I sometimes ask people this question: What is the most important decision you will ever make in your life?
For me the answer to that is easy. It was the day I admitted that I was sinful (selfish) and asked Jesus to be my Savior and Lord. I made that decision on May 22, 1965 in my Sophomore year at Ohio State.
This is my second question: What is the second most important decision you will ever make in your life?
Again, for me the answer is easy (but actually doing it is often VERY difficult).
It is to obey Jesus when the Holy Spirit prompts me to do something. Sometimes I obey as follows:
….Immediately
….After a few minutes
….After a day or more
….Sometimes it has even taken me years to obey Him
I find that the longer I put off obeying Jesus, the less I hear the Holy Spirit prompting me.
So, there is a real danger in not instantly obeying Jesus.
It is when I am consistently and instantly obeying the prompts of the Holy Spirit that I am truly joyful.
I have appreciated many things that Charles Stanley (Pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta) has said. Among his quotes are the following:
“To live the Christian life is to allow Jesus to live His life in and through us
To walk in the Spirit is to obey the initial promptings of the Spirit
Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him
Disappointments are inevitable; discouragement is a choice
God blesses us so that we might bless others
We learn more in valley experiences than on our mountaintops
Adversity is a bridge to a deeper relationship with God
Our intimacy with God - His highest priority for our lives - determines the impact of out lives”
