The Cost of Indecision

How often do we procrastinate or put off the making or taking of a decision?

I remember reading the following story about former US President, Mr Ronald Reagan:

Former President Ronald Reagan says he learned the need for decision-making early in life. An aunt had taken him to a cobbler to have a pair of shoes made for him. The shoemaker asked young Ronald Reagan, "Do you want a square toe or a round toe?"
Reagan hemmed and hawed. So the cobbler said, "Come back in a day or two and let me know what you want."
A few days later the shoemaker saw Reagan on the street and asked what he had decided about the shoes. "I still haven't made up my mind," the boy answered. "Very well," said the cobbler.
When Reagan received the shoes, he was shocked to see that one shoe had a square toe and the other a round toe.
"Looking at those shoes every day taught me a lesson," said Reagan years later. "If you don't make your own decisions, somebody else will make them for you!"

The sovereign God has made us people, not puppets. We have His Word to guide us, His love to redeem us, and His assurance that we are capable of making choices.

Psa 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you, My eye shall be on you. 9 Be not like the horse, or like the mule, who have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, so that they do not come near you.

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. —1 JOHN 5:14-15

First, He tells us that we can have confidence in our asking when we are asking according to His will. Why would this kind of asking give us confidence?

Because when we ask according to His will, He hears us; if He hears us, then we will receive what we asked for. So, what is the key to receiving? Getting God to hear us.
How do we get Him to hear us? Ask according to His will. What is His will? His Word! When we base our asking on what His Word says, then we will have what we are asking for because God is listening to us when we ask according to His will.

In this modern day and age, we consider the opinions of others so much; it could actually get to a place, where it controls us.

How often do we want to say or do something, but the first question that comes to mind is: “what will people say” or “what will they think of me” or you share an idea with a friend and the first thing the friend say is: “are you nuts?” or “that will never work” or even worse stuff comes out of their mouths.

Do you recognise this? Then, as soon as I pay attention to their words or opinions, I give up on my dream, I relinquish the idea.

Psa 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being. 17 How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!18 If I made up their number, it would be more than the grains of sand; when I am awake, I am still with you.

How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!

Public opinion on certain issues are important, but. When it comes to my life and your life, the only opinion that matters, is God’s opinion.

What does He say or think about me? Who does He proclaim, I am?

The kingdom of God, the rule of God in our hearts; the right of Jesus Christ to be Lord within us can never be shaken. And that is what is being tested today so that all phoniness is being exposed. I have never seen a time when more people who are apparently strong, virile Christians have fallen away, and have renounced the faith in our present day. But the things that cannot be shaken will remain, and that which is based on the phony and the untrue will crumble and fall.