Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Pushing through adversity”
Our Bible verse for today: “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:5-8 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Just make a decision and get moving.”
In James 1:5-8 James described a situation that many Christians suffer from – the inability to make a decision and the inability to stick with it once the decision has been made. He calls such a person “indecisive and unstable”. They spend their life being tossed back and forth like a piece of debris floating on the waves. This is especially true when faced with adversity. The person hems and haws, wrings their hands and moans and groans. If they finally do make a decision, they quickly doubt themselves and they change their mind – usually multiple times. That’s not of God.
One of the marks of every great man or woman of God is decisiveness – the ability to make a decision and to stick with it. A truly wise man or woman knows to be patient and to wait on God, but when the time comes to make a decision and to move forward, then the wisdom of Proverbs 3:5-6 comes into play:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (NIV)
That’s God-inspired decisiveness. You bring your situation to the Lord in prayer, you check Scripture for guidance, you rely on the counsel of other mature Christians, then you make the best decision you can, trusting that God will guide you. Now get moving. Don’t procrastinate any longer. Stop making excuses. And stop changing your mind. This is a God-informed decision you just made. Now trust Him. Don’t doubt and don’t change your mind. If it turns out that God wants you to stop or to change direction He can make that clear to you – and He will. There will be no doubt in your mind that He has stopped you or changed your direction. But short of that clear and undeniable intervention on His part, just keep moving. Stop doubting. Just do it.
Prayerfully seeks God’s direction, search the Scriptures, get counsel from mature Christian friends but then, when the time for decision and action has arrived, bring it before the Lord, make the best decision you can make, and get busy moving forward, trusting that God is guiding you.
God has more invested in your life than you do, and He wants you to be in the middle of His will even more than you want to be there. But He is not going to dictate every step of life to you word-for-word. The old saying is true “God gave you a mind, and He doesn’t mind if you use it.” So just make a decision, get moving, and trust God.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 