Decisions

Factors that should affect believers’ decision-making

Desire to know God’s will

Psalm 25:4–5 NKJV

Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.

See also Ps 143:8; Ho 4:6 Ignoring God’s will leads to destruction; Jn 10:27; Jn 14:15–17

Confidence in God’s readiness to reveal his will

Psalm 25:8–9 NKJV

Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way.

See also Ps 16:7; Ps 25:12–14; Ps 48:14; Ps 73:23–24; Pr 3:5–6; Is 30:19–21; Je 9:23–24

Belief in God’s overall plan for his people

Romans 8:28–30 NKJV

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

See also Eph 1:3–14; Php 2:12–13; Heb 11:39–40

God’s promise to guide believers in their decisions

Isaiah 58:11 NKJV

The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

See also Ps 32:8–9; Is 42:16; Is 48:17; Jn 14:26; Jn 16:13

Knowledge of scriptural principles

Mark 12:29–31 NKJV

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

See also Dt 6:4–5; Le 19:18; Ex 20:1–17; Mt 7:12; Ro 13:9–10; Ga 5:14; Jas 2:8

A willingness to trust God

Hebrews 11:17–19 NKJV

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

See also Ge 15:4–6; 2 Ch 20:20; Ps 25:1–2; Ps 31:5; Ps 143:8; Is 12:2; Lk 1:45; Ro 4:3; Ro 4:20–24; Ga 2:16; Ga 2:20; Heb 11:1–39