“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}
Choosing God first in this world we live in is not always easy. The Bible states we have the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life to contend with, simply because we live in a fallen world. But thanks be to God who leads us to triumph. Even though we live in this fallen world, we can ask the question: if He is for us who can be against us? We are more than conquerors through Him that loves us. {Romans 8:37}
Choosing God everyday and every moment should start with a prayer to Him to help us to do it. Let’s face it, on our own we can never please God. We will always come short. We might desire to please Him, even make crazy promises while we’re at the altar to live in the straight and narrow with Him. But sooner or later, that lust of the flesh and that lust of the eyes and that pride of life are going to come against us. And because we live in this fallen nature of our body, we will succumb to it. The only way to live a victorious life everyday and every moment is to always be talking to Jesus Christ, because through Him we will find the strength that we are looking for. That’s the only answer I find again and again that keeps me happy everyday – even when things didn’t go my way and I’ve come short again in pleasing Him – I talk to Him about it. I have come to realize as Apostle Paul did in his writings in Romans, that in myself there is nothing good when it comes to trying to be perfect before God. As soon as I say I’m going to do what is pleasing to God and righteous before Him, my body and my carnal desires are going to war against me. Before you know it, I am going to go into an emotional roller coaster of either self-righteousness because, “yay I did something great”, or the opposite: shame and reproach because I did something I shouldn’t have done. So I have found time and time again that the answer to this dilemma is to talk to Jesus about what I am going through. Talk to God and He will show me what to think about my situation. If I’m facing a day where it’s going to be a little challenging to be a good Christian, I talk to Him about it. I let Him know about my fears and ask Him for His help.
Actually I’ve come to a habit now of just talking to Him all the time. I don’t even wait for my prayer time with Him anymore. When something troubles me, right there and then, I immediately talk to the Lord in my mind. Even if it’s as simple as what to cook for dinner or what to wear for that day, I’ve learned to get the Lord involved in my life all the time. I have also learned, the more He reveals Himself to me who He is, that He loves it when I do this. It actually makes the Lord feels special when I go to Him and to talk to Him all the time. It lets Him know I desire Him and I want Him. Because He is in love with me, He wants my attention all the time, and when I give it to Him it makes Him happy. I know it sounds crazy and far-fetched but this is what the Lord has been showing to me lately. He loves it when I pay attention to Him and I get Him involved in my life, simply because He loves me and He wants to be a part of me.
So when choosing God everyday isn’t working out for me sometimes, but instead I’m choosing stuff that wastes His time (like doing other things I’m interested in when I’m supposed to be doing His work), I send a mental telepathy to Him. In my spirit I plead for Him to help me. Before you know it He is helping me do what He desires for me to do. In the end He works it out for me.
That’s why we don’t have to live defeated in this life. If we get in the habit of choosing to talk to the Lord every day, all the time, when stuff hits the ceiling we don’t have to end up crying in shame and reproach later because we reacted with a wrong decision. Circumstances in our lives don’t have to end up eating us up whole. We can overcome them and have peace in dealing with them in the process, because we know the Lord is helping us. When we learn to automatically talk to the Lord about what’s going on in our lives, and in the course of time learn how to listen back to what He is saying to us, we will know exactly what we need to do at the moment. There have been many times where the Lord has comforted me and directed my path because I decided to talk to Him instead of relying upon my own understanding. I have learned to choose to find His counsel instead of depending on my own knowledge. I have to say He has been so faithful and has never failed me yet whenever I have gone to Him for help and direction in my life.
I remember a time when I was at a major fork in the road of my life. I didn’t know what to do. I was 22 years old and just finished a class on being a nursing assistant. I needed a job that provided a good health insurance because according to my mother’s health insurance that I was a part of, once I’m 23 they will no longer be responsible for me. I had a bad asthma then and needed my inhaler and my allergy medications. I worried about this situation a lot. From my experience in watching my mother and my sister work in the medical field, it seemed to me that they had the best health insurance around. Their insurance paid for everything. So, I decided to get my certification to be a nursing assistant and believed with all of my heart this too will also help me towards getting my nursing degree, which I was working toward at that time. A couple of weeks after the September semester started, I found myself literally standing before a road near the college I was attending, having this talk with the Lord in my mind. I just got a call from a nursing home a couple of days before, offering me a job and being told to show up for orientation that Monday. It was Friday and I did not want to go. The idea of being a nursing assistant just ate me up inside. I hated it. I realized there and then that this is not what I wanted to do. My experience at my internship confirmed that. The Lord spoke to me in my spirit and told me not to worry about the health insurance and that He is going to take care of me. Right there and then I decided to trust the Lord for my future. I decided to ignore that job and let it go. In short, I did not show up at the nursing home come Monday morning.
Well, that same semester, I met my husband through a gospel fest I had initiated in college for the Christian club that my cousin and I had started. He ran the music store that our club rented the instruments and sound system from for the concert. Here was another breakthrough in my life. I believe because I chose to believe in the Lord and chose to trust Him for my future, He rewarded me with my longed for desire to meet my husband. I’ve been praying for my husband since I was sixteen years old and had itemized to the Lord what I had wanted in a husband. It was very important to me that he knew how to play the piano because I sing and have been singing since I was a child. Music and singing plays a major part of my life. I even asked that my husband would have a degree in music so that he can also help me with my song writing and song arranging when the time comes to record them. I write songs and at that time conducted the choir at my church. Of course, it was important too that he was a Christian. So even though he wasn’t a Christian when we first met, the Lord soon took care of this for me so that I would marry him. He showed me that he was from Him, and that he will take care of me. But having God and loving Him is my life. I cannot live without Him least of all marry someone who doesn’t know Him. This was very important to me. Not only did the Lord take care of this for me, and soon my future husband accepted the Lord Jesus and received His Holy Spirit, He made sure too that he had majored in music composition and minored in piano performance. Thank you, Jesus! How sweet He is!
The following year, two weeks shy away from being 23, we were married. Two weeks later he took a great paying job that had wonderful medical benefits. The Lord also granted me so many of my heart’s desires that I had listed in my list, and even the ones I only listed in my heart, regarding my husband. Even to the smallest detail of still having both of his parents around and having only one sister-in-law, to me being the youngest in their family, because I’ve been the oldest in mine and wanted to know how it feels like to be the baby, and finally to having a last name that started with the letter C and only with one syllable. He even granted my secret heart’s desire to marry a teacher because at that time when I met him he was also a music teacher in school. In short, the Lord took care of my health insurance situation and so much more. He is such a wonderful friend and Savior.
Choosing God first and always can only give us the best life we can ever have. He will never lead us to destruction. He will always lead us to good things. The key is in always choosing to talk to Him for every decision we are making in our lives, whether big or small, significant or insignificant. God wants it all. He just doesn’t want our major problems, He also wants our hopes and dreams and any little thing we want to share with Him. He wants our daily chores and daily worries. He wants it all because He loves us so much and only through talking to Him will he be able to help us. When we talk to Him we give Him the ability to talk back to us because He has our attention. He then can deal with us and intervene in our lives. He can instruct us to follow the right paths and to the right decisions. We don’t have to be alone in this life. We don’t ever have to be alone. Choosing to talk to God everyday and every moment will bring him closer and nearer to us. Soon we will start to feel His presence with us all the time. Choosing to talk to Him is the best thing we can ever do for ourselves, for our family, and for our future. You will never ever regret that you chose to talk to Him all the time.
“Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.” {Psalm 62:1-2}
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” {Philippians 4:13}
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” {Philippians 4:6-7}
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” {Isaiah 26:3}
“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” {Psalm 37:4-5}
Prayer
Lord Jesus I thank You Father for Your great love for me. I thank You that You promised to never ever leave me nor forsake me. Lord Jesus You are my hope and strength. I hope in You always. I thank You for being in my life.
Father, help me to love You everyday. Help me to always take the time to talk to You and acknowledge You in my life. There are so many things in this world that vie for my attention, but the most important thing I need to accomplish in this life is knowing You. Help me to know who You are Lord Jesus by talking to You everyday. Please Lord Jesus, help me to know You Father. Help me to come and talk to You all the time and make my heart’s request known to You. There is rest in You. There is peace. Please Father, help me to find You always, I pray in Your most wonderful and lovely name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
Image by Renan Brun from Pixabay
Rp6/2017
