How to Make Important Decisions

By Norman Vincent Peale

It is said that history turns on small hinges. So does a life. An accumulating series of decisions about large and small matters over a period of years make up your own history. But the catch is, you can never know when a seemingly small decision may prove to be from the prospect of later years, the biggest decision of your life.

Here are some simple steps which are designed to help you make right decisions.

1. Get quiet.

Only a quiet mind can think at efficiently. Find a quiet place, sit down and compose yourself.

2. Repeat this three times.

"Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." (Psalm 73:24)

3. Imagine God's advice passing into your mind.

If you must have that advice today, you will get it. If you do not need it until next week, let us say Monday at eleven o'clock, you will have it then, if you believe that you will, and if you keep calm and continue to pray and think.

4. Ask yourself, "What would Jesus do in this decision?"

He would do the right thing, would he not? Right now, ask God to take all wrong and error out of your heart. Remember that right can never come out wrong. To get right answers, you have to be right.

5. Do not hurry.

Allow your problem to simmer in the mind. Never force a decision.

6. Thank God for giving you the right answer, for He is giving it to you.

Thank Him for the great happiness that is in your heart.

7. Having received your answer, trust it.

Take it with faith and thanksgiving. If you have sought God's counsel and prayed earnestly, your answer will come up as a clear, bright light burning in the mind. Trust it. God will see you through.