5 Steps That Will Help Us Find the Blessing Of God

I counsel a lot  of people.  And one thing I have learned in the past 30 years is that people most often do what is the most comfortable thing to do instead of what is the best thing for their life.   Often I say to people, "You know this thing is the best thing you could do."  And many times they will say, "Yes, I know I would be better off to do that, but I just  don't think I can't do it."   The bible says  I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME!  

The path of wisdom is often a difficult uphill path, but if your heart and emotions want to take an easier path how can you stay on the path of wisdom.  Our hearts and bodies don't always want to do what our mind and spirit KNOWS is the best course of action.  While our mind and spirit knows wisdom, often our body and heart wants to take the easiest path instead of following the path of wisdom.    The more we neglect wisdom in our choices in life, the harder our life will get as we get older and the years pass.  We cannot ignore wisdom forever without it taking a toll on our lives.   We miss the blessing of God when we do not follow the path of wisdom, and this causes us to live a life of limitations, hardships and pains instead of a life of opportunity and blessings.

There are times when we can't find wisdom.  But what I am talking about in this article is when we know what is the best thing for us, but we do something else instead.  Here are some examples:    When you know you should pay bills with your money, but you buy something you wanted instead.  Basic economics 101 says we should pay our bills before we buy items we don't really need.  You see there are many people that if they pay bills instead of buying what they want they go into depression, anxiety, feelings of sadness that are overwhelming.  They don't know how to overcome these feelings to do the right thing, so they just live a life of mismanaging their assets.    Another example is when you keep dating someone that is bad for you, and you know the relationship puts you in danger, and everyone tells you to get out, but you stay instead.   In many cases the overwhelming anxiety and stress of breaking the relationship can hinder us from the wise course of getting out.  And feelings of guilt, that we should help this person, causes us to put our own safety aside, and to make an unwise choice of staying in a destructive relationship.  A third example is when we do things that are harmful to our bodies, unhealthy choices.   Often we do this because all though we know we are damaging ourselves by our choices,  the stress, anxiety and depression of quitting those habits are overwhelming.     In each of these cases it is like we know what the best course of action would be for us, but we are trapped in our circumstances because our nerves, emotions, and desires will not let us escape.

Here are 5 steps that will help you walk in wisdom when your nerves, emotions, heart, and desires are wanting you to do things that will eventually cause you to miss out in life.

1.  Humble yourself.  Listen to others, ask for the help, listen to their advice.   How many bad marriages would have been avoided by listening to this advice?  How many addictions would have been avoided by listening to this advice?   How many heart aches would have been adverted if we would have humbly listened to others and accepted their help.   That feeling that this is MY LIFE and I will do what I WANT is the very thing that will lead you into bondage.

2.  Keep your mind stayed on the fact that when you submit yourself to God's ways that this is where the promise is for your blessing.  There is no where in the Bible that promises us good things if we are disobedient.   Even the prodigal son who was received back into the fold LOST HIS INHERITANCE.  The father said to the elder son, "All I have is yours."  The prodigal son was restored, but his inheritance was not restored, that he lost!   Often I say to myself, "In choosing the path of wisdom I am keeping myself where the promise of God resides for my blessing, there is no promise of blessing on the path of disobedience!"   I can be restored from the path of disobedience back to the path of God, but I will forfeit the blessings I would have received if I had walked in obedience the whole time!

3.  Realize that Nothing matters more than obedience to God.
When you begin to feel pressure and stresses from people around you and your own desire to do what is easy instead of what is wisdom realize that NONE OF THESE THINGS MATTER, because God is with you to bless you.  You may have an abusive partner threaten you if you leave.  But it doesn't matter because God is with you!  You may have someone angry with you that you don't waste your money with them.  But it doesn't matter because God is with you!  You may have family members that ridicule you when you try to put away the habits of your flesh, but their opinion doesn't matter because the blessing of God is with YOU.

4.  Ask God for the grace to do his will.   Often when we take the harder path of wisdom instead of the easier path of gratifying self and pleasing others  our stress, anxiety and discomfort levels go up.  But we know it is worth it because blessings lie just on the other side of our efforts.   But still how can we handle this extra load of stress?   I have found that when I pray for the grace to praise instead of complain this will remove the stress off of my life and the peace of God will fall upon me.   I'm not talking about forcing myself to praise when I don't feel like it by sheer human will power.  Forcing yourself to praise when you don't feel like it will only send your stress and anxiety levels higher.  I'm talking about asking God for special grace to go through what I am going through.   I will say, "Lord give me the grace to walk this path of wisdom, it is too hard for me and the stress is too high, I need your grace to stay on this path."  And most of the time he will put songs in my heart, and peace there, or he will give me a revelation of his word that explodes in my Spirit and gives me strength for the day.  Remember his mercies are new every morning, so you must ask for new grace each day!

5. Rest in God.  Close the book on your decision and learn to rest in God.  You cannot open the books on your decision everyday and rethink your decisions.  Make the choice to do what is the wisest course of action for your life and close the book on that decision.  Set out to do what you know is right and DON'T LOOK BACK!    Remember who looked back?  Lot's wife.  What happened to her?  She became a pillar of salt.  You know what happens to salt blocks?  The animals lick them down until there is nothing left.  If you are always looking back and going back on wisdom to return to things that are destructive for your life this world is going to destroy you one lick at a time!

The good news is that you CAN GET OUT!  You are not stuck in that relationship!  You are not stuck in that financial mess!  You are not stuck in that unhealthy life style!  You are not stuck in that dead end job!  There is hope.  Take the path of wisdom, deal with the stresses of that decision, keep moving forward and DON'T LOOK back!