Are you struggling to make a decision? The battle over your time can keep your strengths and dreams locked up in procrastination, confusion, and forgetfulness. Life is based on making decisions, and not making them holds you hostage to compromise in your calling.

You can spend more time dreaming about tomorrow and rob the opportunities to walk out the steps today. Moses used his speech as an excuse. Jeremiah and Gideon used their age. There’s no shortage of excuses that can tie up the process.

Whether you are a parent, a spouse, a leader, or someone passionate about a cause, your choices need internal clarity and courage versus external social pressure.

Lord, grant me the boldness that I may speak forth (Acts 4:29).

The truth is that what you do today will determine whether you have success with tomorrow. And, some invitations that look like opportunities today can actually distract and derail you from the best use of time.

“Doing something good is not good enough”, says Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. This is not selective enough criteria for your time. So how do you start making strategic decisions that support the work of your life?

McKeown offers advice on how to make the decisions based on what’s essential to your life. He suggests starting with this question, ‘What is most important right now’? McKeown recommends three steps to benchmark a discerning ‘yes’:

• Identify the three most important priorities in your life.
• Use your priorities to decide what the criteria for saying ‘yes’ to an opportunity will be.
• Set a plan for the next 90 days centered on this criteria and these priorities.

Fear can have you struggling to say ‘no’. You might be afraid this answer will shut down other opportunities, or result in a frayed relationship. You might be tempted to accept a request based on a ‘what if’ scenario you’ve dreamed up. Just say ‘no’.

I have boldness and access with confidence by faith in Christ (Eph. 3:12). I boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man will do to me” (Heb. 13:6).

You must eliminate every excuse that is hindering you from doing what you have been called to do. There is no rationalization worth stopping the success God has already set before you. God’s grace is sufficient.

I come boldly to the throne of grace, that I may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).

Successful people are doers of the Word (James 1:22). This means you can’t sit passively and expect a lucrative life. If you want to experience the full provision of God’s covenant operating in your time, then you must be proactive with your response to these decisions.

When you waver or avoid choices that need to be made, you open up a door to doubt. When we don’t have clarity, the enemy capitalizes on the uncertainty with more questions to cause confusion.

You can’t be slow to act when God is telling you to move. You are commanded in Romans 12:11 to be “fervent in spirit [and to] serve the Lord.”

When we feel like we’re going nowhere, this keeps our minds feeling defeated. And if we’re not careful, we can become tired and idle. So let’s make that plan centered around our priorities and start making bold decisions based on the Lord’s calling in our lives.

I will be strong and courageous; I will not be afraid, for the Lord is with me wherever I go (Josh. 1:9).

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This post, Crack the Confusion, by Trisha Keehn, appeared first on LiftUpYourDay.com