Choose Whom You Will Serve

I was reading the book of Joshua this morning and was really overcome with grief. Grief about who I was still serving and the kind of witness I leaving for my “generations” and for myself.

This last week at work has been a struggle.  Somewhere between the 3, almost 4 traumas I encountered, and the constant flow of daily responsibilities I grew hardened.  It wasn’t until the week ended that I was able to I reflect back, that I realized how dark my garden was.

In his perfect timing God spoke directly to me this morning. I am so thankful that it came now and that he gave me this insight.

Let me take you to the final chapters of Joshua. The covenant the Lord made to Abraham has been fulfilled and the Promised Land has been given to Israel (through the mighty hand of God they were able to defeat all their enemies). They had just finished dividing the land among the tribes, and Joshua speaks boldly about the seriousness of their inheritance.

Joshua tells Israel to “Choose whom you will serve”

Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served…and serve the Lord….But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord -  Joshua 24:14-15

I believe Joshua is talking about the cost of the “promise”….that you must put away the other gods and serve only the Lord in all sincerity and in all faithfulness. We also were bought with a cost, and our purchase is also very serious. Think about that, the cost of your soul comes with a consequence.

So what is the consequence for the purchase of our salvation? Well, first we need to define salvation. Salvation means that you are actually “saved” from something.  In our case as Christians this means that we are freed from sin's reign in our life. We are saved from its bondage, and are cleansed by his blood. The consequence of being saved, then, is that we are able to dwell with Jesus.  But, it isn’t that simple.

The cost to God was even greater. He lost his son for you.   He requires that you not only be covered by his blood, but that you also walk in his light.  This is where a lot of Christians, I believe, get hung up.

For the blood to cleanse you, you must then walk in the light as He is in the light, then His blood cleanses you from all sin (1 John 1:17).  Read that again, for-his-blood-to-cleanse-you……..YOU MUST WALK-in-the-light.

Our sin keeps us from serving and seeing God.  I believe that our salvation, just like our walk, has to be daily. It cannot be only once. That verse doesn’t say that once his blood cleanses you, you are in the light… It says that you must WALK.  Only in the light do we have fellowship with him and the blood of Jesus.

Salvation has to be a lifestyle.  It is not an elaborate compilation of manmade words.  It is a gift, that was given, that had to be purchased, with a cost, which has consequences. 

The Gift: Freedom from sin’s bondage

Given By: God

The Purchaser: You

The Cost: The blood of Jesus

The Consequence: A transformed life. Ability to dwell in the presence of God.

 

The cross is the bridge that leads us from sin to life.  Just as the Law (the 10 commandments) gave life to the Israelites in the Old Testament, when Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross, he became the new way for life.  He actually became the 10 commandments, in a perfect living physical form. In his flawless reflection of God and his law, he gave us a way to the Promised Land, heaven with Jesus.

And Jesus still is the way for our “exodus” from sin to salvation. But, like the Israelites, you have to follow, walk, suffer, and trust him to get to the Promised Land.  And, because he offers you a way out, he also commands reverence and obedience for his good work once he delivers you there.  He requires a witness to stand in the place of the sinner lost. 

I was so encouraged by this concept, replacing my sinner self with a witness.  I want my life legacy to be that of a witness, a witness of the power of God.  So today, I prayed with all my heart to be a living sacrifice, to lay my sins on the alter daily.  To be saved again and again from darkness until all that I can emit is the light of God.

“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off” – Deuteronomy 30:11

I just love this verse… I will no long believe the lies of the enemy nor continue to give him any of my strength, the Lord my God says that even though the gate is narrow and few will enter, if I keep his commandments it will not be too hard for me to enter!  Therefore, ANY sin in my life can and will be broken through the name of Jesus. Walk with him, learn from him, trust in him, and he will direct your exodus out of your “Egypt” into the Promised Land, heaven. This is what it means to be saved.

If you are living in sin or held to its bondage you are not partaking fully in the richness of God.  Even more so, you are not walking in the light and you will never be able to see his glory! Remember when Moses (a chosen and God fearing man) asked to see God on the mountain.?

Remember God’s reply?  “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live..Exodus 33:17-23.  Moses, even though he was chosen by God, was still a man, and was still a sinner. However, if you go on to read the end of this chapter, God makes a way for him to see his back. I believe that God allowed this because Moses had consecrated himself to God, and was living his life in accordance with God’s commands.

Back to Joshua 24. He goes on to describe the consequence if we break our end of the covenant,

You are not able to serve the Lord, for his is a holy God. He is jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sin, if you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good – Joshua 19-20

When I first read that I am not able to serve the Lord for he is a holy God, and that he will not forgive my transgressions or sins, I almost cast this off as not applicable to me today. However, this is very untrue.  I feel that what Joshua is trying to convey is that just because God loves us and chose us, does not mean that he will forgive all unrepentant sins. You can only serve one god and when you are serving the sins of your life, you are not serving Him. This choice carries consequences. 

As a matter of fact, when this happens, the bible tells us that he will turn from us and consume us!  I know this might be hard to read, but I was really feeling the seriousness of this today in prayer. Some believe that once you are saved his grace covers all and you have your ticket into heaven.  But this cannot be true with a perfect God.  I believe that we must persevere (fight the good fight) in loving Him, not let our love grow cold (Matt 24), and keep his commandments. Then we will (ultimately) be saved.  Remember the gate is narrow and few will enter, wide and easy is the way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13).   You see, he gives you a way, but he also holds you accountable for your decisions.

“You are witness against yourself that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him”- Joshua 24: 22

Think about that….once you have chosen to follow God, once you prayed the prayer, you now actually bear witness against yourself! Your purchase of salvation comes with a cost, just as it cost Christ his life to purchase you. Life for life! That is an awesome responsibility!  When the purchaser destroys the gift, this infuriates the Lord, he is so holy that he will consume!  The only way he will not consume is if you repent and “re-cloth” yourself with the blood of the lamb, EVERYDAY!

In Joshua 22:10-34 the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built an alter by the Jordan. When the Israelites heard of this they thought it was an abomination/ sin against the Lord and went to wage war against them. What they found, though, was that their alter was a really a witness to whom they choose.

“We did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?’   Verse 26: Let us now build an altar, not for bunt offering, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you, between our generations after us, that we do perform the service of the lord in his presence…so your children will not say to our children in time to come, ‘You have no portion in the Lord’ “- Joshua 22:10-34. 24

Your life and your sacrifices are bearing witness for yourself and your generations.  God called for a blood sacrifice then and he calls for it now through Jesus. Enter in to his richness, enter in to his mercy and leave the fire burning for your children.  Don’t waste another day like I did turning to the things that will pass away, open up your hands and cry out for Christ to sustain you! Like the Israelites who were lead by a pillar of fire at night, Christ gave us his word from heaven as a lamp unto our feet. Like Moses, in the name of Jesus hit the rocks of life to bring forth the living water, and when it flows don’t forget to drink of it! He doesn’t just give salvation, he IS the salvation.

Remember the Israelites,

“Not one of their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed, all came to pass” - Joshua 21: 44

He made us a promise of life as well. Choose it, for just as he kept his covenant with Israel he will keep his promise with us today.

“One man of you puts to fight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you. Be very careful, therefore to love the Lord your God” -Joshua 23:10

I love this verse.  Think about it, one of me can put to fight a thousand! If the Lord is with me, I can fight thousands of sins, enemies, and arrows! This is the promise of the cross… through the gift of the Holy Spirit, I can strength my flesh. Not by force do I need to conquer, but through the cross Jesus gave me a way. The cost for your salvation is great, but the reward is even greater! He is either Lord of your life or he isn’t… if he is, bear witness for yourself and bring salvation to your alter everyday!

A Rich Life

I finally finished reading the bible and started it again the next day. For the longest time I had so much trouble getting into the word. The names, places, tribes, and even stories were hard to relate too. But, something happened over the last year. God started speaking to me through the scriptures. Ian has talked about this a lot, how the spirit speaks to those who seek God, but I had never experienced this before. Now all I want to do is read my bible...I yearn for this closeness with my creator, NOTHING is more fulfilling.

When I finished the bible this last time I had this feeling that I had been asking the wrong questions. One in particular was: Why does God let bad things happen? Really, we should be asking: Why does God still let GOOD things happen? Why does he still allow the gift of birth, love, friendship, kindness, sunny days, rainbows, music, laughter, etc?

I am not claiming to be a biblical scholar (I will have to have Ian proof read this before I publish it) but I really felt like I was being led to look into this.

The bible is such a beautiful love story. The sheer fact that in all our sin Christ still chooses to love us is so overwhelming. His goodness is indescribable. I wrote about this in our other blog after a powerful experience in the Bethel airport. If you haven't read this, I would recommend doing so (read: Who Says Airports Are No Fun?).

I became aware of a vulnerable side of Christ. Because he loves us so much, we in a way make him vulnerable. Satan has played on this for ages....What better way than to hurt the all powerful than to attack his "weakness"', us.  Because sin came into the earth, Satan was able to play upon the vulnerability of God. The bible tells countless stories of the sins that existed and the death that it brought both physically and spiritually.  Satan/sin damaged the creation. He took it from perfection and hardened it into deception. We were deceived that we could exist in harmony without God. This must hurt God so much to see how far sin has taken us away from his original truth.

The only way that bad things can exist is because of sin. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. No where was I able to find that in the beginning God created sin. He didn't, he is perfect, righteous, and holy. Sin came into the picture after Satan introduced the option and we chose it. Because of our decision along came killing, disease, sickness, and ultimate separation. You see, sin created the portal for it to enter into our lives. God is not responsible for this, he is trying to clean it up!

Unfortunately, the portal door continues to remain open with our current lifestyles. Bare with me when I say this, but I believe that all sickness is NOT from God, or all sickness/disease/infirmity is rooted in sin. How could God create this? He couldn't, he is the bridegroom, the lover of our souls.  


So, the question of why God lets bad things happen becomes obsolete. Bad things exist because of sin. Period. The real question is why he continues to allow us to have good in this life. Why he can continue to love, to bless us, to give us life? He is just so amazing, perfectly amazing!

Now, some may ask why he doesn't intervene to stop the bad if he loves us so much. Can you really say that? Can you say in your life that you have lived without sin, that you have prayed endlessly, that you have proclaimed his greatness to everyone all the time, that there is really any goodness in us at all?  

This may be a little harsh, but in my own life, I know that I am not worthy of ANYTHING! There is still this little thing called "will"...only 4 letters but huge in meaning. We have free will to serve who we want. Everyday that we wake up we have a choice to whom or what we will serve. We have free will to be liberated from sin or held bondage to it. 

The problem is that we often neglect to see with spiritual eyes. We miss how many blessing are actually being showered upon us in the midst of tragedy. How God continues to use the sin (sickness, disease, even death) to bring him glory. Even in the midst of darkness how he can still bring light.

I know that times can be extremely tough and that blaming God is very easy, I have been there myself.  But I am now certain that he never left those situations...and, since he was there the entire time, he made it better than it could have been. He was there battling for me.

Feel with your heart this next part: feel he wrath that God has against sin, the jealousy he feels for your heart, his yearning for your praise, the deep love that he has for you. Realize that he can also hate, yearn, cry, and be vulnerable...But, the beauty of this is that he does this all perfectly in complete righteousness! Think about it, he can perfectly hate, perfectly judge, and perfectly condemn!

He isn't a means only to receive forgiveness, mercy, and grace from, he is a BRIDGE to LIFE.  A life free from sin and destruction. Understanding the spiritual beauty of all this is life changing. God is not a means to an end, he is the paradise, he is the end! Heaven is not going to be any kind of paradise without him...Heaven will be hell if he is missing!

This concept is so empowering! We could all live a richer life, no matter what has happened or could happen. If you have accepted Christ into your heart and have a personal relationship with him you have the most powerful, perfect, loving force LIVING inside of you...You have the best, strongest and fiercest warrior in your life. Sin will come...do not be mistaken, Satan is using this to attack God. But, we can be prepared....live the richer life. Live for Jesus, choose him, choose life. Be the warrior that grows stronger everyday because of him, keep your eyes focused on the things above, let him refine you that you may see the things unseen....Look for the blessing and continue to praise in the midst of adversity, he is worth it! Seek to learn the secrets of his heart and live the richer life. How awesome to serve a lord that is a SAVIOR in every sense.

And above all, communion with and love him! I know some believe that our prayers are the only thing keeping our soverign God from destroying sin (and the sinners) once and for all. In a way our prayers are the restrainer that are buying us more time. If you have been given time today, live it to the fullest through Jesus!

Isaiah 33

The idea for this 2nd blog came while I was sitting on my couch, in my polka-dot PJs reading my bible. It may be that I am the only one who will read this, but I thought having an online diary per se would be very convenient. And, if I could offer some thoughts to others while doing so, and if they could offer some back, great! I am a little nervous about publically posting my thoughts, there is always the concern that I may have gotten it completely wrong. So, I am going to pray that the spirit leads my every word.

Iasiah 33:3-6

O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.....The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is Zions treasure.

This verse really blessed me this morning. I had this great visual of Christ's arm as my giant oak tree swinging about like a giant branch ready to battle any storm life would bring.  It made me think of his grace and the power of the cross.  Grace like rain that cleanses and nourishes my body and his blood that feeds and sustains my heart. We are so LOVED that he is willing to take our dirty, messed up soil and WANT to give us his seed to grow. And that is beauty of his glory, he can take something so flawed and produce in it something so perfect.  Like the children's book, The Giving Tree...His "Oak" is so magestic and powerful that as it grows it will be a continual souce of food, shelter, and warmth to those who need it. So, how then can I grow such a tree?

Well, it begins in the soil (our heart). So I began the examination of my soil.  What made up my soil? What condition is it in? Would Jesus even be able to grow there? And, if he did, would it bring him joy to be there or would it be a constant struggle? Am I polluting him with worldly waste? Am I adding to his kingdom or draing it dry?

This thought then grew from the soil to the condition of my roots as well. I may have received his seed, but how deep did I let the roots grow?  You see, the roots must be able to penetrate all the layers of the ground (all the layers of our heart) to even sustain a giant oak  Sometimes as new roots take over, other roots will be disrupted (other lives who have not come to the saving knowledge of Christ or other sins that we have allowed to take hold in our lives)...However, as we feed off of Jesus: his love, grace, mercy, and power, he will penetrate into our every being and nourish our roots. The old roots (self) will be die and be washed away! I don't know about you, but I don't want any ferns taking my nutrients, I am growing a tree!

As time passes the little spouts give life to a stronger tree and over time, fruit. You cannot jump from seed to fruit, that takes time, commitment, prayer and continual keeping (you have to change your sinful ways to grow). Sometimes sin will come and try to steal the fruit or shake the tree so that the fruit will fall. However,  if you are firmly rooted in him, this will only cause your roots to go deeper and your fruit to have more value.

Sometimes you may even want to be shaken so that you can grow your roots deeper. I know that I want to become more holy and fruit filled every day. I want to wash away more of my sinful self with each rain, storm, and temptation.

So I asked myself this morning, what does my fruit look like, has it fallen off and died? Has it been picked and eaten to nourish someone else? Or, maybe it did fall off when it was mature and now it is a new seed planted somewhere else?

I thought hard about what kind of roots I am allowing to grow in my friendships and marriage. The verse goes on to say that the Lord will fill Zion (Israel, or the grafted in like us) with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability (the root, tree, vine) of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is Zions treasure. Wow!

Verses 14-16 then asks:

Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Whom among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?

Or, what tree can withstand his presence?

He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure. Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty.

This very principle began taking hold of my life. God was growing his roots and changing my tree! Like most people, I sometimes like to watch TV. The history channel, TLC, discovery, the occasional reality show, etc. However,  I noticed that in doing so I was NOT stopping my ears from hearing the bloodshed, and I was not shutting my eyes from evil. I began to look at my everyday activities and realized that I was allowing weeds to grow up all around me unaware! It is so important to NOT allow this to happen, we must continue the spiritual fight! One of my favorite sayings is "I am going for the victory because I want the blessing!" I am going to fight the battles and when I am victorious in the name of Jesus, (because we know Christ WILL win) I will receive His blessing - dwelling among his consuming fire and beholding all his beauty!

Sarah