Choose life or death

September 12, 2010    I have set before thee Life or Death, Blessing or Cursing

God promises us a land of milk and honey, a land of rivers and valleys, rains from heaven and water to drink.  A land that God careth for.  Deuteronomy 11:9 He wants the days of our life to be multiplied, food filled to over flowing, our gardens producing fruits and vegetables. He wants us to have his blessings.  He wants us to live without fears, to be healthy and loving to others.  The love of God never speaks un-kind to others; it has no anxiety or fears, or condemnation. His love covers a multitude of sins. It is never harsh, bitter or needling others, it has no punchy sarcasm in fact it thinks no evil. This is what God asks, that we love him and love our neighbor. Jesus Christ said in doing this it fulfills the law, it is the one and only true law. Love and love all the way.

 However at times we may & think evil and talk evil.  Have fears, doubts, and anxieties.  Ever wonder why your prayers go un- answered.    The battle of condemnation and jealousy living within. Remembering your sins and others after God forgave you and remembers them no more, yet hanging on to them.  How can I line up with what God says along with my heart, mouth and lifestyle, how can Gods word become my word. How can his ways become my ways?

Deuteronomy 30;19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live;    V20, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him; for he is thy life and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give them.

Here it is!!!!! This is the beginning of how to walk with God. He lays down his Word to us and then it is up to us to choose. Freedom of will. (mayest, means you might or might not) Can God make you believe? NO. Can he make you love him? NO. Can he make you happy? NO.  Can he make you sad and frustrated? NO. He cannot do any of these things and more. If he did then it would be possession and he doesn’t possess people, devil spirits do.  If God can’t make you believe him, he is also not responsible for your un-belief. He tells you to choose, he sets it before you and now it’s up to you, take it or leave it. If you stop believing Gods Word then you fight with the World and all its anxieties, fears and frustrations.  Choose his word and it is life and length of days. Organic granola isn’t your lengthen your days, Working out 24 7 in the gym isn’t going to lengthen your days.  God gives you the length of days.  Here is another question I need to ask, if God cannot make you choose to live life then can you make someone else love you? NO, can you make someone else mad? NO, you do not have the power to make anyone love you, be kind, hate, get angry, think positive. You cannot make anyone happy! If God cannot do it, you cannot do it, it is freedom of will to choose what you’re going think and how you’re going to act. If your miserable and prayers are not getting answered, is God responsible? If a person you are with and they are miserable are you responsible for their happiness? NO because you cannot make anyone do anything! If God can’t, you can’t! But you know what I was raised to think?  That I was the one responsible for making people angry, I was blamed at making them sad, and I blamed me right along with them.  I continued to blame others for making me mad. No one can make you mad, you allow it. I am not responsible to make anyone happy; it is up that person to choose how they want to act and what they want to believe. We were raised in a blame game all our life. People blame God all the time for their lousy life. They blame their parents, their spouses; blame everyone except looking at themselves. It is their freedom of will to choose what to think. It is your freedom of will to choose Gods way or the highway. Heaven or Hell or life and peace. You choose, if God could make you believe his Word and love him so he can shower you with blessings then he would! He can’t make you believe, and you cannot make others believe. Therefore, if you love someone and in return they don’t love you and get mean, you are not responsible for their actions! God is not responsible for yours. You are choosing what to think and then how you’re going to act.  If people don’t like you when you love them, the Word says to shake the dust off your feet and move on, leave their dirty laundry behind you and leave.  You really need to ask yourself, what have you been choosing everyday to think, blessings or cursings?  God is the one who sets life before us, and then it’s up to us to choose.

Deuteronomy 11:26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.

Deuteronomy 30; 15 See I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.

It’s not Gods fault you’re not blessed, neither is it his will. God’s Word is always his will. He is our life, he gives us life and that life isn’t just to exist, there is no life in existing. He wants us fruitful; abound with abundance, growth, and our hearts continuing to get bigger and bigger, wealth, health, and prosperity!!!!  Gods giving is fathomless and endless.  Can you imagine an endless supply for the rest of your life? The reason most people give up on God is because of fear, fear always destroys man, his dreams, goals, health, confidence, security and love. Fear is the root of all of it. What you believe is what you will receive; fear is believing except you don’t get results you get consequences. Over and over God tells us to NOT fear, he cannot make us to not fear, you have to replace your negative thinking with God’s word. Next time you start to get scared or nervous, then remind yourself what God says. 

Deuteronomy 31; 6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them; for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee.

Deuteronomy 31; 8 And the lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee neither forsake thee; fear not, neither be dismayed (shook up, anxieties)

I Kings 8;5 blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised; there hath not failed one word of all his good promises, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant

Joshua 23; 10 One man of you shall chase a thousand; for the Lord your God he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. V.11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God

Joshua 23;14 And behold this day I am going the way of all the earth; and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you, all are come to pass unto you and not one thing hath failed.

God sets before us blessings, here you go sweetheart, and here is what you can have. The how is accepting the price that Gods only son who never did anything wrong to anyone, all he ever did was love, showed compassion and care, went out of his way to do an act of kindness. He never spit on any ones face, he went without so you and I could have.   Jesus paid that price for me and you. Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished, we can stand before God without any sense of guilt or shame. There is a reason to live. To make Gods word your way of life, you need commit yourself to choosing his Word, you commit to putting it in your mind, choose to think it. The love of God or doing something for another person is only a thought a way. Your negatives are just a thought a way also. The building of the Word takes time. His Word gives you the principles on which to build. It is one thought at a time. God backs up his Word, every promise he’s made to us he backs up. We have exceeding and great precious promises. God fights for you, people fight at you. People fail their words; you have been failed by words all your life. God’s Word never ever fails!  You choose to think his Word moment by moment, thought by thought. You must replace thoughts. You have to tell your mind what to think; if you don’t then other people will delight in telling you what to do and how to do it. Circumstances will control you instead of you controlling them. We are surrounded daily with negatives, whether they are by TV, friends, co-workers, family, failures from our past, haunting insecurities, our old negative behaviors, these thoughts come at us, they can and will attack us. We get attacked in the mind. That’s what God is saying, choose what to think! It will either be life, his words or death, negatives of the world. When your mind and in your heart, starts to think doubt, a little fear starts to creep in, catch it right then and there. Replace and repeat to yourself what God has said. I will fight for you, I will protect you, you can come up against a thousand men and I your Lord God will fight your battles. We are up against a thousand negatives; give it to God by saying and thinking what he promised. It can be difficult at first, because our minds are accustomed to immediately think negative. You literally need to tell your mind what to think. If God says he will protect you, regardless of the situation, then he means it. You have to stop putting a question mark behind it or saying but… It takes time to trust God, we have been failed all our lives by people, close loved ones, close un-loved ones. No one ever told me I could live without fear. My parents put so much fear into me that I thought that’s how life is. No one was ever to be trusted, and that carries over to me trusting God, man I was very leery. How can God love me after all the crap I have done. When I needed help desperately there was no one to turn to. A lot of things we have deep down in our hearts, a lot of hurt, a lot of shame, and a lot of mistrust. God knows that and he is and will lovingly remind you he will take care of us. God Almighty in the Greek is el Shadiah, which means he will fight for you and supply every one of your needs. He is a loving father and very protective of his kids. He doesn’t like it when you’re getting hurt and accused; he comes prepared to battle for you. All he asks is that you trust him. Trust takes time; God will make himself known unto you. He starts by giving you his Word. It is up to you to choose to believe it or not.

II Peter 1; 2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. V3 according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (spiritual relationship w/God) through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Which means a unique and separated superiority excellence). V4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Which means the world is getting worse and worse around us. V5 And beside this, giving all diligence (attention) add to your believing virtue (superior excellence) and to virtue, knowledge; v6. And to knowledge temperance (self control), and to temperance patience (control of your decisions) and to patience godliness (spiritual relationship. V7. And to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. Charity is the Love of God in action by you) v8 For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren (useless) nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord Jesus Christ.

v.9 But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.  

God can’t say it any clearer! You think it, you choose moment by moment what you’re going to think and act.

You can change from being in darkness to light, ignorant to a knowing and wisdom. Anything you ask from God you get because he promised. You can live without fear, and turmoil. You can live in such a greater peace that the Apostle Paul said he didn’t have the words to explain it, it passes our understanding it’s so huge! You can go from condemning yourself to loving who you are, because God made you lovely and acceptable, Ephesians 1. You can choose to control your life instead of being controlled by others. One thought of God’s word at a time. I cannot fathom having grace and peace multiplied to me, I am so used to confusion and drama. He said it he means it. Through knowledge, the more you learn the more you can believe. The more you know of God the more you can trust. People spend thousands of dollars going to counseling, seeking help. God has given us all things that pertain unto life. Well what pertains to life? Clothes, food, shelter, money, to be loved, to love, inner peace, ability to make sound decisions quickly, knowing what words to say when you need to confront someone, how to stand against evil, how to maintain a positive attitude longer than a hour, to live without fear, what do you need in life? God says he has given us all things that pertain unto life, well then, if he has given them unto us do we have to pray for them? No, just believe you got them and then act like it. God has given you all things. Your job can not give you all things, neither can your friends nor spouse. In our day and in our time, these are dark times we are living in, life is no joke. God encourages us continually to believe him, trust him and choose to think his thoughts so they become your way of thinking. Only you can do it. Today, grab onto one of these promises and repeat it over and over in your heart. When you dare to believe God, your life will change; God will make it exciting and fun.  He is a kick in the butt, God has a great sense of humor, if you want security and prosperity, choose to think what he has laid before you. I do not want to be blind, I want to see and experience life, therefore I will Choose life.