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.

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timeless truths

a collection of classic sermons from dr

charles stanley

today’s selection recorded in 2000

finding clear guidance

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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

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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