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Friday, October 4, 2024

What is Your Choice?



 

What would your life now be like had you made different choices in the past? What if you had not gone to the store that day, answered that call, or reached out to that heartbroken person? Seemingly insignificant events can change the course of your life. 

 

Paul writes of one particular time when a choice saved his life.

 

“Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance and saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me'” (Acts 22:17-18).

 

Paul could have chosen to be anywhere else that day, but he chose to go to the temple to pray. That choice allowed God to warn him to get out of Jerusalem. What if Paul had not chosen to pray that day? That choice may have altered Paul’s future forever.

 

Our lives are made up of choices. Every choice we make can alter the direction of our lives. Being led by the Holy Spirit means listening to the Spirit as we make choices. Being sensitive to the voice of God is the way to live a victorious life. Many of our struggles result from choosing to do our own thing and not allowing God to lead us.

 

Jonah is a prime example of not listening to God. When God commanded Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and deliver a message of repentance, Jonah attempted to flee from God’s presence. He boarded a ship headed in the opposite direction, but God sent a great storm that threw Jonah into the sea. He was swallowed by a giant fish before eventually fulfilling God’s calling. Jonah could have avoided a lot of hardship by saying yes and allowing God to lead Him.

 

And then there was Abraham, the Father of our Faith, who heard God telling him to leave his country and family and travel to a new land that God would show him. Abraham demonstrated tremendous faith in God by obeying this command and leaving everything familiar and comfortable.

 

Isaiah wrote of the presence of the Holy Spirit coming to live one day within believers. He said prophetically of those who would believe in Christ:

 

“Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21).

 

The Holy Spirit is always speaking to us, but we are the ones who most often are not listening. To live the victorious life God has for us, our spiritual ears need to be attuned to His voice, and we must allow Him to lead us. We can prove stubborn like Jonah or be obedient like Abraham. But we have something more than either one of these two. Like Paul, we have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, attempting to guide us in God’s way. It is our choice.


“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

 

My choices shape my future. God has a hope and a good future for me. Why wouldn’t I want His best for my life? Why would I want to go my own way and not hear the Holy Spirit guiding me, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it?”

 

Listen, my beloved brethren. Has God not chosen you? What is your choice?

 

 

 

www.lynnlacher.com/2024/10/what-is-your-choice.html

 

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