Embracing Our Choices

I have very good news for you today. You were born into the earth with the god-given right to choose. You will chose how you will live, the outcome of your lives, the quality of your relationships, and so on. In fact the ultimate choice you have is where you have chosen to spend eternity. In life, as well as in death, we are in the driver's seat and not a mere passenger. God's word tells us that we were made in His image. Gen 1:27, "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

And just like God chooses all His responses, actions, words, and thoughts; so can we. He is very deliberate in what He does, and so should we be. Nothing happens to God by accident. So, nothing happens to us by accident. God is never ever without options, and neither are we. This is great news, beloved!

We must sooner, or later, receive this tremendous blessing - this limitless power with its accompanying responsibility. If we do not receive it, we will be ruled over by Satan, by circumstances, and by others all the days of our lives. We will be at the mercy of whatever comes along, at whatever happens.

Because of the fact that if we don't chose we will always be ruled over, God forces us to choose. God didn't bring to pass the incredibly complicated and costly plan of redemption so that we could live in bondage all the days of our lives. He makes it a point to corner us sooner, or later, and bring this scripture to our attention; so, that we can know that WE must choose our outcome, or our outcome will be chosen for us.

Deu 30:19, "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."

First of all, heaven and earth are bound by what we choose. In other words, if we choose life, then all of heaven will back us up to bring that to pass. But if we choose death, then all of hell is freed to bring a nightmlarish existence to us. Obviously no one intentionally chooses death, but when we do not choose God's life, we automatically end up in death. There is no in-between. In fact, we may decide not to choose either one; but, in doing so, we automatically do choose. We end up with whatever this life brings. And it is riddled with death, decay, and destruction. The whole system of this world is contaminated by what sin and Satan have done to it.

God is the only one that has life, and that life is of superb quality and richness. John 10:10 says, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Second of all, our decisions REALLY DO affect us directly, and there is no way around this consequence. We are condemned to either cursing or blessing in this life, and it's according to our choice. There is no such thing as a victim according to heaven. We may start off as a victim; but sooner or later, we are put in charge of our lives. And if we continue to be victimized, it is because we are not choosing a better way.

Thirdly, our decision will affect our generations to come. Our precious, innocent children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will either suffer or flourish because of our decisions. Imagine that! Instead of thinking that we are at the mercy of whatever comes, imagine that God has released an incredible power towards us that allows us to determine our end for multiple generations to come.

If you are struggling right now with this overwhelming reality, consider this: is not every man responsible for where he will spend eternity? Is that outcome not a matter of each person's choice? Well if this is true of our eternity that goes on forever and ever, then why do we not think this applies to our life that today is, and tomorrow is no more? The day we finally accept this power to choose, will be the day that we finally get in real control of our lives.

"Choose life" God tells us in Deuteronomy. God urges us to choose life because then He can step in and unleash all the forces and blessings of heaven on us. Salvation, healing, divine health, prosperity, peace, joy, beautiful relationships, the very favor of God, divine protection, renewed youth like the eagle's, long life, and the list goes on and on, are all ours in the life of God.

My beloved friend, remember always, that right now we are all living at the mercy of what we have chosen. Even if we did not know that we had a choice to make, or perhaps we made the choice out of our ignorance, we will still reap the consequences no matter what. Hosea 4:6 says, "For a lack of knowledge my people perish and are utterly destroyed."

The children of Israel are a great example for us to learn from. They were ruled over by Pharoah until God delivered them. God set them free so that they could be free to follow Him. Why follow Him? They were to follow Him because He had life for them. He had a promise land for them. He was leading them to a place flowing with milk and honey. But they CHOSE to rebel. They chose to be discontent, and murmur, instead of being grateful for their new lives and their new destiny. They chose to turn their 2 week trip into a 40 year layover. The question to ask yourself right now is, "Am I turning a 2 week trip into 40 years?" Ultimately Israel chose to die in the desert - never having taken their inheritance. Let us learn from this vast tragedy that, even if we are God's chosen people, we can still miss the mark by choosing wrongly. Even God's people are bound by this spiritual law: we will have what we have chosen to have.

The bottom line for us, as Christians, is that whatever we are choosing, moment by moment, is either producing life or death in our lives. There is a woman in our ministry whose mother was found to have cancer throughout her internal organs. As far as we know, her mother was not necessarily an avid church-goer, although she believes in the Lord, greatly. When we went to pray for her, Pastor Bill simply asked her, "Jenny do you want to live?" Talk about a serious decision here. The doctors offered her 3 months, at most, to live. She simply said "Yes, I want to live to see my grandchildren grown." After being prayed for, and then following the Lord's instructions on how to keep her faith active, she was miraculously healed. The doctors could not find the cancer anywhere. This was almost 10 years ago. Jenny is healed and walking around as proof of the power of our choices. She chose life and she lives, now, today.

You may say to yourself, "That is not possible. How can being healed of cancer be that simple?" Well, I ask you now, how can going from death to life, going from hell to heaven, going from Satan as our father to God being our precious Daddy be so simple? A simple decision followed by a sincere and committed prayer got us born again. Likewise, a simple decision for life will bring it on like a tidal wave in the same way as our salvation came to us.

Talk about self-improvement, Beloved! This type of radical improvement is spiritual, it is intelligent, it is miraculous. I challenge you to take Deuteronomy 30:19 literally. Actually taking what God says literally is real faith. Embrace this scripture and put it into action in your life, and see if the windows of heaven don't begin to open up to you. All God is waiting for is for us to take Him seriously, for us to take Him at His word. If you are looking to improve yourself, this scripture guarantees a 'world' of self-improvement.