How do you feel when you have to make major life decisions? You don’t have to make these decisions alone—God wants to give you clear direction. Learn the principles necessary to making right decisions in this message from Dr. Stanley.
[Music]
[Music]
timeless truths
a collection of classic sermons from dr
charles stanley
today’s selection recorded in 2000
finding clear guidance
[Music]
when you face those major decisions in
your life
how do you feel that sometimes you feel
a little frustrated
maybe a little fearful you feel sort of
uneasy
maybe you’re not quite sure a little
unassured about making the right
decision
in fact it may be that you feel so much
of that negativism that
you sort of find yourself
procrastinating and putting off making
the decision because
of fear of making the wrong decision
well where do you turn when those kind
of feelings come up
when those kind of feelings develop in
your life and you know that you have a
decision to make and it can be something
very critical they’re all kind of
decisions in life
some of them are very simple and seem to
be very uneventful and very unimportant
then there are those that you and i know
that are very important
some very crucial and critical some
absolutely expedient we have to make
very very wise decisions very important
decisions where do you turn well people
turn
all kinds of directions to help make
those decisions
and oftentimes they turn in the wrong
direction but wouldn’t it be just like
god
to give you and me the capacity and the
wisdom and the know-how
to make wise decisions wouldn’t it be
just like him to be able to give us
clear guidance
when you he knows that you and i need
very
very clear guidance about whatever it is
that we are confronted with
well that’s what i want to talk about in
this message because the
question that i receive above all else
is this
how can i be sure i’m making the right
decision
how can i be sure i have very clear
guidance about this how can i be sure
i’m about to do the will of god so i
want you to turn if you will
to the 25th psalm there’s only one verse
i want to read because there are
multitudes of verses in the bible
that give this same assurance and i want
us to look at one verse because
this verse is a promise it’s a word of
assurance
because all of us all of our life will
be making decisions in fact
life is sort of one continuous
decision-making process from the time
you’re a child
growing up which toy to play with all
the way
to adulthood and in those latter years
of life of
how to operate uh in those latter years
so everywhere along the way we are
making decisions
listen to this one verse that we
want you to notice in the 25th psalm
verse 12 who is the man or the woman
who fears the lord he will instruct him
in the way
he should choose look at that who is the
man or the woman
who fears the lord that is reverences
god
respects him submits to him
yields to him seeks him desires to know
his mind
his will and his way who is the person
who fears the lord he will instruct him
in the way he should choose now it’s
very evident from the scriptures
that god is willing to give us clear
guidance about every single circumstance
of life in fact i can’t ever remember
god
saying at any point in my life here’s
what i want you to do now you figure
that out
that doesn’t sound like god well i have
some plans
you figure out what they are i have a
task
and just go do it that isn’t the way god
operates
god has given to each one of his
children the indwelling presence of the
holy spirit
one of his primary responsibilities is
to give us clear direction for our life
god would not put us on this earth and
expect of us to walk in his way walk in
his will knowing that we would be
bombarded with a thousand different ways
and attitudes the world’s ways
all down to the centuries this isn’t
just the 21st century thing this has
been going on since the beginning of
time
and that is how do we find clear
guidance god is listen he is willing to
give it he always has
he’s willing now the issue is how do we
go about it
well i’m sure that there are probably
other ways what i’d like to do is to
give you
six short phrases these phrases
will take you from the absolute first
part of the decision all the way to the
last part of the decision
of finding clear guidance well what is
the first one as i said they’re very
very simple but every single one of them
is very important number one
and that is clear the pathway clear the
pathway what nor do you mean by clearing
the pathway well
simply this that god has to get us ready
to hear his discernment that is his
clear direction for life
he has to get us ready and so when i say
clear the pathway
i mean clear it uh two things here first
of all
clear it of sin that is if i’m asking
for god’s mind
because that’s what we have when we’re
asking for clear direction what we’re
asking for is god what do you
what are you thinking about this if i’m
asking for how god
thinks about something in my life i
can’t be tampering with
playing with a part of tolerating
any known willful sin in my life i’m
asking for holy
direction for my life with a sinful
attitude
so habits attitudes a conduct that is
not becoming to who we are in christ
jesus
who we are as children of god has to go
it has to be dealt with because
here’s what sin does sin fragments our
thinking
sin fragments our thinking sin fogs our
thinking
sin sort of disintegrates what’s going
on in us spiritually
and so what happens is we find this bit
of confusion
and this is why some people seemingly
can’t make wise decisions
they’re frustrated they’re confused
they’re disheveled in their heart and
their spirit
and uh they feel sort of mixed up and
not exactly
certain and uncertain and one thing sin
always does it absolutely cuts out from
under you
your assurance about most anything in
life and so the first thing that has to
be dealt with clear the path of his sin
because it absolutely will fog your mind
and you can’t mix god’s holy mind
with this fouled up mind of ours if it’s
contaminated with something going on in
us that should not be so first thing i
have to deal with is i have to
i have to deal with this issue of sin
but there’s something else we have to
deal with
and clear the path of and that’s strong
desires we’re all going to have
natural strong desires i don’t mean they
have to be sinful desires but i mean
we just have natural desires in life
things that you want dreams that you
have goals that you have
and so it may be that what we want
uh god wants us to have but we have to
have
clear guidance as to how to go about it
it may be that god has set a beautiful
goal for your life or he has something
for your life that you really desire
that you really
long for something you’ve been working
toward and you want to know
how god do i go about this he desires to
give us clear guidance he wants to deal
with this sin issue number one because
he takes advantage
every opportunity god has to take
advantage of drawing us close to him
he will do so every time he has the
advantage
he has the opportunity he will take
advantage of bringing our sanctification
into more fullness bringing us into his
likeness
bringing us into the awareness that we
need to trust him and rely upon him
so well here’s what he does we start out
with our desires whatever there may be
and uh he he has to bring us to the
place
of what i call uh submissive neutrality
that is i have to get my strong desires
over here
and let god begin to work in my life to
bring them to the point that i’m willing
to say
lord not what i want but what you want
god this is what i want
this is my desire but lord i want to be
able to
submit that yield to that and become
neutral in my thinking and neutral in my
desires because i really want
what you want more than i want what i
want because i know
if what i want is not what you want what
you want is better for me than what i
want
and so when i’m able to bring those
strong desires into a place of
submissive neutrality
then i know that god is certainly
working and that is the
foundation that is the bottom line and
the foundation
of clear discernment is a clean heart
a pure heart and clear and clear
direction go together
a pure heart and clear direction a heart
that is
that is has dealt with sin so the
solution of the whole issue
when it comes to sin is repentance god
this doesn’t belong in my life it
doesn’t fit
i’m dealing with this i’m laying this
down i want nothing in my life
that will fog my mind and confuse
and mix and intermingle my mind so that
i
miss your clear direction for my life
the second phrase is this and that is to
exercise
patience patience simply means i refuse
to rush ahead of god
patience hear me simply means i refuse
to rush in
until i have clear direction
patience says i’m willing to wait
until i know that i’ve heard from god
until i know this is his his choice
this is his way this is his will now
most of us
probably live hurriedly we live on a
fast track everybody i know lives in
atlanta has to live on a fast track you
won’t get anywhere
that’s probably true in the whole world
everybody seems to be rushing around
and if we’re not careful we’ll rush
right into something that god’s not in
patience very very important because
this is where we get in trouble we got
to have it today
we want to move now and especially
listen
much of that depends upon the strength
of our desire it depends on how
strongly we want this and so the
stronger my desire the more difficult i
am
or the sense of need that i have the
more difficult it is for me to be able
to wait
until i have absolutely clear direction
no matter what it may be
that god has exactly in mind what you
what you desire and yet he has a reason
for causing it away which we’ll get to
in a few moments
all right the third step which is so
very important very important step
be alert to pressure be alert to
pressure whenever
you’re in the process of making a
decision be alert to pressure because
pressures will be there now there are
two
primary forms of pressure that you and i
have to deal with and the first one is
exterior pressure
something on the outside what is that
well people
people will tell you what you ought to
do how you ought to think
and uh they’ll give you their advice and
they’ll tell you that this is exactly
what i would do if i were you
and i want you to listen this carefully
you think about
how unreliable that is this is not to
say that godly advice
should not be adhered to but think about
people who want to tell you exactly what
to do and how to do it when to do it
you think about this first of all they
are coming from their personality
their background the way they think
everybody’s thinking
the the way they go about decision
making the way they think
you don’t know about their fears you
don’t know about their anxieties you
don’t know what drives them you don’t
know what motivates them you don’t know
what governs their life
and so first of all and they don’t know
you they don’t know god’s will and plan
and purpose for your life so here’s what
they do they say here’s what i think you
ought to do
what they’re doing is they are
projecting on you
a plan that fits them
and you are not them they say well if
i were in your circumstances you know
what in your circumstances that still
doesn’t change who they are
where they’re coming from what motivates
them what governs them their personality
their thoughts and what they know and
what they don’t know about god
an interesting thing to me is that
people so willing to give advice
who know nothing about scriptural
principles
they take a verse of scripture and say
well here’s what god says here’s what
you ought to do
well the question is what’s the will of
god
you want clear direction you want divine
direction you want
godly direction you have to be sensitive
and have to be alert to pressure
because it’s going to be out there now
that pressure is going to come from
outside
it can come also not only from people
but it can come from circumstances
well these are my circumstances now
watch this these are my circumstances
and i have to make a decision
and time is running out and so you’re
prone to move
ahead remember this time never runs out
on god
time doesn’t run out on god you get all
kind of pressure
but listen no matter what the
circumstances if god hasn’t told you
if he hasn’t given you clear direction
if you don’t have a sense of guidance
from him
do not step into something because of
pressure of the circumstance or
somebody’s pressure on you
it is an unwise thing to do and so we
have to be careful be alert to pressure
now that’s external pressure the
pressure from the circumstances the
pressure from people but there’s also
internal pressure what is this internal
pressure
that would hinder me from getting clear
guidance here’s what it is number one
fears anxieties over law of a fear of
loss
fear of failure fear of rejection
fear of disapproval and so what happens
oftentimes people are driven by
motivated by compelled by other people’s
attitudes but sometimes compelled by
listen these exaggerated feelings they
have
these exaggerated expectations they have
of themselves well i must
i should i ought and should art and musk
will get you in a lot of trouble
should arts and must or pressure or
pressure points in a person’s life
i should have ought i must god isn’t
saying you should all you must
he will give us very clear direction and
that clear direction will come
but if i submit and yield to the
pressure whether it’s external
internal i’m going to get in trouble the
next thing that i want you to notice is
this
and that is persistence in prayer
now i didn’t say just pray but
persistence in prayer remember what paul
said when he said
when he said for example in
thessalonians that fifth chapter he said
pray without ceasing
that doesn’t mean you’re walking all the
time heavenly father thank you in jesus
name
oh yes how are you doing praise the lord
glory to god that’s not what we’re
talking about
but he was simply talking about simply
this listen
when you’re praying about something
don’t let go of it
don’t let go of whatever you’re praying
for that you’re seeking
you you’re trying to find clear guidance
on whether it’s something you’re going
to buy something you’re going to wear
or somewhere you’re going or your job
your just your major in school whatever
it might be
he says pray without ceasing because
here’s what happens
when you and i begin to pray god begins
to do something in our life at that time
that i think is extremely important and
something that uh
oftentimes we don’t even realize what’s
happening here we are praying and
nothing’s going on we think lord
i’m asking clear direction i’m not
getting it you think about this
when you and i are praying and we’re
talking to him we don’t see anything
around us changing
remember what we started out with we
started out with this strong desire
over here we lord here’s what i would
really like to happen
as you and i are praying we don’t even
realize what’s happening
little by little you know what he’s
doing he’s sifting
our request sifting our desire
sifting these alternatives that we have
when we’re trying to find out which one
to choose he’s just sifting those
we’re talking to him he’s speaking to us
you know what he’s doing we started out
with have to clear the pathway
he’s dealing in other words he will
bring he will bring to the surface those
things that we didn’t even realize were
there
attitudes habits uh prejudices in our
heart toward or against or whatever
things that we may want i don’t want in
our life and so what is he doing we are
talking to him
and he’s bringing to our mind and heart
these things what’s he doing
sifting out about sifting out of our
desire category
sifting these alternatives until finally
we got three or four alternatives and
one by one what does he do he eliminates
them all
till we find out his clear guidance you
cannot listen if you try to find clear
guidance
simply running hither and yawn talking
to this one talking to the other one
asking this ask in that and not get on
your knees before god seeking the one
who has
absolute infinite wisdom more than
likely most of the time
you’re going to make a wrong decision
and in big critical crucial decisions
you cannot afford to make a wrong
decision listen
prayer is the heart and the core
if you really want to find clear
direction and you don’t want to spend
time on your knees
then do it yourself and get what
yourself doing will get you
then for example there’s another phrase
i want you to jot down if you will
that’s simply this and that is to rest
in god’s promises now watch this
carefully
rest in god’s promise we’ve started off
with the foundation getting our heart
cleaned out
we want to be patient we want to check
out the pressures that are coming our
way
uh absolutely for certain i want to be
alert to these pressures
we want to we want to be prayerful but
we say rest in the promises of god think
about this
you and i he here’s the most awesome
resource there is
in fact this book which is the word of
god
has the answer to every single
time i need clear direction here it is
you don’t have to go to the public
library or the private library or
anybody else’s library
you’ve got on your on your table by your
bed in your hand this morning
you have listen you have the ultimate
eternal
infallible inerrant resource to know how
god thinks
how he acts how he works his ways
his will his plan his direction
somewhere in the word of god
you’ll be surprised how often you’ll
find a situation
in the life of one of god’s children
that will be similar now the
circumstance won’t be the same
but it is similar and you’ll say well
how did god work in that situation
well lord how do you work in my
situation that’s the is you see that’s
the way we learn his ways
if you don’t know the ways of god you
don’t know how god thinks you don’t know
his principles
then how in the world you’re going to
come to god and god’s not going to
cut off the top of your head pour the
truth in send it back and say you got it
that’s not the way he operates he
operates
gradually through prayer gradually
through reading the word this is why i
keep talking about
meditating upon god’s word what are you
doing you’re just filling your mind with
truth
truth for example that you may read a
passage that
may be sort of meaningless to you today
three months from now
you’ll come up to some decision god and
god the spirit of god bring that verse
to your mind
what was oh don’t know where that verse
was you go back and all of a sudden
comes off the page
when you begin to meditate on some of
those verses it’ll just be like
god has has tailored that verse just to
fit you
that’s listen that is the awesome
miracle of this book
that’s the awesome miracle of this book
listen it will grab you a verse will
grab you
and give you direction that you’ve read
over and over and over again
and you come back and think well i never
saw that before you know why
you weren’t where you are and therefore
this is a different situation different
circumstance same word same god
who knew beforehand when you were going
to get here and exactly when you were
going to need it
well let’s just say there’s one other
phrase i want to give you and that is
this simple phrase wait for the peace
wait for the peace the word peace
means to to be bound together peace
speaks of harmony
and oneness not
disharmony not disorder
not unrest frustration anxiety
fear all those things that do not um
meet what
god is talking about here that is to
make peace means to weave together
so what are we talking about you listen
to watch this we
we’ve come from getting our pathway
cleaned up
backing off and waiting upon the lord
psalm 62
5 my soul wait in
silence upon god only one of the key
verses in my own life
psalm 62 5 my soul wait
in silence not murmuring and fretting
and fuming and criticizing blaming
my soul wait in silence for god only
my expectation is from him
so we wait we avoid those pressures in
life
no matter where they’re coming from and
and who they’re coming from we
absolutely refuse to
accept those we get on our face before
him
we come the resource of his promises and
now
what can we expect wait for the peace
bound together here’s what happens
i want you to turn if you will to
colossians chapter 3 and look at this
wonderful verse verse 15.
let the peace of christ
rule in your hearts to which indeed you
were called in one body
and be thankful then he says look at
this
let the word of christ richly dwell
within you
with all wisdom teaching and admonishing
one another with psalms and hymns and
spiritual
songs singing with thanksgiving thankful
listen your hearts to god
look at verse 15 let the peace of christ
rule in your heart what does that mean
here’s what it means listen god’s peace
is god’s umpire in our life
when we’re seeking clear direction let
it rule
that is when i come to a decision is
there harmony
is there harmony between what god is
thinking and what i’m thinking
is there that i ca has my has my
decision and his
mind are they woven together so that now
we’re thinking the same thing
let peace rule the disturbance is over
the turmoil is over the upheaval is over
the uncertainty is over all of that’s
over and now peace is ruling around that
is
it’s now i have very clear direction
and evidence of that clear direction is
my circumstances may not have changed
people’s attitudes may not have changed
pressures may still be there
but deep down inside he’s told me
exactly what to do
and that i am committed to
no matter what
you know what can happen you can walk
through those difficult circumstances
and trying times and
you can you can face those all those
alternative decisions
and you can come up with one that you’re
absolutely certain
because you have this inexpressible
inexplainable undeniable
absolutely reliable certain sure
promise from god you got it from him
this is his direction
for your life at this time in this
question
in this decision and that’s what a good
god’s like
he’s just not going to leave it to us he
wants us to have peace
he wants us to have a sense of
contentment now somebody says well but
now wait a minute let’s go back to that
question you asked a while ago
so we’re saying that the final phrase
the final phrase is look here
look for the peace that is wait for the
peace in other words you don’t move to
to view until you have clear direction
this is why paul said
don’t be anxious about anything but in
everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving a whole lot goes on
that phrase
by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made
known to god
and the peace of god
which is absolutely unexplainable we’ll
garrison you about protect you
give you harmony sense of oneness listen
i do not know of anything in under god’s
heaven personally
i don’t know of anything i’m certain
this is my conviction that’s just my
conviction
there is nothing in the world that
exists to compare to this
and that is an awesome sense of oneness
with god
that is undisturbed
that is absolutely certain
that creates such wonderful harmony in
your heart
that no matter if the whole world falls
apart around you nothing
can shake that that’s what god’s after
he’s after such he’s after to bringing
us and you see
we may start out here but his goal is to
bring us into such
wonderful harmony and oneness with him
look our mind fits his mind
and they go together you know what
you’ll be so certain that you have clear
direction
it doesn’t make any difference what you
hear
what you see what you feel out there
the thing that matters is you have the
mind of god that’s the promise he says
we have the mind of christ
and how do we get it we get our life
cleaned out
we clean up the path back off and wait
my soul went in silence and unputting
god only because my expectations from
him
[Music]
i hear the pressure i feel the pressure
i’m not giving the pressure
i’m just going to talk to the father i’m
going to claim his promise
and i’m going to wait for the peace and
one thing for certain
there is no disappointment
in jesus christ
you