There are decisions and there are pre-decisions. Pre-decisions speak of the conclusions that become our deeper arguments in life that tend to drive our decisions and produce our behavior.
Many times, people have come to us over the years saying they were seeking advice. After briefly having a conversation with them we quickly realized they’d already made up their mind. They had a conclusion that already existed and they weren’t trying to make a decision but rather they were trying to justify their behavior. The Bible speaks of these deep places of conclusion as strongholds in our lives that can be good or bad.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. NIV
Last week we looked at the idea of how religion tends to erroneously teach us not to be bad in order to be good. But that focus is wrong. Gal 5:16 says we are to live by the Spirit and not fulfill lust of flesh. Luke 18:1 says we ought always to pray and not to faint. If we’re praying we’re not fainting. If we’re fainting we’re not praying. Notice how 2 Corinthians 10:6 speaks of being ready to punish disobedience when obedience is complete.
When something gets in your heart sacrifice is very natural. Waking my children up for school over the years was always so different from waking them up to make a trip to Great Wolf Lodge. It is doubtful any parent has ever had to pry their children out of bed on Christmas morning. What we all must realize is there is something deeper contributing to our behavior. Decisions are the result of pre-decisions that we’ve allowed to take root in our hearts.
Genesis 39 tells about Joseph resisting the seduction of Potiphar’s wife. Joseph’s ability to resist that temptation came from pre-decisions he had made to honor the Lord and not dwell on lustful thoughts. What kind of pre-decisions have you been making as these are setting you up for decisions ahead.
At the root of our behavior, conclusions have become our deeper arguments that tend to drive our decisions and produce our behavior. If you don’t address the deeper conclusions beneath your behavior, decisions you’re making will frustrate your purpose.
Effectively addressing the deeper conclusions within you is what slowly begins to transform you into the image of the Lord our God who is One! There is no duplicity in the mind of god. God is the same no matter who he is in front of and this speaks of character. Alpha numeric characters never change regardless if they are in a note to a friend or a formal letter to the President. They remain the same and this speaks of character.
Like Joseph alone with Potiphar’s wife, impulse control is possible even in a moment when you don’t have time to process a conscious decision. My instinctive response can be decisions Jesus would make about my life if I’ve been practicing pre-decisions from conclusions I’ve taken from God’s Word.
The process of change begins with knowing and practicing fresh thoughts of hope. Thoughts sustained produce ideas. Ideas sustained produce attitudes that become deeply rooted in our hearts. Attitudes sustained produce an atmosphere about our lives by which we become known. Atmosphere sustained produces a climate that affects the lives of people around us. Climate sustained produces CULTURE that becomes our legacy that lives on long after we are gone. Ultimately impulsive behavior has a root cause and it is found in our way of thinking.
2 Corinthians 10:5-6 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. NIV
There are deeply elaborate complexities producing our perspectives and generating our arguments. This is why we desperately need to invite God’s way of thinking into our everyday lives in places of prayer and reading God’s Word. #turnthepage
Reading the Bible redeems the conscience increasing awareness of the presence of God.
GP2RL: Dig deeper this week in a sacrificial pursuit of these deeper desires of God.
ALGORITHMS: PRE-DECISIONS
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Click here for a downloadable PDF file for this guide.
UNDERSTANDING THE SEASON: As a church family we want to be OUTRAGEOUSLY LOVING people who PASSIONATELY PURSUE the Lord with IRRATIONALLY GIVING lifestyles as we CONSISTENTLY SUBMIT to God’s desires and EFFECTIVELY DISCIPLE others to do the same.
Our 2022 New Year’s Revelation as a church family is EVERYONE IS CREATED FOR ABUNDANT LIFE! Much will flow from heaven into our hearts and homes this year!
The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy but realize the aim of death is not to kill you but to keep you from the fullness of life until you die. Distraction is destruction of what could have been in your life.
John 10:10b “...I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].” Amplified
Jesus came demonstrating that true life is discovered in a willing death. When we die to ourselves we learn what it means to be alive in Christ.
God’s plan is for us to hear his voice together as a family. This is why we start each group with the first question:
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
Ask each person in your group to answer the discussion questions below after reading the verses. Don’t move on to the next question until everybody who is willing to share has had the opportunity to give their perspective.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete... NIV
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Have each person give a 60 second summary of what these verses are saying, in their own words.
What do these verses teach us about God?
What do these verses teach us about people?
What should you do this week in response to what we are reading and what God is revealing?
Who comes to mind when considering a person you might share this with this week?
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Dig deeper this week in a sacrificial pursuit of these deeper desires of God.