Isaiah 55:8-9Isaiah 55:8-9 8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.

8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.

9“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

9“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9Isaiah 55:8-9

#3 “U NFOLDING THE MAP ”

DECISION MAKING 101

God has a will for your life!

He wants you to know it!

GUARD RAILS

1. God’s providential will2. God’s moral will

Somewhere between those we find the personal will of God for our lives!

LAST WEEK:

Another tool God uses is the counsel of other believers.

•The primary way that we know God’s will is through His word.

•Problem… Bible has been so misused that there is a tendency to overlook it as a primary tool.

PSALM 119:24

•Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.

•David said that through the law and teaching of Moses he found comfort and counsel in God’s word!

HOW DO WE USE GOD’S WORD TO FIND GOD’S WILL?

•Not by looking for parallel situationsor by using logic or intuition.

•Key principle to remember:• God says right up front, “we don’t think alike or act alike.” How does that help me?

Whenever you are making a decision, there are three things that come to bear on that decision.

1. Context- we are limited to what we know and what we have experienced.

2. Perspective- we are always impacted by our desires and fears.

3. Outcome- always ends up being our “best guess”.

What if you and I had the opportunity to have a context as big as all human experience, a perspective that ranges from eternity past, right through our lives and into eternity future and the ability to peer into a mind that knows the outcome of every one of our options?

What God has invited us to do is look into His thoughts and to look into His ways and to become so familiar with His thoughts and His ways that over time our thoughts become His thoughts and our ways become His ways.

ROMANS 12:2

• And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

• The phrase “test and approve” means to sort out or discern.

THREE BIG AREAS OF DECISION MAKING:

•Relationships•Finances•Physical Life

No worries man!

JOHN 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

JOHN 10:10

A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. (The Message)

JOHN 10:10

A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. (The Message)

EPHESIANS 3:20

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us…

Your future is

bright!

!!!!!

( ((