As I continue in my series on decision making, I would like to discuss crossroads. I was unsure of what to teach upon next in my series, and then God revealed to me to teach on crossroad decisions. This required me to take some time for me to seek God on what to discuss regarding this subject. No matter your age, you will go through a crossroad at least once in your life, if not many. A crossroad is when one must decide between something of the world and something of God. This can be anything from a job, relationship, health, or finances. It is important to recognize when you are at a crossroad and seek God to make the best choice for your life.
Sometimes in life, we get to caught up in the excitement of what is trending, and we often forget to turn to God before making decisions, both big and small. We often want everything right away, at the push of a button, or the swipe of a credit card. We see something that is on sale and we think that we must buy it, or we see someone we are attracted to and think, I must get their number. If we turn to God’s word, we can find guidance for many of the decisions we make. Sometimes a decision will take some time, it might even take getting advice from someone else. You might have been faced with a diagnosis and might need a second opinion. Regardless of the situation or circumstances one thing never changes and that is God and His word.
When it comes to making any decision in life, we can often become distracted by fear of the unknown. Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV) tells us, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”. Regardless of whatever the circumstance is do not become worried, worrying does not accomplish anything. The time you spend worrying is more time lost to prayer and reading the Word of God. When praying for a need in your life or for wisdom in a decision, you must pray for your specific need with thanks to God for what you currently have, and His continued provisions for your life. Regardless of the situation we know we have peace in God, we must allow that peace to guard our hearts and our minds.
Often when we are at a crossroad in life, it will be a difficult decision. We may not know what to do at first, or we might want to turn to what looks like the easiest route. James 1:5(ESV) tells us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”. No matter what type of crossroad decision you have to make in life, turn to God for wisdom and it will be given. God’s wisdom might not be given to you right away, it might take consistent time in His Word and in prayer in the Holy Spirit.
When it comes to cross road decisions in our Christian life, there is one scripture I want to look at and that is Isaiah 30:21 (AMP), which says “Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.”. There are two paths we can walk in life, one is the path of the world which is full of darkness and leads to death. The second path is the path of godliness which leads us to life. God will bless those who walk in His path. Psalms 1:1-2 (NKJV) says, “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law, he meditates day and night.”. There are two types of people in this world, the Godly and ungodly people, there is no in-between, and you cannot be both at the same time. If we read Psalms 1:1-2 from the Easy to Read Version it says, “Great blessings belong to those who don’t listen to evil advice, who don’t live like sinners, and who don’t join those who make fun of God. Instead, they love the Lord’s teachings and think about them day and night.”. If we want to be truly blessed by God we must love and follow His word, we must also meditate on it as much as we possibly can. We must also turn away from turning to advice from ungodly people. So many people follow the advice of mainstream media as to how they should live their lives. Yet much of the mainstream media is ungodly, but we still follow it to get the news on what is brewing in our government, or what the traffic or weather conditions will be like before you head into work or send your children off to school. While mainstream media can give us much useful information, we must discern with our spirit how much of the mainstream media we should let run our lives.
Many people might want to turn to talk show hosts on what they should do in their life. I could give a long list of ungodly talk show hosts that people follow but, that is not what is important. What is important is my question to any of you who follow these talk show hosts, is will any of these talk show host on TV get you into heaven? The answer is no, only knowing Jesus Christ as your savior and following the Word of God will get you into heaven. You must also ask yourself a similar question when you are at a crossroad in your life. Here is a list of crossroad questions that might match certain decisions you have to make now and in the future:
• Is this job going to take away too much time from my relationship with Jesus Christ?
• Is investing money in this worth it in the long run? Will it eat up the money I could be giving in tithes or to help those in need?
• Will staying in this relationship hinder my relationship with Jesus Christ?
• Will saying or doing this be of good fruit according to God’s Word?
I have been at a crossroad in my life before that was related to one of those questions. I was in a relationship with someone who was not on the same page with me biblically. I stayed in the relationship hoping I could guide them to Christ in time. It wasn’t until I was baptized in the Holy Spirit when I heard an audible voice tell me, ‘I am going to remove someone from your life’. I also knew from when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit that God had a calling on my life, but something was hindering me from moving into it and was keeping me from truly realizing there was a calling on my life. It just happened to be the day I was baptized in the Holy Spirit was the anniversary date of that relationship. Two weeks later the relationship ended mutually. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hold anything negative against that young woman I was with, it was simply not who God wanted me to be with, and He was at work in the situation even before I was baptized in the Holy Spirit to put the relationship to an end before it progressed. And I thank God for doing that in my life.
A few final points I would like to make. When we are at crossroad decisions in our life it is often to test our faithfulness to God. I strongly believe that God honors us when we make the right choice. I would also like to point out that it is important to start seeking God first for as many decisions in your life. I believe when you start seeking God for anything in life, He will do a great work according to His will if you stay in His word with steadfast faith.