Not you choose Me, but I choose you, and I appoint you, that you may be going away and be bringing forth much fruit, and your fruit may be remaining, that anything whichsoever you should be requesting the Father in My name, He will be giving it to you.
John 15: 16, Concordant New Testament
I have never known the Lord God to be powerless. I grew up believing that God was the be all and know all. There was nothing that was impossible for God. Imagine my surprise this week when, while in a discussion with a good friend, that I was introduced to another side of the Lord. A side of the Lord I never imagined. Consider the choices which we make each and every day. We may choose which morning coffee we want, or which road we might take to work. Where am I going with this? Hopefully not off of the deep end. What is the relationship between the Father and the choices which we make? Is He involved at all? Well, if we are smart we will seek His council before we make major decisions. The practice of meditating in prayer before we choose to make one decision or another is nothing new to many believers. We may make that decision to involve the Lord in the decisions we make. But is this the limit to which the Father is involved in our choices? Scripture suggests that we have been created by God with the free will to make our own decisions {Galatians 5:1, Galatians 5:13, 1 Peter 2:16}. The apostle Paul speaks to the mind which is set upon the flesh {Romans 8:7}. If God is involved in the choices which we make, then why is it that so many choose not to follow Him? Therefore, I can fully understand how my friend would state that God is powerless against the choices which we make. He has indeed created us in His image, with the ability to choose {Genesis 1:27}. Adam and Eve exorcised their ability to choose in the garden. Although He knew the consequences of their choice, He did not intervene {Genesis 3:6-7}. He did, however, provide for our redemption {John 3:16-17}. You have heard time and again that there are consequences for our wrong decisions, and I agree with that. I believe that while we have been created with the ability to choose on our own, the wrong decision can produce our prayers for the Lords deliverance from its consequences.
Now the Lord is the spirit; yet where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3: 17, Concordant New Testament
Have you ever noticed that there have hardly been any God led cults in history? Don't get me wrong, we have seen plenty of MAN led cults throughout the years, but God led? I believe that this isn't how the Lord works in our lives. I believe that His desire is not to have a bunch of mindless robots out there following after Him. He wants it to our choice to know Him. For if we choose to follow the Lord, it is by our own desire which we do so. He desires that there be no mistaking our love for Him. The one thing which I would suggest is...choose wisely. Those who know the Lord already know the consequences of not following Him. But what would cause one to choose not to follow the Lord? There may be a myriad of reasons from a bad church experience to overbearing parents. Whatever the case may be, eventually we are all faced with the choice. Do we choose what is true in our hearts, or will we follow a different path? Make no mistake, the presence of the Lord has been created within us from the beginning {Genesis 2:7, Galatians 2:20}. God is real within us, yet He still allows us the choice of whether or not to know Him. Making the wrong choice does not take away who we really are. We simply deceive ourselves with a false image. Making the wrong decision does not mean that God has forgotten us. It means that we have forgotten Him.
And you will know the truth, and the truth will be making you free.
John 8: 32, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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