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Are you in the bad habit of stopping on God’s green lights? I wonder, what keeps you from going? Are you fearful of the future and uncertain about the path? Fear is never from God; it is always from the enemy, and it reflects our lack of trust.

Maybe you’re stopping on the go light because you see yourself as inadequate for the job. You are inadequate in yourself but totally capable through Christ. The wonderful thing about our Lord is when he gives us a go light, he also supplies the motor and the fuel to drive the engine. But we have to put the gears in forward and say, “I’m ready, Lord; let’s go.”

Or maybe you’re in stop mode simply because you’re lazy. Remember the parable of the talents? When the servant with one talent didn’t do anything with his resource, the master reprimanded him strongly. “You wicked, lazy slave,” he said. Laziness is a very strong offense to God; to him it’s wicked, not just a bad habit or a little character fault.

Perhaps you’re stopping when you should be going because you don’t want to go in the direction God is guiding you. You had a different plan for your life, and you can’t imagine God’s plan is best for you. Oh my, do you realize how much you’re missing by refusing to go in God’s direction? He has good plans for you, plans to bless you and to prosper you.

For ten years I chose to go my own way and refused to let God guide my way. I just didn’t believe I could be happy doing it God’s way, and so I spent ten years in selfishness and a lot of misery. But once I said, “Lord, I will go on your green light, and allow you to guide me,” I discovered such fulfillment and excitement and contentment in his path.

Stop or go—where are you today? Remember both are in God’s will for our lives at different times. Sometimes he tells us to get going and move fast, and other times we hear his “Be still and know that I am God.” We are most fulfilled, most satisfied and most contented when we willingly obey God’s stop and go lights in our lives.