Decide your future today

 

No matter th circumstances . . . do what is right!

 

Priorities

 

It takes effort.

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded . . . .(James 4:7-8)

It takes effort! Yes.....we still have some work to do. This is what Paul says in Philippians 2:12, as he instructs us to work out our salvation. 

(https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%202%3A12-13&version=NKJV) 

You see, Jesus did the work as far as our sacrifice and redemption. However, now we must give the Holy Spirit reign in our lives and decide to follow Christ and deny Satan daily. 

Christianity is an active faith and an interactive relationship with Jesus Christ. It is NOT a religion. It takes effort!

The CHOICES one makes . . . John Brown . . .Celebrating Black HIStory '24

The choices one makes may just change HIStory!

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 . . . (Deuteronomy 30:19)

When John Brown was hanged in 1859 for his raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, many saw him as the harbinger of the future. For Southerners, he was the embodiment of all their fears—a white man willing to die to end slavery—and the most potent symbol yet of aggressive Northern antislavery sentiment. For many Northerners, he was a prophet of righteousness, bringing down a terrible swift sword against the immorality of slavery and the haughtiness of the Southern master class.

On the night of May 24, 1856, Brown led a raiding party of four of his sons, his son-in-law, and two other men to Pottawatomie Creek. For the most part, this raid was unplanned and almost spontaneous. Brown acted in retaliation for a raid on the free state settlement at Lawrence, the killings of free state settlers in Kansas, and persistent threats by the proslavery settlers along Pottawatomie Creek. Three and a half years later, on the evening of October 16, 1859, John Brown and 18 "soldiers" seized the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown's plans were fantastic—some would say insane. He would use the arms in the arsenal—as well as old-fashioned pikes he had had specially manufactured—to begin a guerrilla war against slavery. The core of his army would be the mostly white band of raiders who seized the arsenal. But soon, he hoped—he believed—he just knew—that hundreds or even thousands of slaves would join him in the fight against the "peculiar institution." He predicted that once word of his raid got out, slaves from throughout the region would appear at his side, as bees "swarm to the hive."

At one point Brown stopped a passenger train, held it for a while, and then released it. The train continued on to Washington, DC, where the crew dutifully reported to officials that Brown had seized Harpers Ferry. The next day, October 18, U.S. marines, under the command of Army Brevet Col. Robert E. Lee, captured Brown in the engine house on the armory grounds. By this time, most of the raiders were either dead or wounded.

Indeed, Frederick Douglass would later say that he lived for the slave, but John Brown was willing to "die for the slave." Brown welcomed his end, declaring: "I am worth inconceivably more to hang than for any other purpose."

For abolitionists and antislavery activists, black and white, John Brown emerged as a hero, a martyr, and ultimately, a harbinger of the end of slavery.

(https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2011/spring/brown.html)

Lord, guide my thoughts . . . .

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

Let's face it, it is extremely hard to live in this world and still hold true to our faith. We face challenges daily. We have choices to make as far as our actions and reaction are concerned. Not only that, but as Paul writes above, even our thoughts must be in line with or faith. Yes, our thoughts . . .

Not only do we face opinions and discussions that are extremely anti-CHRISTian in our everyday life, we also battle our very own thought life. We are faced with images and actions daily which require us to make a decision. What we think about things will shape what we do about things.

Do we agree? Do we disagree? How should we react if at all? 

We need to be prepared, that's for sure! We have to have the full armor of God on each day all day. (Ephesians 6:13-17) Our minds, our hearts, our eyes and ears, our feet and our hands must be led by God. Yet it all begins how we think!

If we can begin to think like Christ than we will act more like Christ would have us to act. Lord, guide my thoughts!

Choices I make . . .

What does it matter how I live and the choices I make here on earth? If I am saved, I am saved, right? I go to heaven in the end. Do my choices really matter after choosing Christ?

As Christ followers, we still have work to do once we dedicate ourselves to the Lord. The Spirit does the calling, yet we must continue to follow! While salvation is a one-time decision, the calling is a lifetime of choices. Choices you and I make really do make a difference  . . . in our lives but also in the lives of others. 

Listen to Peter's words:

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.  Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2: 11-12)

Our choices may even lead the non-believer to consider Christ! Oh, the choices I make!

Decisions . . . decisions . . . decisions.

 Decisions . . . decisions . . . decisions. All day, every day ,we are making decisions. Many decisions we make without much thought. others require some choice; what to wear, what to eat or not eat, whom to talk with, what to talk about, what shows to watch, what music to listen to, what to buy. Do we ever include God in these small decisions?

Ever make a decision concerning God's mission field? Do I go? Do I support? Do I pray? This is not a question of God's will, but ours. His will is very clear invert Gospel account and in the Book of Acts, but Jesus made crystal clear in this verse: 

Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Our part in missions is NOT an option! We must decide to join I in some active fashion.  Unlike some of other that may fail, mission participation never fails. It is God's will! 

What will you decide? How, where and when are you going to decide to join?

an indescribable God

How to describe an indescribable God . . . hummmmm. Remember that time when you were so blown away that you couldn't even speak? Recently God has done some really stupid stuff in our lives. By stupid, I mean literally crazy and indescribable things! In the last year or so, we have gone from a rather regular life in our home of 24 years, to getting a mind-blowing offer for that home, living in hotels and relatives for months, getting an unbelievable offer on a new home, moving 25 miles away from where we were, paying cash for two newsed vehicles . . . . an simply indescribable past six months for sure! Oh, and we also have been leading a team of teenagers from school in missions training with a goal of raising over $15,000 in less than nine months to serve in Puerto Rico. Guess what? God did that and more too!

He is an indescribable God for sure! Yes, we have had our struggles too, but we are so learning to simply trust God. The more we lean upon Him, the more He delivers what we need, even when we don't even know what we need . . . like a different home!

Listen . . . God is real and He wants us to be real with Him. He wants to change each of us to be more like Him and to want more of Him. The same power that raised Him from the grave and empowered hundreds to give their lives for Him is within us as believers.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Even when we have no clue . . . His Spirit knows what we need and pleads with the Father for us! That's my Daddy . . . that's my God!

Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.         (Romans 8:27)

Tell me about your God!

daily decisions!

 "Yes" to this and "no" to that . . . life is full of decisions . . . daily decisions! During this period of Lent, Holy Week, we should be focusing on our relationship with our Savior . . . how far we have progressed or how far we have regressed over the past year. 

What decisions have we made in relation to our CHRISTian walk? Decisions tell a lot about our beliefs and commitments. Where we pick up anchors and drop them make us who we are . . . and Whose we are! 

But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14-15)

Today, let's focus upon the decisions we have been making and make this one today: I will decide to follow Jesus daily!