The Secret of Decision Making

Got an important decision before you and not sure what to do? Run into the secret place! Because to God it’s not only important what decision you make; it’s also important to Him how you come to make that decision. It’s possible to take the right fork in the road but yet be distant in your heart toward the Lord. Jesus wants you making decisions from the fountainhead of intimacy with Him.

When facing major decisions, Jesus set an example by going to the secret place. For example, He knew it was critically impor- tant that He select precisely the right twelve men to be apostles because the right men properly chosen would change the world. So when it was time to choose “the Twelve” from among all those who followed Him, He got alone with His Father in prayer.

Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas;

The Secret of Decision Making

James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor (Luke 6:12-16).

Even the choice of Judas, His betrayer, was bathed in prayer. In fact, the selection of Judas was especially bathed in prayer because Jesus knew in advance that His choosing of Judas would eventuate in Judas’s horrible destruction and eternal torment. Such a weighty decision warranted a nightlong session of intense prayer in solitude.

Your “Abba” Father loves you so much, He is deeply inter- ested in every affair of your life and longs to be included in your every decision-making process. He Himself has said so with these words:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be har- nessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you (Psalm 32:8-9).

The key phrase in these verses is, “Else they will not come near you.” The horse and mule, so says the Scripture, must be harnessed with bit and bridle if you are to get them to come close. They do not draw close of their own accord.

The Lord is saying, “I don’t want to guide you from a distance. I don’t want to have to put a bit in your mouth and jerk you around in order to get your attention and get you on course. I want you to draw close to Me—scootch up close to My heart—and allow Me to direct your life from a place of intimacy and communion.”

Notice the Lord says the horse and mule “have no understand- ing,” and that’s why they don’t come near. They don’t understand that proximity to the Master will incur for them the greatest benefits. A mule constantly wants to go off and wander in its own way, but in so doing the beast becomes totally unprofitable and unfruitful.

Secrets of the Secret Place

Some people are mulish. They just don’t get it. They pull away (in ignorant independence) from their very source of life and care and feeding. It hasn’t penetrated their thick skulls that the smartest place in the universe to be—and to stay—is right next to God. Psalm 14:2 clearly says that the evidence of understanding is that one seeks God. The wisest thing you’ll ever do in this life is to draw close to God and to seek Him with all your heart.

When you pursue this intimacy, you will begin to unlock the greatest secrets of life. It’s here He guides you with His eye and directs your heart with His heart. Sometimes we tend to make life decisions based upon our appraisal of surrounding circumstances and conditions. However, the Lord doesn’t want us getting our direction from looking outward but from looking upward. He wants us receiving life direction by beholding His beauty, enjoying His majesty and splendor, and then being guided by the gaze of His eye. So much can be communicated in the expressions and focus of the eye! Gaze upon His mouth until He speaks to you. Look into His eye until His glance directs the way in which you should walk.

Those who make decisions based upon external data become thermometers of society: Their lives reflect the natural forces that shape their destiny. But those who make their decisions based upon what they see in God become thermostats of society: They influence their world through the forcefulness of bringing divinely received initiatives to bear upon this earthly sphere.

Intimacy precedes insight. Passion precedes purpose. First comes the secret place, then comes divine guidance. God doesn’t simply want to get you on the right path, He wants to enjoy you throughout the journey. He doesn’t want you to find His will and then take off running, leaving Him in the dust. God’s primary desire for your life is not that you discover His will and walk in it; His primary desire is that you draw near to Him and come to know Him. God wants to be known! And then He desires that from that knowing relationship there come a tender walking together in His purposes.

Pursuing a knowing relationship with God in the secret place

The Secret of Decision Making

is not only the smartest thing you’ll ever do, it’s also one of the greatest keys to discovering your highest destiny in God. So stop right here. No need to read the next chapter just yet. Set this book down, and find a quiet corner with your Friend. Enjoy!

Secrets of the Secret Place

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Дата добавления: 2015-10-23