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In this episode, Nancy Wilson talks about how to know what God wants you to do next and how Christians should approach the decisions in front of them with trust in the Lord rather than leaning on their own understanding. She reflects on guidance, calling, and the choices that come at different stages of life, while urging listeners to move forward faithfully as God directs their paths.
Find more from Nancy and others on Canon+: https://canonplus.com/tabs/none/pages/nancy-wilson
Join Nancy Wilson each week as she discusses basic christian living habits and practices.
Welcome to the Feminine Podcast. This is Nancy Wilson. Thanks for joining me today. The topic today is how to know what God wants you to do next. How does a Christian make decisions? For instance, in our community here, we have many college students and high school students and come May or actually much sooner than May. May we'll be making decisions about what to do next? Are they going to go to college if so where, what should they study? Where will they live? How will they pay? And if they're finishing college, what is the next step? What is their calling? Which job should they apply for and where? Obviously, this is not limited to students. Everyone has similar kinds of decisions to make regarding what job, living situations, how to spend their time in a way that pleases and glorifies God. There are always so many decisions to make, but some seem much more significant than others. So make whatever application that is relevant to your stage of life, whether you're a student or not. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6, to trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path. This is the foundation for all our decision making, the primary and most important prerequisite to all decision making as that we trust the Lord with all our heart. We should not want to make any decision that does not please God. We can't just look to our own in-lite to decide our leaning and trusting must be in the Lord 100%. If you are high school age and living at home, your parents obviously have some authority over your decisions, especially if they will be the ones footing the bill. So you should seek their counsel and treat them with honor and respect. Parents are given to us for a reason. Ask God to use them to guide you with wisdom. Even if you have the ability to pay for school yourself, you should still honor and respect your parents and seek their input. They have an important God-given role to play. Now obviously when making any decision, anything that God forbids is out of the running. You cannot be trusting Him in making choices that you know He is against. Are you thinking of marrying an unbeliever? How could God bless something that He forbids? Remember in all your ways, acknowledge Him. You can't expect Him to bless your choices if you are choosing to be foolish and disregard His Word. Psalm 2512 says in the ESV, Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will He instruct in the way that He should choose. Such a great promise. God does not play hide and seek with His will for us. He instructs us. He opens doors and He closes doors. Both are His doing. He says yes. And He says no. He shapes our desires and directs our steps. Some people know from an early age what they want to be when they grow up. But not everyone has such a long-term vision. You probably have some desires. So this is what we have encouraged people over the years to do when they are at a crossroads with some important choices to make. Ask yourself three questions. One, what are your abilities? Be honest if it helps write them down. Second, what are your opportunities? Just because you have abilities in one area does not mean that's where your opportunities lie. And then third, what are your desires? What would you like to do? God gives us choices and sometimes He opens more than one door so we should pray for His direction. I had two good choices for work, with two Christian organizations when I had been out of college a couple of years. I prayed, of course, and I asked God for guidance. I had the abilities required for the job. I had two opportunities, but after considering I realized I had the desire for only one of those options, so that's when I took. But everything lines up immediately. Perhaps you have a clear desire, but you have no opportunities at present. This may need to be a long-term goal, and you'll need to look for other opportunities in the meantime. If you want to get married and have a family, which is certainly a great desire, but at present you have no opportunities, that simply means it is not God's timing right now. And you can continue to pray and grow in other areas and learn new skills in the meantime. Which is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Becoming a nurse or a doctor is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. Just like all colleagues are. Then what is the end? Well, to glorify God. And in doing that, we enjoy Him forever. My husband has said many times, God does not steer a parked car, so keep moving, looking and praying for what you should be doing, where you should be living. While remembering it is more about glorifying God, sitting at home, wondering what you should do is like being a parked car, or taking a job you don't like, while not looking for another one is like being a parked car. Don't lose heart. You may not be sure yet what your abilities are. And you can ask others you respect and trust for their input. But be praying first and foremost for the Lord to teach you in the way you should choose. When He shut the door, we should be grateful and know that He's protecting us. When He opens one and it looks good on all fronts, lining up with our abilities, our opportunities and our desires, then we should go. God has taught and is teaching us in the way we should choose. If you're older and ready to retire, does that mean God is no longer going to teach you in the way you should choose? Of course not. We're to continue on the path He has chosen for us all our days. Stay on course steady as she goes in all phases of life, whether young or old. Trust Him. Work hard to hone your skills and shape your abilities. Learn some new ones. Pray for your desires to be shaped by the Lord for doors to open and that you will be clearly led to make choices that please and honor Him. That's how we can be confident that we're right where we should be bearing fruit unto Him. Thank you for joining me today. This seems on your week ahead. Before I go, I want to let you know about my page on Canon Plus. That's where you can find all my audiobooks, audio series, conference talks and more. Go to mycanonplus.com or click the link in the show notes and have a look around.