Follow Peace

James 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

People are often asking me, "How can I know it's God's will for me to do ______________?" (fill in the blank with whatever it is you want God's will on) And my answer is and always will be, Follow Peace!

In any given situation you or I face there are a couple different ways we can go, and sometimes both ways are acceptable, or within "God's will." Meaning it's your choice, do I wear the blue sweater, or the red sweater ... it doesn't really matter, and God doesn't have a preference. But for simplicity let's talk about the decisions that do infact have "God's Will" stamped on it. Now I realize that using "God's Will" is a bit much, and so we could say it like this - when faced with a decision what is the BEST or RIGHT decision. That is what I am referring to as "God's Will." What we want to make is the RIGHT decision in any given situation.

Alright, so you are dating someone and want to know if he or she is THE ONE. Easy, Follow Peace! The "peace" thing can be fuzzy if you have ignored it for too long. Usually there's a strong peace element or icky element at the beginning and that is when you should listen. Because when you ignore that gut icky feeling for too long, it becomes normal to just think icky is normal. For example, I have known girls and guys after just one date determined that the person wasn't right for them. But because she was hot, or he was rich, they ignored that feeling to only later wish they had listened to the first gut feeling.

Too many times we justify what we are feeling about a certain situation because the "amount of money we could make with this deal is huge..." over-rides what we know in our gut to be right.

Have you ever been looking at buying a car and felt a little uneasy? Now I realize that feelings are fickle, but I am not referring to the emotional side of feelings, but rather that deep down feeling that I believe is our spirit leading and guiding us.

John 16:13a "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth."

Anytime you are trying to talk yourself into a decision that is usually because you know down deep it's no good and you shouldn't do it. Typically when a person is defending a person they are dating, or they are justifying a bunch of stuff about the person I know the person isn't the one. If you have to make excuses ... no good.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

If you have a big decision to make I recommend you start walking towards it and see how you feel. For example let's say you are looking to purchase a house. That is a big decision and you definately want God's Will on a big purchase like that. So, here is how it works - if you are uncertain about it being God's will or not just start walking down the road to purchase and see how you feel. And if you continue to feel peace about it then continue, but if you feel uneasy maybe that means you need to gather more information or need to pursue another option. Again, follow peace in any and all decisions in life and you will have far less regrets in life!

God bless and Happy New Year!