Cómo encontrar orientación precisa

The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Therefore, go around the world teaching and preaching the gospel to every creature, to the last of the earth. En Contacto, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Today on En Contacto, how to find precise guidance. When you face important decisions in your life, how do you feel? Sometimes you feel a little frustrated, maybe a little afraid. You feel a little uncomfortable. Maybe you're not sure about what you're going to make the right decision. In fact, you may feel so much negativity that you notice that you're postponing and delaying the decision because you're afraid of making the wrong decision. Where do you go when those feelings come up? When those feelings develop and you know you have to make a decision, and you know it could be the culmination, there are many decisions in life. Some are very simple and seem very intransigent and even unimportant. Then there are some that we know are very important. Some are crucial and critical. Others are very timely. We must make very, very precise decisions. Very important decisions. Where do you go? People take all kinds of directions that help them in their decisions, and often take the wrong direction. But wouldn't it be God's own to give us the ability, wisdom, and knowledge to make wise decisions? Wouldn't it be His own to give us precise guidance? When He knows that we all need precise guidance on whatever we may face. That's what I'd like to talk about in this message,

because the question I get the most about others is this. How can I be sure to make the right decision? How can I be sure to have precise guidance in life? How can I be sure that I will do the will of God? I'd like you to please join me in Psalm 25. We will only read one verse, although there are many verses in the Bible that offer this assurance. But we will only read this verse because it is a promise, a word of assurance, because we will all make decisions in our lives. In fact, life is like an incessant and continuous process of decision-making from the moment you are a child and decide which toy to play with until you become an adult and finally decide in life how to proceed in those last years. So at all times, we make decisions. Listen to this one verse that I'd like you to notice in Psalm 25. Verse 12. Who is the man or woman who fears Jehovah? He will show him the way he must choose. Look at that. Who is the man or woman who fears Jehovah? That is, who reveres God, respects Him, submits, surrenders to Him, seeks Him, wants to know His mind, His will, His way. Who is the person who fears Jehovah? He will show him the way he must choose. It is very evident in the Bible that God wants to give us precise guidance on every circumstance in life. In fact, I don't remember God saying, Never in my life do I want you to do this, but you find out how. That doesn't sound like God. I have some plans. Find out what they are.

I have a task. Go do it. That's not how God acts. God has given each of His children the inner presence of the Holy Spirit. One of His main responsibilities is to give us precise guidance for life. God will not put us on this earth and would expect us to walk in His ways, doing His will, knowing that we would be bombarded in a thousand different ways, that is, by the ways of the world, throughout the centuries. This is not just this century. It has happened since the beginning of time. The point is how to find precise guidance. God, look, is eager to give it. It has always been like this. Also now, the question is, how do we proceed? There are probably other ways, but I would like to give you six short sentences. These sentences will take you, without a doubt, from the first part of the decision directly to the last part of your desire to find precise guidance. Well, what is the first sentence? As I said, they are very simple, but each one is important. Number one. Number one, this is to clear the way. Clear the way. Well, what do I mean by clearing the way? Well, just this, that God prepares us to hear his discernment, that is, his precise guidance. He must prepare us. And when I say clear the way, I mean to clear it of two things. First, to clear it of sin.

That is, if I ask God for his direction and that's what we have to do when we ask for guidance, we must ask God, tell me, what do you think about this? If I ask God what he thinks about something in my life, I can't be manipulating, playing, separating, tolerating any voluntary sin in my life. That's asking for holy direction for my life with a perverse attitude. Habits, attitudes, the behavior that is not appropriate for what we are in Christ Jesus or as children of God must go. It must be corrected because sin does this. Sin fragments our thought. Sin fragments thought. Sin clouds thought. Sin disintegrates what happens to us spiritually. And what happens is that we notice this confusion. And that's why some people can't make wise decisions. They are frustrated, confused, upset in their heart and spirit and they feel disoriented and insecure and uncertain. And something that sin always does is completely eliminate security about almost everything in life. So the first thing that must be solved is to clean the path of sin because it will completely cloud your mind. You can't mix God's holy mind

with our stained mind if it's contaminated with something in us that shouldn't be there. So the first thing to do is deal with it. We must solve the problem of sin and we must deal with something else when we clean the path, intense desires. We all have intense natural desires. I'm not saying they're sinful, but we all have these natural desires, things we want, dreams and goals that we have. And so maybe what we want, God wants to give it to us. But we require clear guidance on how to proceed. Maybe God set a beautiful goal for his life but he doesn't have something for his life that he wants, that he really longs for, for what he's worked for and he wants to know how God proceeds with that. He wants to give us guidance and he wants to deal with sin first because he takes advantage of it. Every opportunity there is to get closer to him, God will take advantage of it. Every time he has the advantage or the opportunity, he will take advantage of it so that our sanctification is much more full, to be like him, so that we know that we need to trust and depend on him. So this is what he does. We start with our desires, whatever they may be,

and God has to take us to the point of what I call submissive neutrality. That is, I must take my intense desires to here and let God begin to work in my life and take them to the point where I'm born to say, Lord, do only what you want, God, this is what I want. This is my desire, but I just want to be able to submit, to surrender and be neutral in my thoughts and neutral in my desires because I really want what you want more than what I want because I know that if I want it, you don't want it. Whatever you want is better for me, it will always be. And so when I am able to take those intense desires to a place of submissive neutrality, I know that God certainly works and that is the foundation, the key point, the foundation of a clear discernment is a pure heart. A pure heart and a clear, clear direction go hand in hand. Pure heart and clear direction. A heart that has dealt with sin. The solution to the problem when there is sin is to repent. God, this does not fit in my life, that does not fit. I face this, I abandon it. I don't want anything in my life that clouds my mind and confuses and alters and confuses my judgment so that I lose your clear direction for my life. The second phrase is this, listen to it, exercise patience. Patience only means that I refuse to go before our God. Patience here means that I refuse to rush

until I have a clear orientation. Patience says, I am ready to wait until I know that I have listened to God, until I know that this is his choice, this is his path, this is his will. Patience, very, very important because We get into trouble when we want everything today. We want to move forward now. And in particular, look, a lot depends on the strength of our desire. It depends on how intensely we want it. And the stronger my desire, the more difficult the need I have, and the more difficult it is for me to be able to wait until I have a precise and sufficient orientation, whatever it is. It may be that God has exactly in mind what I desire, but he has a reason to make me wait, which we will see in a few minutes. Well, the third step is this, it is very important, a very important step. Be alert to pressure. Be alert to pressure. When you are in the process of making a decision, be alert to pressure because, without a doubt, there will be pressures. Well, there are two main forms of pressure that we must deal with, and the first is external pressure. Something outside. What is it? Well, people. People tell you what you should do, how you should think, and they will always give you advice. And they will tell you, this is just what I would do if I were you. And listen carefully to that. Now think about how unreliable that is.

This does not mean that you should not follow the advice of a devotee, but think about the people who want to tell you just what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Think about this. First, that comes from your personality, your formation, your way of thinking. Your way of making decisions, your way of thinking. You don't know about your fears, you don't know about your anxieties, what drives you, what motivates you, nor what governs your lives. And look, they don't know it, nor do they know God's will and plan for their lives. And this is what they do. They say, I think you should do this. What they do is project into you a plan that fits them, and you are not them. They say, if I were in your circumstances, you know what? In their circumstances, that does not change who they are, where they come from, what motivates them, what governs them, their personality, their way of thinking, and what they know and don't know about God. And the interesting thing is that there are people who are very willing to give advice, and they know nothing of the biblical principles. They take a verse and say, God says this, you must do this. Well, the question is God's will. If you want a precise direction, if you want a divine direction, if you want a devout direction, you must be sensitive and alert to pressure, because it will undoubtedly come. Okay? That pressure will come from outside. It can come not only from people, but also from circumstances. These are my circumstances. Look at this. These are my circumstances, and I must make a decision because time is running out. That's why I want to move forward. Remember, time does not end for God.

Time does not run out for God. You can receive a lot of pressure, but listen, no matter what your situation is, if God has not told you, if He has not given you a clear direction, if you do not have the precise orientation of Him, do not get involved in something because of the pressure of the circumstances, or because someone is pressuring you. It is very reckless to do so. That's why you have to be careful. Be alert to pressure. That is external pressure. The pressure of the circumstances, the pressure of the people. But there is also internal pressure. What is this internal pressure that prevents me from obtaining a precise orientation? Here is number one. Fears. Anxiety. Fear of loss. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of disapproval. And what happens? People often let themselves go. They are motivated. Forced by the attitudes of others, and sometimes forced, look, by the exaggerated feelings they have. Exaggerated expectations they have of themselves. I must, I should, I am forced. And that involves them in many problems. Feeling obligations is a point of pressure in someone's life when they are forced.

God does not say that I should do something. He gives us a precise direction, and that clear direction will come. But if I submit and yield to external or internal pressure, I will get into trouble. The next thing we will notice is this. And this is... Perseverance in prayer. Well, I didn't just say praying. Persevering in prayer. Remember what Paul taught when he said, for example, in Thessalonians chapter 5, he said, pray without ceasing. It is not that you must always walk around, Father, in the name of Christ, and how you are, glory to the Lord, glory to God. I'm not talking about that. Paul was simply talking about this. Listen, that when you pray for something, do not let it go, do not let it go for what you pray for, what you seek. Try to find guidance on whether it is something you will buy, something you will use, a place you will go to, or your job, or what you will study, whatever you want. He says, pray without stopping. Why does this happen? When we all begin to pray, God begins to do something in our life that is of utmost importance, and something that we do not realize what is happening. We are praying and nothing happens. We think, God, I ask you for clear guidance, but I do not receive it. Think about this. When we pray and talk to Him and we do not see that anything changes, remember what we begin with? We begin with a strong desire here. Lord, I hope this happens. But while we pray, we do not realize what is happening.

Little by little, do you know what He does? He purifies our petition. He purifies our desire. He purifies our alternatives by trying to decide which option to choose. God purifies them. We are talking to Him, He speaks to us, He knows what He does, and we begin to clear the way. He tries, in other words, to bring to the surface the things that we do not even know are there. Attitudes, habits, prejudices against or against the heart, or whatever. Things that we may or may not want in our life. And what does He do? By talking to Him, He brings these things to our memory and heart. What does He do? He separates all our desires from our category of desires and filters our alternatives, until in the end we have three or four of them. And one by one, what does He do? He eliminates them all until we have clear guidance. He cannot, listen, if He tries to find guidance, running from here to there, talking to this one and talking to that one, asking this and asking that one, and does not kneel before God to seek the only one who has the absolute infinite wisdom, it is likely that He is almost always wrong in His decision. And in important and crucial decisions, one must not risk making a bad decision. Look, prayer is the heart and the essence. If you really want clear guidance and do not want to spend time on your knees, do it yourself and get what you can with your effort. Then, for example, I would like you to write down another sentence, please. That sentence is this. Rest in God's promises. Now listen carefully. Rest in your promises. We begin with a foundation, to clean our heart.

And we must be patient. We must verify the pressures that are presented to us, that there is no doubt. Be alert to the pressures. We need to pray without ceasing and also rest in God's promises. Think about this. We, this is the most incredible resource that exists. In fact, this book, which is the Word of God, has the answer, every time I need clear guidance, here it is. You do not have to go to the public library or the private one, no library. You have at your table at night or in your hand, this day has, look, has the eternal, infallible, inerrant and definitive resource to know how God thinks, how He acts, how He works, His ways, His will, His plan, His direction. It is in His Word. You would be surprised to know how many times you will find a situation in the life of a son of God that is similar, the circumstance will not be the same, but something similar. And you will say, how did God act in that situation? Lord, how will you act in mine? That is undoubtedly the way in which we learn His ways. If you do not know God's ways, you do not know how He thinks, nor do you know His principles, then how will you go to God without Him having to open His head, throw out the truth, close and say, ready? This is not how He acts. He works gradually by prayer, gradually in the Word. That is why I speak of meditating in His Word. What will happen? You will fill your mind with the truth. So, for example, you read a passage that, no matter how much you read it, perhaps today it does not make sense to you. Three months later, you will come to a decision and God,

His Spirit, will bring that verse to your mind. What was it? Where was that verse? You open your Bible and suddenly it jumps into view. When you start meditating on those verses, it will be as if God had designed them and written them only for you. That, listen, that is the sublime miracle of this book. The sublime miracle of this book. Look, a verse will catch you and give you direction, which you had read over and over again, and when you see it, you will think, I had not seen that before. Do you know why? Your situation has changed. Therefore, it is a different situation, another circumstance. The same word. And God knew when you would come to Him. Here he knew when he was going to need it. Well, I would like to share a new phrase that is very useful, and it is simply this, wait for peace, wait for peace. The word peace means to be united. Peace speaks of harmony and unity. It is not discord, or disorder, or worry, frustration, anxiety, fear, those things that do not satisfy what God says here. That is, to make peace means to be able to intertwine. What are we talking about? Listen, look at this. We have come to clear our path, to move away and wait in the Lord. Psalm 62.5 My soul only rests in God, one of the key verses in my life.

Psalm 62.5 My soul only rests, without murmuring, or getting angry, or getting angry, or criticizing, or blaming. My soul only rests in God. My hope is in Him. So we wait. We avoid those pressures in life, no matter where they come from, and no matter who they come from. We do not refuse to accept them. We stand before Him. We go to the source of His promises. And now, what can we expect? Wait for peace. United to Him, see what happens. Please join me in Colossians chapter 3, and look at this wonderful verse, number 15. And the peace of Christ reigns in your hearts, to which you yourselves were called in one body, and be grateful. Then it says, look at this, The word of Christ dwells in abundance in you, teaching you and exhorting you to one another in all wisdom, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Look at verse 15. The peace of Christ reigns. What does it mean? It means this. Listen.

The peace of God, His peace rules our life. When we seek guidance, let it rule. That is, when I make a decision, there is harmony. There is harmony between what God thinks and what I think. There is something that my decision and His mind are perhaps intertwined, so that now we think the same, that peace rules. The disorder is over. The agitation is over. The shock is over. Uncertainty as well. Everything ended and now peace rules. That is, now I have a very precise direction. And the evidence of that clear direction is that although my situation does not change and the attitudes of others change and the pressures continue there, deep down He has told me what to do and with that I am committed, whatever it may be. What can happen? You can overcome those circumstances and difficult moments and you can face those alternative decisions and you can make a decision

that you are sure of, because you have this inexpressible, inexplicable, undeniable, and totally reliable, accurate, and sure promise of God. He received it from Him. It is the direction of God for His life right now, for this question and this decision. And so is a good God. He will not leave us alone. He wants us to have peace and He wants us to have contentment. Someone will say, but wait a minute, let's go back to the question he asked a while ago. We say that the final phrase, the final phrase is, let's see, seek peace, that is, wait for peace. That is, do not move until, until you have a clear direction. That is why Paul said, For nothing are you boastful if your petitions before God are not known. And he says more, Let your petitions before God be known in all prayer and prayer,

with the action of grace and the peace of God. That goes beyond all understanding. He will keep them, He will protect them, He will give them harmony, a sense of unity. Look, I do not know anything under the heaven of God personally. I do not know anything. I am sure this is my conviction. It is my conviction. There is nothing in the world, there does not exist, that compares to this. That is, to the incredible sense of unity with God, that it does not change, that it is totally sure, that it creates wonderful harmony in its heart, that it does not matter if the world collapses around it, nothing can shake it. That's what God is looking for. He is looking to bring us, you see. Maybe we start here, but his goal is to bring us to a wonderful harmony and unity with him. Look, our mind adjusts to his and they go together. You know what? He will be so sure of having a clear orientation that he will give the same to what he hears, what he sees, what he feels out there. The important thing is that he has the mind of God.

It is a promise. We have the mind of Christ. How do we achieve it? By cleaning our lives, by cleaning the way. We wait if our soul in God only rests because of him is my hope. I hear the pressure. I feel the pressure. I do not give in to the pressure. I will only speak with the Father. I will accept his promise and I will wait for peace. And there is something true. There is no disappointment in Jesus Christ. For more information, visit www.fema.org