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DEUTERONOMY 31:19-20(niv) 19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.
Elizabeth Eliot, famous author and former missionary, wrote:
"Have you ever thought much about the fact that we, created by God for his own pleasure and glory, are permitted by the Creator Himself to deny Him? Even though we are totally dependent on Him for our next breath, with that breath we may declare that He does not exist or that we refuse to do what He wants us to do."
God lets us choose!
Like Elizabeth and so many other believers, I never cease to be in awe that our Mighty God, who could demand our instant obedience (lack of which punished by immediate death) and take all choice away from us, gives us a choice. He tells us what the consequences are for choosing wrongly and what the rewards are for choosing HIM. But, then, He leaves the decision up to us.
Here are the choices and the rewards and penalties:
Deuteronomy 31:15-16 (NIV) See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
To me, the choice is pretty easy to make.
I choose life. I choose to live in the Presence of the Mighty God who loved me so much that He sacrificed His own Son so I would have the right to eternal life and the blessings that go along with it.
Why on earth would I choose death? Why would I want to live forever in the presence and under the leadership of the evil and malignant being that only wants to destroy me and my family and cause us pain sickness and heartache? Who wants me to die rejecting the Heavenly Father that created me for His Glory and Love and gave everything to make sure I received this---even though I didn't deserve it. Why would I choose darkness and death over Light and Life?
Why indeed?
Do you deserve the blessing?
Maybe you feel like you don't deserve to live in the blessings. Well, welcome to the club; none of us do. THAT'S why God sent His Son to die for us and defeat death, so that we might live and have life.
Maybe you are familiar with John 3:16 and have heard it all your life or, maybe, you've never heard it/ Read it now with an open heart:
John 3:16(NIV) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
"Whoever" means you! Whether you are the most charitable person on earth or a thief and a murderer, the promise is for you---equally.
Romans 3:23 (NIV) . There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Everyone has sinned and gone his own way. Until you choose to accept God's sacrifice for you, you've made the wrong choice. But, when you choose to accept God's sacrifice---to believe in Jesus--you are choosing Life.
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Make the choice today! Choose Life!
John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.[c] 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Are you ready? Then pray...
Father God, I choose You. I choose life and blessing. I agree with Your Word; I have sinned and fallen short of Your standard of Holiness. I ask you to forgive me. I thank you that You gave Jesus, your only Son, to die for me so that I can have eternal life. I accept that sacrifice by the simple act of believing and turning my life over to you. I believe that Jesus did not remain dead, but that He arose and sits at Your Right Hand. I choose to make Him Lord of My Life and I ask that You will send Your Holy Spirit to live inside of me and guide me in all I do. I choose to follow you---forever. Thank you God for giving me eternal life through Jesus. Amen.
If you have prayed this prayer---if you need help in any way--e-mail us at Hope. We invite you to join us at our services if you are in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area. We want to help you follow Jesus. If you live in a different city, please ask God to direct you to a Bible Believing Church that preaches the Gospel and teaches how to live for God.
Romans 10:8-13 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
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GOD HAS GOOD PLANS FOR YOUR FUTURE
know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out-- plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
"When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen.
Jeremiah 29:11 (Message Bible) |
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