by Jeanie | Jan 31, 2010 | Uncategorised
Dear Friend,
I trust you are being enriched by these words and making applications. I urge you to not just be a reader but a doer also. It’s your choice! So far we have learned that our choices:
- Have positive and negative consequences – Blessings and Curses
- Can potentially affect others too – You and your seed, me and my house
- Determine the quality of our living – If you obey, you will prosper in everything you do.
- Need to be reviewed from time to time – Moses /Joshua.
- Or lack thereof will cause us to be unstable and hence prone to falling.
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply.
Deuteronomy 30:15-16
A good choice will cause you to go beyond merely existing to growing. It will move you from a state of barely kicking to move forward by leaps and bounds. When you choose life, you don’t just live but you also multiply! Your existence becomes eminent in the multiple of your achievements and improvements. Friend, this is prosperity! Prosperity doesn’t just happen accidentally but rather purposefully.
Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do. Deuteronomy 29:9
Do you now see how this relates to your choice(s)? You have to choose to obey so you can prosper, not just in some things but in everything you do. The reverse will be the case when you choose not to obey. Do you want to come out of obscurity and live in prosperity? It’s your choice!
The fact that you have been in some conflicts will give you an idea that not everyone agrees with your opinion. We all have different make-ups; our choices differ. You’ll always have Mary and Martha, Elijah against the prophets of Baal and Asherah, Joshua and Caleb versus the ten spies to name just a few and hence we must carefully deliberate on our thoughts and their corresponding actions and stand by them than waver in the influence of others.
Had Elijah not stood his ground, it wouldn’t be established that Baal is false and God is Mighty and can answer by fire. If Joshua and Caleb had not unswervingly held unto their opinion of being well able to take on the Promised Land, the giants would have remained, Joshua would not be delegated to divide the inheritance, and Caleb would not inherit Hebron. Similarly, if Mary hadn’t sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus learning and feeding on the Living Word as opposed to being distracted by preparing dinner like Martha, many of us would carry on worrying and fussing about trivial matters, and not focus on the ‘one thing’ which really matters.
The lesson to learn from the above is that the fact that the majority votes doesn’t mean that it’s absolute. Don’t go with the crowd! Stand by your decisions. Choose to choose!
Related Journals:
Choose – Part 1
Choose – Part 2
by Jeanie | Jan 20, 2010 | Uncategorised
Dear Friend,
We have learnt that choices can result in either a positive or negative effect. This effect is not limited to just you; your choices affect others.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefoe choose life that both thou and thy seed may live: (Emphasis mine) Deuteronomy 30:19
- Have you ever stayed out very late and eventually got back home?
- Have you ever been so hungry that you helped yourself to something in the fridge only for someone else to come home craving for that same thing?
If you’ve been in any of the above situations or similar, then you would really know that your actions don’t just affect you alone but others also. Someone would have been seriously worried of your whereabouts or unhappy about your “food massacre”.
Moses said to the people, in order for you and your seed to live, you’ve got to make the right decision; choose life! Sometime later Joshua, now Moses’ successor, in addressing the people said:
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods 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.” (Emphasis mine) Joshua 24:15
The first thing I want you to note is that choices need to be reviewed and revalued. Chances are that these Israelites decided on
obeying God as Moses admonished, but here we see Joshua telling them the same thing again. Have you made any decision and failed in keeping to it? Why don’t you take sometime out to go over them and make the necessary changes where appropriate?
Joshua in the above passage was encouraging the people to renounce all idolatry, and to serve God alone. He was calling them to live free of deceit and hypocrisy. He tells them: The terms of agreement have been written, it’s now your choice to accept or decline. No more double-standards choose! You have to be very careful here because the desirable is not always the most reasonable.
The Psalmist in Psalm 119 says:
I hate double-minded men, but I love your law. Psalm 119:113
In other words, I agree with your terms, I know they’re perfect, but I dislike people who can’t take a stand. An undecided man or woman is two-faced, two-souled, unsettled in his opinions, double-minded, has divided loyalty and that’s why they seem unstable.
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:8
This takes my mind back to the times I spent in the lab at school. When I was taking a food and nutrition class, often I would be tempted to add more spices to the food, but on a second –thought that I would be serving the food to assessors who would mark me, I made sure everything was moderate. I realised my choice could affect me and them. Likewise, at the university during my group laboratory tests, I was extremely careful about my choices of specimen, equipment and measurements, knowing that it could affect the groups’ result. You and your seed, me and my house!
Friend, how long will you stay unbalanced and prone to crumbling? It’s time to choose! Who will that migration, career change, shopping spree or business opportunity affect?? Decide and seal the deal.
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Don’t get sidetracked. Proverbs 4:26-27a
Related Journals:
Choose – Part 1
Choose – Part 3
by Jeanie | Jan 11, 2010 | Uncategorised
Last time, I told you that it pays to obey God and encouraged you to do so. What I didn’t tell you then is that leading a life of obedience begins with a choice.
No one goes through life accepting everything that’s thrown at them or comes their way. So, there comes a time in life when you need to make a choice. Some of us even from a very young age have liked some places better than others, placed value on things more highly than people, loved rice more than beans; you get the drift? Whether you call it choice, preference or option, it doesn’t matter. What really does is that you carefully and thoughtfully select what is by standard, the most beneficial.
Moses was admonishing the people of God to keep the words of the Covenant. He said:
Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do. Deuteronomy 29:9
The first thing I want you to note today is that choices have consequences – positive and negative. For example, in the above passage Moses tells them they’ll prosper when they obey, that’s the positive, the benefit! Verses 16-29 however records the negative, the penalty those whose hearts turn away from the Lord would face. Friend, we could from this conclude that the condition of your life right now, whether good or bad is a product of your choice. So, choose wisely!
Moses continues:
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: Deuteronomy 30:19
I could imagine him stand on top of a rock as the people gather closely, look up and listen attentively, just like my Pastor will mount the pulpit to preach while the congregation sit quietly in the pews with their pen and notepads. He preaches: You have the ability or opportunity to decide the outcome of your life. It is in your best interest to adhere to these terms which would only do you good and not bad if you choose blessing over cursing, life over death. I am not to be blamed if you do otherwise. Decide!
Jesus on this subject said:
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24
One of the meanings of the word “despise” is to look down on. So, you can have a high opinion of one and look down on the other, God or mammon. Friend, just like Moses did the people of God then, so do I urge you today. I don’t know what life has tabled before you but one thing is sure, both things are not as important as the other. Hence you need to make preference and place them in order of priority.
Before you reach that decision, begin to evaluate. Eg. Which is more important – Short term/ Long term? Waking early to seek God and set the tone for your day or getting more rest by sleeping a little longer to wake just in time to get ready for work. Both are important, but one is more important. You choose which!
Related Journals:
Choose – Part 2
Choose – Part 3
by Jeanie | Jan 4, 2010 | Uncategorised
Dear Friend,
I personally want to wish you a Happy New Year. I trust that the Lord is doing an awesome work in your life. I am looking forward to the many more marvellous things that he will do as you continue to hear and heed to the words that you receive.
I believe that 2010 will be your year of exponential increase! Where the Lord has planned to take you is way beyond your imagination; it’s exceeding, abundantly above all you’ve ever asked, will ask or even think. In order to get there, there is one thing you must do.
“Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. Deuteronomy 28:1
You’ve got to obey God and you must do it carefully, firmly and fully! You can’t do it haphazardly, picking and choosing what you want to do; a bit here, a bit there, No! If you want God to set you on high, then absolute obedience is what he demands of you. Here is yet another word to support the former:
If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. Isaiah 1:19
I don’t know about you but I want to eat the good, not the bad of the land. I don’t just want to get in the flow with everybody else when I can be in the overflow, I don’t want to be beneath when I can be above; I want the good, the blessed, the best of the land!
It pays to obey God. It is only when you obey, that the blessings of the Lord come on you and overtake you (Deuteronomy 28:2). Obey him today and watch the heights he’ll take you.
Click here to stream or download a message I preached on obedience. I trust it’ll encourage you.
Yours in Him,
Jeanie
