Announcer: Everyone faces tough times, so how can you
stand strong in your faith when life gets difficult?
In the book,
"Nine Ways to Hold on When You Want to Give Up,"
Dr. James Merritt shows you how to discover
God-given hope that will point the way to victory
in the midst of adversity.
Get your copy today from Touching Lives
by calling 800-413-1131, or visit Touchinglives.org.
Today on Touching Lives.
Anytime you're ready, you can turn on the radio
to Heaven and you can talk to the one
who guides the stars in their paths,
who guides the planets in their orbits,
who guides the birds and their flight patterns,
who guides the ocean in their tides,
and he has said, "I'll be your decision guide,
not just on Earth.
I'll be your decision guide all the way to Heaven."
Teaching people everywhere who Jesus is
and why they need him, this is Touching Lives
with James Merritt.
So I want to raise a few questions here
and just ask you,
do any of the following apply to you right now?
I'm tired of making bad choices
and I'd like to start making some good ones.
Some of you are in that category right now,
your life's a wreck, and you know why?
Being honest, you made some bad choices.
And you're saying, "I've had my share,
I've had my belly full of bad decisions.
I'd like to start making some good ones.
I'm facing a crucial decision right now
and I want to get it right."
There's some of you in that category right now.
Here's another one: I'm really struggling to know
how to handle the drama in my life.
You know what I've learned about every family?
Every family has at least one drama queen,
did you know that?
Every family, okay?
And there's some of you drama queens and drama kings
out there, there's a lot of drama in your life,
and you don't know how to handle it.
Okay?
Here's another one, okay?
I have a desire to know what God wants me to do
and to do it.
That's my desire.
Now, if any of those or some of those
or all of those apply to you,
you might want to listen to this message.
You might want to kind of sit up and you might
want to pay attention, because let me tell you
the good news, okay?
I'm with you.
There have been times in my life
I didn't have a clue what to do.
Didn't have a clue, did not know what to do,
but I didn't pick, and here's why.
You're not alone and you're not on your own.
That's the good news.
You're not alone and you're not on your own.
One of the greatest, most life-changing discoveries
you'll ever make is the realization that
there is a God in Heaven who created this universe,
and he wants to direct your steps.
He wants to lead you down the right path.
He wants you to make good decisions.
You're not -- you've not been put on this Earth
like a blind man, blindfolded in a dark room,
trying to figure a way around, hoping you don't
bump into anything or fall flat on your face.
And yes, there's a better way to go through life
than trial and error, hit and run, hit and miss,
flip a coin, hope it all works out.
Now, I want to show you what it is.
Oh, if you brought a copy of God's word, smart tablet,
iPhone, whatever y'all might have,
I want you to turn to a book we referenced a moment ago,
it's called the Book of Proverbs.
It's in the middle of your Bible,
right after the Book of Psalms.
I want you to turn to Proverbs 16,
let me tell you who's writing the words we're about to read.
The wisest man who ever lived, his name was Solomon.
There was a time in his life -- at the peak of his life,
there was a time in his life, he had the Midas touch.
Everything he touched turned to gold.
Every decision he made was not the good decision,
it was the best decision.
And I mean, he was batting a thousand.
Never made a mistake, never blew it.
Never had to look back and say, "Why did I do that?
Why did I make that decision?"
I mean, every single path he took was the right path.
Every door that he opened was the right door.
And at the very peak of his life,
he wrote these words in Proverbs 16:
"In their hearts, humans plan their course
but the Lord establishes their steps."
The God that gave your life wants to guide you in this life.
The God that loves you want to lead you.
The God who sent his Son to die for you
wants to give you wisdom to direct you.
So if you're sitting there and you're saying,
"Help me, Ronda.
I need some help.
Let me know what I need to do.
You're exactly right.
That's where I am in my life.
I'm sick and tired of making bad choices,
I'm sick of tired and messing up.
I'd like to get some things right.
How do I do it?"
He says, "Let me share with you three easy,
simple steps," and let me tell you, I live them.
I'm a satisfied customer.
They worked every single time.
Alright?
Ready, here we go.
First thing you got to do is this:
you've got to admit that you need God's guidance.
First thing you got to do.
You've got to admit you need God's guidance.
Now, listen to the first half of that verse one more time.
He said: "In their hearts, humans plan their course."
Now, there's a reason why he wrote that.
Solomon knew something about you, that I know about you,
that I know about all of us.
You know?
One thing we all have in common,
I don't care how sweet you are,
I don't care how nice you are,
I don't care how easy you are to get along with.
Can I tell you something that's true about all of us?
Nobody likes to be told what to do.
Nobody.
You know, for example, I would like for all of you to tithe
and I'm not going to talk about getting no tithing,
I'm just going to get -- I'd like for all of you
to tithe and I wish it was just this easy.
I wish I could just get up and say, and we're going
to pass the basket in a minute, and I'm telling you to tithe.
And I'll be flipping hamburgers tomorrow, okay?
How's that going to work out for me?
Number one, I can't tell you.
Number one -- really, I wouldn't do it.
If that's one way you do it, I wouldn't do it.
I wouldn't do it anyway.
I'd be tempted.
But number one, I wouldn't do it anyway.
Right?
Number two, I know that's not going to work
'cause you don't like to be told what to do.
We won't like to be a DIY project.
I want to make my own way, I want to make my own choices,
I want to make my own decisions.
And furthermore, we don't like to admit it
when we don't know what to do.
We don't like to admit when we're confused,
when we're stumped.
We're not really sure which way we ought to go,
and by the way, listen -- I'm just going to make
a sexist statement here in reverse.
Men, we're the worst.
We don't like to ask for directions,
we hate it.
We're just like that.
We just don't want to admit that we need help.
Now, the truth of the matter is if you want to make
a wise decision based on God's advice
and you want to know God's will for your life,
first thing you got to do is you have to simply say,
"I need help.
I don't know what to do."
As a matter of fact, David, who was Solomon's dad,
David put it this way: "He guides,"
what's that word?
"The humble."
Who are the humble?
People who are humble enough to say, "I need help."
"He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way."
Now, here's the truth of the matter.
If you walk out of here today and you make up your mind,
I don't care what you say, I'll go it alone.
I'll just kind of figure it out myself,
I'll just kind of do the hit and miss kind of a thing.
I'm going to make my own decisions,
I'm going to run my own life.
God will say, "Fine.
I'll let you do that.
If you want to do that, that's up to you,
but I will tell you this.
You'll spend most of your time fessing up to your messing up,
rather than asking God to begin with."
'Cause I'll tell you a lesson I had to learn the hard way,
early in my ministry.
You're better off asking the Lord to guide your steps
than you are to correct your mistakes.
Now, here's the good news.
I've already shared with you.
God wants to guide you.
God wants to direct your steps.
God wants you to know his will.
God doesn't want you to make good decisions,
he wants you to make the best decisions.
And God's not up there -- God doesn't play hide and seek.
God doesn't play cat and mouse, God doesn't play Marco Polo.
Doesn't say, "Guess behind what's curtain number three?"
God says, "Look, I do have a plan for your life.
I do have a will for your life,
I do want you to make the best decisions.
I will guide you."
Listen, if you're a parent, you know this.
There is nothing that blesses a parent more than
to watch their children grow up and mature
and start making good decisions on their own, right?
Nothing blesses more.
How much more do you think it blesses your Heavenly Father
when he sees you begin to make good,
best, wise decisions?
First thing you got to do,
you got to admit that you need him.
Step two.
You got to ask for it.
You got to ask for God's guidance.
Remember what he says?
The last half of this verse:
"But the Lord establishes their steps."
That is a beautiful word in the Hebrew language,
you know what that word literally means?
It literally means to set straight,
to put on the right path.
Here's the good news, the God that runs the universe,
the God that controls the orbits of the planets
and the moon and the stars and all of the tides
in the ocean, that God says, "I am not too busy for you.
I want to guide your steps.
I want to direct your path.
I want you to make the best decisions.
I want to make sure you're walking on the right path,
going the right direction, in the right way,
to the right destination."
Well, that raises the $64,000 question.
So how do you do that?
Lord, I'm all in, I'm all for it.
I want to know how do you do that?
Well, I'm going to give you four tools right now
that we all have at our finger tips,
we all have them available.
I use them every day in my life.
There are four tools that God has given us
to help us discern, okay Lord,
what is it you would have me to do?
Where is it you have me to go?
What path do you want me to take?
Ready?
We're going to give 'em super quick, so pay attention.
Number one, God gives us biblical principles.
That's always the first starting point,
biblical principles.
See, this is the primary way that God speaks to us.
People don't get this.
You know, they say, "Well, that's the Good Book."
Oh, it's more than a good book, it's the guide book.
This is the book that God wrote that said,
"Hey, this doesn't just tell you how to get to Heaven,
it tells you how to live on Earth
before you get to Heaven."
'Cause this is the per -- I want you to remember,
this is so big, I want you to get this.
God's direction will never contradict God's instruction.
God's direction will never contradict God's instruction.
Let me give you some easy, easy examples.
Real easy.
These are just --
this is one-on-one decision making, okay?
You're thinking about -- you're a believer
and you're thinking about marrying an unbeliever.
Real easy answer.
No.
You're thinking about next Saturday night,
going out and just getting wasted.
Real easy answer.
No.
You're thinking about spreading gossip about somebody
that's not even true.
Easy answer.
No.
Because see, there's one question y'all alway --
when you're trying to make a decision,
here's the number one question you always ask:
is there anything in God's word that would either prohibit me
from even thinking about taking that route
or would permit me to do so?
So first principle is biblical principles,
that's where you always start.
Alright?
Second tool God gives you is wise people.
He gives you wise people.
Proverbs 15:22 says: "Plans fail for lack of counsel,"
that is you do it on your own, you don't get any advice:
"But with many advisors, they succeed."
Now, I'm going to tell you something that's true,
and some of you have proven it in your life
many times over.
The absolute, 100%, fool-proof, fail-safe way
to guarantee that you'll make a bad decision is
to get bad advice from bad people.
I promise you, it works every single time.
So for example, that's why I put up there wise people.
So let me just give you an example.
You're thinking about getting a divorce.
Don't get advice from someone that's been
divorced eight times.
You need some financial advice.
Don't get advice from someone who's just
declared bankruptcy three times
and is $50,000 in credit card debt.
Don't get bad advice from bad people.
I get advice, you know how I gauge the people
that I get advice from?
Before I ask advice from someone, I --
just several questions I ask myself.
I'll say, for example, alright, have they arrived
at the destination I'm trying to get to?
Are they going in the direction that I want to go in?
Or are they achieving the same things
that I want to achieve?
Or are they walking with God in a way that
I would want to walk with God?
And by the way, since I'm in this territory --
in the neighborhood, let me just get this out.
You know what really just makes me cringe?
I mean, it's like scratching a black board
with your fingernails.
It's when I hear people say this: "Well,
I just do what I feel like God wants me to do."
Well, where do you get that in the Bible?
"Ah, I just do what I feel like God wants me to do."
Hey, news flash.
Just because something feels right,
doesn't make it right.
I mean, how many people got in trouble last night
because they did what they felt was right?
I may feel like something is right, but you know what?
If I talk to some wise people, wise men and wise women,
and they all say to me, "This is not right."
At the very least, I'm going to take a second look at it.
I'm going to say, well, maybe I need to think
this thing through.
Right?
So number one, biblical principles,
number two, wise people.
And then number three is what I call spiritual prompting,
and this is the -- this word's important.
Spiritual prompting.
Let me tell you what I mean by that.
If you're a believer, if you're a follower of Jesus,
you know there are a lot of advantages
to being a believer.
I mean, a lot of 'em.
Let me just give you one.
If you're a follower of Jesus Christ,
you have within you a divine GPS.
Not a Global Positioning System, but a Godly Positioning System.
It's known as the Holy Spirit, and here's what you'll find.
You'll find that the more time you read your Bible
and the more time you spend with God and the more time
you spend with good, wise people and the better you get
to know God, the better you recognize his voice
when it speaks.
Because, you know what?
Can I tell you how God speaks?
He doesn't speak into your ear, he speaks into your heart.
I'm doing what I'm doing right now for one reason,
God called me to do it.
I'm a -- I don't mean that to brag, I say that humbly.
You know, I -- God counted me faithful,
putting me in the ministry.
Look, I'll be the first one to tell you.
If I had been God, I wouldn't have called me.
Wasn't my idea, but God called me.
But he didn't talk to me in my ear,
he talked to me in my heart.
And see, what I've learned is this: God has given us
two guide rails to keep us from going over a cliff
on either side, as you're driving down
the highway of life.
One guard rail is scripture, the other guard rail
is the Spirit.
Now, here's how this works.
This is so good, listen to this.
The scripture, the Bible will protect you
from these purely rational decisions,
so you don't fall into the trap of saying,
"Well, this is what I think I ought to do."
Because let me ask you a question,
see if you can resonate with this.
Have you ever done what you thought you ought to do
and it turned out to be what you should not have done?
You ever done -- we all have, right?
Gosh, I thought that's what I ought to do,
but it wasn't.
Well, the Bible will protect you from that end.
On the other hand, the Holy Spirit will protect you
from making a purely emotional decision.
"Well, this is what I feel like I ought to do."
So here's the way it works.
The Spirit of God will take biblical principles
and godly advice and he'll mix those two things together,
and he will speak to your heart.
He'll speak to you in a way that you won't hear
anybody else speak.
And see, I have found that when you have a walk with God,
you got a way from --
about hearing from God that nobody else can.
When your spiritual antenna is up and you're
the right person with a right perspective
at the right place,
God will make his will known to you.
So what does he use?
Biblical principles, that's tool one, right?
Wise people, right?
Spiritual -- and then here's the next thing,
and watch this.
Inner-peace, and that's always the last step for me.
Inner-peace.
Let me tell you how I know that God has spoken to me.
When I have a 100% peace, not 99%.
God doesn't deal in 99%.
When I have this 100% peace.
This is what God wants me to do.
This is the assurance, 'cause let me tell you something
I've learned about the will of God.
The will of God will never lead you
where the peace of God will not keep you.
The will of God will never lead you
where the peace of God will not keep you.
So when you're facing a real difficult decision,
three questions you ought to ask of three different entities.
You ask God, what do you want?
Go to the Bible.
Ask God, what do you want?
Then you ask others, what do you think?
This is what I'm thinking, this is what I'm sensing.
What do you think?
Then you ask yourself, what do I hear?
So you admit you need wisdom and you need guides.
Then you ask for guides, and let me just stop right there.
We could close up shop, we could go home, you know,
get out there, go eat lunch, have a good rest of the day,
and you say, "Well man, that was pretty good.
I guess I'll just try that and it will work."
Well, let me just stop.
Because if you don't apply the last step, it won't work.
As a matter of fact, let me tell you what I know right now.
There are some of you right now, you're irritated with me,
and I'll tell you why.
You're sitting there going, "I've tried all that
and I still don't know what to do.
As a matter of fact, I tried that and thought
I tried that, and I still messed up.
So what happened?"
Now, the first two-thirds of this message that you've heard,
that was the easy listening part.
Now, it gets tough.
Now, we're going to get down to where the rubber hits
the road and we're going to get down to where,
you know, the pavement hits concrete.
Okay?
And I'm going to go ahead and tell you right now,
some of you are not going to like what I'm going
to tell you, and that's okay.
That's fine, okay?
I'm just the messenger boy, take it up with him.
Won't do you a lot of good, but take it up with him.
Okay?
It's not enough to ask -- to admit I need guidance.
It's not enough to -- it's not enough
to admit you need it, it's not enough to ask for it.
The third thing you have to do is you have
to apply God's guidance.
Now, just stick with me for a minute.
I've talked to people.
They've come in and they've said,
"I just can't -- I just don't know what --
I've read my Bible, I've talked to people,
I've done this and I've done -- I just can't get --
I don't know what to do.
Can't find direction.
Can't get a peace about what I need to do."
So I'll start digging and you know what I have found?
Almost -- I'll be conservative, you know
what I have found 99% of the time?
Here's what I have found.
It's because they have not taken
the most important step of all, and here it is.
The reason why you may not yet know what God would
have you to do in a certain situation
is because you're not already doing what you know
God wants you to do in the situation you're already in.
Now, we don't like that.
We want to come to God and say, "You know,
there are certain parts of my life I know
you're not pleased with, but you know what?
That's really none of your business,
but would you tell me what to do over here?"
And God has a simple, sweet answer.
"No.
Not interested."
God is not obligated to guide you
if you're not going to follow his guidance.
God is not obligated to direct you
if you're not going to follow his directions.
Now listen, this is where some of us right now,
here and at all of our campuses,
this is what you need to get honest about right now.
Some of you need to realize that the real problem
that many people have is not that they can't find
God's will for a certain situation.
The real problem is they're not doing
what they already know to do right now.
That is the problem, and whenever you're trying
to find what God wants you to do,
let me just tell you this right now.
If you're one of these people and you're saying,
"Boy, I need guidance. I need help.
I don't want to blow this and if I make a wrong decision,
I'm going to pay for it for the rest of my life.
I really need to get this one right."
There are always two questions that are going to be asked.
There's our question and there's God's question.
Now, we already know what our question is, right?
Here's our question: God, what do you want me to do?
That's our question.
But what we don't realize is when we ask God our question,
his first answer is his question.
And his question is, "Well, are you already doing
what you know I want you to do now?
And if so, will you do what I want you to do
if I tell you?"
So if you're struggling with a decision in your life
and you're not sure which choice to make,
you're not sure which way to take,
you need to ask yourself a very honest question.
Am I following God's will in every area of my life,
where I know to do it now?
Because you will only know what to do,
when you don't know what to do,
if you're already doing what you know to do.
That took me an hour to come up with that.
I mean, give me some credit here, okay?
You will only know -- I didn't even understand it
the first time I wrote it down.
You will only know what to do,
when you don't know what to do,
if you're already doing what you know to do.
In other words, you will only know God's will
for tomorrow if you're doing God's will today.
And that's why some of you, you're so frustrated with God.
Quit being frustrated with God, be frustrated with you.
God's not the problem.
God wants you to know his will.
Listen, let me just get very, very practical.
This is why I'm telling you it's not going
to get comfortable for some of you, I get it.
If you're robbing God financially,
if you're living in sexual sin,
if you're neglecting God's word,
if you know there are certain biblical commands
you're rejecting in your life, can I just ask you a question?
Why would you even expect God to guide you?
Why would you even insult the God of the universe
by even coming to him and asking him that to begin with?
And what I want you to understand is this:
you will never know the unknown will of God
for your life until you're doing the known
will of God for your life.
See, there are some of you that are saying,
"God, I need help for tomorrow,"
and God's saying, "Bro, you need help for today."
"God, I can't get to where I want to go."
And God's saying, "I get it, 'cause you're not
where you need to be today."
If I've learned anything about the will of God
in my life, it's this: if I do what I know to do today,
I will know what I do to do --
know to do when I don't know what to do tomorrow.
Now, let me tell you, I want to make this real specific.
We're going to close up.
If you're not a believer, you're not a follower of Jesus.
I know one thing that God wants you to do.
Absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt.
I know one decision that God wants you to make.
I know one way that God wants you to take,
and it's not what I'm saying, it's what he said.
In 1 Timothy 2:4, here's what we read:
"God wants all people to be saved
and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
I know that.
"God wants all people to be saved and to come
to a knowledge of the truth."
You know why God wants to give you --
wants you to give your heart and your life to him?
God wants you to give your heart and your life to him today
so he can guard -- he can guide your heart
and your life tomorrow.
So God says, "Look, this is what I want you to do right now."
So the question is this, now here's the question
we all have to face.
Whether you're a believer or not,
whether you believe the Bible or not,
whether you go to church regularly or not,
whether you believe in God or not,
whether you're a follower of Jesus or not.
This is a question that we all are going
to have to ask as we walk back to our cars
in just a few minutes.
So how am I going to live my life
and how am I going to make my decisions going forward?
Flip a coin?
Hit and miss?
Hit and hope?
Trial and error?
Try the best way I know how
and kind of hope things will work out?
That's one way to do it, or you can be guided
by the God who knows tomorrow already.
You can be guided by the God that knows
not what's just good for your life,
you can be guided by the God that knows
what's best for your life.
Yes, there are going to be times in your life
that you got a big, gut wrenching,
life-changing decision to make and you don't know what to do.
And you know if you get it wrong,
you may pay for it the rest of your life.
You know if you get it wrong, your wife may pay for it,
your husband may pay for it, your kids may pay for it,
your friends may pay for it, your business may pay for it.
You know there's going to be a lot to pay
if you get it wrong and you want to get it right.
I just want to tell you anytime you're ready,
you can turn on the radio to Heaven, and you can talk
to the one who guides the stars in their paths,
who guides the planets in their orbits,
who guides the birds in their flight patterns,
who guide the ocean in their tides,
and he has said, "I'll be your decision guide,
not just on Earth.
I'll be your decision guide all the way to Heaven."
If we're not careful, we can lose confidence
in our ability to make decisions.
Satan loves to remind us of the bad choices we've made,
and if we fall prey to his tactics,
we can end up paralyzed in indecision.
If that sounds like you,
call Touching Lives today at 800-413-1131.
God longs to guide you in the right direction.
Let's pray together and ask him for wisdom.
♪ ♪
With all the demands and distractions of life,
how can anyone expect to know what to do without God?
We can't.
We need the truth from God's word.
Through the support of our faithful partners,
Touching Lives continues to share the hope of Christ
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