Choose for you; Choose for them

I've just recently had a clarification of a thought that I've probably even written about in blogs below.

Joshua 24:15 "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

We really are living in the days of choice, once again.

As believers, we need to make that choice once and for all, and then raise our children unto that choice.  It even says so in the scripture above.

Let me back up a bit...  Here's what I was thinking before I found the full scripture:

I was thinking about believers today, and children my 7 yr old son's age.  We can't straddle the fence any more in our Christian walk, and we can't raise our kids without teaching them how to walk that walk for themselves.  See, we all know the world is in an upheaval.  And we as believers know we cannot truly manage it without the help of the Lord.  But it goes much deeper than praying, "Lord, help me."

In the Garden of Eden there was not simply a display of deception and disobedience - but instead it was the dawn of a war of the worlds.  God created this world.  He established everything in it, formed man and woman as stewards of this world and gave them everything they would ever need to not only manage it, but replenish it, rule it and succeed in it.  Then God have them explicit instructions how.

But before they could get to it, satan came in through the back door and made a bid to Eve, knowing if she bit the bait, he would be given free reign (and I mean that literally), to establish the systems of his own world and sit as a prince on its throne.

In essence he was telling Eve - you can't be a proper steward of God's world if you aren't really sure of his instructions or his intentions.  Trust me, believe me and you will be the stewards of the world I will establish through your seed and the generations of your ignorance and disobedience.

You know the rest of the story...  and now 6000 years later all of mankind is largely clueless to the treason and the bargain unwittingly struck in that Garden at the dawn of time.

2000 years ago, however - Jesus came to set up new terms and resubmit our original choice to us.  The new terms are this: believe that He is the Son of God, crucified and risen on the third day, and you will be saved from the consequences of Adam and Eve's actions, and restored back to their original dominion.

Oh, wait... those new terms ARE the New Testament - or in other words, the New Covenant - that, through faith in God and belief in Jesus, is written upon our hearts and placed in our minds. (Hebrews 8:10)

Here's the problem...

In 2000 years, we as Believers have gone through cycles of restoration and what it actually means to walk in our original dominion.

True restoration hits a down cycle when we hear and believe things like: healing and prophecy were for the early church; we believe in the Holy Spirit, but not the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues; ministers and preachers must be ordained through a process of so many years of bible college or seminary and chosen by the church hierarchy; and prosperity teachers are not biblical.

Oh, there is so much more that we hear in church, see on Christian TV and read in Christian literature that clearly says we as Believers are largely still "working out our salvation" instead of walking in our dominion!

But as the Lord's return gets closer and closer, the circumstances of this world and our lives become more dire, prevalent and imminent: we must truly choose this day - today - who we are going to serve.  And I mean REALLY serve!

In case you hadn't noticed, the days are gone when we can be a Christian and operate in a worldly financial system.  Gone are the days when we can be a Christian and believe in abortion and support Gay marriage.*  Gone are the days when we can be a Christian and pick and choose whether we believe in tithing, healing, prophecy or prosperity.  Gone are the days when we can be a Christian and get away with just going to church on Sundays, or holidays.  Gone are the days when we can send our kids to Sunday school and think they'll be ok finding Jesus on their own when they're grown.  Gone are the days when Christians can be content with the knowledge that their place in heaven is secured, while still living their lives as if confessing Christ as Lord and Savior was all that was required.

To whom much is given, much is required.  But we live like we want to get so much more from God without giving Him any more than we already have been.

Gone are the days of the lukewarm Christian.  God is saying choose if you will be hot or cold; all or nothing; life or death - before He spits you out of His mouth for good.

More is required of you.

More belief.  More hope.  More love.  More compassion.  More truth.  More wisdom.  More Grace.  More Power.  More Glory.  More Faith...

And when I say more faith, I mean use more faith.  You've already been given all the faith you need.  But we Christians only use it for the big things: lost a job; lost a loved one; loosing a house; filing bankruptcy; car broke down; kids are in jail - you know the drill.  And if we use it and we don't get the job, or the loved one doesn't get healed, or the prayer doesn't seem to get answered, then we give up on faith all together.

But here's a truth for ya': we only exercise enough faith for God's permissive will and sometimes not even that. We as believers don't even know how to muster up enough faith to walk in God's divine will.  That is walking blind for sure! That is walking by faith and not by sight for EVERYTHING: groceries, gas, a pleasant marriage, a good job, a mortgage free house; saved and Holy Ghost filled kids; healing the cashier at Big Lots 'cause her back hurts; casting out demons from the panhandler with the sign at the end of the freeway; praying in love for that backstabbing, lying boss who is persecuting you at work, and telling the banker, the doctor, your parents, your spouse and even the preacher, "That's not what the word of God says!"

Living a life of faith is not easy, but that's because we don't know how.  But it's still your choice.

Living in the Kingdom of God and not the kingdom of this world is scary, but that's because it goes against the grain and leaves us with doubt.  But it's still your choice.

Living a sold out, supernatural life of Dominion is crazy; but that's because living in this dog-eat-dog world is all we know.  But it is still your choice.

It is time to choose.  Life or death.  The world you know or the Kingdom you're supposed to reign.

Choose ye this day whom you will serve, and then teach your kids.  They are the ones who will need it the most.

Power, Love & Peace - ya'll
~Min. Dez

(*) 3.5.2014:  Gay Rights and Gay Marriage are not the same thing.  Everyone deserves the right to be respected, loved and not discriminated against.  Standing against Gay Marriage as a Christian is not a form of discrimination.  There is a very fine line between loving and respecting anyone who is homosexual and not supporting the homosexual lifestyle.  We have to take our example from Jesus and the adulterous woman.  Jesus loved her and did not condemn her, but he did not support her "right" to commit adultery any longer.  He said "go and sin no more."  As Christians it is not our job to change a homosexual's lifestyle.  But it is our job to show the love of Jesus - we do that by not discriminating.  As for the changing - let's leave that up to God, without accidentally (or purposefully) sanctioning the lifestyle in the process.