Choose Life!

Deuteronomy 11:26-28

New King James Version (NKJV)

²⁶ “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: ²⁷ the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; ²⁸ and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

Most people have heard the saying “choose life, not death”, but many don’t really grasp what that means. Choosing life doesn’t ONLY mean that you don’t do things that are physically harmful and that may kill you, but it means to choose to follow the commandments of the Lord. Life is in the word of God and manifested by the word of God, not just by default because you stopped doing risky things.

Choosing death is choosing to go against the Lord’s commandments whether knowingly or unknowingly. I believe there has been a misunderstanding that death can only be a physical thing; choosing death is choosing to break your marriage vows by having an affair, or by spending your time listening/entertaining things that mocks or lies about God and the Bible. Choosing death means that you act based on what your flesh wants, sexual pleasure outside of marriage, doing drugs, excessive drinking, cussing people out, fighting, disobeying what God has told you, and so on.

Choosing death isn’t permanent, if you recognize that you made the wrong choice change! Repent and change your ways, to the ways of the Lord. There is no punishment for making a mistake or being ignorant when you are able to recognize the mistake and make a change for the better.

Longsuffering

Galatians 5:22-23

New King James Version (NKJV)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

long-suf·fer·ing

adjective

1.      having or showing patience in spite of troubles, especially those caused by other people.

The fruits of the spirit are attributes that we are supposed to take on because we have the Holy Spirit in us we are capable of expressing all the fruits. However, when our flesh gets in the way, we have an extremely difficult time bearing these fruits, because it’s not our natural characteristics…at least for most of us in this world.

I have learned that there are certain fruits of the Spirit that are harder to master than others, of course this varies from person to person, such as “longsuffering”, can be an extremely hard task to master because this requires you dealing with others, whether their actions towards you, towards themselves, getting their life together so everyone around them can be at ease.

I am reminded that the Lord is longsuffering, bearing with us when we choose wrong or get distracted, or even still in the world and had not accepted Him as your Lord and Savior. So when that sibling, friend, family member, coworker or whoever is behaving contrary to what you like or what you know is right, we have to remember that they are under the same longsuffering covering with God as you are. They have to be longsuffering so you do to. They may not even be believers however we still have to be longsuffering through all their mess and issues.

 No one has mastered all of these fruits other than Jesus, so even if you struggle to be longsuffering, push through it and get back to resting the flesh that wants to lash out towards someone when they get on your nerves doing the same foolish things.

John 16:24

John 16:24

New King James Version (NKJV)

²⁴ Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

There is not greater name than the name of Jesus, this is why we must include His name in our prayers. There will be times when we may forget to use His name in our prayer, but we have to make sure to use it because there is power behind it.

When we ask for things in His name He hears us, as believers, and He can act on it. When we don’t ask in His name, He can’t act on it or act as quickly because we didn’t specify that we have called on Him to bring something to pass or to receive something.

Now, we know that God can do whatever He pleases, but His word says to ask in His name and we will receive. There is confidence in asking in Jesus’ name that our requests have been made known and that it is officially in His hands to do with.

With asking in His name helps build your faith that He can and will do what He has promised, that if you ask and believe, you will receive.

2 Peter 3:9

2 Peter 3:9

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,^[a] not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

I have noticed that as times get darker and some going through major trials, they forget the power of the promise that the Lord had given them.

It’s not easy to remember that we have God on our side when things go wrong. This is one of the biggest reasons why we have to be in church or at least have righteous friends in church. Somehow we have to have some connection to the word of God even when you feel disconnected because of your situation.

What won me over for Christ is that He is not like any other man or woman that break promises or leave you when you don’t have anything to give; He stays with you no matter what you have or what your social, financial or emotional status. This is why we have to look towards Him when we are feeling lowly or lost.

It may sound cliché but Christ is the key to happiness and success. He bears with us through our messes and when we miss it and when we completely block Him out when something goes wrong. The important thing is to come back to Him, sooner rather than later, and back on track.