There isn’t much that gets past me—or so I would like to believe.

The problem with that is this—stuff does. I try to stay on top of everything going on in my life, but even that seems like a fulltime job.

We have all heard the phrase, “God gives you enough time to do what He wants you to do—so if you’re overbooked and overworked, it’s against God’s will.”

Okay, I hear that. But if our days begin with a list of good things—godly things, things we know God has positioned us to do, how do we pick which ones to give up until later? There are times when it’s not a matter of postponing—it’s completely letting go.

And although we are trying our best in a world that drains us of our resources and then demands more, what happens if we find that we took a wrong turn somewhere? It’s difficult to maneuver on a path that requires us to give our all, then reconcile ourselves to abandoning the direction we’ve taken.

But we should not be easily discouraged. God has placed us on a course that is more secure than anything we can imagine—more wonderful, even with its pain at times, than our minds can conceive.

There is no doubt—it’s good to be in a position where we are busy doing what the Lord has called and equipped us to do. But if we are not on our guard, Satan can use our busyness with good things to keep us from doing what God has planned. This is especially true when the tasks Satan uses to keep us busy seem rewarding and fulfilling.

In order for us to follow the path God has for us, we need a standard—guidelines by which we measure our progress and ensure that we’re on track to complete His work. The key of course, is prayer.

In the process of being diligent, we can look to what we know:

• Never get too busy to pray
  • It’s an easy thing to do because there is so much that fills our days, and we may get lost while dealing with the urgent.
• Don’t forget to read God’s Word
  • We start thinking that as long as we pray, that’s enough—it isn’t. We need to spend time in prayer, but in order to hear what God is telling us we also need to read His Word.
• Listen when He is telling you something you didn’t want to hear
  • When God gives us direction and speaks to our hearts, sometimes we get an answer we weren’t expecting—an answer we didn’t want. Don’t discount it, embrace it and be thankful He is speaking to you. You’re on the right track.
• Think from an eternal perspective
  • Randy Alcorn is a remarkable speaker and writer, one who understands the eternal perspective of thinking, outlined in his book, Money, Possessions and Eternity. This concept helps us to think along the lines of what is important eternally rather than temporally. It is a way of sifting out the urgent from the truly important.
• Prioritize appropriately
  • Instead of setting priorities according to what seems the most pressing, focus on what would seem the most important to God. It’s much more difficult to head in a wrong direction when we are actively seeking His will.

No matter how determined we are to do the right thing, we will inevitably take a wrong turn somewhere along the way. If we focus on what God has set before us, pray about it and read His Word, we are not likely to go down a wild path from which there is no return.

When we find that we have erred in the direction we have taken, we can realize our mistake and alter our course. God is not about to trick us into going down the wrong road.

Question: Is it easy for you to stay on course, or do decisions get in your way?