Choices

Choices

If ever there was a day, time, hour that people would want to call on God it is today. God said, “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” The thought that a person does not need God is more pervasive than ever. And more so many do not even believe that God exists.

Whether a person believes or does not believe God exists in no way diminishes His existence.  God told Moses to tell the people, tell them “I Am.”  Exodus gives the account of Moses' and Pharaoh's communication between one another before the Hebrew people left Egypt where they had lived as slaves for many years.

In Exodus chapter 12, God said to Moses… “I will bring judgment on all the gods [anything idolized other than God]... I am the Lord.” (vs12). This verse hit me of just how mighty God is… He did not squabble, He did not decide to negotiate with anyone, He just matter-of-fact stated... I will bring judgment, I am the Lord.

While none of us can see God, He is far away, yet ever present.   One day every human alive or whoever lived will come face-to-face with God… I will, you will, our ancestors and our children will.  Just as we were all born it is appointed that we will all die (shed our earthly bodies).  We will all, regardless of our faith or belief, stand before God to give account of our life on this earth.  What a sobering thought, to imagine standing before the throne of God to give an account for my actions and whether or not I put my faith and trust in Him while on earth.   This place in time is sure to come. It does not have to be an adverse time.

Many today still face their "day in court" here, now.  There is hope that "my lawyer will get me off," or that the "judge will be lenient on me."  After all who would not want a judge of the court to extend mercy to them?

I cannot imagine anyone going into a courtroom and shaking their fist in the face of the judge who is hearing the case.  If the judge were to say, "I know you are guilty, but I've decided to wipe your slate clean.  I am throwing out this charge, it will be as if you were never arrested.  My dear, today you, just as you are, will walk away free and clear."   Who would say, "Your honor, I don't believe you, I don't think I am ready, maybe tomorrow, or when I get cleaned up. Thanks for the offer, but I'd rather do the time." 

No, I think it safe to say, knowing we are guilty of the crime, we would throw our hands over our face in disbelief, then as the pardon settled into our mind and heart, our demeanor would change from grimace to wonder, and then to pure joy, the only words we would be able to speak would be, "Oh thank you your honor!"

While that scenario sounds far fetched, that is what many of us do with God's offer of salvation. He made a way to pay our penalty of sin (which all men are born with, a separation from God here on earth), a penalty which without His payment is sure death (separation from Him for eternity). He sent His Son to set the captive free, to absolve from sin and death, to make a way for us to no longer be separated from God through the blood of Jesus Christ, to give us abundant life, life eternal, freedom, peace, love, and joy.

When we hear that we can be free, sadly we shake a fist in God’s face because we don't believe in God, or we simply turn our backs and close our ears to Him because we want to do our own thing. We do not want to hear it. We are too caught up in what we think is having a good time. "Hey, it's my life, I'll go where I want to go, do what I want to do." 

Choices.

Standing before God one day is a sure date on every one's calendar. But the Word of God (the Bible) also says, God opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing.  It says, His mercy and compassion are new every morning. It says, He is not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance (to turn from their way to His way and accept the pardon He offers so we are not separated from Him.).

How comforting this is to know… While He is the Most High, enthroned in the heavens, able to bring judgment on all gods, He wants to incline Himself to mankind; be intricately involved with our every care; intimately involved with every aspect of our lives; extend mercy and compassion and wipe our slate clean.

A couple of things every person needs to settle in their mind:  eternity, all are eternal beings and will one day stand before God, we are all certain to face Him.   Every man comes to a cross road in life. There a choice needs to be made, "which way will I go?"  It is a choice given to all, without exception.   At the end of our earthly journey will we hear, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," or "Depart from me, I never knew you."  All have been given a free will.  Though He gently pursues everyone, desiring they turn to Him, trust Him, put their faith in Him alone, He does not force Himself or His Way on anyone during their earthly journey. 

Choices.

If I begin to pray and seek the Lord, I will find Him.

If I choose to stay on a path of doing things my way, I will find in the end I cannot save myself.  There is only one God.

Choices.

Choices, they are made every moment between the moments that make up our days. 

In Exodus where God sent many plagues against Egypt, Pharaoh, the leader of Egypt, made several choices… “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart.” A lot of times when we find our selves in places we regret, we call out to God, ‘O forgive me, I am sorry, I won’t do it again,’ then when the pressures ease, we slip back into doing the same ol' same ol'.  

My pastor preached today that God wants us to stop returning to the same problems. He said that "God is a separating God. He wants to separate us from the things that keep us from Him and not to return to them."

Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen. How many times are we told about the Lord, the freedom He offers; or maybe even the Lord speaks something to our heart, but we do not want to listen, we just flip a hand and go our own way.  In the verse in Exodus, the writer noted that "this is the ‘finger’ of God." It was if God was giving Pharaoh a warning, just a taste of discomfort, a wag of the index finger as if saying, "ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't do that."  But we are told Pharaoh, hardened his heart.

Maybe God is allowing us to be uncomfortable to get our attention about something at this time in our life. Do not be like Pharaoh, do not harden your heart to God today. That is a bad place to be in.

“Then Pharaoh said to Moses ‘go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.’”  Pharaoh was willing to submit, but only on his terms. God wanted him to let His people go.  Pharaoh said, you can have your show, but you must have it here on my ground.  Our submission must be a total surrender to God’s way, on His ground.  He wants to be the Lord of our heart, of our decisions, of our will… for it is He who has the plan for our life. This is a plan for good, a plan for increase, a plan for order, a plan for peace in our hearts, a plan for love to rule and reign in and through us.

Pharaoh's next concession was, “I will let you go… but not far, Now pray for me.” Pharaoh still did not get it, ‘okay, you can leave the land, but I don’t want you to too far from me,’ He's saying I'll play along, I'll give a little, I still want to keep you close to me so I can have control, and I'd like for you to pray for me.  How often we say okay, 'I'll go to church, I'll stop, please pray for me’ and then go our way, rather than fully walk away, distance our self from our captor, and seek the Lord fully for our self.  When we ask someone to pray for us and then go our own way do we think that will absolve us of our responsibility to surrender to God's way?

The Lord gave another word to Pharaoh, this time it was a little heaver… “Tell Pharaoh this, 'let my people go, if you refuse, the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on the livestock.'”  Pharaoh chose to turn his ear away, and then God did just as He said.  God is true to His word.  When we continue to turn a deaf ear to God our consequences grow, from giving us warnings (a waging index finger) to a terrible and heavy hand.  The "finger" warning was just some pesky ol' gnats on the people and the animals.  But the "hand" warning, the heavy warning, caused all the animals of the Egyptians to die - something that seriously affected them.

Choices.

I read in my devotions this morning that ‘The Lord will 1) shield you from suffering, or 2) He will give you unfailing strength to bear it.’ That is a promise to His children.  God does not want to have to deal with any of us heavy-handedly.  He wants us to be pliable and moldable, clay that is useful for His purpose.

God is serious about His relationship with us. He paid a huge price to buy us back from our captor. He paid the highest-priced ransom for our soul with His Son Jesus Christ. He wants us. He will do what it takes to get our full attention. We do not want to turn our ear from Him. God said “No one whose hope is in Him will be put to shame.”

Ladies, I want to close with this… when we hang on to something from hell the only place it’s going to take us is down. Jesus came to cut those ties that pull us down. To take captive the very things that have held us captive for so long. My cry is "let them go, turn them loose, give them to God, surrender to His will." If God is calling us to Him, let us make Him our choice.  He, after all, has our best interest at heart.

We do not want to shake our fist at the judge or turn a deaf ear to Him. He is the one who holds the key to our freedom: yet freedom from adverse judgment will be our choice. He offers freedom to our soul, freedom during our life here on earth, and freedom for our life all through eternity.

Contrary to popular belief, all are sinners, we were born that way. Every human being is born separated from God. We are told the wages of sin is death, but we have a way out. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. We have a choice. That choice is to accept the gift given to us by God through His Son Jesus Christ. Whosoever believes on Jesus he/she will not perish, but will have everlasting life. If we have not yet chosen to come to God to receive the gift of His Son Jesus Christ, we can do so right now. If the Holy Spirit is speaking to your hear to come, then come. Just as you are. Do not turn your ear from Him.

Thank you Lord for speaking to my heart. I am a sinner in need of saving. I know that I am separated from You and I would like to be part of your kingdom. Please forgive me a sinner, I confess to you the sins I've committed in my life. I want to accept what Jesus did on the cross for me, the shedding of His blood, as forgiveness of my sins. Only He can pay my debt of sin. I choose to believe that Jesus Christ is God, I choose to believe that He died and then rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven and I choose for Him to be Lord of my life.

For those who prayed that prayer with all sincerity know that you are now a child of God - born anew into His kingdom.  Jesus said as many as received Him to him God gave them the power to become sons/daughters of God.  As a new believer you'll want to begin reading God's Holy Word, pray to Him, trust Him, get involved with other believers so you can begin to grow into the things God has for you.  Start here, now in this jail, while you are here begin to pray for God's will in your life and ask Him to show you where He wants you to worship Him when you are released from these walls.  Do not use Jesus as a pillow while you are here only to leave Him on your steel bunk when you leave.  Take Him with you, go with God, and go on His terms. 

Choose today whom you will serve.  God loves you, He has a great plan for your life.

Choices.

This message was shared with the women inmates at the Leon County Detention Center by Seed Sower Deb.