ICEBREAKER QUESTION: If you could go back into history and talk to anyone, who would it be?
SUMMARY: Today we will determine what the Bible says about seeking God's will and how to make decisions in life.
GENERAL DISCUSSION:
Briefly discuss the following questions, without going too deep.
Q: What are some of the most significant decisions a person needs to make at different stages of life? toddler, child, teenager, young adult, adult, mature adult, elderly person.
Q: What is a decision you have had to make in your personal life that you now can see was the right decision?
Q: Is it important to be truthful to yourself when making decisions, why or why not?
BIBLE STUDY
Read the following verses. With each verse, determine what the Bible teaches in regard to making decisions. Do not rush through each verse. Each verse has a wealth of insight.
1. Get right with God. Repent. Determine the motive.
John 9:31 – Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.
Romans 8:28 – And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Psalm 51:17 – The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart— these, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 139:23-24 – Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
2. Acknowledge Him
Proverbs 16:3 – Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Proverbs 19:21 – There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.
Proverbs 16:9 – A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
3. Pray / Fasting / Thanksgiving
Daniel 9:3 – Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Philippians 4:6 – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Matthew 7:7 – “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
John 14:27 – Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
4. Wait on the Lord
Psalm 27:14 – Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!
Isaiah 40:31 – But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
5. Trust that God will give you the wisdom
James 1:5-8 – If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Proverbs 9:10 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
6. Be in the Word
Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Romans 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
7. Seek counsel
Proverbs 11:14 – Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.
Ecclesiastes 4:13 – Better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more.
Proverbs 20:18 – Plans are established by counsel; …
8. Do not look back
Luke 9:62 – But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Q: What else do you think will help in making the right decisions in life?
PRAY
by: Vera V. Likhonin
References:
- The Bible, New King James Version
Image by: Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov