Choose You This Day
Posted by Goody on 03/7/08 in Self Improvement
Joshua 24:15 …choose you this day whom ye will serve… You would think by some people’s actions that they have no choice whatsoever if they go to heaven or hell, but let me assure you they do! You’ve heard, “Well, there’s just gonna be so many saved, if you’re not one of the chosen ones it’s just too bad”. Not So!! John 3:16 says “Whosoever”.
From the beginning God gave man a choice. God placed the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. God gave them a strict command not to eat of its’ fruit. Of all the trees in the Garden this was the only one restricted for them. After hearing the command and being told the consequences, they then had a choice, to obey or disobey. And we all know what their choice was, because we’re still suffering from it today. No man is an island. The decisions you make always affect others. Have you ever heard a drunk say, “I’m not hurting anybody”? And their children are suffering. God could have kept them in a place of protection. He could have kept them from sinning, and kept the devil away from them.
SO WHY DIDN’T HE?
God isn’t some kind of dictator, sitting on a Throne. He doesn’t attach strings on us and make us dance to His tune, like we were puppets. He gives us a choice to serve Him and love Him or not. There are many things with no choice.
In Joshua 3:13-17 we see Israel preparing to cross over the Jordan. Now the priests have a choice. “And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand upon a heap.
And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people. And as they that bare the Ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priest that bare the Ark were dipped in the BRIM OF THE WATER (for Jordan OVERFLOWED all his banks all the time of harvest) That the water which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the Sea of the plain, even the Salt Sea failed and were cut off, and the people passed over, right against Jericho.
And the priest that bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clear over Jordan.” This wasn’t just a little stream, this was a RIVER. A river that had OVERFLOWED it’s banks. In Arkansas we lived near the Mississippi River. When it would overflow it’s banks, I’ve seen whole TREES uprooted, floating down that river. It’s SCARY! I’d hate for God to tell me to cross it, cause I can’t swim.
God told Joshua to take 12 stones from the river bed, and stack them up on shore as a memorial to what God had done that day. The whole time the priest are standing in the middle of that river bed, holding the Ark up. Then we read in Joshua 4:18 “And it came to pass, when the priest that bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before” The priest had a choice, but the River didn’t!
It was already command by God to stop flowing as soon as they stepped in the very brink of the water, and start again when they stepped out! Well, they got across the river, and now they were on shouting ground, but what happened? They ran into a WALL!
Now they’ve got another choice! Joshua tells them they’re going to have to march around the walls of Jericho. The priest are to blow 7 trumpets and the armies of Israel are to march in total SILENCE for 6 days. That’s a miracle in itself! Then on the 7th day, they’re to march around the wall 7 times. Then Joshua tells them to SHOUT!
“But, I don’t feel like shouting.”
“What do I have to shout about?”
“All I’ve got to show for all this marching is sore feet!”
“I don’t see not one crack in the mortar!”
“All we’re doing is going around in circles!”
They had a choice, but the wall didn’t, it had to fall when the people shouted! It takes faith to rejoice before you see the victory! In Mt 17:24-27, Jesus needed tax money
In Mt 17:24-27, Jesus needed tax money, so he told Peter to go fishing and he’d find the money in the first fishes mouth. Now Peter had a choice.
“That’s silly, I’ve never heard of a getting money out of a fishes mouth.” My daddy and granddaddy were fishermen. I’ve heard all kinds of fish tales, never money in a fishes mouth.
“Where did that fish get that money?” Maybe a tax collector, could have been walking by the seashore with the money bag on his belt, when it may have got a hole in it and a coin fell out and rolled into the water. Maybe a fish that God had prepared bit it. Well, he couldn’t get it down and he couldn’t get it up. He may have rather had a worm, but he was commanded of God to bite the coin instead.
Now Peter’s got a choice, but the fish didn’t have a choice. As soon as Peter threw out his line, he had to beat all the other fish, and be the first one on the line.
God’s got a fish out there for you, but you’ll never catch it, if you don’t cast out your line! Here’s a bigger fish tale… Jonah. You see he also had a choice, but he made the wrong choice. God told him to go to Nineveh and preach unto it the preaching that God bid him. But what did he do? He headed in the opposite direction to a place called Tarshish. He made the wrong choice and got in trouble.
Ended up getting thrown over board, and swallowed by a whale. MT 12:40 says the great fish was a WHALE. The whale didn’t have a choice. Jonah may not have been the Blue Plate Special that day, but the whale was already commanded of God to swallow him up. I can just see that fish, headed out to deep water, lay on the bottom and digest Jonah. But Jonah remembered his vows.
I will pay that, that I have vowed.
When Jonah made the right choice, the fish didn’t have a choice. He started on a suicide mission. If he got too close to shore he’d get beached and he would die. But he didn’t have a choice, because God commanded the fish to vomit Jonah out upon the dry land. (A Backslid Preacher will make even a fish sick at it’s stomach!) John 11:1-44 tells us the story of Lazarus.
John 11:1-44 tells us the story of Lazarus. News came to Jesus that Lazarus was sick. He waited until he knew he was dead before he made any effort to go to him.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him with these words v.21 “Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not died” v.23-25 Jesus saith unto her, “Thy brother shall rise again”… I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day” Jesus said unto her “I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”
Then Mary meets Jesus with the same words “Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not died” Jesus asked v.34 “Where have ye laid him” They brought Jesus to the cave where they had laid him. Then Jesus asked them to do a strange thing v.39 “Take ye away the stone” Martha “saith unto him, “Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead 4 days” v.40 Jesus saith unto her “Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” Now they had a choice they could roll away the stone or refuse.
So they made the right choice. v.43-44 “…Jesus cried with a loud voice ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ And he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said unto them, ‘Loose him and let him go!’” There was a time when Satan had me bound…..
There was a time when Satan had me bound in the Grave Clothes of Sin. I was in a stinking condition, on my way to hell, but Jesus came by my way and called me by name, and I chose to say “YES”. The devil had to loose me and let me go!
I was 18yrs. old, living in sin. We had a New Years Eve party. We had all our good-times friends over. There was drinking and dancing.
Everybody had left except one couple, they weren’t married but we let them stay all night with us. That’s the kind of people we were. We were the kind of people that didn’t go to church on Sunday, we had too big of a hang-over from Saturday night. In our garbage, along with the pork-n-bean cans, was our beer cans and liquor bottles. If a Christian Ladies Group were out visiting for the church, they’d probably pass on by our house. But I had a praying Mama!
That night somehow, even under the influence of alcohol, we started talking about Jesus. I remember pushing my drink back on the coffee table. We were all under conviction. I didn’t hear Him when He came in, but I felt His presence, Jesus had showed up at my house and began to deal with our hearts. We could have got saved right there in our living-room, but decided to go to church the next day.
My husband and I went but the other couple didn’t. I was so scared, it felt like I had a knot in my throat the size of your fist. We went that Sunday and went back the next Sunday and I got saved. I couldn’t tell you what the preacher preached, I just wanted to get to that altar as fast as I could and make things right with God.
That was 33 years ago, and I’ve never been sorry!
You can sit there and say “I don’t have a choice”, but that’s a LIE of the devil. If you’re a sinner, today you’ll make a choice. Jesus and Life or Satan and Death.
People say “I’m a weak Christian” If you are, it’s because you choose to be. Jesus didn’t hang on that cross so I’d be weak, but He hung there so that we might have LIFE and that more abundantly!
I made my choice, how about you?
I laid my husband, Doyle, on the altar a long time ago. I made up my mind, whether he made it or he didn’t, I had to make it!
You’ve got a choice, you can listen to the lies of the devil or you can resist the devil and he will flee from you, that is if you submit yourself to God!
Linda Brewer
Linda travels full time both in the United States and foreign countries preaching the gospel. She moves in the gifts of the Spirit and many have received healing from the Lord during her ministry times.
Check out Linda’s book “Jesus The Healer”
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