The Choice

We all have choices to make based on how we were brought up, but it is still painful when you have memories from childhood that make you feel worthless, painfully unimportant, and worse.  Invisible.  Without a beacon of hope like the Lord, we become the most miserable people on the planet,  Negative, constantly beating down on ourselves "Why can't I be like _______?" sometimes, we are rude if not down right nasty to others, not really meaning to, not understanding what has gotten into us, and then some just don't care at all, losing all hope that humanity even gives a rats tail about us at all.   I lost hope.  Plenty of times.  Just as recently as this last weekend.  I've always wanted a way out, searching for where I fit, but I've never found it.  I might not find it until I hear the trumpet blow and hear Christ say, "Come Up Hither."

Faith in Jesus Christ helps us make the right decisions because we have an "inward teacher," called the "Holy Spirit," who helps us catch ourselves before we sin!  That way we can acknowledge it immediately, (no harm, no foul), and we are then still in right standing with God, even if our parents aren't in right standing with the Lord and still treating us like we are inconvenient, which is very confusing at times, but the older you get, the harder it gets to "make the choice," to be a good person, or just let life seem like an endless pit of sorrow.  You will figure it out in time but my prayer for all who read this blog will find Christ and His forgiveness rather than the condemnation that is to come very shortly upon this earth, whether you be an adult or a teenager, I pray for your salvation each day fervently, like someone who is running out of time, because I am.

Have you heard that saying "Failure is not an option?"  Well failure is what happened I don't know how many times before Henry Ford built the Model T!  How many times did Orville and Wilbur Wright try to make an airplane fly?  How many times did it take to make sure a rocket would catapult a space craft into orbit so it could orbit the entire planet with a monkey at the controls to make sure that no harm came to the monkey before we actually sent men up in those modules to land on the moon?  How many times did it take for the Dr. who came up with "Coca Cola" to perfect the taste of the soft drink?  How many times do you think God will let us keep trying?  If you are saved the number would be endless for "He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6).

If at first you don't succeed?  Try, Try, Try, Try, Try...This is called stick-t0-it-ness!  The Bible is the key that will help you put on the full armor of God and be ready to stand on that day and fight the devil and his demons who will use just one crack in your armor to get a foothold in your life.  (Ephesians 6:11). 

So why when people become Christians do they go back to their old way of life so quickly?  Is it because they are bored?  Or could it be the people around them telling them things like, "What?  You actually go to church?"  As they walk away laughing.....you know what I'm talking about.  If you have friends talking behind your back because you decided to go to church, they probably aren't really your friends anyway, now are they?

Jesus said we would be persecuted for his name.  When discussing the end of days He said, "But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name."  (Luke 21:12).

If you are watching the news about what is happening in Syria?  That is where Damascus is, and they just found a mass weapons cache, full of the biological weapons that everyone made fun of George W. Bush for not finding in Iraq .  I believe Assad will use it on his own people.  In the Book of Isaiah, it says "A Message concerning Damascus: "Watch this: Damascus undone as a city, a pile of dust and rubble!  Her towns emptied of people. The sheep and goats will move in and take over the towns  as if they owned them—which they will!  Not a sign of a fort is left in Ephraim, not a trace of government left in Damascus."  (Isaiah 17:1-3).  Then in Vs. 14 "At bedtime, terror fills the air.  By morning it's gone—not a sign of it anywhere!"  Damascus is the Capital of Syria and with the way things are going over there?  Well, you be the judge, you pray about it, you humble yourselves and pray, for the day of judgment upon this earth is coming, and I would suggest if you don't know Jesus?  Give me a call.  I'd love to help you know that you are saved, and going to Heaven instead of to hell!  (And yes, Hell is a very real place as told in this story:)

"At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.  The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."

“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’  “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them. ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."  (Luke 16:20-31).

Please, make a decision for Christ?  Don't be caught in Hell with the rich man who refused to pay attention to those around him who were suffering and then paid the ultimate "for all time" price?  All you have to do is reach out to the Lord, close your eyes, and say this prayer, "Father God, thank you for your son Jesus who took my sins upon himself on the cross of Calvary.  Please Lord, forgive me for my sins, breathe new life into me by the Holy Spirit who will comfort me day and night until that day when you take us all home.  Please Lord, I need you.  I want to be your child and not a child of this world any longer.  In Jesus Name, Amen."

Cassie Bernall was at Columbine High School when two gunman ran into the cafeteria that day all those years ago.  They asked her, with the barrel of a gun at her head, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?"  When she said yes, they pulled the trigger, killing her instantly.  I honestly have no doubt in my mind that before the bullet hit her skull, she was already dressed in white before the throne of God, martyred for His sake.

This is your time.  What decision will you make?