It's Your Choice

We all want to make changes in our life, but what we choose will prove what we really want.  It's the New Year and we all tend towards wanting to make resolutions of how to change our lives for the better.  However, how many of those resolutions have we failed at?  I know I failed at quite a few.  One excuse or another would come up for why not to keep a resolution.  Those excuses were nothing more than a way of hiding the fact the choice was made not to fulfill the resolution.

God gave us free will so we have this wonderful ability of choosing.  Of course, this means we must take responsibility for our choices.  Only we can decide what we will or will not do, like, read, eat, etc.  We are great at making excuses in order to not feel responsible for our choices.  Worse, we play the blame game, which is nothing new since Adam and Eve started that game in the Garden of Eden.  Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent, but neither had to eat the forbidden fruit unless they chose to.

"I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;" Deuteronomy 30:19 (NKJV).  This verse is within Moses' speech to the Israelites to remind this new generation that would cross the Jordan into the Promised Land.  He is reminding them that they are the ones who choose if they will be blessed by God or not.  This new generation saw their elders destroyed in the desert for not following God's way, so they knew God blessed those who followed His commands and let those who turned away reap the unfortunate consequences.

Again, only we can decide what we will do.  Even not making a choice really is making a choice.  Every choice we make holds us to the responsibility associated.  Every choice will take some work if it is a worthwhile choice.  For anyone to follow God they first have to choose to do so and then they must work at what will keep them on that path, which is daily study of God's Word.  If you want to lose weight, you need to change your diet and exercise.  If you want to write that novel burning within your muse, you need to learn how to write and then start actually writing.

God isn't going to force you to choose Him.  No, if He wanted things that automatically chose Him, he could have made some robotic life form.  He definitely finds ways to appeal to you through nature, other people and even through our own created circumstances.  It still is our final say whether or not we choose Him or our own way of living.

Jesus never forced His disciples to do anything though he definitely encouraged them to step out in faith no matter what they thought the cost would be.  Let's look at the story of Peter when he walked on water.

Matthew 14:25-31 (NIV)

Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the lake.  When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.  "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them:  "Take courage!  It is I.  Don't be afraid."

"Lord, if it's you" Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

"Come," He said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.  "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

Here Peter chose to join Jesus in His realm of miracles, but then let the windblown waves distract Him from that very miracle.  At least, he made the choice to get out of the boat.  How many of us are missing out on miracles with God by not getting out of our comfortable boat?  How many of us Christians are missing out on a real relationship with Jesus because we choose to be too busy?  How many people are missing out in knowing our God because we have not made Him truly known versus what the world view would say?

I used to be one who would not choose God due to the skewed view I had of Christians.  Then I met some that I knew had it right even if I really did not know what that right was.  They chose to live by God's rules and would confess when they messed up.  When I accepted Christ, I knew which Christians to go to in order to stay plugged into Jesus and learn what I had to do. 

So here I am nearly 11 years later still confessing I have a relationship with Jesus thanks to those willing to share Him with me and due to my own way having never worked right.  I stand with Joshua in saying, "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether gods of your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

What choice are you going to make?

Christmas Story - Herod and the Magi

This is based on a sermon of my pastor, Robert Englehardt.

Matthew 2:1-20

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

5 So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.'"  

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."

9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him."

14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."  

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." 

19 Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child's life are dead."  NKJV

We don't hear this part of the Christmas story often, but it is very relevant to today.  We are still right in the middle of the spiritual war of good versus evil; Satan versus God.  Satan is still allowed to roam in the world, but God also gave man dominion over the earth.  Sure Satan is out there, but with the Holy Spirit of God we can bind him up and stop him.  It's our choice whether we use the power of dominion granted us by God to stop Satan or to let him run rampant over us.

In the story of the Magi they are so glad that the star leads them right to Jesus.  We should feel as they did when we meet Jesus and accept Him into our lives.  They decide not to tell Herod where Jesus can be found due to a dream that they know was divinely given.  This stops Satan in his tracks for a moment in using Herod to destroy Jesus.  We can do the same today by following God's leading.

Of course, Satan is not going to relent until the final day he is tied in chains and thrown into the fiery pit.  So Herod sends men to kill every boy in the town of Bethlehem that could have been born since the date the wise men told him they first saw the star for the King of the Jews.  He went straight from being angry at the wise men not coming back to murder.  There was no way he wanted this new born King of the Jews thwarting his authority as the current ruler appointed by Rome over the Jews.  So there were many innocent little boys, ages estimated from new born to two-years-old, killed all due to one man's desire not to lose his position of authority.  We have seen similar stories all over the news about people murdering innocents for various reasons.

The first example of sin leading to murder is Adam's sin leading to ejection from the Garden of Eden.  It was followed next by Cain killing his brother, Able, with a rock out of pure jealousy over God liking Able's offering better.  Cain just grabbed what was available and used it to end Able.  He even contemplated it ahead of time because he lured Able out into the field with him.  It's man's heart that leads to such deeds and they will find a way to commit the act no matter what means it takes. 

Another example is David with Bathsheba.  He sins by taking her himself and then sending orders to make sure Uriah, her husband, dies on the front lines of battle.  All of this because David had sinned, knew it and could not get Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba in order to cover for her pregnancy.  At least David repented of his sin by confessing it to God, but Cain never did that.

Now Joseph is a man of God and when he gets a dream to take Jesus to Egypt, he gets up in the middle of the night and off they go without waiting for daylight.  He obeyed the message of the angel sent by God and thus Satan's plan to take out Jesus via Herod was foiled.  Another example of how following God's lead takes us out of danger into safety even if we must move out of our own country to a foreign land for a time.  Today we may not have to move to a new country, but we will be moved out of our comfort zone in order to step out in faith with God.

So who is Satan after today?  Which innocents murdered may have been the next great threat to Satan for their strong faith in God?  What has the world lost due to us letting Satan in and pushing God out of the picture? 

There are still many battles to be fought no matter how close to the end times people may say we are.  Which side are you fighting on?

 

 

Faith Building Trials

My first year as a Christian was definitely full of trials.  A rocky marriage that ended in divorce.  A layoff from a job I loved because the leaders decided embezzling money was a good thing.  By the time the divorce was finalized both of us were unemployed and had to deal with the debt we had buried ourselves in following the American dream.

So how did sticking with God through this help?

For starters, God made sure I knew He had more power than anything I had experienced or tried before.  Let me just say that Satan really is out there like a roaring lion ready to devour us and he almost had me for good.  However, nothing in all that pagan spiritism filled the one hole I had inside.  Accepting Christ filled it completely beyond a doubt.

Once accepting Him I did not have a clue how to proceed.  I just knew beyond a doubt I believed this good news about what Jesus did for us.  Thankfully God already had true Christian friends in my life, so I got plugged into their church.  They encouraged me to take the First Principles Class occurring at the time.  My friends even pulled me into the drama group that started up that summer.

One of the first verses to stick with me was Joshua 1:8, Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.  You only learn about God through His Word and meditating on it.  You have to read and study it for yourself.  You need fellow Christians of maturity to discuss it with so you can grow in it.  And you definitely need a church of believers that keeps you plugged in and on that grid.

But then there is John 16:33, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."  An awesome promise, but the part that hurt was that we would have trials anyway.  So those Christians preaching the rose colored glasses version missed this point.  That’s probably why I never believed them in the first place.

In this world we will have trouble.  So I had plenty already.  Becoming a Christian did not save my first marriage.  It may have put an even bigger wedge between us.  It did not save my job or even supply me immediately with a new one.  It made me lose old friends who though I was running off on a another spiritual fad.  It did not clean up by debt immediately.

To use an old cliché, I had made my bed and I had to lie in its consequences.  Just because I became a Christian did not mean life immediately changes on the outside.  Where did it change?  On the inside.  The far more important side of things.

These trials tested my faith.  Did I really believe Jesus’ word were given to give me peace?  Did I believe He overcame the world?

I knew God wanted a relationship with me.  It was not about religion or doing ritual repetitions to get what we wanted as if our actions this way could appease God.

No, we need faith in order to please God according to Hebrews 11:6.  And what is faith?  Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

In other words, no matter what the world throws at us, no matter what we have to dig ourselves out of, in the end we win with God if we follow in faith.

So my trials that first year built up my faith.  It has taken years to get out of some of the things I put myself in before accepting Christ, but as continued sticking with Jesus I found that peace.

Now I have the new trials of disability due to MS.  It does not help the finances.  Some days I feel utterly worthless.  It is totally unpredictable other then what seems to be the constant issues.  When I feel like complaining and whining, I remember what I already got through with Jesus.  I remember God’s promises and cling to them.  My healing is still unseen.  A feeling of prosperity is not yet fully seen.  I do know God is going to give me healing, prosperity and success in His timing, a perfect timing that will blow my mind away like it always does.  But just as God told Joshua to be courageous and always keep God’s Word close, so will I.  Why else, even after long battles for the Promised Land and still more to come after his time, could Joshua keep proclaiming, Joshua 24:15, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.