When You're Afraid About A Decision You Have To Make

“Please pray for us that we will know the right decision to make,” Larry asked the small group who met in his home. “We believe that taking the job I’ve been offered in Dallas is the right thing, but we want to make doubly sure we aren’t missing God’s will. You know how deceptive the devil can be. I don’t want to be misled by him. The way he deceives us sometimes is so insidious. I don’t want to be fooled. We know he is cunning and we really want to hear from God on this situation.”

As Larry talked, it began to sound like this time had been set aside to honor Satan himself. More was said about the devil’s ability to mislead us than was said about anything else. Of course, there is no doubt that Larry’s sincere desire was to know and do God’s will, but listening to the way he talked, you’d think that the ability of the enemy to deceive us is greater than God’s ability to keep us in His will.

Larry isn’t different from many Christians today who live a life filled with fear that they’re going to do the wrong thing. They tip toe through this world like a scared little girl in a haunted house. I meet them all the time. They say, “Steve, pray for me. Pray that I won’t miss the will of God.” Or, “Satan is so powerful and so deceptive. Pray for me. I don’t want to miss the will of God.” Or, “I want to stay in the center of God’s perfect will. I can be deceived and can make a mess of my life if I go out there apart from God’s will.” They go on and on about the ability of the enemy to deceive them. They’re so scared that they’re going to miss God’s will, that when they do make decisions, they’re always timid and tentative and unsure.

When it comes to making decisions regarding God’s will, many seem to abandon faith altogether. Instead, they express great fear that they’re going to miss it. Their fear so handicaps them, that they sometimes do practically nothing of any real spiritual significance. They’d rather do nothing than take the risk of making a mistake.

Don’t be paralyzed by analysis paralysis. Don’t come to the place of no further progress in your grace walk because of your fear you might make a wrong choice. Do you want to know and do God’s will? Then trust Jesus Christ. Appropriate Jesus Christ as your life, and then … decide! And move forward in faith — not in apprehension and fear, but in faith — saying, “Lord God, thank you that you are my life, and I will trust you to live through me.”

Make your decisions on faith, not fear, and rush into them with confidence that Jesus will enable you to