choices – Counted Faithful

3 Choices to Make Every Day

“You are free to make whatever choice you want, but you are not free from the consequences of that choice!”

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

Today’s post is a sequel to yesterday. It is Part 2. But it can stand alone on its own!

Choices define us.

Choices determine our direction.

Choices direct our destiny.

We make so many choices every day. Starting from the time we get up and continuing until the time we go to bed. We are constantly making choices.

Many of us have routines that we follow. That routine has been determined by choices that we make. We have habits that we act daily, all programmed by consistent choices that we have made.

As we talked about yesterday, the choice between serving God and serving the flesh, is the greatest choice we will make every single day. As we choose to serve God, there are three significant choices we need to make each day to help us in our choice of serving God.

Choose to Forfeit Your Will

“I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1-2

If we are going to choose to serve God, we have to choose to forfeit our will every day. We have to lay our life down on the altar of sacrifice and live a life as God would want us to live. We have to decide that we want to be like Christ and not like the world. We have to decide to be different from the world instead of being conformed to the world. We have to be transformed, be something different in this wicked world. Forfeit, give up, let go of your desires and wants. Choose to fulfill the will of God every day for your life.

Choose to Follow Him

“And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, SImon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:18-19

After we forfeit our will, the next step is choosing to follow Him. These two men, Peter and Andrew, were faced with a choice. They had to decide whether to follow Christ or keep on fishing. Forfeiting your will and following Christ go hand in hand. You really can’t have one without the other. You have to choose both or neither! We see in verse 20, that they immediately left their nets to follow Christ. Once we make the decision to follow Him, don’t look back at what you left behind, keep following!

Choose to Fight the World

“Wherefore take unto the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13

We are told to take the whole armor of God so that we can stand in the evil day. We are living in the evil day. You do not take armor if you aren’t planning on fighting! We have to choose every day to fight the wickedness and sin of this world. The best way we can is to avoid it, abstain from it and live a righteous, holy life that is pleasing unto the world. If you do not choose to do right, you will eventually do wrong. You have to make a conscious decision that you will do right and live by the Word of God.

Each one of these three choices go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. But each one is a choice that has to….needs to….be made every single day!!

Choose you this day… to forfeit you will.

Choose you this day… to follow Him.

Choose you this day… to fight the world.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Thanks for your continued reading! If you would like to support us but love shopping on Amazon more, just click on this link to shop! When you do, we get a little kickback, it is just something that helps keep this blog going!!

——————————————————————————————————————————

Listen to the Counted Faithful Podcast!! You can also support us by supporting the podcast!!

***********************************************************************************************************

It is my dream to one day be creating content full-time, inspiring and motivating people to be faithful to Christ through different streams of media.

Please consider making a donation through PayPal.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

We appreciate your support!

The Grass Isn’t Always Greener

“The grass isn’t always greener on the other side!”

This is an old saying that basically reminds us to pay attention to the grass in our backyard, mind our own business and take care of our own grass.

Whenever I hear this saying, I think of a certain Bible character, Lot.

Lot was Abraham’s nephew and they were journeying through the land together. As they journeyed their flocks and their servants and their families grew. They became such a big company that their servants started arguing amongst one another and causing problems. Abraham came to Lot one day and told him to choose a direction. Whatever direction Lot choose, Abraham would choose the opposite direction.

This is the moment that would change their lives forever. There was a huge choice that would be made that would establish the direction of each man and it would determine their destiny.

“And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.” Genesis‬ ‭13:10‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Lot made his choice by what he saw. He lifted his eyes and saw the well watered plains and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. From where he was, everything looked good! From where Lot stood and what he saw, it was the best choice of land that he could take.

What Lot didn’t know, what Lot didn’t see, was the wickedness that was in Sodom and Gomorrah. He didn’t see his future and what could happen, he only saw what was right in front of him and he saw “green grass!”

I noticed a couple things in this story that we need to remember when it comes to making decisions in life.

Just because it looks greener, doesn’t mean it is better.

This is the obvious statement from the story. I’m sure Lot saw how good it looked when he made his choice! The Bible says Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom. I wonder if Lot would have just stayed in the plains and enjoyed the fruitfulness of the ground, how different his story would have been. But he pitched his tent towards Sodom, he saw Sodom everyday, eventually he ended up where his focus was at! I imagine everything was going good in Sodom when he first moved in but soon enough, the green washed away and he had to see the depravity and wickedness of the city, yet he chose to live there. In the end, the well watered plains were not better for Lot!

When making a decision like the direction to go in life, let the Lord lead you!

The difference between the choice that Abraham made and the choice that Lot made was the Lord led Abraham in the direction he should go.

“And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.” Genesis‬ ‭13:14-17‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Just like Lot, Abraham looked and he saw all the land that God was going to give him. He not only saw the land, he was told how much God was going to bless him in this land. It is amazing what happens when you let the Lord guide you as you make decisions in your life. Yes, look at the options, but let God lead.

Your decisions affect those around you.

Lot made his decision and lost his family. He had family that were destroyed in the city when God rained down fire and brimstone. Lot lost his wife as they were running away and she looked back and became a pillar of salt! Then Lot’s daughters committed a wicked act with their father! And it all started with a look!

Abraham, on the other hand, was promised by God that his seed will numbered as the dust of the ground! We see Abraham’s story throughout the rest of the Bible and now in history!

Our decisions, whether big or small, will affect those around us!

——————————————————————————————————————————

Listen to the Counted Faithful Podcast!! You can also support us by supporting the podcast!!

***********************************************************************************************************

It is my dream to one day be creating content full-time, inspiring and motivating people to be faithful to Christ through different streams of media.

Please consider making a donation through PayPal.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

We appreciate your support!

And He Divided Unto Them

I have been thinking a lot about the story of the prodigal son the last few days. There is so many different truths wrapped up in that story. You can take the people involved and look at their lives through this time and learn great lessons from them. You can take the events and learn from them! You can even take the places that are defined in this story and get great truths and practical lessons from them. So because of that, I still have a few more truths that I noticed during the multiple times of reading this story the last few days, that I want to share with you!

“And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.” Luke 15:11-12

I find the phrase, “And he divided unto them his living.” very intriguing. I have read this story many times and I guess I have never noticed that pronoun, ‘them.’ When I usually read this story, I am thinking to myself about the prodigal son and how he is about to take his inheritance and go waste it in a far land. That pronoun ‘them’ signifies that it is plural, meaning the father divided his inheritance to both his sons.

The younger son went to his father and demanded his portion of the inheritance. He wanted whatever was coming to him now. He was acting like a selfish, spoiled brat that we see so much in society today…kids demanding of their parents to give them whatever they want.

The father took his living, his wealth, his property, everything he had and he divided it out to (‘them’) his sons. I wonder how this father felt. Was he sad because his son was demanding his inheritance? Was he happy because he knew that what he was giving/leaving for his sons would set them up for life? Was his heart full of love as he decided who was going to get what? I am sure a little of each one of these emotions was running through him!

The oldest son was probably a little taken back when his father handed him his inheritance. He probably wondered what happened to make his father do that. Was his father sick? Did his father think that something was going to happen to him and he wanted to make sure he gave his sons their inheritance before he was gone? I am sure the oldest son had a lot of questions in his mind when this event happened!

Once the father handed his sons their inheritance, they both had a decision to make…

God has given us, His children, our inheritance in that we don’t have to go to Hell. We have Heaven as our future home. We have His Word and all the promises that are in it. We have everything that we need to be a successful servant of God.

We, as Christians, like those two sons, also have a decision to make…

The oldest son decided to stay home and serve for and with his father.

The youngest son decided to leave and do his own thing in a far country.

Each son had a CHANCE to do right. We live a life of 50-50 odds. We either choose right or we choose wrong. Everyday we are faced with a chance of succeeding or failing.

Each son had to make a CHOICE. We make choices everyday. The outcome of those choices affect the rest of our life. One decision made in a moment of emotion can affect the rest of your life.

Each son had to deal with the CONSEQUENCES. We are faced with a chance to make the right choice, but whether we make the right choice or not, we have to live with the consequences. We have to live with the outcome of our choice.

The youngest son wasn’t a prodigal son at the beginning of the story. It could have been the older son that ended up being the prodigal son. Both of them could have left and both of them could have stayed. But they each had a chance to affect the rest of their life when that inheritance was handed to him. The oldest took it and I believe he put it right back into his father’s business and made a wise investment with it. The youngest took it and left, and instead of investing it, he wasted it with a lifestyle full of pleasure and parties and lost everything. The consequences were that the oldest had a steady job in need of nothing and the youngest had nothing in need of everything.

God our Father has given us, as His children, everything we need….what are we going to do with it?