“THE POWER OF CHOICE II”
Bob and I went to Zambia, E. Africa
with Pastor Mophat on our way to Johannesburg, S. Africa a couple of years or
so, ago. And, God had burned a message in my heart that was simple and yet
profound. It was entitled, “The Power of Choice”.
And, now, I have a continuation of
that message that I feel impressed to share with you. The greatest things in
life depend upon choice, even our salvation. And, even after salvation, choice
plays a giant roll in our love for others; our peace; and our joy. It will also
determine whether or not one of these days soon, we will hear a “Well done,
thou good and faithful servant.”
I want to share an illustration with
you on choice:
The Big Black Door
A general of the Persian army always
gave his condemned prisoners a choice, the firing squad or the black door. Most
chose the firing squad. The prisoners were never told what was on the other
side of the door. Few ever chose the unknown of the black door. When asked what
was on the other side of the black door, the general answered, “Freedom, and
I’ve known only a few men brave enough to take it.”
There is a power in choice.
1. Salvation: “Choose you this day
whom you will serve”(Josh. 24:15). This is the most important choice in life -
Heaven or Hell.
2. Choose to let the Spirit of God
control your life or to try to control it yourself. Man is in three parts:
body, soul, and spirit. The soul is composed of: mind, emotions, and will.
Something comes into your mind; your
emotions tell you how you feel about it; and your will involves the choice you
make in regard to it. God has not made us as robots - we have the ability to
choose.
When we have accepted the Lord as our
Savior, our spirit belongs to God. We need to become strong in our spirit in
order that our spirit will tell our flesh what to do, instead of our soul
telling our spirit what we are going to do.
In other words, what are we governed
by? Our soul or our spirit? What we feel like doing, or what is right to do.
3. A right response:
Jesus is our example. What did He do
in response to abuse and rejection? He did not retaliate but said, “Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do.”
He had righteous indignation in the
temple when the house of God was desecrated. He responded to the temptations of
the devil by using the scripture.
When we are angry is it because we are
upholding righteousness? When the devil comes at us do we try to deal with it
in our flesh or by using the Word of God?
When people mistreat us, we are to
have a right response. We are to “act“, when possible, but not to “react.”
4. How can we have a right response
and make right choices?
“Keep your heart with all diligence;
for out of it are the issues of life.” (Prov. 4:23).
Remember that your flesh is weak. So,
keep your spirit strong and then you will have the strength from the Holy Spirit
to make the right choices and have the right response toward others.
5. Love is the greatest of all
I Cor. 13 says that love is more
important than anything else and none of our good works will profit anything
without it. God wants us to be genuine in this and balanced.
Don’t just love one person so much but
avoid others who perhaps need it more. If you don’t have a genuine love for
them, God will give it to you. Take the first step, and God will bring it
about.
When our kids were small, I knew a
religious lady who didn’t like me, nor did I like her! But, God spoke to my
heart and one day I heard that she was sick. So, I visited her and took her a
pot of chicken soup. Then, as I did this, I began to feel a compassion for her
and genuine love, so I kissed her on the cheek (which was sweaty from fever).
This changed this lady’s heart. She needed to see genuineness of Christianity
instead of just religion.
Another time, I had a neighbor that
was bossy and controlling. But, one day I heard that she was sick, so I made
her a pot of soup. Our kids were younger and didn’t understand why I was making
the soup. But, she couldn’t get over it as she said no one else cared like
that. So, she called me to the house and gave us over $500 worth of groceries
that they had come into through her husband’s job. I said that that was pretty
good pay for a pot of soup! Later, she had back operations, and I cleaned her
house and cooked their meals. But, I talked with her about being born again one
day and she got mad at me and has little to do with me today. But, I knew that
I had done all that could be done to win her to Jesus.
A relative by marriage used to mock
the things of God and Christians. But, he had diabetes and had to have a leg
amputated. He had a number of health problems and was in a wheelchair. So, I
went over every week and cleaned his house and washed his clothes. I felt the
Lord leading this way as he needed the help and he thought all Christians were
hypocrites. I did this for months, for as long as it was needed.
But, one day, Bob and I went to the
hospital to visit one of our people who was better and almost ready to go home.
But, I found out that this man was in there. So, we went to him and prayed the
sinner’s prayer over him, asking God that he would accept Him as I did. When we
opened our eyes, there were tears streaming down his cheeks. We were the last
ones to see him, as 45 minutes later he was dead! Why were we the ones who were
able to lead him to the Lord? Because we had loved him in spite of his sin, and
ministered to his needs. We eradicated the thought that had been in his mind
for years that all Christians were hypocrites.
Let’s change our world through love.
Anyone can hate or dislike someone. But, it takes a person of God to love
sinners and those that despitefully use you. Sometimes it is hardest to love
other believers because we expect more from them than sinners. But, let’s leave
them with God and let Him deal with them - and let’s go on loving them and
treating them good, even when they don’t deserve it.
6. Faith is a choice
Heb. 11 tells of the great patriarchs
of faith in the Word of god. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for
righteousness. Noah built an ark, even when others mocked him. Many prophets
and others were treated despictfully and some even sawn asunder, but they have
a better reward awaiting them. And, it says this about them: “Of whom the world
was not worthy.”
7. Joy is a choice
You say, “Well, you don’t know my
circumstances or you wouldn’t be happy either!” But, the Bible says that we can
rejoice, even in persecutions and afflictions because the power of Christ rests
upon us.
Keep your heart with all diligence.
What are we thinking about and what comes out our mouth? Some people you talk
to have you depressed before the conversation if over. It’s either thousands of
physical problems or other things. One lady had so many ailments that she
recited to me, including allergies, but then she topped it all off by saying
that she was allergic to her allergy medicine! She sits in a wheelchair by her
own choice. Her daughter had her sent to a hospital one time to be thoroughly
checked but they could find nothing wrong with her except a little arthritis
that they said was typical at her age. But, she returned to her wheelchair. Then,
her church prayed for her and a pastor spoke that Jesus had healed her. He took
her hand and she got out of the wheelchair - but, only to return to it shortly.
And, I don’t know if today she can get out of it! It was her choice.
Many people have “wheelchairs” like
this by choice. There are not only physical ailments they hang onto, but
emotional wheelchairs. Unforgiveness is one of them.
When our oldest son, Bobby, and I were
at a Kathryn Kuhlman meeting some years ago, she called a lady forward who had
a huge goiter in her neck. Then, God gave Kathryn a word of knowledge. She
said, “You have a sister in Seattle, don’t you?” The lady said, “Yes”. Then,
Kathryn said that God wanted her to forgive her sister. At that, the lady
became bitter and spit out, “I will never forgive her.” So, she left the
platform when she could have been healed. Sometimes physical problems cannot be
healed because of unforgiveness in our lives.
8. Heaven in our Hearts
Obviously, we are not in Heaven. When
Bob turns on the news, I shudder because I know that it will be for the most
part, bad news. We deal with negative factors every day of our lives. But, what
is in our hearts that is wrought by the Holy Ghost, no devil can steal - he
cannot touch it! God gives a supernatural peace in a decaying world. He gives
joy in tribulation. And, even when others don’t like us or despitefully use us,
His love is shed abroad in our hearts by Christ Jesus. We can have Heaven in
our Hearts. The only way that satan can steal these things from us is when we
choose to let him. Let’s be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves”. Let’s be
“easy to be entreated.”
James 3:17 says, “But the wisdom that
is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated”,
full of mercy and good fruits.”
The Living Bible says it this way: “But
the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure and full of quiet
gentleness. Then it is peace loving and courteous. It allows discussion and is
willing to yield to others; it is full of mercy and goods. It is wholehearted
and straightforward and sincere. And, those who are peacemakers will plant
seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness.” (James 3:17-18)
“Easy to be entreated” is the opposite
of being obstinate and self-seeking and holding to one’s rights.
God’s wisdom is “without partiality”
or favoritism, thereby discriminating against no one. It is “without hypocrisy”
and produces true godliness.
We can’t choose our circumstances many
times, but we can choose to allow Heaven to be in our hearts. And, the more of
the Spirit of God that we choose to have in out lives and decisions and
responses, the more we will live in continual love, joy, peace and the other
fruits of the Holy Ghost.
There is a power of choice, and it is
ours.
A DONKEY STORY:
An old farmer had an old donkey that
wasn’t useful anymore because he was so old. The farmer didn’t know what to do
with him. So he took him out to an old well and dumped him in. Then, he
gathered up garbage from around the farm and dumped it into the well. It hit
the donkey and hurt him, but it didn’t kill him.
So, the farmer got another load of
garbage and threw it in the well. Again, it hurt the donkey but did not kill
him.
So, the farmer got bigger and heavier
items of garbage, such as old tires and threw them in the well but he had the
same result. They hurt the donkey but did not kill him.
But after all of this garbage,
something interesting happened! The donkey had stepped up on the top of the
garbage each time and now was finally able to walk right out of the old well!
Application: There is a power in
choice. The devil can throw all kinds of garbage our way and distractions from
following the Lord, but if we will just step up on top of the garbage each time
and look up to the top of the well, we will be set free!
Psa. 40:2-3
A lady had a little bird who would sit
on his swing in his cage and sing and sing and sing! He didn’t have any
problems or worries. So, he just sat on his swing and sang!
But, one day the lady was cleaning out
the bird cage with a vacuum cleaner. She put the hose on the bottom of the
cage, as she usually did, to clean it out. Then, the phone rang. She leaned
over to pick up the phone, and when she did, the hose came up and sucked up the
little bird!
When she got off the phone, she
noticed that he was gone. So, she looked all through the house for the little
bird but could not find him. Then, she decided to check, just in case he had
gotten sucked up into the vacuum cleaner bag.
And, sure enough, there he was all
dirty and disheveled! She put him back on his swing in the cage, but guess
what? He didn’t sing anymore! He just sat there and stared into space!
And, this is what has happened to some
of us. We have been through trials and have been sucked up by them. And, we
have lost our song. But, God wants to give us a new song!
Esther Thornton
