Part 2: Decisions, Decisions

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You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1313.

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Today's Devo is called part two. Decisions, decisions.

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Hey there. We're the Alessi's, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven.

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This is the My Morning Devotional podcast. All right, so I hope I left you on a cliffhanger yesterday because I did that on purpose, because I wanted to make this in two parts, because if I didn't, then we would have a 20 minute episode, frankly. This is Gabby, your host, but yesterday we left on the idea of do your decisions. Are they holy and are they pleasing to God? You see, a couple years ago, my mom, I was in the middle of a situation where the action that I was doing, I was making a decision basically in my life, or I had to make a decision in my life. And I sat down with my mom and I'm like, mom, here's the decision I have to make. It's. It's more of a, do I continue doing what I'm doing or do I change things up? You know, do I. Do I walk away from this or do I stay in this thing? Because I want to be committed and I, you know, my word is my bond and my yes is my yes, but my no is my no. Mom, what do I do? And I remember my mom asked me this question. She said, hey, Gabby, is it good or is it God? And in my head, I'm like, mom, those are one and the same.

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Because all good things come from God. The Bible says every good and perfect gift comes from God, that God is good, Right? So in my mind, I tied good to being a God decision or a God thing.

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But she challenged me. She said, is it good or is it God?

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And the more that I thought about it, I started to look at the.

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The idea or the word good. I started to look at it in terms of what the world says about it. And this is interesting because

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2, it says this. All a person's ways seem pure to them, but motives

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12 says, There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end, it leads to death. So immediately I started to think, okay, there is a difference. There is a decision that seems good to you and I, but there are Things that seem pure to me, that until God gets involved, I see it as good, but he sees it as bad. I see it as pure, but he sees it as impure.

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Why? Because God knows our heart. God sees our heart. The Bible even says that God doesn't judge by appearance. God judges the heart. And so sometimes because we're flesh, we just see things on the outside and we go, no, everybody's good.

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No, everything's fine. Which is why God says no. There.

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You might think you're pure. And the other proverb, it says, there's a way that you think is right, but it leads to death. You might think you're pure, but God judges your motives. God judges the heart. Why is this important? Because there is a difference between a good decision and a. And a God decision. A good decision says, this is pleasing to me. This is pleasing to the situation. This is pleasing to the people around me. A God decision says, this is holy and pleasing to God. Which brings us back to the holy and pleasing, the living sacrifice. This is a verse that I want to shape my life on, that I live in a way that is holy, Meaning I'm set apart. I'm.

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I'm living in a pure way. My thoughts are pure, my words are pure, my actions are pure, and my heart is pure.

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I'm set apart. I don't do things for everyone.

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I don't just throw my life around to please other people. Why?

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Because I'm set apart for the Lord. You see, if we're pleasing other people, we won't be able to please God. The Bible talks about how you can't serve two people, you can't serve two masters.

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And the Bible also says God's a jealous God. God's going to fight for our attention. God wants our attention fully.

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And so for us, if we're trying to please the people around us and we're trying to make a decision based on what other people think, we can't please God. We can't make a decision with God in mind.

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And this isn't to say that all of your decisions are going to ruffle people's feathers, but it's going to make God happy. Because I don't agree with that either. But I do say at the end of it, we have to go back to does this please the heart of the Father?

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And when you ask yourself that question, it should line up with, is it holy? Is it righteous? Is it pure? Is it lovely? Is it admirable? I'm just quoting another scripture here, but the things that we do with that decision should line up with the characteristics of God, of who he is and what he enjoys. Why is this important? Because

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1, it says this.

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This is your true and proper worship.

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Why are making decisions important for us? Why is living our life important to God?

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Because this is our true and proper worship.

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You see, we see worship as being in church, lifting of our hands, singing songs, jumping or not jumping, clapping or not clapping.

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We make that the, the only time that we worship God, when God is saying or when, when Paul is saying.

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Your true and proper worship is how you live your life. And I'd take it a step further. The true and proper worship for us is the decisions that we make. It's the decisions that we make. It's the seed, seeds that we sow. It's the life that we live. Because we're not supposed to live for ourselves, we're supposed to live for the Lord. And so a good decision is pleasing to us, it is good in our heart. Meanwhile, a God decision, it's holy and pleasing to God. And my prayer is that if you are having to make a decision in your life, if you are contemplating what your next is, that you would go to the Word, you would go to God and say, God, does this please you? If I make this decision, does it please you? Or does it please me? Or does it please man? And I'm believing the Holy Spirit is going to give you a revelation of what pleases God and what doesn't. Father, we thank you. We thank you that you show us, Lord, the way to live life as a living sacrifice. And, and I just pray over anybody on this, listening to this that has to make a decision, Father, that it's hard to know whether it's good or it's God. But we all come to you and we all lift up this decision we have to make. And we ask you, Lord, does it please you? Does it honor you? Is it pure and set apart before you?

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And we thank you for it. In Jesus name, amen.

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So there you have it, your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend. Leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow. We pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.