Making Wise Choices--Part 2: Guest Post by Kelsey

We're taking a little break from the Love and Marriage Series, normally found here on Wednesdays in order to feature a series of guest posts by my very own daughter, Kelsey!  This is Part 2 of Making Wise Choices!
(If you weren't here last week, please go over and read her bio, which is on Part 1.  Read that and also get to know her a little bit; you'll find the link below.)

It's hard to express how excited, honored, blessed, I am to have my daughter, Kelsey, guest posting on this blog!  Everything she writes is straight from her heart.  I'm very proud of her. Her writing style is real, it will challenge you, and she has a depth in her relationship with the Lord which is way beyond her years.  In her 21 years she's been through some things, and they've caused her to grow in the Lord.  I know you're going to greatly benefit from reading what she writes, and thinking on it.  Please encourage her (and me) by letting us know what you think, and if you have any questions--either about her or what she's written, or anything else, for that matter, please feel free to ask!

Now, if you have not read Making Wise Choices--Part 1, please click on the link, and then come back over here and read Part 2!  I would love it also if you'd take a look around and read some of the other posts, if this is your first time here. If it is, Welcome!  I'm really grateful to the Lord for every person who reads this blog--you are all so special to me!

Practical Steps for Making Wise Choices

1. Fill your mind with Truth

• Joshua 1:8-9
  ⁸This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
   ⁹Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
• Deuteronomy 17:18-20

¹⁸And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:
¹⁹And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
²⁰That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

• Psalm 1:1-3
  
  
  
  
   ¹Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
   ²But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
   ³And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

2. Talk to the Lord.

     Talk to Him all day, every day, about everything.  He will become real to you, and you will realize He is with you all the time.  He sees when you are struggling and He will help you, if you will ask Him.

• Romans 12:12

¹²Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
...“continuing instant” means staying close to; tarrying with. 

• Romans 8:26
• James 1:2-5

3. Obey and Honor your Parents.

     Not only do they have a lot of wisdom, God commands us to honor them and obey them, so it may be well with us, and we may live long.  They have our best in mind and will help us make good choices.

• Exodus 20:12
• Ephesians 6:1-3
• Colossians 3:20

4. Don’t listen to your heart.

     Don’t do things because they feel good/right.  Girls are easily ruled by their emotions.  Satan loves to use that!  The world says “follow your heart!”  God says “lead your heart!”

• Jeremiah 17:9

⁹The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

• Proverbs 23:19

¹⁹Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

• Proverbs 28:26
• Deuteronomy 11:16   

 ¹⁶Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;  (other “gods” can be anything we haven’t given completely to the Lord) 

• Psalm 51:10

Ask God to help you.  God does lead us through desires He gives us.  (Like a desire to work with elderly people or children, or the desire to get married—that is beautiful and God-given, in His time.  We just need to be careful to not let the desires rule us, but rather give them to God.)

5. Think in the perspective of eternity and what really matters.

    
     Really think about eternity and how long it is, to give yourself a perspective of how incredibly short our time on earth is.  There are so many people dying every day without Christ, so many people hurting or discouraged. 

Am I using my time for valuable things? 

Am I glorifying Him with my time, with my friends, with my music, with my attitude?

• Psalm 90:12 

            ¹²So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

     A lot of people in this world think being rich, famous and beautiful is the ultimate goal of life.  They might not even realize it themselves, but you can see it in their actions.  People are obsessed with making money, looking good, and doing something that will make them famous.

     Singers, actors and athletes may have more fame or popularity now than a Jim Elliot or a Mary Magdalene or you or me.  But in Heaven, that won’t matter at all.  When the judgment day comes, we want to have chosen the more important things than money or beauty.  We want to choose the things that will last forever—we want to be very wealthy in the kind of treasure that is priceless and lasts FOREVER!

This life really is just a blip.

     If you were given the choice of a single, brown M&M that someone found on the floor, or a King-size candy bar that is your absolute favorite kind, which would you choose?

It’s not even a choice, is it?

That’s a tiny picture of how ridiculous the applause and wealth of this brief life looks in comparison to the applause and wealth of Heaven for eternity. 

They don’t compare!

     When we focus on our Heavenly treasures, and building up more of those to lay at our Savior's feet in Heaven, it will help us remember more clearly that this world is not our home.

• Matthew 6:19-21

¹⁹Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: ²⁰But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: ²¹For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

• Matthew 12:34-36

• Luke 12:15-21 (the parable of the greedy farmer)
• Hebrews 11:24-26  Moses knew his Heavenly reward would be far greater than all the glory of Egypt, which was definitely considerable.
• James 5:1-3 

¹Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
²Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
³Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

6. Remember Whose you are, and that Christ lives in you.

• 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

7. Examine the desires of your heart.

• Psalm 37:4—this verse doesn’t mean that God will give you everything you want, it means that when you are truly delighting yourself in Him, your desires will line up with His will because you will want whatever He has planned for you, knowing that His plans are the best and He loves you.  Verse 5 ties in, too.

 ⁴Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
 ⁵Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

8. Ask the Lord to open and close doors according to His will.

• Judges 6:36-40  “Put a fleece out.”  I think the key to this, the most important part, is that you don’t try to manipulate God or have an agenda of your own.  Really trust the Lord.

Our choices also affect others.  Let’s affect others for good and not for evil.

“Father, make of me a crisis man.  Bring those I contact to decision.  Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.” –Jim Elliot

• Joshua 24:14-15:  “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. 

      And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

            Isn’t it amazing that the Lord gives us a choice?  He could’ve made us little God-loving and God-serving robots, but in His wisdom He didn’t.  The maker of love knew that true love couldn't be forced.

Make your choice, but remember that if we are lukewarm, He will spew us out of His mouth. (Revelation 3:16)  We must either serve the Lord or serve Satan.  There aren’t any other choices.

     Romans 13:11-12:  “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”
~~Kelsey :)