I am a member of a Christian Homeschooling group on Facebook. There are so many other members that I often don’t get a chance to review many of the posts – seeing as there are so many of them. Today was different. Today I saw a post in my notifications that made me want to go and read more. As God would have it, when I got in the group page a totally different post caught my eye.
A woman had posted a question with a bit of background to it. The topic she was bringing up happens to be extremely controversial so I won’t mention it. I personally have some very strong opinions about the topic but that isn’t the point of my writing today so I’ll keep those to myself, especially because I know others have very strong opinions, some in favour and some opposing my own and that may create a huge debate about “the topic” itself and I really want to focus on what caught my eye in the first place, which wasn’t all the controversy, but the woman’s plea for help.
She was asking specifically how someone knows when they are being convicted and when they are making a choice out of fear. The majority of the people who responded to her post just shared their opinion about the topic itself and no one offered any truly insightful advice on how to know when you’re being led by God to make a choice or take a stand.
The realization I had while reading and responding was that there is a real need for people to know how to hear from God and how to test that what they’ve heard lines up with the bible and with their spirit. That is why I finally have begun my blog and even knowing I had to write this in the shower this morning, it’s taken me till just before dinner to get it complete. Better late than never right?
Fear has become my sworn enemy – my nemesis if you will and I have a deep passion for inspiring faith in others; for helping others make decisions from a place of faith, and for teaching people about the Holy, Majestic, Glorious, Powerful, Loving, and Mighty One True God of the Bible.
I saw this woman’s need to know whether she was truly sensing God’s spirit and mind for the decision she faced or if she was just afraid of a bad outcome and thus might be making a decision from a place of fear. I myself was faced with such a decision a few years ago when I had been diagnosed with uterine cancer. I won’t go into the full details of that story here to save time as that is probably more suited to a book instead of one blog post, but the reason I bring it up now is because I learned the most valuable lesson of my entire Christian walk besides the truth that Jesus is my Saviour.
I learned how to follow the leading of God and to make decisions from faith instead of from fear. People sometimes offer the advice that you should take the path that feels peaceful. That isn’t entirely accurate. I was still terrified even when I chose to trust God with my life and my health instead of trusting in what the doctors were telling me and recommending. I didn’t totally feel an overwhelming sense of peace immediately or consistently. But I knew the choice I made to turn down all treatments, all surgeries, and even any natural remedies people had said were going to help or cure my cancer, was the right choice. And it was because I chose to walk in faith and trust in God for the promises He had made to me directly and all the promises He has made us in the bible.
I looked fear right in the eye and said it will never have power over me or my choices again. My heart’s desire is that I can inspire and teach others how to walk in faith for their lives as well. Hence, Cross Into Faith is born. Despite how many years it has finally taken to come to fruition.
Anyway, getting back to the lady, what I told her was that the easiest way for me to decide whether something is conviction from God or fear is to see what lines up with the bible. And then once you feel you understand what God would say if He were standing right in front of you it’s easy. In some cases, it isn’t always that simple. For example, with my healing, I wanted so much to believe in the God of the bible so I chose to trust in Him for my healing. Jesus didn’t tell one single person that He healed to go to a doctor or to take a certain treatment, He simply said, Be Healed. For me, I felt God was convicting me to cross the line finally, get off the fence so to speak, and trust in ALL of what He said He will do for me.
Now, in another example of whether to go to School A or School B for example, the bible can’t be turned to as an exact science of what to do in every instance. This is where a person needs to decide what choice would take them closer to trusting in God. And it might be different for everyone. Imagine I felt God was leading me to send my children to a specific school. I knew one hundred percent it was God. But that school had a policy I didn’t agree with or was uncomfortable with – like whether or not to vaccinate (another controversial topic I might add). If I knew for certain God was asking me to send my children to a specific school that had a policy that all children MUST be vaccinated – seeing as I homeschool I honestly don’t know if this is an example that could possibly be true, but I think it outlines a good point – would I choose to trust in God for my children’s health and safety even if I opposed vaccines and felt they were unsafe – or would I be too fearful of the possible vaccine side effects to do what God was asking?
Do you get my point? God will never contradict His word but sometimes He will ask us to do things that might challenge our perspectives of His word. Since being healed of cancer I truly believe that me and my family should trust God for our health and well-being so I don’t bother with vaccines but I am not making that choice out of fear of the vaccines, I am making it out of faith in God. And yet, if He asked me to send my kids to a school that I had to vaccinate to make happen, I would still choose the path of Faith in God.
I hope that I’ve helped clear up how we can make Godly decisions even if we haven’t heard a direct word from God pointing to one direction or the other.