Thursday, December 6, 2007

Choose for Yourselves This Day

"The world promises things temporal and mean, and is served with great eagerness. God promises things most high and eternal, and the heart of mortals grow dull." Thomas A Kempis
It was the twilight of his life. Joshua was coming to the end of his journey here on earth. His life had not been easy, since early youth he had known battles and wars, but through it all he had also seen the hand of God at work. He had seen miraculous victories, and once, even the sun stand still. It had been a full life, and now he gathered the people of Israel unto himself to relay one last message, one last revelation to the nation. The message was short, to the point, and relevant to the spiritual condition in which Israel found itself.
Joshua 25:14-15, "Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
When all is said and done, every man and woman must choose whom they serve. The son is not accountable for the sins of the father, nor is the father accountable for the sins of the son. The soul that sins will die.
Joshua knew, inspired of God that the people of Israel had not laid aside, had not put away the gods their fathers had served, and though they had crossed the river into the promised land, some still clung to dead gods, and false idols. Duplicity of heart is something most hated of God, especially in those who claim to be His children, for it births compromise, and brings about a shallow character willing to stand for absolutely nothing.
We have all crossed the river, from darkness to light, from death to life, but even so, some of us still cling to those things which can harm us, which can act as a stumbling block between ourselves, and the will and voice of God. In order for us to be complete in Him, there can be no hindrance; there can be nothing standing in the way of God perfecting His will in our lives.
Often, rather than let God empty us out, purge us with fire, then fill us with His Spirit, we have some things left over from before we crossed the river, that we keep moving from room to room, from nook to nook in our hearts, never allowing God to do away with them once and for all.
Just as we have a choice today, Israel had a choice. Because they chose to keep for themselves the idols and false gods of Egypt and the other places they conquered along the way, their history is one that is marked with great tragedies, great trials, and great tribulations.
Joshua knew whom he would serve. As far as himself and his house, they had chosen to serve the Lord, because they knew Him as the living God that watched over them, protected them, and went before them. Joshua knew what the one true God was offering, and subsequently what the strange gods were offering, and realized just how much the former was willing to pour out on His obedient servants, and how little the latter had to tempt with. God offers us eternal things, priceless in and of themselves, that cannot be purchased with silver or gold, but are freely given to those obedient hearts that learn to hear His voice, and obey His commandments. My heart aches at the thought that men today would rather hear of earthly excess, of financial breakthroughs and better self esteem techniques, than hear of the power of almighty God, the gifts that are readily at our disposal, and the glory into which His faithful can enter. The world offers so little, yet we desire it so much, and the only reason for this has to be that at least in part, we are still of the world.
It's troubling how knowing what God has done for us, that we would still consider the false gods of our past, that we would still entertain the idea of returning to the dead things that only brought us heartache and shame. Yet, men do so everyday, they return to the sins that once had them shackled in a prison of hopelessness, they return to the addictions that had before ruined their lives, because they never truly did away with them, they did not lay them aside, but believed, foolishly so, that the one true God, and the strange gods could somehow coexist.
Choose for yourselves this day. No one can make the choice for you, but you.
2 Peter 1:8-11, "For if these things are yours and abound, (faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love) you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Therefore brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."


With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.

3 comments:

deannaslater said...

This is something I experienced not to long ago, Sin, when I allowed this to take place, total disobedience to God's word. I had held strong for 2yrs from this sin thinking nothing can take me now, I know that snake like the back of my hand, as soon as I started to think like this it happened, I fell in just a night, I was allowed to feel the pain of the Holy Spirit of God deep within, I was also allowed to actually feel his presence move away and the power of darkness set in to only torment me, the demons of hell went full force to cause me to continue in this sin, it was a battle I never experienced in this way because I was able to feel the demonic activity, even though I repented the next day it didn't lift it continued to the place of even becoming more enticing good to the flesh the feeling was so fleshy so satisfying to the flesh, my mind started to wander it became so over bearing yet the flesh was being pumped I could feel the demonic, the spirit of lust is so strong this is a demon in itself, a few days went by, then, it was like my eyes were open even more a greater understanding and a strength came over me, all along I'm saying to the Lord whats happening to me Jesus, I'm praying and this isn't lifting, two days later, I was driving at night late at night, and I screamed at the top of my lungs, long and hard get out, Jesus do something, just screaming without a breath, I can't take no more Lord do something, and all the sudden, I was allowed to feel the lifting of the demonic, it wasn't in me, it was surrounded all around me, then I was allowed to feel the Power and the light of the Holy Spirit of God fall literally all around me surrounding me engulfing me, I could breath, it was so fresh, the flesh was no longer wanting, it was completely calmed, immediately from that day everything went back to the way it was and even with a greater strength a greater awareness, yet I said Lord I will never again say I have it all under control, for it is you that controls all that is with in me, every step I take every breath I take, because his protection is upon me, there is a shield the enemy cannot break through unless God allows it or unless sin so easily takes us, I wonder if this is how God allowed the enemy to come to Job, he had to have lifted his protection for the enemy to enter, we as children of God, obedient children are supernaturally protected by the Father, I've always known this but I really know it now being allowed to experience this in a real way. All I can say brothers is there are things in the spiritual that are given to the obedient children of the Father, we are given protection as children of the Father and its real more then we know, leaving that protection leaves us in complete control of the enemy,I thank God that are Father hears our cries and comes and rescues us, he didn't though in one prayer of repentence the next day, I was left with a few days of encountering this demon, and it is instilled in me like never before, I pray I never have to experience that again, I pray, I will fight the battle of the power already given to me through Jesus Christ our Lord , oh how much easier it will be to fight before then after the sin,we have so many wonderful gifts from the Father I love him so much, to disobey our Father, is no light thing in his eyes, I believe he used those few days to chastise me to the place of truly understanding without him I will not make it. Blessings

Bonny said...

Praise God for the victory He gave you, Deanna! When we think we are strong, and have mastery, He shows us how weak and needy we really are. In our flesh dwelleth no good thing, that's for sure. We have to hate sin so much, and see it as God sees it, and cry out to Him for deliverance. Then He comes. So many want the Holy Spirit for signs, wonders, gifts and manifestations....but I still think the greatest thing He does in us is give us power to overcome sin.
God bless,
Bonny

Anonymous said...

I can identify with what this Brother says. We are never in control, we are totally dependant upon our Father. At times, in our (my) arrogance, He needs to remind me of WHO is really protecting me. As individuals, we are no match for the powers of evil, but with the Father on our side, He that is in us is greater than anything in the universe. Praise be to His Holy Name! Shalom, dear brother!