Choosing life

Do you buy the lie that you are a victim of your circumstances? The bible says that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, Revelation 12:11.  One invitation to every testimony is the choice we make whether or not to believe that if God answered one man’s prayer He will answer ours also. This choice is ours to make and understanding that a choice is being made to believe or not to believe, passivity is not an option.

We have been learning about the importance of choosing life through forgiveness, through relationships, in our thought life and regardless of our circumstances. Each area in our lives presents us with choices. Honestly there are times when I want to opt out, just take a time out and not be present in my life but take a seat on the bench. I want to be able to tell the Lord, “I’m going to sit this one out.” God is full of grace and mercy and while He is longsuffering, understanding and in love with us, He also wants the best for us. He speaks often in riddles and by proposing questions back to us. He causes us to find the answers we are looking for within ourselves. 

For example if we are in fear about a doctor’s report He is full of compassion and loves us so much He will be very caring and gentle with us but He will not leave us in the fear. He will encourage us and lead us out of fear and sometimes through the fear in order to reveal Himself as our rescue in the midst of the trial, knowing all the while the end result. Until we believe the end result from the beginning we may have to wade into the fire and as we do we see Him in the fire. This builds our relationship with Him and our trust in Him so that the next report that comes has fewer teeth, less fear and less trial. 

Whenever we have received victory over an area we truly can live from that victory every time the enemy comes. When Oz proves himself faithful to me by keeping a promise, I have the right to expect him to keep his promise again. It would be insulting to him to question his integrity in our relationship if when he makes a promise to me I doubt him and interrogate him. This would create a wedge between us because he would wonder why I did not trust him when he had already proven himself trustworthy. 

This relationship with God is the same. He is not a sugar daddy just answering prayers by people who “deserve” to get their prayers answered based on their tithing record or their sacrifice of praise. He is a man of His Word and He does not lie. What He promises He is more than able to perform. He is looking for us to take risks and step out in this relationship so that He can show Himself faithful. 

We are promised trials, John 16:33 but we are also promised deliverance. Our pursuit is not to be free from difficulty but to be in relationship with our savior always. Choosing life draws the answer, Jesus every time.

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