All right. Awesome. So today, I'm speaking on
How to make good decisions.
How to make good decisions. Okay. That's the topic that
the Holy Spirit laid on my heart to share with all of us today.
How to make good decisions.
This is a very important topic because we are often not taught how to make good decisions.
Many times, we just wing it. You just have something come up and then
you look around, maybe look at what others have done, or think through it and then just make a decision.
And sometimes those decisions end up being the wrong decisions. But today, I want to provide
a biblical framework to help us all in making decisions.
Because as long as you're alive, you're going to be making a lot of decisions. In fact,
today I was reading some research by the Harvard Business Review, and
one of the things that they mentioned was that the average person, or the ordinary person,
makes about 35,000 decisions per day. Think about that.
You're making about 35,000 decisions per day,
right? You're making decisions every few minutes, every few seconds, you're making decisions.
Now, some of those decisions, of course, are ordinary decisions like
taking a bath, you know, brushing your teeth, getting some coffee or some tea to drink,
very ordinary decisions. Sweeping your room, laying your bed, you know, maybe exercising,
all of that. And some are weightier decisions, okay?
So sometimes that is the day you are choosing who you marry. That is the day you are making a decision on
changing your location, that's the day you're making a decision on leaving a job or applying for a job.
You know, so there are, there are some weighty decisions that also come up along the way
in the 35,000-plus decisions you're making every single day.
And if we examine how much consequence the decisions you make have,
then it's important that you have a biblical framework to make the right decisions.
If you look back at your life, you'll notice that some of the things you regret the most
are wrong decisions, okay? And sometimes your life can take a certain
trajectory for a long time simply because of one wrong decision.
So there are decisions that carry a lot of weight. They carry a lot of value
and should not be made lightly in, in, in any way at all, okay?
So I want to, today, just provide a framework for you
to help you make godly decisions, to help you make
godly decisions. Your decisions will shape your direction, it will shape your character, it will shape your experiences,
it will shape your destiny, okay? So the first thing that I want to say
about making a decision, and I'll try and make it as practical as possible.
The first thing I want to say when it comes to making a decision is to realize
that God has a plan for your life, okay?
So God has a plan for your life. In Ephesians chapter 2, the verse 10,
the Bible says, "For we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which he has beforehand ordained that we should walk in them."
So God has beforehand ordained that we should walk in a certain way.
He has He has good plans for us. That's what he told Jeremiah. I know the plans
I have towards you. Plans of good, not of evil, plans to give you
an expected end. So God has plans for you. And you must realize that
God's blueprint is what is the best case scenario for your life.
If you go out of God's blueprint, you're going to have a lot of troubles.
So God has a plan, God has a blueprint, and the joy of your life should be
to find yourself in God's perfect will for your life.
So your decision should not be based on what you feel, it should not just be based on the flesh,
it should not just be based on what looks good, but you should always, first of all, consider
what is God's will in every situation.
So like I mentioned, I'll give you very practical examples as we go along. Let's take a decision like marriage,
okay?
Sometimes when you watch a lot of social media, social media can shape that decision for you.
It can give you a certain desire for a certain type of person,
a certain look of a person. And that desire
can take you out of what God has originally intended and designed
when it comes to your marriage.
So you must always look at God's blueprint,
God's blueprint when it comes to making decisions.
And the way to understand God's blueprint and to know God's plan is simply to pray,
okay?
So there are decisions you should pray about. There are decisions you should not make
without praying.
There are decisions you should not make without praying. If you make some decisions without praying,
you are likely to fall out of the ambit of God's will concerning that particular matter. And
prayer, praying concerning decisions often have to do with weighty decisions,
weighty decisions. There are weighty decisions that you should not make
without praying, first of all, okay?
Now, when I say weighty decisions, let me give you an example. For instance, if you wake up in the morning and you want to take
tea,
you're choosing between Milo and coffee. You don't have to have a one hour prayer session to decide between Milo and coffee,
okay? You, you might as well go with whatever you feel like unless, maybe,
you feel the Holy Spirit leading you to take something specifically. But generally, you can just go with what you feel like, right?
But that same principle cannot apply to who you marry, for instance,
because that's, that's a decision of much more consequence.
So there are decisions that you have to pray about.
And I'm sure the question you are asking me is, Pastor, I've heard pray about this decision, pray about that decision.
How do I pray about a particular decision?
Now, the challenge sometimes, and I'm going to use marriage again as an example.
The challenge sometimes is that we wait until you find somebody, and then you go to God, and you say, God, is this the person?
But actually, there has to be an investment of prayer over the years.
And in those investments of prayer, you're praying concerning the person, you're praying concerning yourself, you're praying concerning your marriage,
you're praying concerning your children. So if you, if you want to
make a good decision concerning marriage, it's not when you are at the crossroads
that you go to God,
right? If that's the case and you are at the crossroads and you go to God, God would have mercy, and God would help you.
But the ideal thing is that
you should be
going through that process already.
So prayer is not just for, for an answer, but prayer is for the preparation of the process.
So when it comes to that, make sure you are praying.
Start praying now, start praying into your marriage.
Pray that you, you will stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, pray that God will lead you to the right person, pray that God will prepare both of you.
So those are the types of things to start praying
before we even get to the place of God, is this the one? And you'll be amazed that as you're praying those prayers, by the time you meet the person,
there, there will be other means of confirmation
apart from God is he the one, and then you're expecting an answer, yes, he's the one. You'll be amazed that because your heart is prepared, your mind is prepared
through the process of prayer, you'll be able to make a good decision. So there are decisions that you should be praying about
now. There are big decisions that you should be praying about now, and you should not make
some decisions
without prayer. In prayer, seek God's wisdom,
seek God's counsel, okay?
The key is that, and that's why I started by saying,
God's blueprint is key.
Don't make a decision outside of what God has said in his word.
Don't make a decision outside of what God has said in his word. There are things spelled out clearly in the Bible,
and
it will be in your best interest to make sure that you align with what the scriptures say.
For instance, the Bible says that, "Do not be unequally yoked
with an unbeliever," all right?
If you're making a decision on who to marry, it, it is not wise at all to go and marry somebody of another faith, a Buddhist, a Muslim,
and all of that. You've already stepped out of the blueprint of God's will.
And you're already making a decision that can have very dire
consequences. So seek God's wisdom, first of all, seek God's blueprint, first of all, and you
seek that in prayer and in the word of God. You seek that in prayer and in the word of God.
That's why it's important to be in meetings like this,
to hear the word of God, to keep listening to the sermons that, that we share,
to keep reading the Bible. What it does is that it's preparing you, it's giving you a backdrop and a foundation such that
when you reach the place that you have to make a decision, you already have enough in you, and often the Holy Spirit can
use those messages, use the word that you've read,
use the, the things that you've, you've heard in prayer, use the prophecies and all of that, to direct you
concerning what you should do in, in a particular
in a particular instance. So
that's the first thing. Make sure that you are seeking God's blueprint in all the decisions
you are making. Like I mentioned, it doesn't mean that you should be spooky. It doesn't mean that if you're
going to have tea or coffee, you say, oh, well, what is God's will? No, there are things that
do not, um, you do not have to approach them that way. The only time when that comes up is when
but a wise man listens to advice.
So, you need advice when it comes to various things. There are decisions you should not make alone.
the Holy Spirit instructs you that, okay, take this rather and for, for various reasons, he may instruct you to do that.
Just to buttress this point even further, Proverbs chapter 15 verse 22,
It's like waking up in the morning and asking the Holy Spirit, should I bath? Brother, you have to bath, you don't have to, you don't have to pray about it.
without counsel, plans fail.
but with many advisers they succeed.
Just bath. It's something that you, you have to do, okay? So but seek God's will concerning big ticket decisions,
Without counsel, plans fail.
big, serious decisions, let the word of God guide you, let the word of God help you.
But with many advisers they succeed.
Of course, many advisers does not mean you should trumpet it before the whole world,
Now, the next framework which is very important is to seek godly counsel,
but there are specific people that God places in your life who become a sounding board,
who help you, who can flesh it out, who can tell you the truth,
who can really look at it from an objective,
to seek godly counsel.
an objective lens. I remember years ago, one of my teachers in JHS
And I want to read some scriptures to you that will help you appreciate
called me and said something interesting to me. She said,
godly counsel because there are decisions you should not make without talking to
if you are drawing a line,
someone in your life who can provide godly counsel,
and you are going ahead and drawing the line,
godly counsel,
you will not be able to see behind you when the line is crooked. That was quite a proverb.
godly counsel. Proverbs chapter 11 verse 14,
the Bible says that, "Where there's no guidance,
a people fall. But in the abundance of counselors, there is safety."
In the abundance of counselor, in the presence of counselor, in the presence of counselors,
there is safety.
So God brings counselors, guides, into your life, pastors,
shepherds,
into your life who help you. Because sometimes you can sound so smart in your own ears until you run that same idea
by someone who God has placed in your life to help you.
But I think it makes some sense. Sometimes when you're on a journey, it's difficult to see
Look at this verse. Proverbs chapter 12 verse 15. It says, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.
how things are turning out, how things are panning out
until you have someone look at it. So someone from behind will be able to tell you that this line...
If you take maybe a stone and you're drawing a line on the floor,
you may be surprised that you may not know how crooked it is until someone stands from
a place where they can have a better view and be able to tell you that, oh no, this line is crooked. Do it this way, do it that way.
So, God gives you counselors to help you.
God gives you counselors to help you, and there are people you should be able to call to run some ideas by them.
There are people you should be able to call to say, "Pray with me concerning this. I'm thinking about this."
It is safety. It is a blessing.
It is a very, very, very wonderful thing.
And that's something you should not despise at all.
You should not despise at all.
So, cherish the people that God gives you, seek their counsel,
and let them help you, let them guide you.
Okay, these are people who
are set by God to help you. Let me read some more scriptures to you.
Proverbs chapter 19 verse 20.
You see a lot of these types of scriptures in the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs chapter 19 verse 20.
It says, "Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future."
Listen to advice, accept instruction,
that you may gain wisdom in the future. You may gain wisdom concerning
everything that you are involved in. So,
there are decisions you should not make without seeking Godly counsel.
Without seeking Godly counsel. Big-ticket decisions.
Big-ticket decisions.
Who to marry is a classic example. You're changing your location, you're changing various things.
You need, you need some counsel, you need some guidance
concerning, concerning that. So, that's, that's another important framework
that you need when it comes to making good decisions. Without that, you'll be surprised at how many bad
decisions that you may
you may end up making. So, avoid making major decisions
in isolation. Avoid it.
Avoid it completely.
And when you marry, that's one of the blessings of a partner. That partner can become a sounding board
for major decisions.
Avoid making major decisions in isolation.
You may end up having problems along the way. So, that's, that's very important.
Now, another important framework to note when making a decision,
depending on the weight of that decision, has to do with your motives.
Okay? Why are you making this decision?
Because sometimes the decision can be right, but your motive can be wrong, and therein the problem lies.
Okay? You can be driven by pride.
You can be driven by fear, you can be driven by greed.
You can be driven by all kinds of things in making a certain type of decision.
And that can lead you into trouble.
The decision may be right, but your motive may be wrong, and your motive will show up along the way in the decision, and that can spoil things.
Okay? So, always, and I mentioned at the beginning about prayer.
In prayer, be honest with God about your motives, be honest with your shepherds or your counselors or your pastors, whoever the Lord has placed
in your life, about
your motives. And a good shepherd will often
drill down to find out your motives for making certain decisions. Now, when we talk about motives, it does not mean that you should not be ambitious.
Ambition is not a bad motive, okay? Like ambition, let's say in your career you want to
rise to the very top, you want to make a lot of money and all of that.
That is not wrong. There's nothing wrong with that.
But it will be wrong if there are motives of greed, for instance. You want to defraud people
to get there. You want to
take advantage of people to get there, okay? Or your motive could even
be that you are doing it to spite somebody else, you are doing it to prove a point to someone else.
I've met people who try to live their whole lives
to make it in a certain sense, to get to a certain pedestal, so that they could
prove their parents wrong or they could prove their doubters wrong,
and that's a very sad thing. That's a very, very sad thing. You should not live life
to prove a point to someone else, and it's a sad, it's a sad thing.
So, if you go that way, your decisions will often
be wrong decisions. They will often be wrong decisions and may end you in a ditch
along the way. So, your motives are also something to examine
when making a decision.
When making a decision, another thing to consider has to do with God's peace.
Okay, God's peace.
Colossians chapter 3 verse 15 talks about God's peace.
It says, "Let the peace of God have the rule over your hearts."
You know, let the peace of God rule in your hearts. In other words, let the peace of God be the referee, the umpire of your heart.
There are things that you should not jump to when you don't have peace concerning.
Sometimes some things may look good, but you don't have peace concerning it.
What should you do? Take your time.
Take your time.
Find out why you don't have peace. It doesn't also mean that every time you don't have peace then it means that the thing is wrong.
But there may be a reason why you don't have peace concerning it.
So, take your time, okay? It's important to take steps
only when you have peace, because God's peace often confirms His direction.
God's peace often confirms His direction, so God gives you peace in your heart
concerning that particular matter. When you're about to make a decision and you don't have peace in your heart...
You see, this particular thing has saved so many people from harm.
There are people who were supposed to go somewhere, and then they didn't have peace in their spirit concerning
that journey or concerning any of that, and decided to stay back, and by that they were spared from all kinds of things.
So you never know. Don't take the peace of God for granted.
Learn not to breach the peace of your spirit.
When you are not at peace, you do things anyway, that's not good.
When you are not at peace concerning something, take a step back.
Be very careful. Reconsider it. Pray about it.
Be very sure about it, okay? Because God's peace often signals
the direction that He wants you to go.
Now, there are also decisions, there are different kinds of decisions.
There are decisions that have a compounding effect.
Okay?
There are decisions that have a compounding effect. And when it comes to those decisions, you have to wait for God's timing.
For instance right now, if you look back to when you were in SHS or in the university, if you're done with school, there are things that you wish you had done.
Okay?
Let me explain that a bit better.
Okay, there are things that you wish you had done. So sometimes project yourself into the future,
For instance, if you want to live healthy,
and then look back as though you are old, even though you are still young. And it will give you a lot of insights and and wisdom
or if you want to be in good health,
good health is not just a one-time decision. Like you wake up today and say,
I'm going to be in good health. Now, yes, it starts out as a one-time decision.
to be able to make better decisions for your life, to be able to make very good and important decisions for your life.
But then there are a series of everyday decisions
that must be made, that should have a compounding effect.
Now another thing I also want I want to mention is that
And sometimes you don't see the effect immediately, so you need patience to be able to see the effect.
I've seen funny videos of people going to the gym,
if you notice that there are areas of your life where you make bad decisions, you need urgent help.
exercising for 10 minutes, and suddenly they are looking at their stomach and they are looking at their
I know there are people for instance, when it comes to the area of relationships, they make very bad choices, they make very bad decisions.
Identify the areas where you are susceptible to very bad choices.
There are people who are just helpless when it comes to business decisions.
Everything they get involved in doesn't seem to work. What should you do? Seek godly counsel.
Seek help, okay, concerning that area so that you can strengthen that area, because if you keep going
abs, you know, because they believe that
by now, the way I've lifted these metals, I should have some muscles by now.
But these decisions have a compounding effect.
A compounding effect.
Okay? So,
with these decisions, you need patience. You need patience. The results are not immediate.
So, you need God's timing. You need patience. That's essentially
what I'm trying to highlight. So,
blindsided, if you keep going with that weakness, you are likely going to make a big decision that may have a far-reaching effect. So if you notice that there are areas of my life where I just seem
learn to be patient when it comes to decisions that have a compounding
effect, okay?
to make bad decisions, seek help, because decisions are often based on knowledge.
Now, let me give you some practical examples,
okay? Some practical examples.
In your
Before you make any decision, you must have proper knowledge about the situation.
twenties, often,
you're making big decisions that have an impact...
Proper knowledge about the situation.
Let me stretch it out a little bit. From your
All right. Now to wrap up, I want to pick up some scenarios of decisions and let's see
late teens all the way to your early thirties,
oftentimes you are making decisions that have
how you can apply this framework, um, one way or the other, to be able to make good decisions in that light. So
first example, let's say you're a business person and then a deal comes before you.
Okay, how do you know? Because there are there are business persons who have
entered into one wrong deal, one wrong contract, and that was the end of it for them. That was the end of their business, they went bankrupt and all of that.
far-reaching impact on your life. You're making decisions on which school to go, what course to do,
master's, PhD,
you're making decisions on who to marry, where to stay,
you're making decisions on friends, you're making decisions on associations,
you're making decisions on church, you're making decisions on
the people who matter to you, all of those types of things.
You're making very, very big decisions.
So those are, I call those years decision years,
What should you do? The first thing you should do is to get as much knowledge as possible.
because oftentimes, the rest of your life
is a reflection of the decisions you've made during that period.
Okay. I mentioned that business is based, um, decisions are based on knowledge, good decisions are based on knowledge. You cannot make a good decision
Of course, sometimes people are able to change and make decisions later on close to their 40s or 50s and all of that. That's entirely possible.
if you don't have ample knowledge concerning a particular matter. So get as much knowledge as possible.
But generally, within that framework of your late teens through your 20s to your early 30s,
you're making a lot of far-reaching decisions
Now get knowledge about the business, but also get knowledge about the people.
for your life.
Far-reaching decisions for your life, and you should not take those decisions for granted.
That's what some people miss sometimes. A business proposal can look good but the people can be very bad. And as long as the people are very bad,
One of the ways to make good decisions is to try
to live in hindsight. I'll explain what I'm trying to say.
it doesn't matter how good the business proposal is. You have problems along the way. So what you should do is to get,
to get some background knowledge about these people as well. What's their track record? Where are they from? What do they do? All of that. Okay?
And then take some time to pray about it.
If the decision is not immediate, if the decision is not urgent, take take some time. Give yourself some time and pray about it. If it's urgent, call someone
Hindsight means that you
are looking back
and
making decisions by looking back. So, for instance, imagine yourself at 60.
What will you be proud of? What are some of the things you'll be proud of that you decided to do?
Your health will be one. How prioritizing your health would be one,
for instance. Not
not settling for less will be one,
that you trust, and let them be your sounding board, let them provide counsel, let them provide guidance. Okay. Sometimes as well you don't enter things hook, line, and sinker.
doing all that you can, giving it your best shot, working hard, doing all these various things
will be very, very important. Taking care of your family and all of that.
So, you can make good decisions
You learn, one of the wisest things you learn to do is to do a test run of things. Okay. So rather than just
by thinking about what do I want to achieve in life?
What does God want me to achieve in life?
At the age of 60, when I'm retiring from whatever job,
dump all your money at once, you can do a test run of things. Okay,
what will I look back on and be proud of?
Now, in hindsight, even though you are young, now you can project yourself into 60 and then do that. And then in hindsight,
let's try this amount and see how it goes and then we can push in some more. So you can always try to do
look back
um, probationary things, okay, to try and ensure that all your eggs are not in one basket, okay. Let me give you another scenario.
and then say, "Okay, then, from now on, I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to do this."
Let's say you're making a decision about your career path. How do you, how do you go about such a decision?
Now, if you're making a decision about your career path, for instance, you have to consider a number of things. You have to consider yourself, okay.
Who are you? What kind of things are you able to do? What kind of things are you able to be involved in happily?
Can you see it? So, that's one practical way to help you make very good decisions
for your life.
Very, very good decisions for your life.
Look back. Look back. Okay.
Every time I go to the hospital, um, often to visit people and to pray for people and all that, I appreciate the work my wife does because I realize that these people are going through a lot. It's
a very gloomy environment and I've often wondered, can I actually do this job? If I, if I had the opportunity to be a doctor or a nurse or any, any of such things,
I wonder if I'd have been, if I would have been good at it. I, I really wonder. Maybe I would have found my way through but
look, looking back or looking at it, it just seems like something difficult that I may not want to do. But I think some people are uniquely gifted and divinely graced for it.
So, look at, look at where your strengths lie. Look at where your interest lie, okay.
You should also look at the financial opportunities that come with a certain job, okay.
There are jobs that don't have a lot of financial opportunities. If you're going to choose a job like that, then you must make sure that you do it at a very high level
so that you are not deprived financially. Do it at a very high level so that you can reap enough financial rewards. But all these thoughts must come into play
when you are making a decision for instance about the job you want to do, the opportunities within the job. Based on that knowledge, go into prayer, find out, "God,
what do you want me to do? Is this the way you want me to go?" All of that. Seek godly counsel and you'll be amazed that you'll be able to make a decision. Sometimes you start out in a career and you want to branch into another path.
There's nothing wrong with it. The Bible actually says whatever your hands find to do, as long as it's a good thing, go ahead and do it, okay. Um,
my last example.
For instance, you're looking for someone to marry or someone is interested in marrying you,
whatever side of the aisle you may be on, again, same framework: you need a lot of knowledge.
A lot of knowledge. Never rush into a relationship. Okay. Never rush into a relationship.
Um, never rush into a marriage. Take your time. Marriage is a life-long journey.
Yeah, never rush into it. Take your time, get to know the person. Pray about it, seek godly counsel. You notice that the framework still runs across.
It still runs across in a lot of ways when it comes to these big-ticket decisions. Seek godly counsel, seek help, take your time, wait for God's timing. I always say, for instance, that if you're getting to know someone, you have to give enough time to really get to know the person.
If you're buying land, the most dangerous thing you can do is to buy land during the dry season, because you may be amazed that during the wet season, the land that you've bought is actually a pool.
Okay, so sometimes you need to see the land in different seasons, or have the land
tested properly to be able to know or even look around. One of the things someone taught me when I was buying land is that when you're when you're buying land in a particular area,
go and look at the houses. Sometimes when you look at the houses and how the walls of the houses are, you can begin to guess
um, what happens. Sometimes because of flood you see certain signs and certain markings on the walls and that can give you an indication of what is happening in the area. So look at the houses around the area
and you'll be amazed. Sometimes even ask around. Ask some of the problems they face with their buildings. You'll be amazed that it'll reveal a lot of insights. Ask them, "What happens during rainy season in this area?"
You'll be amazed. Okay, so you need a lot of knowledge to be able to make
a good decision. Hallelujah. You need a lot of knowledge to be able to make a good decision.
So, just to do a quick recap.
God wants you to make good decisions. And good decisions determine the quality of your life,
the experience that you have in your life, okay. And when and making a good decision, you must always consider God's blueprint,
God's plan for your life, God's good plan for your life. So seek God's wisdom in prayer, in the word, seek godly counsel.
Okay. Examine your motives. Wait for God's timing. Look for God's peace.
Make sure that you have enough knowledge concerning a particular situation. And God will help you make the right decisions
every single time, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.