The Power of a decision: by James Lantz
God is so good! God desires for everyone to choose life thereby choosing him, but he will not choose for us.
He sent his precious word to reveal the good way and the Holy Spirit to convince us of our need of salvation. God is interested in our well being and the very minuscule details of our life. The devil (and religion) tries to complicate the simplicity of the gospel. The Gospel is so simple that little children can understand. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 1 John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. Believing is a choice. The reason believing has become difficult for some is because they made a decision that they were not going to believe until they saw something. It is to late to believe after we see it come to pass. It would have been to late to start building the ark after the rain began. Thomas said, I will not believe unless I see the print of the nails in his hands and put my finger in it, and thrust my hand into his side. Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the substance (foundation) of things hoped (expected) for, the evidence (proof) of things not seen. The very definition of faith includes expecting things not yet seen. There is a saying in the world, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. The whole gospel sounds to good to be true, but it is true. We need to make a distinction between believing God, who can not lie, and believing someone who is unreliable. 2 Chron. 20:20 … Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
It is not a hard thing to believe in God who can not lie. I don’t know about you but I believe the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James, Paul and all the rest of God’s servants who testify of the risen Christ. All things are possible to him who believes, but the decision to believe is our part. Your decision to read this teaching puts your attention on God’s eternal life changing word. Acting on what God says will put us on course to receive what God said belongs to us! Don’t miss this powerful truth that God sent his word to produce what He said, just like rain and snow are sent to cause you to receive seed to sow and food to eat. (see Isaiah 55:10&11) God’s power will come to work on your behalf when you make the decision to do what he has said. If it is salvation that you need call upon the Lord in faith believing he will do what he has said. Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Rom. 10:9&10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Jesus Christ paid the price for all of our sins and everyone who receives him receives forgiveness and eternal life. The decision to make Jesus Christ the Lord of our life is what moved us to confess his Lordship over our lives, causing us to be removed from the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of light. Hell was not intended for man, but those who reject Jesus reject their own deliverance and will spend eternity in the devil’s hell. Jesus told us about the rich man and Lazarus and how they ended up. Lazarus was a beggar who was sick and lay by the gate of the rich man hoping to get some of the crumbs that fell off of his table. Lazarus believed in the God of Abraham and placed his trust in him and when he died he went to be with the righteous dead. The rich man died and went to hell. The torments of hell were so terrible that he wanted someone to be raised from the dead to go and tell his brothers not to come to that awful place. (see Luke 16) Decisions that were made every day kept this man from hearing the truth. He may have gone to the synagogue every Sabbath and not believed a word they said or perhaps he was to busy to go. He could have stopped to help Lazarus every day he passed him at his gate and Lazarus would have told him about God’s mercy. His decision to ignore the word of God and to not help his fellow man were decisions that cost him eternally. There are people today that are making the same mistake running after their own lust and ignoring the word of God. Some of God’s own people are staying out of church missing blessing’s that God has for them. God does not want his people to go through this life without the benefit of the Holy Ghost (also referred to as comforter, counselor, helper and advocate).
Jesus is God’s gift to the world but the Holy Spirit is God’s greatest gift to the Christian. Acts 2:38 …Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 11:17 For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? The baptism in the Holy Ghost is available to every child of God who desires him and must be received as a gift. This immersion of the Holy Spirit is subsequent to salvation just like in the book of Acts. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a different experience than being born of the Spirit. Every christian received the Holy Spirit in the working of the new birth and being made a new creature in Christ but the baptism is a gift reserved for God’s obedient children. Jesus instructed the disciples to not leave Jerusalem until they have received this power from on high (which was made available on the day of Pentecost). We make decisions every day concerning obeying the word of God and the leading of the Holy Ghost which make the difference between success and failure. Some of us have a glimpse of the value of God’s gift to the church, the Holy Spirit, and are cooperating with him. Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? If you want the power of God to work in your life you must make decisions accordingly. As we read through the scriptures we see that those who reject God’s way end up with consequences that are not good. The children of Israel went into captivity when they forsook their God. When they repented and cried out to him He delivered them. People that are healed make decisions to act on what God says. Jairus made a decision to receive healing for his daughter. He said to Jesus , come and lay your hands on my daughter and she will live. The woman healed from the issue of blood had been doing everything she knew for twelve years to try to get well. Mark 5:26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. She could have become bitter and just given up, but she heard of Jesus and determined to receive from him. She must not have heard the so called gospel that some preach, you never know, God might heal you and he may not. She said, when I touch the hem of his garment, I shall be healed. In her weakened condition she pushed through the crowd, pushed past the thought of being stoned for being among people with a blood condition and received her healing. Don’t let fear, pride, unbelief, sin, or disobedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit stop you from receiving what you need from God! Bible faith is based on what God said, not what you can see or feel. Reach out with the hand of faith and take what Jesus purchased for you!
Deut. 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Joshua 24:15 …choose you this day who you will serve… God did the hard part and lets the choosing up to us!
