Hello 2025! We have been blessed with another year and opportunity to serve the Lord! If you are like some people, you may have started on some new year’s resolutions or goals with the intent to do better than you did in 2024. Can you take a moment and scan that paper or mental list and see if you have anything on it that relates to a goal of seeking the counsel of God in all you do? Well, if it’s not there let’s add it.
We’re embarking on a new 8 week mini-devotional study series called “8 Principles for Safeguarding Your Decisions as a Christian Woman”. Come along for the journey.
As Christian women, we are to live a life that demonstrates we are true followers of Christ, little Jesus’ as some say. As we endeavor to follow Christ, life will happen to us causing us to have to make decisions some of which can pose a great challenge for us.
There is no need to worry or fear, the Lord has our back and has strategically placed within the Word of God answers we need to help us safeguard our decisions.
This week we will focus on “Principle 1: Prayerful Decisions”.
Principle 1: Prayerful Decisions
In Acts 15, we are privy to a major conflict amongst the apostles and disciples concerning circumcision. Acts 15:1-2 says “1And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.”. The issue of circumcision was a big deal and was causing issues amongst the Believers. It seemed to have been a custom in Judea and amongst Pharisees who were pushing the agenda of circumcision wherever they could.
Leaders like Paul and Barnabas did not agree with the need to be circumcised thus they decided to take the issue to the senior leaders in Jerusalem. While in the midst of a heated conflict there had to have been prayer. When you consider the life of Paul and Barnabas, we know from evidence that they were men of prayer. Without prayer, those in conflict (like Paul and Barnabas) would not have agreed to go to Jerusalem, they would have likely remained in Antioch stuck in the middle of the conflict and deceived by confusion and the doctrines of men.
Pause for a moment and listen to the old hymn titled “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. How does this song speak to your heart concerning making prayerful decisions?
Making prayerful decisions is the most obvious action a Christian woman should take before she makes decisions in life. The Bible refers to this as “seeking God”. Not every decision in life will be straightforward however, each of us should have a prayer posture, a close enough walk with the Lord where we are able to more readily discern those things that we need to pray about before a decision is made.
If you don’t have that level of relationship with God today, you can obtain it and the way you start is by praying about your situation until you get an answer and not budging until God answers you, even if God’s answer is not exactly what you were expecting to hear. This means making a decision in your own heart that you will not lean on your own understanding even under the weight of pressure from people and the circumstances around you.
While things like brushing your teeth or taking a shower doesn’t need an answer from God, namely because you already know you need to wash and clean your body. What would however, require prayer is asking the Lord should I do these things first in the order of my day today or should I seek to spend time with you before I get busy with the daily mundane tasks. Oftentimes the order in which you do things matters and can become critical in the outcome of our day. In other words, time seeking the Lord is our #1 priority over trying to take care of other things first.
Important Application Principles
- God delights in those who seek Him in prayer for direction. He desires to give us the desires of heart and to give us what ask of Him provided we meet the conditions biblically (see 1 John 4 and 1 John 5).
- Don’t dismiss the need for God’s guidance and counsel and the need to make prayerful decisions even when you think it is too big, too simple or trivial in nature to God. God is concerned about everything we do and the order in which we do them.
- When you are unsure about whether or not to make a certain decision, wait until you obtain peace or resolve (especially if it’s not an emergent situation).
- You cannot rush the peace of God and demand God give it to you at the snap of your finger.
- When you don’t have peace about a situation it is an indication that you need to do more praying and/or that you need you need to wait for instructions and guidance. We need to wait on God and not get ahead of His decisions.
- Pray a situation through until you have exhausted all measures to get the answer you need from God.
- Prevail in prayer
Let us remember to seek the counsel of the Lord and to pray about life decisions. This shows God that we are interested in what He has to say, and it demonstrates that He is Lord over all aspects of our lives. Stay tuned for next week’s lesson on Principle 2!
