bible, I want to encourage you, highlight that in your Bible. Scribble in the margins. "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart." Not some of it, not just a portion of it. Not just, "God, I'm willing to surrender this area of my life, this arena of my heart to you." But God, ultimately, I recognize that you are the God. You are the Lord of my life. I surrender all of my heart. All dominion and domain of my life is ultimately yours. That is what this passage is teaching. That is what this text is saying. All of my heart, all of my ways are yours. And I lean not on my own understanding. What does that mean? My own critical thinking, my own analytics, my own reasoning, my own rationale, my own enlightenment. The ways in my heart, in my, my mind that I think are right. Ultimately, I subjugate those things and put them under the authority of your word and your will for my life.
Because, as I mentioned, as believers, we often do things that's contrary to reason. Not all the times, but sometimes. I mean, reason, I think, aligns with faith. That in fact, Anselm of Canterbury, who was one of the great scholastic theologians, uh, he, he said, "Faith seeking understanding." In other words, faith is not, uh, mutually exclusive or not, it's not disconnected from reason and from rationale. But faith doesn't always make sense. Not always does, does faith make sense. And even in those times when faith doesn't make sense, we know that through the spirit and through the word of God, and even through situations and circumstances, that, man, God, are you really calling me into this? This doesn't seem like the way of peace. This seems like a way of conflict. Well, sometimes God will call us into conflict to bring peace. But from the outside, it doesn't look peaceful. From the outside, it's like, God, how can you want this for my life? You're, you're calling me to go into a state, into a position of conflict? Maybe as a peacemaker in a foreign country? Maybe as somewhere to mediate and bring reconciliation that involves conflict. So from the outside, it's like, well, that looks odd. But maybe God is calling you particularly into that position to bring about the kingdom through that circumstance.
So sometimes, as believers, we have to recognize that it doesn't always make sense on the outside, but God is up to something bigger on the inside. And so when we surrender our heart, when we surrender our will, our way, our, our, even our words to the authority of God, we say, "God, not my way, but your way. Not my will, but your will. Not what I think is correct, or what I deem is rationale or logical, but Father, if there's something that, there's a way that I'm thinking that ultimately you want to shift and give me a different perspective, Father, I'm praying for that perspective shift. I'm praying that you would interject and close doors and open, and open windows and close doors that I'm not supposed to walk through."
Because ultimately, friends, as a believer, when we think we're supposed to walk through a door and it's closed, a closed door is a blessing in the kingdom of God. Because God is saying, "I'm, I'm trying to redirect you onto a better path. I'm trying to redirect you into a better position. I'm trying to reposition you for something greater than you can ever think in the moment." When that door closes on you, that I actually see those closed doors as opportunities for God's blessing, the storehouse of God's blessing to be revealed. God doesn't close a door by coincidence.
And this is where I want to talk about this, this verse in, in, in, in Proverbs chapter 3. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. But in all your ways, submit to Him, and He will make your path straight." There's one thing that's very clear about Proverbs 3:5-6 is that ultimately, if we surrender our way to God, He will direct our steps. He will direct our steps. So why then, do I have to? I don't need to live in a position of, "Oh man, I'm, I'm scared to make the wrong thing." As a believer, if I'm fully surrendered to the Holy Spirit, if I said, "Jesus, your life, my life is not mine, it's yours." If I'm fully surrendered to the spirit of God, ultimately, I submit my ways to Him and I say, "God, I'm giving this to you. I'm surrendering this to you. Reveal the way." Ultimately, we can know and trust and believe that God will direct our steps. Amen.
That's a great promise. Also in Psalms, uh, 37:23, the Bible says, "The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him." The Lord makes firm the one. Look, the Lord makes firm the steps of the one whom delights in Him. If God is your delight, if God is your joy, if pleasing God, right, to delight in Him is also to do things that please the Father's heart. And so if I'm living in a way and doing things that please the heart of the Father, I can know that God is ultimately grounding and securing each step that I take. Because as I do things that please the heart of the Father, ultimately my steps are grounded because my steps are protected under His provision.
In other words, God doesn't command something that's trying. He's not trying to keep something from you when he commands something. I think we think of this, we think of the commandments of God, the teachings of God as restrictions, as constrictors, rather than as things that bring liberty and freedom. When I seek to obey God and please the Father's heart, I can know that my steps are grounded and secure because I know that God is trying to protect me, not hinder me. You see that? When I walk in faithful obedience, ultimately God's commandments are there to bring life, to protect me. And so as I seek to delight in God and to please the Father's heart in walking through obedience, God grounds my steps because each and every step is protected by His guidance and provision. Does that make sense? His commandments are not burdensome, but His commandments bring life as we seek to follow Him.
And then this is one of my favorite verses, Proverbs 16:9. "In his heart a man plans his ways, but ultimately the Lord establishes his steps." I love this verse. In his heart, I'm, I'm trying to, God, I want to go this direction with my life, and I want to, I want to do big things and accomplish big purposes. I want to start a corporation. I want to incorporate this, and I want to be the CEO, and I want to, I want to make a difference for you in the, in the music world. I want to make a difference for you in the business world. I want to make a, I want to do big things for you, God. And that's great. It's awesome to have a dream. It's awesome to have a vision. But if, unless you realize, I, that ultimately all those things come under the domain and dominion and sovereignty of God. That at the end of the day, you can plan all you want. At the end of the day, it's the Lord who establishes each and every step that you take.
That I can make these big audacious claims and say, "I think." New Testament says this, he says, you know, you should be weary and leery about saying, "Tomorrow we will go and do this and that into this city and that city and sell and buy and do all these things." And the, and the, the rhetoric there is, "What do you know what tomorrow holds? Your life is a vapor. You don't even, you know, ultimately we're here today and gone tomorrow." So ultimately, surrender each and every day to God and seek His will for your life that day. Yes, make plans. Yes, dream big for God. Yes, ask God to give you a vision and a future and a hope. But ultimately know that if things don't go according to your plan, it's okay because He's establishing your steps along the way. Each and every step is established by the grace of God.
As a believer, you can take confidence and know with all of your heart, with all of your, your mind, that God is establishing each step. Now, how, how much hope and confidence does that bring, friends, along the way? Man, you can know that each step that you're taking, that it matters. That you can be grounded and confident knowing that God, even if it was the wrong step, that God was ultimately repurposing it for something greater. And so that's the mystery. It's the autonomy of human will and it's the sovereignty of God's plans and purposes. That even if we make decisions that somehow, in the mystery and providence and sovereignty of God, He is somehow even repurposing the steps that we think were, uh, erroneous. Those steps, He's repurposing them, and He's establishing them for good and for His glory. So things are working out as a believer because God is establishing each step we take.
Now, that's the first step is understanding, ultimately, in our decision-making processes, understanding that God is sovereign, that He establishes our steps, and if we seek to honor Him, we are walking under His provision and Lordship and sovereignty. And then, number two, this is a big one: the importance of prayer and seeking the will of God. Prayer and seeking the will of God. Prayer, friends, is communication with God. Prayer is seeking to understand and know the Father's heart.
Now, prayer, a lot of people think that prayer is twisting and manipulating the hand of God to get something out of Him that He formerly wouldn't give me. But the reality about prayer is, prayer is less for God, and prayer is more for us. Prayer is less to, to try to get God to do something that He otherwise wouldn't do, and prayer is more about God working in our hearts to attune our heart and mind to His perfect and pleasing will. It's not the other way. God, don't, I'm not trying to get you to do what I want, but it's, "God, show me what You want, and attune my, my ear and my heart to what Your will is for my life." And for the people around me. It's us tuning our ears and tuning our hearts to the will of God, not God surrendering His will and power and dominion and authority to our fleshly sinful desires. The heart is deceitful above all else, who can know it? I'm not trying to get God onto my plan. I'm trying to get my plan and ask God. I'm not trying to, yeah, I'm not trying to get, trying to surrender and say, "God, show me. I'm taking this. I'm asking You to do this for me." But it's like, "God, no, show me what You want for my life. Show me what Your will is. What Your way is. Reveal that to me."
So Philippians chapter 4 says this, and seeking direction, it says this, and this is huge. I love how these two things are running, run in tandem. Look what it says in Philippians 4:6-7: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition." So, be anxious for nothing. Notice the, notice the parallel here. Be anxious for nothing, but in what? But in everything, right? Anxiety, no. Prayer, everything, right? "Be anxious for nothing. Pray. Pray. Pray. Do not be anxious, but in every situation, pray, petition, seek the will of God, seek the counsel of God, and with Thanksgiving, present your request to God." And it says, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." That's the promise. Is when I seek, when I'm filled with anxiety, or I'm filled with anxious thoughts, that I turn every anxiety into a prayer. That I turn every anxious thought and I, I turn it in, every worry, I turn it into a prayer.
Now, imagine that. Imagine if you turned every anxiety, every anxious thought you had into a prayer. I think you and I would be very, I think we would be saints. We are saints. But I think we would be very, very, our prayer lives would would accelerate. But often times, we don't turn our anxieties into prayers. What do we do? We turn our anxieties and our worries, and we ruminate on them, and we take on the full burden, the full responsibility of those things because we think that, you know, we're blind to the, to the, you know, worry and anxiety blinds us to trust in God, and we think we're responsible for figuring these things out. We think we're responsible for for finding resolution to these things, and we don't realize that God is in this situation. God is there. That God is ultimately sovereign over this.
It says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your request to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." And then James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks what wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." I don't know about you, but I'm like, "God, I lack wisdom. I need clarity. I need understanding." That I understand that there is an end to my cognition, my ability to know things, to see things. So, God, I, I surrender those things and I ask You to bring the wisdom because You are the Giver of wisdom. You are the Giver of life. You are the Giver of understanding. So, Father, fill my cup with what I lack. Fill me up, Lord, with what I lack.
Prayer is communion with God that attunes our hearts with His will for our lives. And so I want to encourage you, as you seek to hear God's voice more clearly in prayer, you can't hear the voice of God, friends, if you are living lives and you're in situations, or you're, your, your life is go, go, go, go, go, go, go. We need to still our hearts before God. Still our minds. Experience a collective calm and enter the presence of God. I think the number one barrier to entry and hearing God's voice is our own busyness. Is our own sense of even duty. There's things I need to do. There's a to-do list. I got to get this done. I have to go here. I have to do that. I'm too busy for prayer. I'm too. Friends, God would speak to us if we would sit still long enough to listen. Silence is the language of God. Silence and stillness open up our hearts and ears to hear the voice of God.
And I like to think of church this way too. I, I think instead of creating more distraction, or nothing wrong with smoke machines, fog machines, all those things are cool, they have a place. I think they do. But what I'm saying is, if church is entertainment and it's not a peace, a stillness, a calmness, a tranquility, a surrender, then how will God's people ever hear His voice? If we're trying to mimic and model the world and the world's way of entertainment and an attraction, we will ultimately be distracted from hearing God's voice clearly in our lives. Silence is the language of God.
And thirdly, the importance of studying God's word in order to understand God's will as we make decisions for God and His kingdom in our lives. The Bible, and the Bible alone, friends, is God's self-disclosed revelation to humanity. In other words, God gave us His word. And people say, "Well, I don't know what God wants me, or how how God wants me to deal with this conflict or situation." Well, did you know, friends, that the Bible actually outlines from A to Z how you should deal and go about dealing with conflict? The Bible actually is a, provides a manual on conflict resolution. Did you know that? So instead of going to, uh, your therapist, and nothing wrong with that, instead of going first to all these other sources, your friends, or your family, or asking for their wisdom, why don't you go to the word of God and see what the word of God provides?
Because I'm willing to bet that there's actually some things that you're dealing with that you'll be surprised the word of God actually addresses in great detail. But we skip over it because we think it's an artifact, rather than it's, it's present-day revelation for the people of God to live in alignment with the will of God for their lives. The Bible says when you have conflict with your brother, don't gossip, don't go behind their back, don't begin talking about it with somebody else, but instead, bring that problem first to that person and deal with it. And if, if your brother can't see the sin, then you have to bring in a third party. And then you bring in a third party, then there's mediation, right? And then once you can't bring in the, the third party, and that's not working out, your brother still doesn't see their sin, or there's not reconciliation, the next step is what? The leadership of the church, right? There's more involvement. So one-on-one, then it's one and it's, it's, it's two with another party, right? Then the, the leadership, or there's, there's a corporate body that's overseeing these things and ultimately making a decision. So there's a process even for conflict.
So the Bible provides the believer with an outline, with a roadmap for so many different challenges and issues in our lives and decisions that we need to ultimately make and navigate. The Bible provides resolution for us for that. This is what the Psalms say in Psalm 119: "Your word is a lamp unto my feet." How many of you heard this before? "And a light unto my path." When I can't see clearly in front of me in order to move forward, your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. In other words, there is a trajectory, there's a, there's a, there's a vision for moving ahead. And how are we to move ahead? Not in the darkness, not in the uncertainty, the unknown, but the Lord and His word actually provide illumination for the path that we are to walk on.
It is, it is God's self-disclosed meaning. He has revealed His, His, His nature, His character, His will for our lives through the written word, which was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the prophets and through the apostles and through all the authors of the Old Testament, the New Testament, written over a course of 1500 years by numerous authors, all speaking of one unified, harmonious story about a man, Jesus Christ, who came to die for the sins of the world. And there is harmony in that because the spirit of God inspired man to write these words and to provide God's will and purposes for humanity and His plan for redemption, and His plan not only for redemption, but His plan and will for us to navigate and do life. God provides that in His word. It's His will for our lives.
So, don't people come to, "I don't know what God wants me to do in this situation." Well, have you read the word of God? Have you sought the counsel of the Holy Scriptures? Have you sought in prayer and bathed it in God's word and bathed in prayer what you are to do in this situation? Bathe it in prayer. Seek counsel from the word of God before you seek counsel from other people.
And that leads me to the third point. Third point is seeking godly counsel. You don't have to do it alone. You shouldn't do it alone. God expects us. He actually wants us to involve a wise counsel. Wise counsel, meaning people who have surrendered their lives to the authority of the Lord Jesus. Don't simply go ahead and seek counsel from every, you know, someone walking on the street and just asking, you know, people you trust. People who, who have surrendered their lives to Jesus. People who ultimately are ruled under that, the authority of God's word for their lives. You're seeking that counsel. You're seeking godly counsel. You're seeking wise, wise counsel.
Proverbs 11:14, and Proverbs is wisdom literature, by the way. Proverbs 11:14 says, "For lack of guidance, a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers." If you want to win, if you want to be successful in life, seek godly counsel. Seek advisers. Seek people who not only desire your good, but ultimately God's will for your life. Proverbs 15:22 says, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors, they succeed." Isn't that beautiful? That if you surround yourself with the presence of God, you're seeking the spirit of God, you're speaking revelation from God, you're speak, you're seeking to hear the voice of God, you're seeking the will of God in the word, and you're surrounding yourself with a community of people who desire your good, who desire God's will to be done in your life, friends, you cannot fail. You can't fail. Your plans will succeed because God is for you. He ultimately wants you to make the right decision. He wants you to follow the right way.
And when we bring in all of these different components together and they culminate, we find the illuminated path that God has for each and every one of us. And lastly, trusting the inner peace of the Holy Spirit. So this is a big one. When I ultimately don't know, you know, maybe I'm in a situation where there's, there's things that could go either way. People say, "Trust your gut." I don't, I don't go for that. I believe the spirit speaks through the conscience. And sometimes the conscience, right, will be this, this feeling that you, you feel this sense, but it's different than simply your gut feeling. The spirit will speak and reveal the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is what? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. You've heard them all, right?
When I'm confronted with the decision, there's a crossroads. So I could go Crossroad A, B. Maybe you got many of them. I don't know how many decisions you got to make. Maybe it's just two options. I don't know. When I'm confronted with those things, I ask myself, "If I was going down this path, path A, what would I experience the fruit of the spirit in my life? Would I experience more love? Does it lead to more joy? Does it lead to more peace? Does it lead to more kindness, goodness, gentleness, faith? Does it lead to more of those things? Or does this path lead to more love, joy, peace, patience?" And I ask myself the question, "If I was to follow this road down to the end, would it lead to being more spirit-filled? Would it lead to more fruit? Would it lead to a life that is well-lived for the kingdom of God? Does it produce a deeper desire, a deeper dependency on the spirit of God? Does it magnify the fruits of the spirit in my life with this decision? Would it grow? Would it reap a harvest?" I ask myself, "Where would this path lead?"
And so the inner, the spirit, the, the peace that the Holy Spirit brings when we make decisions. And sometimes it's hard to know, right? But you have to ask yourself, "If I follow this path, would I experience more peace? More joy? More fruit in my life?" Romans 8 says, Romans 8:14 says, "For those who are led by the spirit of God are the children of God. If you're led by the spirit, you're a child of God. The spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again. Rather, the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship, and by Him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." See, I think there's also, "Don't trust in yourself, but trust in yourself in the Lord." In other words, know that you are a son, know that you're a daughter, know that you're a child of God. Know that you are led by the spirit of God. If you're a child of God, you're, you're adopted in the family of God. You have the spirit of God. Know that God's leading, God's leading in your life, the spirit of God is leading in your life. You're a child of God. You've given surrendered your life to Him. Know that you are being led by the spirit of God. Trust yourself in the Lord. Trust yourself in, in, in the Lord.
And then I said the last one was the last one. This is the last one. That's a, that's a, that's a cliché pastor line. They're like, "Five more minutes." It's like, "25 more minutes, pastor, when you wrapping up?" This is the last one: Understanding God's timing. Patience in waiting for God's timing. Ecclesiastes says in chapter 3:1, "There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens." In Psalm 7, it says, "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
See, this is the thing. Some opportunities are the right ones, but the wrong timing. Some opportunities are the right ones, but the wrong timing. The Lord knows ultimately the time, the season, the appointed season for the things that He has in store for your life. That even if He says no now, it doesn't mean to no forever. Even if He says wait now, doesn't mean wait forever. That sometimes God's seasons don't always line up with the expectations that we have in the season that we think we're in. But if we realize that ultimately, I don't want God to get on my timeline, I want to get on His timeline because His timeline is perfect, is pleasing, is prosperous.
And this is how we are to make big decisions. So we are to make big decisions by: Number one, we acknowledge God's sovereignty and Lordship in our lives. Number two, we, we, we seek the, the, the, we seek the presence of God through prayer, through silence, and through stillness. We seek God's will, His counsel, listening to Him. Number three, we seek to know the will of God through the word of God and obedience and fellowship with His word. Number four, we seek godly counsel and people who are under the domain and dominion of the Holy Spirit, and we invite them into our inner circle to provide wisdom, mentorship, and guidance along the way. And then we trust the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. We trust that that whisper, that sweet sound voice. "This is the way. Walk ye in it." Does this lead to more fruit? Does this lead to more peace? Does this lead to more love, to more joy? And then lastly, we understand God's time, not mine. God's time, not mine.
Going to invite the band up as I close here in prayer. Bow your heads with me. Father God, we want to thank You for Your word. We want to thank You for teaching us how to make decisions, God, that impact our lives. How to navigate big decisions, big choices, big things that maybe we're confronted with, uh, on an individual level. Maybe we're confronted with on a community level. But God, ultimately, we know that You are the captain of our ship, and You are leading our ship to its port of destiny, and it will arrive just on time. That we can know without a shadow of a doubt that You are leading, that You are steering, that You are speaking to the waves that seek to hinder us and to keep us, uh, captive, to seek to drown us. You are speaking, "Peace, be still" to those waves. That all the things that come up against us, we can ultimately know that, Father, You're establishing our steps, even when things, obstacles, encumbrances, hindrances come our way, that You're establishing our steps, that You're making firm our steps as we surrender each and every step to You and to Your authority, into Your will. Father, please bring wisdom from above. We lack it dearly. We are seeking Your face, Father. We are seeking Your guidance. May You illuminate the path through Your word, Father. May You illuminate and reveal what Your will is for our lives as we seek to follow You in every major decision, in every small decision that we are faced with. We pray this in Jesus' powerful and wonderful name. Amen.