Where Are You Pitching Your Tent?

This could go on and on. Where are you pitching your tent in your search for fun? In your search for contentment? I am today the sum of the decisions I made yesterday, both good and bad. My family today is the result of decisions Kathy and I made over the last 13 years, and what my family will be tomorrow will be the direct result of where we pitch our tent today. This church is the sum of what it chose to do in years past, it has been molded by years of decisions and attitudes, and you and your families are too.

Listen, if you are a child of God, then you have a wonderful future ahead of you. I’m not just talking about heaven, I’m talking about the rest of your life. God has a future prepared for you that is greater than you’ll ever know so long as you’re content with making camp according to what you can see and figure out. Do you want what God has prepared for you? Do you want to enjoy the blessings of the abundant life God has in store for you? If so, then you need to learn to pitch your tents in the right place and settle down with the Lord. Now there are many choices you and I have to make that are obvious, but I know as well as you do that some choices and decisions are not so clear. Even Lot’s decision to settle in the Jordan valley appears from the outside to have been a sound decision, so how can you know if you are making the right decisions? How can you know if you are pitching your tent in the right direction? I think there are three questions that you need to ask yourself.

Where does God fit into the equation?

You might call this the God-factor. It is asking the question, "What would Jesus do?", or in every situation you ask yourself, "Is this what God wants for me at this point in my life?" Have you prayed about it? Have you sought God’s counsel? Proverbs 3 reminds us to…

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart: and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

Abraham was a good example of this. When did he approach Lot? After he had spent time at the altar! Only when he was settled in his mind that God was directing this and he was in the hands of the all knowing and all seeing God!

Now there are some decisions that you won’t have to pray about. The Bible is clear on them. You don’t have to seek God’s counsel on a lot of matters because His Will will never be contrary to His Word. They will always be in harmony, but in the matters where the Bible seems to be silent, you need to be on your knees pleading for wisdom and direction from the Lord.

When you pray, He’ll always answer in one of three ways. God will always answer by saying yes, no, or wait a while. When He says no or wait, don’t run out there and pitch your tent in that place! You honor the Lord in that decision and wait on Him. And when a decision has to be made and the Lord seems to be silent, you make the decision that you believe will be most honoring and pleasing to Him. Sometimes you won’t know whether you acted in God’s will until many years later, but at least you’ll be able to say that you made your decision trying to please God in the process.