ON THE OTHER HAND....

If you've ever tried to make a decision and went back and forth saying, "on one hand.....", and then said, "but on the other hand....." We've all be there. God's desire is to give us guidance so if you want His direction for your life start with making a decision to partner with Him.

God is the one who made you, thought up your plans, prepared a family for you, and called you to be that which only He can help you become. Here's a quick list of top ten things to go through when making the biggest decision of your life and choosing to either reject His offer to work together, or to accept all that He has for you. So use one hand to count through the below 1-5, and use the other hand to go through 6-10, and see which hand you'd rather go with.

1. ASK YOURSELF, 'WHERE AM I?' Ask God to reveal where exactly you are in His plan for you. He frequently wants us to check in with us so that He doesn't have to come looking for us. (God asked Adam, after the first sin in the garden, "Where are you?" (Adam stupidly hid from God, probably something you or I have never done. Yeah, right!!.)

2. ASK YOURSELF, 'HOW FAR AM I WILLING TO GO ON MY OWN, WITHOUT REALIZING I NEED GOD'S HELP? Proverbs 12:14 Tells us, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end is death." Of course your way seems right. Original sin is when we decided to make our own 'right' and 'wrong.' Have you reached your wall? When we're lost we don't know how far we are lost. Half truths will not help us. Partial truths will not help us. If your GPS cuts out only a couple of times, you can still be way off course. Total truth is the only help we have.

3. WHAT WILL YOU DO WHEN YOU COME TO THE CROSSROAD? Lash out, go shopping, have a drink, blame someone? The focal point here is the word, 'will'. You will respond. It is a matter of how.

4. SURVEY YOUR OPTIONS? Hopefully you have people in your life that will lead you to seek God for help, peace, protection, forgiveness, life etc. If all your friends want to do is to tell you to have a drink or go take a day at the spa then they offer only temporary and surface help, which means that you'll end up probably back in the same place, in just a matter of time..

5. WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE? Hint, Jesus says, choose Him. Repent and turn to Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. If you choose another 'temporary fix' option then return to number one, up top. Do not pass GO, Do not collect $200. If you choose to surrender to the sweet call of the name of Jesus then proceed to bonus round number 6, switch hands to count off 6-10.

6. WHAT WILL CHANGE? By choosing Jesus He is able to make all things new for us. Not some things, but all things. By the blood of Jesus when we repent and turn to Him we can have our sins washed white as snow so that we can blamelessly and boldly come into the thrown room of God. Jesus has purchased you at the cross, so receive that your debt has been paid in full, walk away from the chains that held you down and turn with your whole heart in surrender to Jesus.

7. HOW WILL YOU KNOW THAT YOU CHANGED? When you choose Jesus he has promised to set you free from the old sinful life and to come live on the inside of you and to help you. Your old sinful nature will be washed away as you receive the Spirit of Jesus to live on the inside of you. As you delight in Him, and get to know Him, you will want less and less of the, 'old life.' Jesus wants to be your friend, and to guide you with His word, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. He wants to bless you with love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, and self control. Until we see the fruit of the Spirit, referenced above we take by faith that those fruits are on the way!

8. HOW CAN YOU STAY CHANGED? We stay changed, remain, or abide by the grace of God as we continually seek His face. He has promised to be found when we seek Him. As we seek Him we are changed. As we serve Him we are changed. As we approach Him in childlike faith and continue to grow in Him we are changed. We are designed to go from glory to glory. We are designed to reflect the glory of God.

9. WHY SHOULD I ABIDE, OR REMAIN? We should abide and walk in God's ways because that is what He made us to do. We were created to have an intimate relationship with God. When we choose comfort, achievement, and purpose in anything that is not of God we put barriers up that make that intimate relationship less than what it should be. God's highest priority for us to to know Him in an intimate way.

10. WHAT IF I MESS UP? Go back to number six if you mess up. At some point in our lives we all mess up. We will all have times to go back and to step through the questions above. As we apply scripture to our lives and live in obedience those times of mess up become fewer and farther between. Jesus is the perfect example of the life and surrendered heart we should try to obtain, but we can only do it with God's grace and with His help. So repent, turn from sin and receive the gift of forgiveness, then get back into that thrown room and serve and love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, strength.