8/31/09

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Step 1: Clarify your Choices

Clarify the choices in your head and engage your heart.

Be free from double-minded thinking! Yes, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!”(John 8:36). When Jesus sets you free from the "two-souled" mindset, you are indeed free. You’re free from wavering between two opinions, procrastinating in decisions, stuck between fear and faith, and vacillating between God’s way and man’s way.

This next series of posts will include Seven Steps to Freedom. Take these steps to see deliverance from the "two-souled" dilemma. These Seven Steps to Freedom are not a formula but a process. They will free you from bondage and move you into a place of peace and stability in your life and your leadership.

The first of the Seven Steps to Freedom is to clarify your choices. Jesus presented choices in a very clear, succinct way. He said you can’t serve both God and money (Matt.6:24). He said lay up treasure in heaven not on earth. It’s either earth or heaven (Matt. 6:19, 20). It’s one or the other and it is clear.

Openly recognizing our choices engages the mind through logical analysis and engages the heart by self-examination. You have to be honest with where your heart is in clarifying the choices!

Most Christians, especially leaders, know the right choice when presented as clearly as those statements by Jesus. However, we often deny the content of our heart which desires to self-protect, to avoid conflict, or to make people happy. When Elijah asked the people "how long will you waver between two opinions," the people didn’t respond (1 Kings 18). Elijah declared a clear choice for God versus Baal. But, they said nothing. They did not want to acknowledge their heart condition-- the depth to which they had sunk-- the extent of their instability in faith. They wondered if the choice was really that clear. How could it be so simple when their hearts were in such turmoil?

Clarify the choices in your head and engage your heart. Don’t deny your condition and you will clarify your choices!

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