Here is something we need to know, and need to try to never forget, God isn’t going to love us any less. God already loves us in full. His Grace and Mercy are actually new every morning. When we wake up each morning, His Grace and Mercy are waiting on us to do each day with us, and they’re covering every single detail of our lives.
The heart of this post is one that is changing my life, and I pray and hope it changes and keeps changing your own life too.
In my last post, I reminded and told us that we have the power to choose and decide the outcome of our lives. So, a question came up, “Are we all destined to do right?” I don’t want to answer this question just the way it is, I want to extend the borders of this question into so many other areas that are surrounding it. There’s an area that I’ll really love to start with. This area is one that so many Christians try to avoid (to be fair, I am one of those Christians). Christians tend to avoid it because it feels like it tries to put us in a fix. It tries to put us in a place that makes it look like we are contradicting ourselves. So, what’s this area? Ok, let’s go…
If God is supreme and knows the end from the beginning, why bother to get my acts right? If I’m supposed to go to heaven or hell, then I will go anyway…so why try to do anything when my fate is already certain?
Yes, the Bible says that God is the beginning and the end and that He knows everything, but nowhere did the Bible say that God has already destined who will go to heaven or who will go to hell. As a matter of fact, what we see throughout the Bible is that we have a choice to make, whether to serve God or not serve Him. The Bible calls on us to do positive things. The Bible says to act right. The Bible says to speak right. The Bible says to cultivate the right mindset. The Bible says to follow Jesus’ examples. The Bible didn’t say our fate is already decided. What we see instead is God telling us that we have the power to decide our fate.
So, conclusion is, God definitely knows all things, but He has given us the power to change things for our own good. I can’t start explain how it works with God, because no one can really explain God. What I can say for sure is that, it is not on God to decide how will live our lives, and where we get to spend eternity. It’s on us. If it wasn’t on us, God wouldn’t tell us it’s on us. If we didn’t have a role to play, God wouldn’t tell us we have a role to play. If we can’t really decide our fate, then God lied to us all the way long…but that’s not possible, because God cannot lie.
Let’s bring some scriptures into the witness box
In the Bible, we see a King that was deadly ill and God sent Isaiah to tell the king to prepare his house because he will die and not recover from the sickness. The king was Hezekiah. Hezekiah wasn’t happy with God’s plan so he cried out to God and asked God to extend his stay on earth. Guess what God did? God honoured the request of a man, a request that was against His initial plan. SEE 2Kings 20:1-11
So, you see, we get to choose. We have a part to play. I don’t know the principles of God on this (maybe someday I will). I don’t know how it works with God, but I know that it is on us to choose our fate. We are not just playing out a script that our “wills” cannot oppose.
John 3:16 says, “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only-begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish…but have eternal (everlasting) life.” (AMPC)
It says “whoever believes” meaning it is open to all and every, not a selected few. It also means that it is on everyone to decide to believe or not believe.
John 1:12 says, “But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority [power, privilege, right) to become the children of God…” (AMPC)
It says “as many” meaning there’s no limit. There’s room for any and every one to come.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says “…if any person is (grafted) in Christ, the Messiah, he is a new creation…” (AMP)
“Any person” means there are no restrictions. You just have to be a human being, and you can have access to Jesus.
Romans 12:1-2, say to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. This means we have a part to play. Ephesians 5:17 say to not be foolish, but to understand the will of the Lord, meaning we can be foolish and not understand God’s plans. Hebrews 6:1 tells us to go for maturity, meaning we get to decide whether to grow or not grow. Matthew 7:13-14 tells us to enter through the narrow gate and shun the wide and the easy way, meaning we choose our path. In John 15, Jesus calls on us to abide in Him, because without Him we can do nothing. If there’s a call, then it means we have a choice to answer or ignore the call.
And there are so many other scriptures that explain this concept.
What about when God said He hates Esau and loves Jacob? Someone might want to ask.
Well, there are a whole lot of scary things that happened under the dispensation of the law, and trying to understand why they happened is a whole different ball game, that keeps getting better each time you ask the Holy Spirit, when you read the Bible (at least that’s my personal experience and I don’t want to believe that I’m alone). But, here is what to concentrate on; when Paul made reference to that in his letter to the Romans, Paul was actually trying to tell the Romans that God has decided to love mankind unconditionally, forever, without the input or works of any man… and His decision to love that way cannot change…no matter what anybody thinks and believes…and that He doesn’t owe anyone any explanation. God decided to love this way because of the sacrifice of His dear Son, Jesus. We (that are under the dispensation of Grace) are the ones God has chosen to love. We are the present day Jacob. This is where our focus should be. Let’s learn to walk with God the way He wants us to walk with Him. Truth is; we’ll never understand God in His entire entirety while we’re still on earth. We need to focus on the revelations of the scriptures and make the Word of God our only standard.
If the Bible doesn’t say that we’re already destined for hell or heaven, in spite of any and everything we do, then we shouldn’t believe that. If the Bible says that we have all it takes to decide what happens to and for us, then that’s exactly what we should believe and hold on to.
God has a perfect script for everyone. So, if we are just supposed to live our lives without making choices, if we are just acting out a script that we can’t change…then we would all be saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit, because that’s God’s perfect will for everyone, under the dispensation of Grace.
Is everyone on this earth, saved sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit? Answer: NO. But it is God’s will for everyone to be saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit. The Bible says we are all purposefully and creatively made by God (SEE Psalms 139). The Bible says the thoughts God has for us are good and not evil (Jeremiah 29:11). It then means that we’re more powerful than we think, know and believe…indeed. I dare to further say that, God is waiting for you to choose Him and to keep choosing Him…as long as you’re still alive. The Bible tells us that we only cease to have that power, when we move over to the other side of eternity.
There’s the negative, the wrong, the wicked, the lost…but it doesn’t have to be you. You can decide to be at the positive, right and good divide. It’s on you to decide. It’s your choice to make. You get to choose.
This is a call to be very intentional; it isn’t a call to get you afraid. We all have to understand that being on earth is an assignment. We need to understand that we are on a mission, and not on a “show tour.” We need to wake up every morning with a resolute decision to choose LIFE…to choose to honour Jesus in our lives.
Choosing…
Good, beautiful, great, amazing, creative, spectacular etc. doesn’t really define God. It might be good and beautiful and super amazing and just creatively out of this world, but it can still be against God. Are you like me? And by that I mean, do you hear some songs that out rightly defile the norms and values of God’s kingdom yet very interesting, creative and sometimes, having the power to catch your total attention? Please tell me you’re like me…at least in some kind of way (LOL).
Dear one, good doesn’t really mean God. Don’t get me wrong. The devil can’t create anything. God created creativity and very other things amazing, beautiful, great…and so much more. God created everything, but when man fell in Genesis, the nature of sin corrupted and distorted all of the beautiful things God deposited in man. God didn’t take all the power He gave man, and the devil had access to manipulate what God deposited in man. So, yes…there are times, so many times, when you have to see that thing, that situation, that person, that place…that is so beautiful, catchy and very interesting and you’ll still have to say NO, because it’s ungodly.
God loves us so so much, and that will never change…yet, He still wants us to starve our flesh and feed our spirits. Why? Because the flesh leads to death. It might be very comfortable and interesting and cozy and very pleasing to the flesh, but you still have to look at it and say NO. As Christians, every now and then our flesh needs to be shut down; it needs to feel sad, it needs to be very uncomfortable…if we are not feeding it. Your flesh might make you think that it will die if you don’t give it what it wants, please do not listen to your dust clothing…it won’t die. Refuse the desires of your flesh. In Luke 9:23, Jesus says to deny the flesh…take up the cross, daily, and follow Him.
You have the power to make the right choice. Again, your right to choose + Grace = a FORCE that’s absolutely supernatural. Make the decision as Grace infuses strength in you…you’ll be super amazed at the results.
Hope you do not believe that lie…of course, from the devil?
Even when you make a mistake, don’t stay in the mistake and turn the mistake into a home. Get yourself up, dust yourself up…and choose LIFE. No matter how many times you have to repeat the process. If God’s Mercy and Grace aren’t going to give up on you, then you dare not give up on you.
The devil tries to always make us feel that we’ve made a whole lot of mistakes, and hence, aren’t qualified to make any other good decision. Well, the devil is a liar…you should know that by now. He is, in fact, not just a liar but the father of all lies. Lies originate from Him. No matter how far you’ve gone into that mistake…no matter how deep the damage is…no matter how many times you feel you’ve disappointed God…get yourself up, dust yourself up and choose LIFE. Even if this is your first time in your entire life to choose LIFE…choose LIFE…choose JESUS.
Choosing LIFE determines how you live on earth…and ultimately where and how you spend your eternity.
My prayer for you:
I pray God reveals His truth to you. I pray you get to see how powerful you are in deciding your own fate. I pray the eyes of your understanding are flooded with light, and that you’ll always understand what the will of the Father towards you is.
I pray you keep choosing all things…LIFE.
Amen
Do get in the gym and do,
Stay Spiritually Fit.
