And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24.15
Our life is the result of the choices that we or others have made in our behalf even before we were born. Joshua makes a declaration the everyone can choose whom to serve but he was speaking in behalf of his entire family declaring, as for me and my house we will choose to serve the Lord. The choice is ours. The word serve means who we are following, who we are making our choices for, and who against. We cannot have two masters Mathew 6.24 quotes the words of Jesus:
“No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
God gives each and everyone the responsibility of making choices that will ultimately affect our lives, our finances, our health as well as that of our loved ones, our families our friends, our relatives. EVERYONE in our sphere of influence and or relationships is affected by the choices we make.
Joshua wrote to those around him that there are different times and different seasons on which we MUST choose and make decisions that may not only affect us personally but sometimes many others.
God makes choices to choose the actions that He takes and He gave us the responsibility to do the same
61 times in the Old testament and 23 times in the book of Deuteronomy which was the book of instructions for living a life separated as God’s people. The statement I shall choose, The lord will choose. God will choose the actions He must make in order to accomplish His plans and purposes for our lives, our families and our cities and nations.
Ephesians 1.4 states that : He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
In acts 1.24 the disciples had to make a choice as they looked to replace Judas Iscariot. They prayed for the Lord to show them His choice. The Lord knows what is in your heart and many times our hearts don’t line up with God’s preferences.
And they prayed and said, “Thou, Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show us which of these two Thou hast chosen,
They had a choice to vote for Justus or Matthias. We read that Matthias was chosen as they drew lots. Is it possible that they were not listening to the voice of God. We never hear of either one in the rest of the New Testament. Ultimately we find that God had a choice and it was to be of all people Saul later called Paul, a persecutor of Christians and instrumental in the death of Stephen a martyr for the Kingdom of God. Not a likely candidate for the position, however God does choose the foolish to confound the wise.
One of God’s most significant gifts to believers is the liberty to choose. And the results of our choices will determine the things that are to come to us or upon us. we call it our free will. Free to choose according to our hearts.
So how do we determine what guides our choices and decisions? We have been given the book or manual of instructions in which God declares what steps to take in our lives. The steps of the righteous are directed by the Lord, How? by HIS WORD. By what He has declared what is good or evil in His sight, what is right or is wrong, what is good or bad.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live, Deuteronomy 30.19
We make choices that will ultimately be a blessing upon ourselves or our loved ones.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalm 119.115
Let Thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even Thy salvation according to Thy word; Psalm 119.41
Even our salvation was a matter of choices, God chose us BUT did WE choose to accept his free offering?
AS a father I realize that I have made the wrong choices or decisions in the past and how they have impacted my life, sometimes for blessing and sometimes not.
I chose to leave a very lucrative financial employment as a VP at Security Pacific National Bank in order to become a staff member of Word of Grace with over a 50% pay cut and many of their benefits BUT I felt God’s calling and as I look back at that choice I find an absolute gratitude to the Lord for calling me into the ministry. The benefits I have received are beyond what I could have ever asked or imagined.
As His employee, serving His kingdom I have been to five continents, 62 nations and over 400 major cities in the world. Over 2 million miles traveled to fulfill His calling on my life.
The Bible is FULL of history and stories of right and wrong decisions for the people of God, The book of Hebrews Chapter11 30-40 we find the honor roll of men and women of God that by their life of many of their decisions changed the path of History. Most of them made grievous decisions that brought tragedy, tears and suffering to their lives and their descendants. The decisions we make in these coming days could affect the entire world.
The Lord of both Heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, nor is he ministered to by human hands, as though he had need of anything—seeing that He is the one who gives to all men life and breath and everything else. From one forefather he has created every race of men to live over the face of the whole earth. He has determined the times and the seasons of their existence and the places of their habitation, so that they might seek for God, in the hope that they might feel for Him and find Him—yes, even though he is not far from any one of us. Acts 17.24-28
There are three ways that we can seek the Lord:
• Seek how to find and know Him: I love those who love me,
and those who seek me find me. Proverbs 8.17
In the case of my brother in law James who was baptized today, I can see the fulfillment of how in 1 Corinthians 3.7 One man plants the seed, other waters BUT good gives the increase. God brought him here to Dewey for a purpose, Mimi and I planted the seed and Mission Church watered the seed planted and God is giving the increase. Today James has chosen to be baptized publicly in order to testify of what the Lord has done for him and his choice to follow the Lord with all his heart.
• Seek how to serve Him. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered. 2 Chronicles31.21
• Seek HIs face in prayer: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, Jeremiah 29.11-14
Look to the LORD and his strength; Seek his face always. 1 Chronicles 16-11
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; Lamentations 3.25
How can we to understand the times and the seasons? By looking at what is going on in our midst. The things that are seen are the evidence of what is happening in the Spiritual realm. We are in a season of warfare between things that are evil and things that are good.
Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But abide thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of [a]whom thou hast learned them; 2 Timothy 3.12-14
For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are ignorant children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. Jeremiah 4.22
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Isaiah 5.20
The Spirit of deception has been contaminating our nation for generations is has penetrated every area of our culture and society. Our Governments, our Schools and Universities, our Commerce and businesses, our entertainment, Our families, our news media, and even our Churches.
Great deception has come from the deceiver and liar and We as believers are being called discern and to stand in the GAP and make intercession, as well as to CHOOSE under what type of government we choose to live our life’s, darkness or light?, Life or death? Blessing or cursing?
CHOOSE LIFE that we may live we and our descendants our coming generations. We must search for God’s directions according to HIS WORD that is the PLUMBLINE we need to guide us into all truth.
NOW more than ever in our history we must CHOOSE how to serve HIM and Seek His face in intercession in behalf of our life’s, families, cities and our Nation.
The decisions we make in the next few days will be of significant importance to the future generations, our children and their children’s children.
God’s people were taken captive and destroyed for lack of knowledge and understanding. They were FOOLISH and IGNORANT as Jeremiah declared and shouted to the people of God during his days. Children ignorant and with no understanding.
Today more than ever God wants us to be like the sons of Issachar men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do (1 Chronicles 12.32) We need to understand the times that we are living. these are perilous and difficult times and we must understand what we need to do in order to overcome them.
God wanted to rule his people through His judges BUT they CHOSE to be ruled by Kings and God respected their choices which eventually brought the destruction of Israel and Judah
Christians in America today are in a position or place to choose those that are going to be ruling over their cities, their states, their nation and He wants us to make our choices based on HIS guidelines as well as to pray for those that are in authority.
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to the KNOWLEDGE of the TRUTH. 1 Timothy 2. 1-4
The question is NOT WHO are you voting for, BUT, WHAT are you voting for. The issues are very clear for darkness or for light, for good or for evil, for bitter or for sweet, for Israel or against Israel, for life or for death. What or Who you choose to vote for will determine the future of our coming generations.
You MUST let God’s Word be the one that guides your choices and gives light to the path you will be taking. The apostle Paul states what the Church’s responsibility is:
… to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. Ephesians 3. 9-12
Lets us PRAY for AMERICA and for a healing of OUR LAND.