Choose Life

Joshua 24:14-15 NASB “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and do away with the gods which your fathers served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ But if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

God gave us a free will. We get to decide who we will serve. He wants us to serve Him because we want to, not because He forced us to.

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 NASB “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. ¹² It is not in heaven, that you could say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’ ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’ ¹⁴ On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may follow it.

¹⁵ “See, I have placed before you today life and happiness, and death and adversity, ¹⁶ in that I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and take possession of it. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, ²⁰ by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

We are to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16). What is the Lord saying here in this passage?  The command is easy to understand. It isn’t written in such a way that we could not comprehend it. The ability to figure it out is quite simple. ‘It’ is a choice. Choose life or death. Life is:  to love the Lord and keep His commandments, by walking in His ways. The call is simple. Love, obey and commit to God, or not. But a choice must be made. We see here if we choose God we receive life, prosperity and blessing. If we choose other gods we receive destruction, short life and disaster. Those are the benefits of the world and making it your god.

Galatians 6:7-10 NASB Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap. ⁸ For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. ⁹ Let’s not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not become weary. ¹⁰ So then, while we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

The Bible says here basically we reap what we sow. God will not be mocked. Mocking God means disrespecting, dishonoring, denying or ignoring His existence. Are we honoring Him with our thoughts, actions, and complete life? As His child we need to be shining in this dark world, leading the world, not being led by the world. Ugh, God forbid! Let’s wake up to the truth. His truth will set us free (John 8:32).

Matthew 7: 17-23 NASB

So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ So then, you will know them by their fruits.

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. ²² Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

So there we have it. The message is plain. Choose life, walk in the Way, and observe all of His commands. Do what is right. Produce good fruit. Listen to His Holy Spirit speaking to you. There may be things you have to stop doing, or things you have to start doing! God will guide you if you choose life! Work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), because look at the above scripture….Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Find out what God’s laws are and obey them. Everything that He wants you to do in your life is recorded in His Holy Word, the Bible.

There is such a call from the Lord for His children to come to Him. Let Him wash the dirt off and restore us back to such sweet, close fellowship with Him. God is Holy (Revelation 4:8).  Sin separates us from Him (Isaiah 59:2).  Yes, we are washed by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:7). But, please, take that sacrifice seriously. We should so desperately want to please Him, because of our deep love for Him. Not because we could earn salvation, because we certainly  CAN NOT EARN salvation. That is a free gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-10).

 I am just saying, as His children, we should desire to honor Him with our conduct. Where is our heart? Search it, dear friend, ask Him to search it and see if there is any evil way in you (Psalm 139:24). Get rid of the garbage while we are still here on this earth. It is possible and we will have such a better life when we are in complete acceptance to Him and His authority. He is a good Father. He doesn’t require much of us. He just wants our hearts. He wants to be first in our lives and for us to love Him, genuinely love Him above all else.

Matthew 11:28-30 NASB “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”

Are you weary, heavy burdened by this world and the cares thereof? Do you want rest? Come to Jesus and He will give you rest. He loves you and is calling, Come (Revelation 22:17).

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Pray with me please,

Dearest and most precious Lord of the universe,

Forgive us, if we have failed You, by not putting You first in our lives. We repent Lord. We declare that we choose You. We choose Your way. We will walk in a way that is pleasing to You, by the strength of Your Holy Spirit. We reject any lies of the enemy. We fully submit to You as our King. Thank You for opening our eyes to the Truth. The Truth as outlined in Your word.

We come to You with our hearts heavy over the destruction that is hitting this earth. The earth that You have created. The destruction that is coming from Coronavirus and tearing apart our world. Lord we pray, in the mighty name of Jesus, that You would destroy the Coronavirus. We bind the Coronavirus on this earth and we loose Your power to heal every individual infected with this virus (Matthew 18:18). There is nothing that You, our God, cannot do. Restore our land, Father, hear Your children’s cry and heal Your people. Show Your power, Oh mighty God of Israel, the Great I Am. We trust You. Let it happen for Your glory Lord. Please deliver us according to Your will. In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

We are instructed to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), so if there are any prayer requests feel free to leave them in the comment section. I would be honored to pray with you. If it is more private you can always contact me via email at luckd61@yahoo.com I check that every day. Blessings to you all, till we meet again, tomorrow, if the Lord is willing. Peace.

Let’s worship today with

All In by Matthew West

The 99 by 7eventh Time Down

Take My Life by Jeremy Camp

To know Jesus more personally please read the following
https://thefathersfeet.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/you-never-let-us-go/

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